July 2009
Aunt Esther. She sits sideways in her big chair, smelling of alcohol, legs propped up on the arm, short white hairs poke out the sides of her lime green knitted hat as she carefully raises the floral porcelain teacup towards her mouth with fragile shaking hands. She is an adorable, elderly Afrikaner lady who is quite witty, despite the fact that she is nearly deaf and blind. When speaking with her, one must sit uncomfortably close and speak at a painfully loud volume. She has her door open from 4am until late at night, even during the colder winter months, for the sole purpose of being able to greet and be greeted by the strangers who happen to walk by. She feels forgotten and alone, and perhaps rightly so. Her family rarely visits and all her friends have passed away. I met her by accident several months ago and have been visiting her weekly ever since. She does not ever remember my name but she knows me as one of the girls that stop by on Thursday mornings for tea and conversation. She is teaching me the powerful value of being present. She cares little about what I could do for her and repeatedly expresses her gratitude for just being with her. She has taught me that my time is the most valuable gift I will ever have to offer.
“Hospitality is Resistance.” (from a book we just finished titled, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, by Christine D. Pohl) This is Christian hospitality: one that welcomes “the least”, which recognizes their equal value, and respects their dignity; one that goes against the hospitality that invites only those with whom we are comfortable. If we are truly welcoming people we must, again, be present and invite in the fashion that Jesus did: sitting side-by-side, face-to-face, engaging in equal relationship with everyone, especially those whom the world labels as inferior. I do not mean to say that if you are not considered lesser then you cannot receive the fruits of someone else's hospitality. But I would like to challenge us to remember those for whom hospitality was originally intended. True hospitality was meant to be a manner in which to care for the marginal groups in society; not as a means of entertaining the elite. I highly recommend reading Making Room. It addresses all the practical barriers that typically inhibit most of us from really engaging in this kind of hospitality.
It is now the middle of the year. Last week marked the completion of the “inviting posture”, where I began learning the fundamental importance of simply being present with people. Today is the beginning of the “Contending Posture” where we will be identifying and confronting issues of injustice, contending for peace and wholeness in people’s lives, and pursuing holiness together. We will spend time studying the prophetic literature in the Bible and continue reading other texts with a focus on contending.
Thank you so much, for everything…
With Love,Adrienne
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