Reading for Preaching
The Odyssey of Homer
Telemachus is at home while suitors of his mother Penelope waste the household’s substance. The goddess Athena has come to visit and to help, but Telemachus sees her only as a stranger: “Greetings, stranger! Here in our house you’ll find a royal welcome. Have supper first, then tell us what you need.” A gracious piece...
“Welcoming the Stranger”
Jones reviews Christine Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition: Pohl says that hospitality is a gift and a skill, but also a practice that may be learned, rehearsed, and imitated from acknowledged masters. It needs a platform of particular commitments and values, and it flourishes when good models of it have been...
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith
Benedictine communities are known for their hospitality, even to novice visitors who will make some gaffe. P. 263: “Hospitality is the fruit of their celibacy. They do not mean to scorn the flesh, but to live in such a way as to remain unencumbered by exclusive, sexual relationships. The goal is being free to love...
Additional content related to Hospitality
Palm Sunday: Salvation’s Hospitality
In the summer of 1991 my wife and I spent some time traveling in Germany. One of our stops was a two-day visit to a pastor and his wife in Wittenberg. At that time, the fall of the Berlin Wall was still a very recent event. What had been the communist-dominated East Germany was still…
Preaching Connection: Hospitality