surrounded by ordinary saints – Emmanuel Garibay
Hospitality has always been important for Tom and I, which has led to some interesting encounters and the founding of some wonderful friendships.
Once, about five years ago we had two young men arrive at our front door. Mormons we thought at first, then realized they were too scruffily dressed.
“Can we tent camp in your backyard?” they asked. They needed a place to stay for a few nights and had come across the Mustard Seed House while looking for intentional communities in Seattle. We invited them in and learned that they had just spent a year at the Sojourners’ community in San Francisco after graduating from Lipscomb University in Nashville Tennessee. They wanted to join a community in Canada but the Canadians didn’t want them to cross the border.
“You can’t tent camp in our backyard but you can sleep in our basement apartment.” we told them. When tenants moved into the apartment a few weeks later they transferred to our prayer room where they slept on the floor. A few weeks became months and then a year. By now they we close friends. They helped around the house and garden, becoming a vital part of our community.
Our angels unaware we called them reminders of Paul’s words: Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! (Hebrews 13:2 NIV)
They arrived just as Tom was starting to repaint our living room, a job that he thought he could do alone in 4 days – it took Tom, our two new friends and another helper 4 days together to do the job. how easily we could have missed God’s provision for completing this task.
On another occasion we returned from a trip to Australia to find they had stripped and refinished our dining room table – a special 60th birthday blessing for me.
The previous year a family of friends arrived from England without a place to say. The husband was ill and could not hold down a job. They move into our hospitality room and ended up living there for a year. They too helped around the house and garden. Build a children’s fort in the backyard that fifteen years later is still a special place for kids to play.
“Doesn’t having strangers in the house bother you?” we are often asked. “Isn’t it risky?” “Have you ever been scared?”
These are the questions that all of us worry about when we open our homes and our lives to be hospitable to strangers. And of course we all need to be careful, listening to the prompting of the spirit, and to the advice of friends, trying to discern when to say yes and when to say no. Sometimes we do make mistakes, conflict happens. Sometimes it is more stressful than we expect and we close our doors for a season. Sometimes we have to ask people to leave. Establishing appropriate boundaries is sometimes a slow and painful learning experience, but in the process we learn a lot about ourselves and about what it means to be the people of God. Slowly we are transformed into the inclusive, loving community of God’s kingdom.
In Reaching Out, Henri Nouwen reminds us that: Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. And it is not just those we invite in who are changed. We are transformed too.
Ironically the hardest guest we have had live with us was Tom’s schizophrenic son Wes. He moved into our basement after spending several years on the streets, refused to take meds and slowly sank into depression. Asking him to leave was one of the hardest things we ever did. Yet it was the best for both him and for us. He now has a small place of his own and we have established the best relationship we have had in years.
Wes taught me a lot about the strange and sometimes challenging messengers that God seems to take delight in using. Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, in fact all God’s prophets heard voices and saw visions that would quickly have them labelled as schizophrenic today. Francis of Assisi too would be given short shift in our society. He not only spoke to animals, he took off his clothes, and gave away his money.
Being hospitable is not always easy, and it is not always safe, but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages and it is I believe a doorway to the kingdom. Take the risk and like us you might find that you are entertaining angels unawares.
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This post is part of the series Hospitality – Opening Doorways to the Kingdom which will run until the end of August. If you would like to contribute a post please do not hesitate to contact me.
Fay and Alan Williams with Joy, Stephen an Samuel.
This morning’s post on hospitality is written by my good friend and mentor of many years Fay Williams. Fay and her husband Alan were an important part of the leadership team on board the ship M/V Anastasis.
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In 1978 our Williams Family of five had just completed three years on a pioneering team on the Kona coast on the Big Islands of Hawaii. The task-to resurrect the old derelictPacific Empress hotel into a campus of Youth With A Mission. (YWAM), taming the tropical overgrowth and refurbishing the 99 rooms while eradicating rats, mice, centipedes and spiders was all part of our daily life for the first two years and now by the end of the third it was taking shape. Later to become University Of The Nations.
Time had now come for our family of five to reconnect to our home nation of New Zealand for a short time then make our way to Italy for another challenging pioneering venture in YWAM. This time an old passenger liner called the Victoria was to be transformed into a hospital ship to serve the poor of many nations.
A surprise was coming. My husband Alan who had a weeks teaching assignment at a Discipleship Training School (DTS ) in Salem Oregon, prayed about taking our whole family along including a trip to Disneyland. Believing it to be right Joy 16, Samuel 13and Stephen 111/2 and I joined Alan for a faith venture since we did not have the funds. However by the time we left Kona generous gifts came to cover the trip.
As parents we delighted in our children being blest after three years of pioneering. They were as much a part of it as us. Enduring plain, sometimes unappetizing food, including myriad amounts of peanut butter sandwiches, and spending many Saturday mornings working physically hard beside us without complaint we wanted them blest. Little did we know how rich that blessing would be.
Flying to the YWAM base in Salem, the leaders Marty & Mindy Berry friends of ours, made sure the normal hospitality for a YWAM speaker included our whole family. Artistically arranged bowls of fruit and delicious snacks met us as we entered our tastefully arranged rooms. Every time we ate a piece of fruit or snack it was replaced. So much so that one of our kids said in awe, “I can’t wait to grow up and be a YWAM speaker.” We laughed out loud. Staff workers came daily to take our children out and about Salem while Alan and I were in the DTS.
Not yet having exact plans to get to Disneyland we decided to rent a van to drive the picturesque route down the West coast. But before we did, the Salem base happened to need a new van so Marty bought one in time for us to drive it all the way to San Diego where a YWAM staff member would drive it back to LA for our flight and then back to Salem. So our journey down the West coast began. A day stop at San Francisco, two nights at the home of Marty Berry’s parents who lived near Disneyland. Warmly welcomed byMr & Mrs Berry, she took us all to a large supermarket telling our children to buy whatever you wanted to eat. I was embarrassed at such amazing generosity since she didn’t know us personally. I was also thankful my kids were well mannered and self controlled, asking about items and of course ice cream. Our host so joyfully paid at the check out and later cooked and served us a wonderful meal after which she handed us five tickets to Disneyland. Gasp! Assuring us we could help ourselves to anything we wanted in the fridge while she and her husband would be at work the next day we were awestruck. They would not accept any payment for our stay though we offered.
We enjoyed our great time at Disneyland the next morning we set of on the last stretch to San Diego where we needed to visit a family on a small boat with whom we were connected in ministry. While there we met a man so interested in the small boat ministry who insisted we all go out to lunch with him. There he handed us free tickets for the famous Sea World. Finally flying out to New Zealand we thought back on a remarkable experience we’d enjoyed on our first trip to the mainland USA. I noted that the Americans we had met had a special gift of generosity.
This story intertwines both financial provision and the gift of hospitality together. While you can give cup of cold water to someone and it be a gift of hospitality, usually it involves more than that. Hospitality involves giving, whether finances, goods and always, time. God who is overwhelmingly generosity by nature loves to use us as His channels.
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Fay on a recent visit with other good friends from Anastasis days
FAY WILLIAMS originally from New Zealand, has 38 years experience as a missionary with Youth With A Mission. She and her late husband Alan were missionaries in the Cook Islands from 1965-68 Later with their three children Joy, Samuel and Stephen, they, joined Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Kona Hawaii in 1975 to pioneer University of The Nations (U of N) 1975-78. In 1979-1988 they pioneered another work in (YWAM) called Mercy Ships where they worked on two vessels. (This is no longer part of YWAM)
Alan went home to be with the Lord in March 1988 and since that time Fay has resided in Kona Hawaii, while traveling to help pioneer and teach in the Pacific Islands, and teaches in DTS schools on campus in Hawaii. She also teaches Art to the staff children in their school on campus.
In 1995 Fay published her autobiography about her family’s experience in missions including their travels to many nations, called, “The World In Our Hearts” available from Williams Publishing 75-5851 Kuakini Hwy #48 Kailua Kona Hawaii 96740
Enquiries or requests can also be sent to: faywilliamshawaii@gmail.com
Fay and Alan’s three adult children are married and all serving the Lord along with their spouses and children in different capacities. There are now seven grandchildren from ages between 13-26.
She is currently writing a second book, A Memoir, called “The Journey”
As many of you know I love to write prayers which I post on the Light for the Journey Facebook page each day. The prayer above was written after the shooting at SPU and with the other shootings across the U.S. this week it has been very much on my mind. As you read it I hope that you will pray for all those impacted by these horrific acts.
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God may we today discover the good news of your kingdom,
The good news of healing, freedom, forgiveness and reconciliation.
May we taste its abundance and embrace its peace.
May it lead us to the fullness of life,
A life of sharing, caring liberating, and celebrating.
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God let the joy of your presence fill us,
Christ let the wonder of your love transform us,
Spirit let the peace of your indwelling sustain us,
This day and every day.
Amen.
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Circle us Lord,
Let your love and peace fill us.
Circle us Lord,
Let your compassion and concerns stir us.
Circle us Lord,
Let your truth and justice guide us.
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This prayer inspired by SlowChurch.com gathering at the Mustard Seed House.
Lord Jesus Christ, let us sit in your presence,
Savouring the fragrance of your love.
May we always take time for you,
And ever make space for you.
May we never be too busy to listen,
May we never be too tired to pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, let us sit in the company of friends
And enjoy sweet fellowship with you.
May we eat together of your abundance,
And share of your generosity.
May we never be too busy to listen,
May we never be too tired to pray.
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God of power and glory,
we praise your holy name!
Your Pentecostal fire
spread not from priest or king
but from ordinary lives
when through your disciples
you set this world aflame.
So fill this place, we pray,
that your Spirit’s power
might be seen
through these ordinary lives.
Re-kindle the fire in our hearts
that was lit when we first believed,
that we might become
a blessing to many.
God of power and glory,
we praise your holy name!
©John Birch, faithandworship.com
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God may your light be with us today.
Let it shine on the path ahead,
And fill us with the joy of seeing you.
Let it shine through the face of strangers,
And be revealed in the companionship of friends.
God let your light be with today,
May it bring us to the day’s end,
With thanks and gratitude.
One of the aspects of hospitality that I am grappling with these days is how to make meals that are inviting for my gluten free friends. Bread and cheese have always been staples of lunches for us and the moment the basil is ready for harvest I am making pesto, but what can I make that is equally as appetizing but acceptable to my gluten free friends?
Dried Tomato, Olive Tapenade is one possibility. Even those that don’t normally like olives love it.
I have adapted this recipe from one I found in the Australian Women’s Weekly Tomato Cookbook.
- 1 cup drained sun-dried tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
- 2/3 cup pecans
- 1 cup pitted kalamata olives
Process all ingredients until smooth. Spoon tapenade into cold sterilized jars; seal immediately or store in the refrigerator (stores 4-6 weeks).
What are your favourite gluten free recipes that you use for entertaining?
This is the second guest post from Lynne Baab in our series Hospitality and the Kingdom of God.
Lynne M. Baab is the author of numerous books on Christian spiritual practices. This article is adapted from her 2012 book, Joy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your Congregation. which has a chapter illustrating numerous ways congregations can engage in hospitality together. Lynne’s latest book will be released in June 2014: The Power of Listening: Building Skills for Mission and Ministry, and she would argue listening skills are essential in giving and receiving hospitality.
A handful of books have changed my life, and Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition by Christine D. Pohl is one of them. I read it soon after it was released in 1999, and immediately I began to see hospitality as a metaphor for ministry, a metaphor that opened my heart and changed my daily encounters with others.
I was raised by a mother with a distinct and significant gift of hospitality. My childhood memories are full of parties and dinners that my mom hosted. She is an excellent cook, and her extraverted and warm relational style helps people feel welcome in her home. As soon as I moved into my first apartment, I started having people over for meals. When I got married, my husband and I continued that tradition. I deeply enjoy hosting people for meals, and I know I learned that skill and attitude as a child from my very hospitable mother.
Before I read Making Room, the word “hospitality” meant hosting people for meals and having houseguests from time to time. Christine Pohl helped me see hospitality as something bigger, an opportunity to meet the risen Christ in the lives of others, which might involve hosting people for meals or lodging but also means meeting Jesus in conversations and encounters with others in many settings where I am not necessarily the host or a guest. I now believe that every encounter is an opportunity to show hospitality and welcome, and this has shaped my understanding of Christian ministry in all forms.
The Bible is full of commands to be hospitable and models of hospitality. (See my previous post .) However, the biblical invitation to engage in hospitality goes far beyond specific verses that command it or stories that illustrate it. The deepest invitation to engage in acts of hospitality and welcome comes from the sweep of biblical history that shows the actions of a generous and hospitable God. This history began with God’s invitation to Adam and Eve to dwell in the Garden, and to abstain from eating one particular food. Adam and Eve violated this act of hospitality on God’s part, and the rest of biblical history is the account of God’s continual invitation and welcome to the people God created in love. In the incarnation we see Jesus, who came as a stranger to earth, but showed a profound welcome to the people he encountered.
We are sent into the world in the same way Jesus was sent (John 17:18), and this means trying to be receptive to the gift inside each person we meet. To be truly hospitable is to welcome with tenderness and kindness each person we encounter as a precious reflection of the image of God, even in those moments when we need to be forthright about something important to us. Being hospitable means to learn from everyone, growing as a listener and watching for the ways God is transforming us through the lives of the people we meet. Sometimes we meet people over a meal and sometimes in another setting, but wherever it happens, God calls us to extend a warm welcome in the spirit of Jesus Christ.
Celtic Hospitality Liturgy
For British Christians in the fifth to eleventh centuries, the primary focus for worship, pastoral care and religious instruction was the monastery rather than the parish church. This strongly monastic character of the Celtic church produced a model of ministry that was communitarian rather than individualistic. “Ministry in all aspects, liturgical, pastoral, evangelistic, educational was not the solitary individualistic task it so often is today. It was rather undertaken by teams of men and women, ordained and lay, who lived together in community and operated from a common central base from which they went out among the people preaching, teaching, baptizing, administering the sacraments, caring for the sick and burying the dead.”[1] These monasteries were not just places for people to withdraw for prayer and contemplation. They were often at the crossroads of society, open to a constant stream of visitors, pilgrims and penitents. These monastic centres were intimately involved in the affairs of the world and the lives of the people they served. The monks were not just concerned with the spiritual wellbeing of the communities they served but also with their intellectual and physical wellbeing. They were also in many ways the keepers of culture and tradition, not just copying the Psalms and Gospels but also writing down stories, songs, and poems and preserving myths and legends for posterity.
One of the most demanding and often costly tasks undertaken by the Celtic monasteries was that of hospitality. They believed hospitality was not only meant to be a custom in their homes, they believed it was also a key into the kingdom of God. The guest house or hospitium, often occupied the best site within the monastic community and, though the monks might live on bread and water, visitors would often receive the best of food and drink. The monastery at Derry is said to have fed a thousand hungry people each day. Brigit, who presided over the monastery at Kildare, often made butter for visitors. Tradition has it that when churning the butter, Brigit would make thirteen portions – twelve in honour of the apostles and an extra one in honour of Christ which was reserved for guests and the poor.
According to Christine Pohl in her inspirational book Making Room, the tradition of hospitality was once an important part of all Christian communities and revolved around the welcoming of strangers into one’s home. “For most of the history of the church, hospitality was understood to encompass physical, social, and spiritual dimensions of human existence and relationships. It meant response to the physical needs of strangers for food, shelter and protection, but also a recognition of their worth and common humanity. In almost every case, hospitality involved sharing meals: historically table fellowship was an important way of recognizing the equal value and dignity of persons.”[2]
The following liturgy revolves around the practice of hospitality. You may like to get together with a group of friends over a meal and discuss how you could become God’s hospitality to your community. Use this liturgy to focus your minds and hearts on the call to be Christ’s hospitality to our world. Brigit’s prayer which is used as part of this liturgy, also makes a great grace before a meal. You might like to write out copies for each person and recite it together as you begin your meal
Leader: The Celtic Christians believed that hospitality was not only meant to be a custom in their homes, they believed it was a key into the Kingdom of God. To offer hospitality was seen as receiving Christ into their midst and fulfilling the law of love. Let us sit in silent prayer for a moment to remind ourselves of the incredible hospitality of God who invites us into his presence and into his family.
All stand for lighting of the candle
Leader: The King is knocking. If thou would’st have thy share of heaven on earth, lift the latch and let in the king of Kings. (Hebridean welcome)
All: Christ as a light illumine and guide us
Christ as a shield overshadow us
Christ under me, Christ over us,
Christ beside us, On our left and our right
This day be within and without us
Lowly and meek yet all-powerful
Be in the heart of each to whom we speak
In the mouth of each who speaks to us
This day be within and without us
Lowly and meek yet all-powerful
Christ as a light, Christ as a shield
Christ beside us, on our left and our right (Northumbria Morning Prayer)
Leader: Brigit the fifth-century Irish saint, was famed for her hospitality. The following prayer is attributed to her. As we recite it let us consider our own need to be God’s hospitality to others
All: I should like a great lake of finest ale, for the King of Kings
I should like a table of the choicest food, for the family of heaven.
Let the ale be made from the fruits of faith, and the food be forgiving love.
I should welcome the poor to my feast, for they are God’s children.
I should welcome the sick to my feast, for they are God’s joy.
Let the poor sit with Jesus at the highest place, and the sick dance with the angels
God bless the poor, God bless the sick, and bless our human race.
God bless our food, God bless our drink, all homes, O God, embrace.
Leader: I open my heart to Christ in the stranger,
People: To Christ in the face of colleague and friend,
Leader: I open my heart to the one who is wounded
People: To Christ in the hungry, the lonely, the homeless
Leader: I open my heart to the one who has hurt me
People: To Christ in the faces of sinner and foe
Leader: I open my heart to those who are outcast
People: To Christ in the broken, the prisoner, the poor
Leader: I open my heart to all who are searching
People: To Christ in the world God’s generous gift
Scripture Readings –
Psalm 84
Hebrews 12:28 – 13:8
Mark 12: 28-34
After the gospel reading recite the following Declaration of Faith
We believe and trust in God the Father Almighty.
We believe and trust in Jesus Christ the Son
We believe and trust in the Holy Spirit.
We believe and trust in the Three in One
Leader: The Lord be with you
People: And also with you
Leader: Let us pray
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen
Leader: Let us pray that we may learn what it means to be God’s hospitality to our world
Kneel or stand for the prayers
Leader: That the barriers that divide us may be broken down,
All: Lord have mercy
Leader: That we may live by the law of love in unity, peace and concord
All: Lord have mercy
Leader: That we may come to mutual understanding and care,
All: Lord have mercy
Leader: Upon all who are torn apart by war and by violence
All: Christ have mercy
Leader: Upon all who suffer from dissensions and quarrels,
All: Christ have mercy
Leader: Upon all who are divided in their loyalty and love,
All: Christ have mercy
Leader: That all who work for unity and in the spirit of hospitality may be blessed
All: Lord have mercy
Leader: That all who seek to heal divisions between peoples may have hope
All: Lord have mercy
Leader: That all who lead nations, may seek peace
All: Lord have mercy[3]
Leader: The following blessing is an ancient Celtic rune of hospitality that many think was written by St Brigid
We saw a stranger yesterday, we put food in the eating place,
Drink in the drinking place, music in the listening place,
And with the sacred name of the triune God
He blessed us and our house, our cattle and our dear ones.
As the lark says in her song: Often, often, often goes the Christ in the stranger’s guise
All: I open my heart to be the hospitality of Christ, to all those who come to my door.
I open my heart to embrace the stranger, the friend, the rich, the poor
I open my life to offer a generous heart towards all.
Leader: The blessings of God be upon this house, with plenty of food and plenty of drink,
With plenty of beds and plenty of ale, with much riches and much cheer
With many kin and length of life, ever upon it. Amen
[1] Ian Bradley, Colonies of Heaven: Celtic Christian Communities, Live the Tradition, Northstone Publishing, Kelowna, BC, Canada 2000, p5-6
[2] Christine Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1999, p4
[3] David Adam, The Rhythm of Life: Celtic Daily Prayer, SPCK, London 1996, p82
Today’s post is the first guest post in the series Hospitality and the Kingdom of God.
Lynne M. Baab (www.lynnebaab.com) is the author of numerous books on Christian spiritual practices. This article is excerpted from her 2012 book, Joy Together: Spiritual Practices for Your Congregation, which has a chapter illustrating numerous ways congregations can engage in hospitality together. Lynne’s latest book will be released in June 2014: The Power of Listening: Building Skills for Mission and Ministry, and she would argue listening skills are essential in giving and receiving hospitality.
Discern together – Supper at Emmaus by Roy de Maistre
Both the Old and New Testaments encourage hospitality, but one story has shaped my understanding more than any other. On the day of Jesus’ resurrection, a disciple named Cleopas and another person—perhaps a friend, a sibling, or Cleopas’s wife—left Jerusalem before news of the resurrection reached them. Both of them had been eager followers of Jesus, and they walked home to Emmaus disconsolate and discouraged because Jesus had died. A stranger on the road joined their discussion, asking them why they were sad. They told him about Jesus, their hopes about his kingdom, and the dashing of those hopes at his crucifixion. The stranger, extremely well-versed in Jewish history and the Hebrew scriptures, told them his perspective about the life and work of the Messiah.
When Cleopas and his companion reached their home in Emmaus, they invited the stranger in for a meal. When the visitor broke bread at the table and blessed it, they knew instantly that this was Jesus, now resurrected and still alive. After their moment of recognition, he vanished. They thought back to the conversation on the road, and realized the thrill of hearing him explain his own mission in his own words. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32)
These disciples invited a stranger into their home for a meal. They were the hosts, the ones who asked him in, but at the table this guest turned things upside down. The stranger broke the bread and blessed it, becoming the host. Like Cleopas and his companion, Christian individuals and congregations today are increasingly exploring ways to provide hospitality. As they do, they are experiencing the presence of Jesus, who is present in friend and stranger. God invites us to extend the rich welcome that we ourselves have been offered.
Hospitality plays a role in the Bible from beginning to end. The Jewish sacrificial system involved contributions of food that were consumed in festivals in the Temple. Some of Jesus’ most memorable encounters with individuals occur in the context of hospitality in people’s homes. Two examples are his discussion with Mary and Martha about the “one needful thing” while Martha was preparing a meal (Luke 10:38-42) and Jesus’ extension of loving grace to an outcast woman who washed his feet with her tears in the middle of a dinner (Luke 7:36-50). Several of Jesus’ parables present vivid pictures of feasts; one example is the parable of the great wedding feast in Matthew 22:1-14. In his last meal with his disciples, Jesus invited them to adopt a celebration of remembrance and presence that involves bread and wine.
New Testament believers viewed hospitality as an essential component of ministry. In 1 Timothy, the good works attributed to bishops and widows above reproach include hospitality (1 Timothy 3:2 and 5:10), and being hospitable occurs throughout the epistles in lists of recommended behavior (Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2, 1 Peter 4:9).
It is no accident that two of the post-resurrection stories involve Jesus acting as host. In the Emmaus story, Jesus begins as a stranger and guest, but then is revealed to be the host of the meal. In the incident on the beach in Galilee, Jesus helps the disciples catch fish and then cooks it for them (John 21:1-14). Both of these stories are a culmination of the generous and hospitable earthly life of the Son of God. Jesus was hospitable in spirit before his death, speaking with honor and respect to outcasts, and he demonstrated hospitality in concrete forms—involving bread and fish—after his resurrection. We are invited to go into the world with the same spirit and goals that Jesus had (John 17:18). Sometimes we are stranger and guest, and sometimes we are host. Sometimes our hospitality involves food and sometimes we act hospitably in our words or other deeds. In all roles, we are called to be open to the people we encounter in a spirit of hospitality and welcome that reflects the generosity of the God who has welcomed us.
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