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.
This post is out of date. Please see find the lastest post here.
- Hospitality and the Kingdom of God is as many of you are aware the Godspace theme for the next few months. There is still time to contribute if you are interested but for those who already have your interest stirred and want to read more on the topic here are some books to consider reading:
- Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition by Christine Pohl. This is still my absolute favourite book on hospitality and the theological perspective that should turn our world upside down.
- Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way of Love by Lonni Collins Pratt with Father Daniel Homan. This is an inspirational book on the tried and true Benedictine way of life and hospitality.
- Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating by Norman Wirzba. This excellent book is not specifically about hospitality but hospitality is such an important part of how we eat that I think it needs to be included here.
- Take this Bread by Sara Miles. This is a wonderful and challenging memoir of how Sara was converted and then reached out with passion through the sharing of food at the communion table for those at the margins.
- A Meal With Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community and Mission around the Table by Tim Chester. Another thought provoking book about God’s purposes in the ordinary act of sharing a meal as an opportunity for grace, community and mission.
- Befriending the Stranger by Jean Vanier. Living together in peace, kindness and hospitality is the radical way of life for the L’Arche communities, which Jean Vanier talks about here.
- Stone Soup was put together by Unilever and the United Nations World Food Programme to mark World Food Day in 2008. Just a great example of hospitality!
- Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus by Christopher Smith and John Pattison. This is another must read for anyone who wants to move beyond church as a place to go to church as community and a place of hospitality and belonging.
- Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequist. This book is a compilation of essays and recipes centered around food, community and connection. It “reminds readers of the joy found in a life around the table”.
- A Bigger Table: Building Messy, Authentic, and Hopeful Spiritual Community by John Pavlovitz. A challenge to the modern day Christian church to model the real hospitality of Jesus – where everyone has a seat at the table.
- Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others by Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock. I have not read this, but it is definitely on my reading list for the next few months.
- A Christian View of Hospitality: Expecting Surprises by Michele Hershberger. This is another one on my reading list for the next couple of months.
- Friendship at the Margins by Christopher L. Heuertz and Christine D. Pohl. Another challenging book about what it means to live in community and hospitality with those at the margins.
- Realities of Faith by Basilea Schlink. The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary that Basilea Schlink founded has an incredible story of hospitality and God’s provision.
- Hospitality (Christian Reflection) (A Series in Faith and Ethics) by Robert Kruschwitz, Ed. The Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University, 2007. “Hospitality, once central to Christian life, has been tamed”, says Kruschwitz. Is the practice of graciously welcoming one another, especially the stranger, a lost art? Fourteen reflections. The link is the pdf that can be downloaded for free!
- Just Hospitality: God’s Welcome in a World of Difference by Letty M Russell. This is another book I have not read but it piqued my interest. Russell draws on feminist and postcolonial thinking to show how we are colonized and colonizing, each of us bearing the marks of the history that formed us. With careful attention, she writes, we can build a network of hospitality that is truthful about our mistakes and inequities, yet determined to resist the contradictions that drive us apart. This kind of genuine solidarity requires us to cast off oppression and domination in order to truly welcome the stranger.
- The Gift of the Stranger: Faith, Hospitality and Foreign Language Learning by David I. Smith and Barbara Carvill. The title says it all. This is a must read book for anyone studying a foreign language or working cross culturally.
- Untamed Hospitality: Welcoming God and Other Strangers by Elizabeth Newman. Christian hospitality, according to Elizabeth Newman, is an extension of how we interact with God. It trains us to be capable of welcoming strangers who will challenge us and enhance our lives in unexpected ways, readying us to embrace the ultimate stranger: God.
Great Recipe Books To Use For Hospitality
- The Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon. This delightful book intertwines cooking and theology to produce a refreshing book filled with wisdom about cooking, hospitality and life.
- Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Victor-Antoine D’Avila-Latourrette. From the monastery to the kitchen. This is a great collection of simple, inexpensive but nourishing recipes. It is worth checking out his other books too.
- Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook is compiled and authored by Schlabach with assistance from Kristina Mast Burnett, recipe editor. I love this cookbook with stories, proverbs and recipes from around the world.
- Its companions More with Less and Simply in Season, are also valuable resources for inexpensive seasonal cooking.
- There is even a Simply in Season Children’s Cookbook, which at this stage, I have not experimented with but it teaches kids about where food comes from and how to prepare it – always a fun part of hospitality.
We are so excited about our retreat on Camano this year that we wanted to make it as easy as possible for everyone to attend. We have just posted our early bird special rates.
The theme for this year is Brigid and the Hospitality of God. This is yet another aspect of our focus on Hospitality and the Kingdom of God, our theme here at Godspace for the next few months.
Come join us on Camano Island WA for this wonderful weekend. More details here
- share a time of guided retreat and reflection beginning at 9am Saturday morning with coffee and snacks. enjoy the prayer trails and prayerful activities during the afternoon celebrate with a BBQ potluck dinner that night.
- Both kids and students will have a program designed especially for their time at the Retreat.
- We also invite you to camp with us Friday and Saturday nights, and to share morning and evening prayers and a time of reflective worship Sunday morning.
- Find out about the different options here
Jesus, who welcomes all who come to him, shows us the pattern that is repeated in Eastern hospitality and in the Celtic way of life. The idea that the one I welcome is the “Christ in the stranger’s guise” calls me to recognize the image of God in all persons and the presence of God in all creation. This understanding changes my attitude toward every person. I open my heart and seek the good, rather than raise my walls of defense and look with suspicion. Celtic spirituality teaches not only hospitality to the stranger but welcome to the poor and the marginalized.
At the retreat we will use the life of Brigid, one of my favourite Celtic saints, to guide us. She became abbess at the monastery of Kildaire where, under her leadership, a thousand meals were reportedly served each day. I always use Brigid’s Feast as a grace for our retreats. This year our liturgies, songs and scripture readings will also revolve around her love for the poor and her generous hospitality.
Each year our Saturday meals are potlucks with delicious salads and desserts contributed by attendees. This year we would like to start collecting some of these wonderful recipes to help us get to know each other better. So if you plan to come, write out your recipe with your name and contact information send it to us so that we can make these available for other attendees. This year’s retreat will be a grand summer celebration of welcome and feasting. We hope you can join us.
Celtic retreat
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