At the center of the Christian faith is a table, an everyday place of eating and drinking; a sacred space where people met God. It’s a setting of welcome set for us by Jesus with a simple invitation:
Communion
Hospitality
It’s not a matter of cozy spaces and sumptuous feasts that impress your guests. It’s about being a neighbor, about seeing Jesus in one another. Benedict, in his rule, makes hospitality a central principle: “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.”
During COVID-19, we’ve had to reimagine hospitality, with health protocols constraining in-person, in-home gatherings. While we continue to figure that out, check out the video conversation of Dr. Christine Pohl, Professor Emeritus of Church and Society at Asbury Theological Seminary (one of the wisest Christian teachers on the Christian practices of welcome and hospitality) with Rev. Michael Gulker, director of The Colossian Forum.
