Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 1 Peter 4:8-9
“How does healing take place? Many words, such as “care” and “compassion,” “understanding” and “forgiveness,” “fellowship” and “community,” have been used for the healing task of the Christian minister.
I like to use the word “hospitality,” not only because it has such deep roots in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, but also, and primarily, because it gives us more insight into the nature of response to the human condition of loneliness.
Hospitality is the virtue that allows us to break through the narrowness of our own fears and to open our houses to the stranger, with the intuition that salvation comes to us in the form of a tired traveler. Hospitality makes anxious disciples into powerful witnesses, makes suspicious owners into generous givers, and makes closed-minded sectarians into interested recipients of new ideas and insights.
But it has become very difficult for us today to fully understand the implications of hospitality. Like the Semitic nomads, we live in a desert with many lonely travelers who are looking for a moment of peace, for a fresh drink, and for a sign of encouragement so that they can continue their mysterious search for freedom.
What does hospitality as a healing power require? It requires first of all that hosts feel at home in their own house, and second, that they create a free and fearless place for the unexpected visitor.”
Henri Nouwen in Wounded Healer: Ministry in a Contemporary Society (New York: Image, 1972) 95-96.
Nouwen teaches us yet again how to minister to others in this broken world: “create a free and fearless place for the unexpected visitor” that “makes anxious disciples into powerful witnesses, makes suspicious owners into generous givers, and makes closed-minded sectarians into interested recipients of new ideas and insights.” The apostle Peter urges us to reflect on God’s love for us to move beyond grumbling.
The time with the Chilean delegation is going well at Black Rock Retreat. Peter Fiorello (our host), Carla Archila (GTP Spanish translator and interpreter from Guatemala), and I have worked to make this a place where they can feel welcome, grasp new concepts, and experience transformation. What about you? Does your home, your office, or your place of ministry draw people in and minister to them deeply?
Encouraging Christian generosity, Nouwen might say, is about first feeling “at home” in your own house. That is, finding contentment in our Lord Jesus Christ and peace in His matchless care, so that you can share freely all He has supplied had fearlessly give what you have knowing He will care for you. Soak in this. The first step is feeling at home. Rest in His love then create a free and fearless space.