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Gracious God, in the Old Testament, you called your people to hospitality, to care for those whose circumstances disadvantaged them – the widows, the orphans and those who were strangers in the land. Many centuries later, to whom are we called to offer hospitality? Who among us is consistently disadvantaged by the very structure of our economy and the deep biases of our cultural hearts?
Perhaps the simple act of hospitality is what you offer us as a pattern to follow in these complicated days. Perhaps the courage to be hospitable is what you call us to engage.
How to start? When big things are happening, maybe starting small is a path to more joy and hope. What if I look for small things to feed my joy? What if I tell another of these joys?
And how might I open my heart to others’ pain? Might I hear it for the sake of accompanying rather than solving? Might that create “safe space” for another, in a time when safe space is rare and precious? Might I be inspired by the courage of another?
This message is excerpted from “For times such as these” by Catherine Malotky in the May/June 2022 Gather magazine.