I had the privilege today to be a part of a luncheon about hospitality hosted by our Center for Congregations here in Evansville. This is part of a series, and today we focused on what we could glean on hospitality from the Benedictine Tradition, with a focus on The Rule of Benedict. I cannot say that I had any “wow” moments but I did have a chance to sit back and think a lot about what being hospitable truly means. In a culture of social networking, and not knowing our own neighbors, it seems to be changing for this generation.

Sadly I believe we have lost the art of hospitality and conversation. You don’t have to have things in common to carry on a conversation or approach a stranger, but I feel like we are suffering as a society because we are losing our touch with true community. It was refreshing to hear the sisters talk about their community in Ferdinand, IN, The Sisters of St. Benedict. The love, respect, commitment and stability to one another was beautiful to hear lived out in practical ways. It is our job as Christian brothers and sisters to see Christ inside each other, whether it is our first encounter or our seventy-first.

A quote from today was, “the present moment is the most important moment in relationship.” How quickly we are to move from one tangent to the next. We have become quite talented at our multi-tasking, but it has placed a burden on our welcoming spirit, and it has damaged the very nature in which we deal with people. Sadly, I am just as guilty. There have been times that Abby has called me at the office, and I have tried to carry on a conversation with her, while emailing, and looking over my to-do list for the day. Sometimes she will snap me back into the moment, but our relationship is not strengthened by my lack of attention. There will always be something that needs to get done, or requires our attention, but true hospitality can set those things aside to focus on the person, the child of God, that is in their midst.

The more I think about the luncheon today, and my own life, I find how often I forget to show hospitality to the people I love and see most often. I should be most hospitable and welcoming to my wife and my kids, to my co-workers and friends that I see on a weekly basis. So often we only reach into our hospitality bag of tricks when “guests” are present, or we are put in the role of greeter. Sadly we often miss the everyday opportunities to see Christ in our kids, in our spouses, in our extended family. Hospitality happens when we slow down, and look for Christ in the stranger, in the sibling, in the secretary where you may work. Hospitality happens when we throw off the harmful baggage of multi-tasking and live in the moment. When we cherish a conversation, when we look someone in the eye and truly listen, when we extend a hand of love and not a hollow greeting.

I challenge you this week to live a life of hospitality. Not simply when you have guests, or when you are at your house of worship, but in the ebbs and flows of normal, everyday life.

January 20, 2010 <> Michael Warneke

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