Pandemic
Hospitality
“Hospitality
is a form of worship.”
The
Talmud
The
ancient story of Abraham welcoming the strangers is in the Hebrew scriptures,
in the Christian Bible and, in a slightly different form, in the Qur’an. Hospitality
means many things. The version we are most familiar with is “a friendly and
generous reception of people into your home,” as Abraham demonstrated in
Genesis. Also, hospitality, in its broader definition, simply means “the way
people treat others” with kindness, interest, and generosity. Louis,
chevalier de Jaucourt defined it as, “the virtue of a great soul that cares for
the whole universe.” Others carry it beyond the usual realm and say we are practicing hospitality any time we are building relationship with another of God’s
creatures.
When we
put out a bird feeder, or a water bowl for whatever creature ambles by, we are
showing hospitality. When we adopt an abandoned dog or cat, or foster animals
until permanent homes can be found, we are being hospitable. When we send a card
to someone we care about or someone we haven’t seen for a while, we are in the
service of welcoming. When a valet parks our car, he/she is practicing
hospitality.
Hospitality is shown any
time we concern ourselves with the comfort of others. Right now, during this
pandemic, we engage in hospitality when we wear a mask in public, because masks
signify that we are concerned enough about other people to consider their
health, and are willing to tolerate a small degree of discomfort to do that.
We all
miss the ability to truly engage in full-blown hospitality. We miss having
people over for dinner, traveling to our usual haunts, and making special trips
to places we have wanted to see our whole lives. We all miss the normalcy of
social engagement on a grand scale. But right now, the truest form of
hospitality is found in NOT doing any of that. It is found in being concerned
enough for the wellbeing of others to batten down our hatches and tolerate the
isolation for a little while longer. We can do this. Consider it worship.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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