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One of my favorite spiritual writers is Kathleen Norris. One of the reasons for that is that she comes from my home state: South Dakota. In one of her books, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, she writes this:
“True hospitality is marked by an open response to the dignity of each and every person. Henri Nouwen has described it as receiving the stranger on his own terms, and asserts that it can be offered only by those who 'have found the center of their lives in their own hearts'.”
As much as I love this definition of hospitality, I also struggle with it. It is so hard “to receive the stranger on his or her own terms”! I’d much rather see them as a bump in my day. I’ll give them some room, but not THAT much room! This, my friends, is a challenge for me! But, I do believe, one that I’d like to live into!
Why? Because some of my most precious memories are memories where someone else gave me that much dignity...where someone received me on my own terms.
Questions:
1) when have you been offered this kind of dignity by another? What did it feel like? How did it change your perspective on life?
2) When have you been able to give this kind of dignity to someone else?
3) Nouwen believes that in order to give that kind of dignity to another, “you must first find the center of your lives and in your own heart”. What has helped you find that center? What’s one thing you could do today, to be “better centered”?
Scripture:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, “I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (NIV) MATTHEW 25:31-40
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