Book Discussion Session Two
Another great group came out yesterday to discuss the first three chapters of Part Two over soup and cornbread. We welcomed a guest discussion leader, the Rev. Steve Austin, for the first portion of our gathering.
Our conversation began - and stayed with - the chapter on Hospitality: Welcoming Strangers. Early in the chapter, the author describes her experience while visiting a Methodist church in Naples, Florida. She recounts the warm welcome they received, and she describes the comingling of all ages and backgrounds doing the same - welcoming each other. "It appears to be a congregation in which wayfarers and strangers have become friends," writes Butler-Bass.
We discussed our own practice of greeting newcomers, and we talked additionally about how we might both strengthen relationships between present members and reach out to invite others. We looked at our Mission Statement, which reads: "Our purpose is to follow Jesus Christ and to keep Christ at the center of our lives. We aspire to strengthen our identity as a home of extravagan welcome where friends and strangers alike encounter God's love."
Once people arrive here at Church of Christ, what do they find? Who or what awaits them? Is there an understood or implied "password" that gets one through the door comfortably?
Butler-Bass notes that after she had finished her congregation visits, she asked her then seven year-old daughter which was her favorite. Her daughter answered without pausing that it was the church where she heard rock music and where she was greeted and treated well by a teenage member.
We noted that true hospitality is offered not in consideration of what we might "get in return," but rather as part of who we are called to be. Butler-Bass writes, "Christians welcome strangers as we ourselves have been welcomed into God through the love of Jesus Christ."
We talked at length about if we as a congregation are willing to pay the costs of becoming ever more hospitable and welcoming. Will we give up the ease of the status quo and go beyond our "comfort zones" in order to be who God calls us to be?
Our conversation began - and stayed with - the chapter on Hospitality: Welcoming Strangers. Early in the chapter, the author describes her experience while visiting a Methodist church in Naples, Florida. She recounts the warm welcome they received, and she describes the comingling of all ages and backgrounds doing the same - welcoming each other. "It appears to be a congregation in which wayfarers and strangers have become friends," writes Butler-Bass.
We discussed our own practice of greeting newcomers, and we talked additionally about how we might both strengthen relationships between present members and reach out to invite others. We looked at our Mission Statement, which reads: "Our purpose is to follow Jesus Christ and to keep Christ at the center of our lives. We aspire to strengthen our identity as a home of extravagan welcome where friends and strangers alike encounter God's love."
Once people arrive here at Church of Christ, what do they find? Who or what awaits them? Is there an understood or implied "password" that gets one through the door comfortably?
Butler-Bass notes that after she had finished her congregation visits, she asked her then seven year-old daughter which was her favorite. Her daughter answered without pausing that it was the church where she heard rock music and where she was greeted and treated well by a teenage member.
We noted that true hospitality is offered not in consideration of what we might "get in return," but rather as part of who we are called to be. Butler-Bass writes, "Christians welcome strangers as we ourselves have been welcomed into God through the love of Jesus Christ."
We talked at length about if we as a congregation are willing to pay the costs of becoming ever more hospitable and welcoming. Will we give up the ease of the status quo and go beyond our "comfort zones" in order to be who God calls us to be?
Comments
Do we need to become less civilized in our journey as Christians? Something to think about.