The organizer of a congregation’s adult forum asked me to present a talk in a series on “hospitality.” I was asked to reflect from my pastoral experience on “hospitality toward the clergy.” Here was an unusual opportunity to bring attention to organizational and spiritual development at a critical inflection point in their story.
In the first ten days of my ministry here, two people died. Of course, I had no knowledge of either or of their families–I was completely new to the town. And completely new to pastoral ministry! Very quickly, I learned something about pastoring quite unusual and worthy of remark: it works!
We are so divided, they say. Blue and red, conservative and liberal, urban and rural pulled under separate enclaves like twelve-year old boys and girls at the edges of a dance floor; opposing sides never speaking. Laid on this story of division, of course, are some heart-warming ones about this tow n that is managing a spirit of comity, or that organization hosting hard conversations. The big scheme the media have latched onto is that all are contributing to social disorder because we are all stuck in our own minds, in our own tribes, unwilling to listen or learn, or to see the other’s side.
What lies at the bottom of this constant craving in our nature for more satisfaction? Nothing
lies at the bottom of constant craving. That’s the problem. That’s the marvel. Put into yourself what you will, of whatever nature and whatever number, these cannot fill you, for there is nothing at the bottom of you. You are an openness.
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