This week I had the chance to listen to a great talk on hospitality that really has me thinking.

Phil’s main points were that hospitality is not a gift, but a practice, and that hospitality is more than sharing food (he had other great points as well).

I was raised in a home where hospitality meant having the house all cleaned up and putting a really good meal on the table for people. I’m not as naturally tidy as my mother (stop laughing B), which puts an added roadblock.  I’ve always felt a big weight to cook fancy dinners with elegant desserts, which often have led me to putting off having people over until I had more time/energy/money.

When I moved to England I didn’t have a home of my own to invite people to. It felt odd not to be able to cook for my friends or share space with them when they needed it. It challenged me to think about hospitality and what it meant if it wasn’t feeding your friends. What does hospitality mean when you’re on a limited budget and can’t make splashy meals for people?  How do I share space when I don’t own any space?

One of Phil’s points that has given me a lot to think about is that hospitality is about sharing your life with people. It’s not just about putting a nice meal on the table, but making people feel welcomed in your home. It’s about opening yourself up to people. Yes, it will often involve food as well, but there’s something very spiritual about eating together and sharing your stories together.

Tuesday night we were having a couple over for dinner and I was a little stressed that the dinner was not fancy enough or that the house wasn’t nice enough. It took a huge weight off my shoulders to think of hospitality in this new way. In an interesting twist, we also ended up sharing our stories after dinner and we ended the evening feeling like we had all known each other forever.

The text Phil used has also given me a lot to think about. It’s the familiar story of Zacchaeus the tax collector:

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ’sinner.’ “

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

There’s no big conversion moment. Jesus doesn’t whip out the four spiritual laws or a pamphlet. Yet, he said that salvation came to the house. Does this mean that hospitality, generousity, and justice have some redeeming power? It’s a complex question that will take some time to puzzle over, but there is definitely something very important that happens when Jesus goes to people’s houses for a meal. Hospitality was very very important to Jesus and should be very very important to us. Not in a Martha Stewart perfect way, but in an open hearted way.

My fibromyalgia is acting up, so I’m having a hard time with walking and any other activity.  You’d think that would mean I could just sit around and write, but right now it’s meaning I have to do a lot of work to overcome the fact I can’t get in to work.

I think a lot of the time we spend too much time trying to help God.  We add or subtract things from the Gospel in order to help God with His sales.

Today Bishop Gene Robinson spoke in a parish around London and as part of his comments, he said:

“When someone stands up and says homosexuality is an abomination, does that make you want to get to know God?”

So, are we supposed to change the gospel and take out anything we think won’t be popular?  Isn’t that just shaping God in our own image?

What about passages like these?

“But I am the Lord your God,

who brought you out of Egypt.

You shall acknowledge no God but me,

no Savior except me.

I cared for you in the desert,

in the land of the burning heat.

When I fed them, they were satisfied;

when they were satisfied, they became proud;

then they forgot me.

So I will come upon them like a lion,

like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

Like a bear robbed of her cubs,

I will attack them and rip them open.

Like a lion I will devour them;

a wild animal will tear them apart.”

Hosea 13:4-8

That doesn’t sound very warm and snuggly.

And here is Jesus’ prayer about his disciples:

“All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. “

Matthew 10:22

That doesn’t sound like a great recruitment strategy.

In fact, the crucifixion is a wee bit messy.  Maybe we could scrub that up a bit.

What about Jesus’ interaction with the rich young ruler, who he let walk away because he wasn’t willing to give up his riches.  Jesus didn’t seem to have a problem with people who find the Gospel offensive.

God is a grown up.  I’m quite sure that he can handle his own PR.  He doesn’t need us changing the Word so that it suits our agendas or so that it appears more appealing to others.  That doesn’t seem to connect with the idea of discipleship.

I think people who want to make their own god in their own image should just just their new god a different name, rather than making a claim on God.

Just finished watching Sweet Home Alabama for the millionth time.  Curled up on the couch with some chocolate caramel digestive biscuits.  Very girly time.

The quote:

“Honey, you can’t ride two horses with one ass.”

Beautiful!

In other news, watching the movie made me a little bit homesick and made we wonder if I’m ever going to go back to that.  A bit of an odd question, since I never actually came from that!  I’ve never been to the deep south.  Perhaps someday.

This morning I popped on CNN and saw this article:

Americans are whiners

Evidently close McCain advisor Phil Gramm came out with this statement in a major national newspaper. Now McCain is backing away from him as fast as possible.

This article made me think in a number of directions.

Are Americans whiners (particularly about the economy)? I’m going to say yes. Not that every person is a whiner, but on the whole it would be a yes. When you look at the world as a whole and the way many people are forced to live, the complaints of Americans that their gas guzzling cars are expensive to fill up are hard to stomach. The reality of the US economy is that it has been sitting on a bubble for years.  People are buying goods at artificially low prices.  People are buying houses that they can’t really afford.  People are buying gas guzzling vehicles based on subsidized gas prices.  People are buying things on credit cards that they know they have no ability to repay.  People are building lifestyles on the backs of others.

I was recently writing an article on the environment and read a quote by the Archbishop of Canterbury on the environment that the Western lifestyle is built on the back of injustice.

The American lifestyle is built on the back of people in other parts of the world living a whole different lifestyle.  It assumes that people will work for lower wages, live in much worse conditions.  If the whole world had the lifestyle of Americans the planet would implode.

So, yes, Americans are whiners.

However….

I think all the Western nations I’ve lived in are whiners.  Americans whine about the economy.   Canadians whine about their politicians.  The English whine about the weather.  Complaining is part of our culture.  Not saying it’s right, just saying that I think it’s part of human nature.  We always want more than what we have.  It’s envy.  Or lust.

Switching topics (back to the comment)….

People in key roles on campaign teams should understand some very basic things about voters.

1.  People don’t want to hear the truth.  Seriously, if someone got up and said that the next four years are basically going to be crap and it’s a matter of containing the damage and making sure the poorest stay out of the gutter would they get elected?  If someone stood up and said that what needs to happen is the rebuilding of our economic foundations and that we need to adjust our expectations, do you think they would get elected?  No.  People want to hope that things will get better.  They don’t call it the American Dream for nothing.  People want to have a better life than their parents.  They want to have their own homes and their own cars and a house full of electronics.  Telling them the reality that we may need to take a step backwards and realize that all this is an artificial construct is not going to win friends.  That’s the truth, but the truth doesn’t get you elected.

2.  People want simple answers.  People want to believe that things will change.  They think that somewhere there’s a simple answer that will right everything in a few weeks.  We’ll discover some government department that doesn’t need to exist and that can be eliminated so that their taxes can drop by half.  They want to believe that the $600 check they got from the government came out of thin air.  They want to believe that wars can be won or lost.  In reality the economy, war, politics, etc are all very complex and action has an equal and opposite reaction.  Quick and easy answers gave us Al Queda.  It gave us ethanol.  Reaping the reward of easy answers is painful.

3.  People vote out of hope, or fear.  If Gramm had said that the economy was all the result of the menacing Chinese, everyone would have cheered.  No one wants to hear they are the problem.  They want an us vs. them mentality.  Someone is doing this to us.  Big banks.  Foreign nations.  Traditionally the Republicans have played off fear and the democrats have played off hope (a huge over generalization), which, since 1980 has resulted in 12 years of Democratic rule and 20 years of Republican rule.  Fear is a powerful force in electoral politics.

4.  People don’t like being scolded.  Pretty self-explanatory.  People especially don’t like being scolded by rich, old, white men.

Realistically, Gramm is arrogant and talking down at people.  Perhaps he’d have a better career in academia?  A level of contempt for the people who voted him in is not a winning trait.  McCain should be more careful with his advisors.  Grumpy arrogant old men only reinforces the worst image of McCain (and Republicans in general).  That kind of attitude is not going to win against Obama.

I’ve been thinking lately about books and which ones really rocked me.  There are piles of good books out there, but which ones really shifted my perspective.  Here’s my current list:

Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell

Red Moon Rising - Pete Greig

Bono in Conversation

Irresistible Revolution - Shane Claiborne

God on Mute - Pete Greig

I Am Not, But I Know I AM - Louis Giglio

Cost of Discipleship - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I feel like Celebration of Discipline should be on the list.  It’s definitely a great book, but it was more of a guidance book, not a perspective shifting book.

Which books have shifted your world?

Today I took a lovely trip to the Tate Modern in London.  It was a substitute day for two missed national holidays last week and I decided to kick back and just thoroughly enjoy the day.  I turned off the mobile and didn’t check the internet for 12 hours.  But I digress….

I’m not such a fan of modern art.  I really don’t understand it.  At one exhibit I said “it’s a pile of bricks”.  Then I went to read the description and laughed.  Really it was a pile of bricks.  You can put whatever meaning on it you want - it’s still a pile of bricks.

At another exhibit there was what looked like a big canvas with some colors and then covered with twigs.  Very odd.  Then I read the description which said the picture was inspired by a speech by Mao Zedong about 1000 roses and free expression in China.  Soon after giving the speech people tried to use that free speech and it turns out that’s not at all what Mao meant.  So, the art was a painting of Mao giving a speech covered by all these dried up and dead roses.  Symbolism.  Hmmm….  Initially looking at the installation I had no idea of the meaning and wrote it off.  With the explanation suddenly it had meaning.

There have been some things here in England that have struck me as weird or strange.  One of those was that no one takes their own trash off their tables at cafes and coffee shops.  They just walk away from their table and leave their garbage.  I found it really hard to do!  And, in the back of my mind I thought it was really lazy that people couldn’t even walk over to a bin and get rid of their trash.

Two weeks ago I was at a train station with my boss.  We finished our tea and got up to leave.  I picked up my trash and looked around for a rubbish bin.  No rubbish bin.  I put my trash back down and said how I still have a hard time remembering to leave my rubbish on the table.  My boss replied that it was a carryover from the days of the IRA when you couldn’t have rubbish bins (and especially not in places like train stations) because the IRA would blow them up.

Huh.

I would never have guess that people left their trash on their table because rubbish bins are terrorist targets.  It all makes perfect sense now.  A country that went through that kind of threat for decades will take a long long time to change their habits.

Does this country come with little plaques on the wall to explain the meaning of things?

This past week Canada Day and July 4th slipped by with hardly a word.

I’ve lived outside of Canada for a long time and have gotten used to not doing much to celebrate.  However, having both occasions pass was really tough.  I think it has something to do with the other stuff I’m going through here.  I’m still having trouble with things like banking and phones.  It seems like there is no end to the red tape I’m going through here.  Plus, I’m missing some comforts from home.  Nothing earth shattering, just ordinary stuff.  Stores I recognize.  Foods I know.  Humour I understand.  Expressions that don’t go over my head.

I have such great memories of fun July 4th celebrations from the last couple of years, which just added to the feeling of being away from home here.

I’m running on empty a little bit from moving and some work stuff.  I’ve got lots of thoughts in my head, but need a bit more energy to do anything with those thoughts.  Things might be a little quiet here this week.

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Friday nights are awesome.  So laid back and chill.  So full of the potential of all that could happen during the weekend.  So open to possibilities.

However, tonight those possibilities included an aggressive game of Scrabble, playstation football and a mediocre (and disappointing) Nelson Mandela concert that only inspired me with the cheesiness of the human race.