Saint Benedict Episcopal Church

 Practice Hospitality

We have an onerous task as a Christian people—that task is to practice hospitality. It is part of being a Christian—that we look for the Christ in others and imagine that in our Baptism we put on Christ like a garment.

Add to this the obligation of being named after our Patron, Benedict who is noted for practicing gracious hospitality and in teaching others to receive all guest as Christ.  I wasn’t kidding—we do have an onerous task!  That task is that we are to practice Christian hospitality with Benedictine flair.

We are gifted at St. Benedict for being a place of hospitality and warmth there’s not a doubt in my mind about that—we know how to practice the gracious hospitality of God.  If you have any doubts about that, think about the way we practice sharing the Peace in this place.  If you have any doubts, come to a community dinner where greeters wait outside for guests to arrive and welcome them by walking them in where they are greeted by a second set of greeters inside that take them into the dinner.  Oh yes, we know a thing or two about hospitality.

The question is how can we bless and encourage this gift of hospitality to continue growing and thriving in our community? 

It is too easy to take our gifts for granted and to think, so what?  Why is practicing hospitality so important—aren’t all churches naturally gifted at being places of hospitality?  I think some communities have an easier time of practicing hospitality. Others struggle. This community has a natural gift.  The work is to continue to hone that natural gift.  Maybe you’ve noticed that I keep on calling it practicing hospitality.  That is exactly the point—we practice and practice and practice.   We practice hospitality here each and every Sunday so that we can practice it everyday in the world.  We practice it and like playing a violin or rehearsing a play, we become more adept with each time we  practice. 

So how can we continue to practice it here?

We practice it here by being on the look out for new faces in our community from the moment we leave our house with the intention of coming to church, we are practicing hospitality.  We are to look for new faces in the parking lot, in our assembly, during the Peace, in the halls and in coffee hour. If you don’t know their face, introduce yourself.  I know, sometimes, we assume the unfamiliar face is new when actually the person has been going here since Moses wore short-pants.  However, its okay. Laugh and be gracious about that mistake or find ways to introduce yourself that don’t make the assumption that they are new—just that you don’t know them.  Each and every one of us is responsible for hospitality.

Our welcome of unknown faces, must be as tightly orchestrated as a Bach Fugue or we will squander the gift of hospitality. Our newcomers group has worked hard all summer on creating that tightly orchestrated fugue that we will use this fall to help grow into the practice of our Hospitality even more.

Growing churches tend to follow up with newcomers at least with 4-5 contacts after a visit.  So here’s the vision of the fugue we have in mind:

A new person enters the building. A greeter at 10:00 (or the Usher at 8:00) welcomes them and invites them to sign our guest book which is located in front hall way. The greeter asks if they are familiar with the Episcopal Church and then hands them off to the Usher.  The usher gives them a bulletin and having been told that they are new, asks if they would like to be seated with someone that is familiar with how we worship so that they can help them know what to do when.  The usher seats them someplace near the back (so if you are a back seat sitter, you might have company!) and then this person helps them to follow along.  The person sitting with them then invites this person to fill out a pew card to put into the offering plate.  During the Peace the Ushers, greeters of the day and the person seating with the new guest makes sure that this guest is introduced and is greeted at the Peace but not overwhelmed.  The greeter will also make sure to invite the guest to coffee hour after church.  The greeter will make sure that the Vicar is aware of the guest and will introduce them to me.

During coffee hour, the Greeter will host the new guest, introducing them to another member of the congregation.  That member from our congregation should make a point of making conversation and then hand off the new guest to another member before leaving them so that they are not left standing outside the circle of conversation.

After their visit, I will follow up with a phone call to the guest on Sunday evening and also with a letter in the mail.  The new guest, depending on their response from the call, will then be passed onto a sponsor.  That is a member of this congregation who is similar to this newcomer and will work to form a relationship with the newcomer.  The idea is that relationship is what calls us into community.  The sponsor will call the person and invite them to meet for coffee hour after church the following Sunday.

In addition, the Newcomer team is discerning whether they have the people power to do what we lovingly call and ding and ditch for new members. This is where members of the newcomer team will go to the homes of the new member ring their bell and leave them a loaf of bread with a note indicating from that its from St. Benedict.  They will do this within the 48 hours after their Sunday visit.   Wow, that’s a great deal isn’t it?

The newcomer team is discerning about the ding and ditch project to see if they have the time and energy to do this as it is a significant undertaking.  Carol LaBelle has a little poem she has written for newcomers that we’d use on the bread.

Twice a year, our community will hold a six week Inquiry class for newcomers that talks about the basics of our Christian faith and the Episcopal tradition.  This first set of classes begins on September 16 after the 10:00 Eucharist.

Why would we go through all this trouble?  Because it is part of living into that onerous task of practicing hospitality.  We are called by God to be gracious. We are named for a saint that was known for his hospitality.  We are community given to practice good hospitality and now that we are deepening that practice.

Each and every member of this community is called to deepen their own practice of hospitality.  Greet new faces.  Become a sponsor—that is someone who helps integrate a newcomer by forming a relationship.  This is a simple ministry that every member of this parish can do—being a friend and a witness to the good news of Jesus Christ in this community.

So come on!  Let’s get practicing!