Hospitality (Part IV) This series on hospitality began several posts ago in a Fellowship Hall not far from here. Tonight I want to invite you back to that same Fellowship Hall . . . about seven years ago. It was…
Read MoreEpiphany XI
Hospitality (Part III) Yesterday I was in a conversation about a stunning new book by Willie Jennings who teaches theology at Duke Divinity School. In 2010, Jennings published The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race (Yale). Here is a link…
Read MoreEpiphany X
Hospitality (Part II) I’ve been rearranging my office space. Moving shelves and seats, the antique church pew, and other furniture. I’ve been rearranging books and things on shelves. I’m in search of a small round table to expand the creative…
Read MoreEpiphany IX
We looked around the room. Then we did a little mental head scratching. Half the fellowship hall had been cleared. Now to set things up. We’ve all done this before.
Read MoreEpiphany V
Being here on campus this week reminds me of that first trip as a new hire. I arrived late in the evening to the snowy winter dark. The next morning I went in search of breakfast. I hoped I could remember where the dining hall was. I found it (eventually), but I felt disoriented at every turn. I couldn’t even decide what to eat. And I was slightly nervous about my first day on the job. When I finally managed to get a bowl of oatmeal together and some toast, I stepped up to the register to pay.
It was J-term which meant there weren’t many people in the cafeteria at 7:30 a.m. There was no line. I put down my food.
“You don’t owe anything,” the cashier said.
“Do what?” I sputtered.
“Someone already paid for your breakfast.”
