...Often we maintain significant boundaries when offering help to persons in need. Many churches prepare and serve meals to hungry neighbors, but few church members find it easy to sit and eat with those who need the meal. When people are very different from ourselves, we often find it more comfortable to cook and clean for them than to share in a meal and conversation. We are familiar with roles as helpers but we are less certain about being equals eating together. Many of us struggle with simply being present with people in need; our helping roles give definition to the relationship but they also keep it decidedly hierarchical. As one practitioner observed, eating together is the ‘most enriching part but also the hardest part. When we were first here it was so hard. We didn’t have any specific things to do, just be with people.’”
I am convicted to the core.
I have been a part of congregations that serve meals to the homeless; I don’t think I ever remember a practice of sitting down with those dear folks. Serving them is safer; it's just too risky to be with them.
This quote comes from the penetrating, well-written volume, Making Room—Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition (Eerdmans, 1999), p. 74.
G. Mark Sumpter
No comments:
Post a Comment