Going Home Another Way
Week 3 – The Destination
Three Magi on the Way to Bethlehem, by Hans Thoma
Welcoming Strangers
Another tradition associated with Epiphany and the Magi is the welcoming of strangers.
The Magi showed up unannounced, presumably shortly after the birth, and in a location where I’m sure Mary wasn’t expecting to entertain visitors. I doubt that I would have been as gracious as Mary was to have exotic visitors from the East (and shepherds with their sheep!) showing up unannounced in their temporary home, where they were dealing with a newborn. It was no doubt a vulnerable and confusing time for Mary and Joseph and required an open heart to welcome these strangers.
I prefer that my entertaining be scheduled well in advance and am likely to be disconcerted by unexpected visitors. But the story of the Magi makes me contemplate the concept of hospitality and realize that perhaps I could lighten up a bit on my demand to have everything planned and scheduled in advance.
I could expand my hospitality to include more casual and spontaneous situations. Occasions like an impromptu invitation to a neighbor for tea or coffee, or gracefully accepting an offer of a friend to stop by when she is in the neighborhood (without this invoking a frenzy of house cleaning or dashing out to buy some appropriate snacks).
For Reflection
Do you have restrictions on your hospitality? Like me, do you insist on having everything scheduled in advance? Are you missing out on some more spontaneous and meaningful connections because of this? (I’m not talking about spontaneously serving people a full meal, but welcoming people into your home and sharing whatever you have without apologies.)
Falling Up After 50 