Every person on this earth has once, at least, been a stranger. In church communities, it can be difficult to figure out just what visitors, strangers at first, need on their first encounter with a new congregation. There are countless books, seminars, websites, commentary, etc on how to welcome the stranger, on how to change one’s thinking to better accomodate new faces.

But sometimes, what matters is a little, seemingly insignificant thing. Like a cup of coffee and a smile. Rev. Erika Hewitt, serving the Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Goleta, California, preached on this very subject a few weeks back.

For consideration: What do you expect from the first time you walk in to a church community? What steps does your congregation take to welcome visitors, and are they effective? How does your faith call you to practice hospitality?

Hospitality: Not Just a Cup of Coffee

by the Rev. Erika Hewitt

The Universe tested me a few weeks ago.

I didn’t know that the Universe was testing me until it was all over – it’s not like a man in an “Official of the Universe” uniform approached me with a clipboard and a number 2 pencil.

It’s just that I found myself – in that mysterious, wily way that we all find ourselves, from time to time – at the butt of a giant but gentle joke that no one but God herself could have orchestrated. And by “God,” I don’t mean that man-with-a-clipboard-in-the-sky; I mean the wise, twinkly-eyed Auntie who chuckles us into good spirits and knows how to bonk us over the head in the most loving, nurturing ways when we need it most. That’s the God who set up this test, I’m pretty sure, the subject of which was hospitality, and which I passed, I’m absolutely sure, but not with flying colors.

If the Universe is keeping track on a clipboard somewhere, I think I probably earned a B+ on the test. But I’d like you to be the judge, and give me a grade yourself.

(Read on … )