The first meeting of the Five Practices Lenten discussion took place on March 2nd. We had 14 people in attendance. The topic was radical hospitality. There was quite a bit of discussion. First, a definition of radical hospitality was offered. We began to understand that radical hospitality was welcoming the stranger. The question of the night was, how well do we do that?
We discussed what the condition of our church said to first time visitors. We discussed whether the bathrooms were easy to find, and if our signs were appropriate.
We talked about how best to introduce ourselves to people we don't know. We decided that saying something like, "Hi, I don't think I've met you" or "Hi, my name is [input your name here], I don't think I know your name." Of course there are other ways to do this. The important point is to realize that we are to welcome those who come. Instead of asking someone who the new person is, we decided we would ask them ourselves.
