On the Common 188
There are so many Golden Retrievers in here.
Hi all,
Are you all enjoying the Olympics? This week I heard one of the commentators for figure skating inform the audience that “in our sport, ice is very, very slippery.” They might be running out of material already, and they still have a week to go. Here’s hoping some Italian espresso might help.
The Part Where There’s an Essay: Ways of Welcome
There is the way you let me finish a sentence when I’m struggling for words. The way you could jump on the end of my statement, but you wait.
There is the way you initiate. You suggest, plan, set the time, and make it happen. When my week has been too busy or too difficult for me to think, you ensure that we can still see each other.
One time when you couldn’t bring food over after my surgery, you sent a giftcard so we could order something.
I saw you bolt across a room the other day to make someone welcome. They were confused about whether they had made the right decision to come, and you were quietly warm and welcoming, without drawing too much attention to them. They settled in and took off their coat, comfortable and confident in your humble attention.
I don’t know how you do it, but you seem to always remember the thing I talked about last time. You follow up, asking about details and wondering if there’s anything new I’m thinking about.
You were so kind to save me a seat when you knew I was coming to that event by myself. Thanks for remembering that nobody likes floating around.
I’m about to start a series on hospitality here next week, but the idea I wanted to start with is that hospitality takes many forms. It’s not just having people into your home for a meal. The one who is quiet at the right time; the one who initiates; the one who remembers—these are the hospitable ones.
Somehow along the way “hospitality” got mixed up with a meaning that’s more selective than it ought to be. Welcoming people takes many forms in many settings. While I am a big believer in the potency of a home that’s well-tended and well-loved, I first believe in the power of welcoming. Because I have been welcomed.
See you back here next week for more hospitality talk.
For the Anglophiles
I enjoyed this exploration of The Hidden Meaning of Narnia’s Endless Winter. “Recall that evil is a privation of the good, a lack of something, and just as evil is like darkness to light or a hole to the ground, so too can it be seen as cold to heat. Cold is not real in and of itself but is rather an absence of heat.”
Reads & Listens of the Week
Some excellent, honest advice here from Courtney Reissig: When You Don’t Trust the Church, or Her People. “Jesus Christ is our foundation. The path to standing when the building is assaulted by storms, wear and tear, and even faulty construction is to trust that the foundational work was enough to stand.”
Beware the 'Current-Events Man': A reminder to avoid the temptation to be swayed by every event and headline that comes along. “It is good to care about the flourishing of our world without being wholly captivated by it.”
The family and I enjoyed the new Agatha Christie entry on Netflix, “Seven Dials.” I am not learned enough in Christie to know if it would offend those of you who love her; I just thought it was a fun whodunnit.
This is a lovely essay from Théa Rosenburg: I Will Most Gladly. “Rather than being in danger of losing myself in service of my family, I usually faced the opposite danger of holding myself back, of measuring out my service.” (You can order one of those prints right here.)
Finally, this week I learned that “Goldens in Golden” is a thing:
Believers in progress rightly note that in the world of machines the new model supersedes the old; from this they falsely infer a similar kind of supercession in such things as wisdom and virtue. -C. S. Lewis, "Why I am Not a Pacifist"
Looking forward to your exploration of hospitality! This is a topic dear to my heart (and I rarely have a beautifully set table).
can't wait to read the hospitality piece. loved this "intro" as it's so so true.