Hospitality Corner: Take the lowest place
Posted on August 14, 2009 · 1 Comment
Earlier this year, the bulletin for our weekly morning worship gathering contained a series of “Hospitality Corner” passages to highlight ways to assist our neighbors and fellow congregants in feeling at home with our church. Over the next few weeks, this blog will contain a few of these items “re-printed” with new questions, thoughts and ideas on how we can improve our hospitality to both our guests and our long-time members.
This series was not intended simply as a way for our church to strengthen our embrace of new guests. While this is important, it is not enough. We have to find ways to show love to one another. Too often mainline congregations do not know their neighbors nor do they know those next to them in their pews. Since becoming a Deacon, I have learned of numerous members of our congregation that do not feel connected to others in the congregation. We need to find ways to fix this. We need to embrace and love everyone.
One way to do this is to follow the words of Jesus in Luke 14:1-14 and put ourselves in the lowest place. In this story from the gospel according to Luke, Jesus tells those gathered at a dinner party not to assume that they are the most honored guest as they had each done. Instead someone should always take the lowest place or in the case of a dinner party, the place at the table furthest from the host. Jesus says that someone who does this will be brought forward and exalted in their deserved place.
There are at least two ways that I can think of for many us to take the lowest place on Sunday mornings…
- Park further back – Every Sunday morning, our parking lot begins filling up closes to the building’s doors. This leaves some of those in attendance with less mobility walking further than those that simply arrived first. Likewise, those that are arriving closer to the beginning of worship often rush to get in the building. By purposefully parking in a less convenient spot, you can show true love and hospitality to those that need the spot more.
- Sit closer to the front – Guests of our church community often want to sit toward the back of our sanctuary so that they are less conspicuous. If able, we invite you to sit further forward in our sanctuary. This allows our guests to take the spaces they are most comfortable with and allows you, potentially, to be more engaged in the worship service.
Gathered for worship, most people in back
In both cases this would provide more space for those that need these spaces. It would be honoring the spirit of what Jesus asked us to do. We’d be taking the lowest place.
How else can we do this?
How else can we put ourselves in this lowest spot?
What other ways can we show love to our church?
Not sure why so many of my issues have to do with bathrooms, but they do. Oh well.
I have often found a line in the ladies’ room after the worship service. If people join the line at a rate of r, with a uniform distribution, and there are two stalls S1 and S2, each having a service time distribution of … okay, too much information. Sorry, I love queuing theory.
Anyway: Those who have no mobility problems, or whose need is not urgent, can show love to others by using either the upstairs (to the right of the library) or downstairs (at the far end of the Lower Level) restroom, or by postponing the trip altogether until the line has abated.