What is Radical Hospitality?

Radical Hospitality conjures up images of blessed ministries of those who shelter the homeless. But Radical Hospitality is only partly about working with homeless people, being a welcoming host, or treating the stranger justly. The concept is based on the work of a Benedictine monastery, but it is only partly about monkish hospitality. Instead, Radical Hospitality offers a stark and radical message: If we truly try to follow Jesus, our outlook on the world - especially its strangers, its poor, its homeless, its injured, its helpless, its needy, its enemies - will be forever changed. Radical Hospitality is about conversion.

Using the enduring wisdom of St. Benedict's life and Rule as a guide, the work of hospitality entails  accompanying those in pain, setting boundaries, listening to one's self and others, welcoming despite the risk of danger, and other courageous acts.

Benedictine hospitality is based on listening to and acceptance of the other, and on the Christian conviction that every life is sacred. But acceptance is not synonymous with condoning all about the other, or agreeing with the other. "We confuse [acceptance] with tolerance, and even approval. But acceptance is about receiving, rather than judging."

In Benedictine spirituality, the monks need the "other," the stranger. The stranger brings another face of Christ into their lives, and therefore practicing hospitality is to welcome Christ. Radical hospitality leads to a provocative degree of acceptance - acceptance not only of the poor, the stranger, the injured and the needy, but also of the enemy or opponent. This is the same challenge Jesus presented: the challenge to love the enemy.

So, too, our challenge at Fairborn St. Luke UMC is to learn and grow in practicing Radical Hospitality.  Toward that end we offer a variety of activities and services enjoined to foster the spirit of Radical Hospitality between and among congregational members.  In so doing we may be better able to reach out to - and welcome - all members of the Fairborn community at large. 

Information on each of these activities and services may be found by clicking on the links at left. .