Monday 11 April 2011

Place - Hospitality - Pilgrimage

Ian Adams, in Cave, Refectory, Road (Canterbury Press, 2010) explores issues around place, hospitality and pilgrimage, all of which he sees as a focal part of Christian living. 

He suggests that we should think about how we use space and make room for those special spaces - "Imagine, for example, what the idea of cave might produce in your context.  What might the creation of a 'still place' in your school or workplace do to the school or work community - particularly if it is envisioned, planned and created by that community?" (p. 93)

Equally it is well worth considering the difference that our approach to people makes.  How welcoming are we?  "How might the idea of the refectory change how our visitors, customers, clients or patients are received - and how might that in turn enable us to bring good to the local piece of the world that is around us?" (p. 93)

He also encourages us to, as it were, get out and engage with new things and in new places.  "It's easy and natural to be static.  We like what we know.  But perhaps we need to get out more!  ......  What about meeting up with people working in very different arenas and cultures from  our own?  What energy and inspiration might that kind of cross-boundary encounter produce?" (p. 93/4)

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