Hospitality

Chief among our core values as a congregation is hospitality. Neighbor-hood begins with welcoming strangers as honored guests, anticipating and accommodating their needs, making space for rest and recovery, and allowing the encounter to change us. When Abraham welcomed three travelers beneath the oaks of Mamre, he welcomed them, he prepared for their relaxation and washing up, he ordered food. Abraham recognized the encounter to be a theophany—a revelation of God’s very self—and he understood himself, his household, and his life differently. Welcoming God in the person of the stranger changes us and the stranger, making us both neighbors.

The basis for this core value is the call to hospitality given to Abraham by the Lord in Genesis 18:1-8 when he is visited under the Oaks of Mamre.

"Abraham said, 'My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.  Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.  Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.'"