Letter From The Editor-In-Chief
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Our 2013 summer issue is packed with blessings that center around the theme of hospitality. Authors for this issue come from many different backgrounds, but their contributions come together to make a chorus that calls attention to the centrality of hospitality in our faith walk. They help us to feel the warmth that hospitality generates, and their testimonies are a telltale sign that hospitality continues to be the mainstay of our communal life.
The Talmud teaches that the world is founded on Torah, service (to God), and acts of kindness (toward humanity); hospitality is squarely lodged in this third item of the foundation of the world. Among the list of what a Christian should be doing, Paul the Apostle teaches us to “be inventive in hospitality” (Romans 12:13b in the translation of THE MESSAGE by Dr. Eugene Peterson, distinguished graduate of New York Theological Seminary). The charge is ancient, but we are called to be intentionally creative in the manner in which we live it out.
“Extend hospitality to strangers.” This NRSV’s action-oriented hospitality compels us to stretch ourselves to care for the strangers. It is a step forward from the temperament of kindness that the KJV advocates when it promotes that we should be “given to hospitality,” but it still falls short of the connotation that Paul may have in mind in Romans 12:13b. The Greek word Paul has chosen here is an aggressive word. Sometimes it describes a military pursuit. The Greek translator of the Septuagint uses it to translate Abram’s action of pursuing the raiders that took Lot captive (Genesis 14:12). The same word also describes Barak’s pursuit of Sisera (Judges 4:22). Elsewhere in Greek literature, it describes the action of a hunting party or the power of the wind that moves a ship. Paul’s admonition is anything but passive or reactionary. Biblical hospitality is focused to seek out strangers and to shower them with the grace of hospitality. As Dr. Peterson translates, “Be inventive in hospitality.”
We are aware that pressures of life are threatening to stifle the spirit of hospitality in our time. Another New Testament writer already recognized this danger and offered this advice: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2, NRSV). Here the strangers are not merely the needy that could use our help. They have the potential to point us to a higher reality than we can see. Hospitality does not simply make a better world. It takes us closer to the world Jesus Christ had in mind when he welcomed as his companions the poor, the sick, and the oppressed, for the kingdom of God is for such as these.
Peace be with you!
Jin H. Han, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
