BEAN ZINE The Hospitality ISSue
“Acts of Mercy” woodcuts by Ade Bethune
“Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.”. - Matthew 25: 34b-36 (NASB)
Coffee Shop Musings on Hospitality I’ve always been drawn to café’s: to the doesn’t only enrich the lives of those of us buzz of conversation, the familiar faces and in need of food, water, or shelter. True hosthat delicious smell of coffee brewing. Cof- pitality is just as life-giving to those of us fee shops and I are old friends. Friends who who have these things to offer. When we love each other one minute, and hate each bump up against our Others, we either react other the next. by distancing ourselves (institutionalization I know hate is a strong word, but let me is one way to do this), or by drawing closer explain myself. While I love the essence of together. And when we draw closer the rethird spaces, it’s my experience that most sult is self-reflection, deeper relationships, cafés have an institutionalized sense of and stronger communities. hospitality. And institutionalized anything Last spring I remember seeing drives me to the a friend of mine darker regions of “True hospitality is a form from the cafe, sitmyself, regions ting drunk on a city of liberation, both for the bench one night, in that pick away at my seams in an the pouring rain. giver and the receiver.” attempt to undo My husband and me. As someone who works behind the I were across the street on our way home counter, people are paying me to accommo- when we saw him nodding off, waking date them - so I better smile and give them himself, then falling prey to the clutches exactly what they need. If I don’t, they will of sleep once more. We knew that he had take their money elsewhere, or worse, they no place to go. We also knew that in very will feel they have a right to mistreat me. little time one of the beat cops would find Hospitality can be a dangerous thing. him and haul him off to the cop shop for the Institutionalized hospitality can be oppres- night. We went over, woke him and helped sive - to everyone. him up. Fortunately, I work for a non-profit café As we stood, the three of us walking where this kind of thinking holds very little down King St. in the dark and the wet, this sway. Here, amidst the clinking of change, dear friend grabbed both of our hands and the whirl of the smoothie machine, and the said: “We’re sisters and brothers. We’re cloud of conversation hovering about tables family.” As we walked with warm hands in I can hear the hum of something deeper, the cold rain, I found myself struck by the like a heartbeat, slow and steady beneath a truth of his words. busy exterior. True hospitality is a form of liberation, What exactly is this humming? It’s un- both for the giver and the receiver. It’s a fettered hospitality. way of saving us from individualism, mateIn this café, you don’t need to buy any- rialism, ethnocentrism – all things that lead thing to sit down and rest awhile. You to death. That’s why God requires it. t don’t need to be sober, or socially appropriKristen Ciccarelli loves fiddles, espresate, or refrain from yelling (if, say, you’re so, Robin Hood, her grandmother, and stohard of hearing). All you need to have is a ries with a fantastical bent. When she’s not heartbeat. running her ceramic business, Two Cent In my experience, true hospitality Sparrow, you can find her writing novels.
Banksy’s “Bethlehem”
“The position of the rich, white middle class in a world of starving people is one of disconnectedness. We have built a wall out of weapons and the dictatorship of capital. By comparison to this, the Berlin Wall is a mere bagatelle.” –Dorothee Soelle “Show hospitality to one another.” - 1 Peter 4:9 ESV “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” - Hebrews 13:2 ESV “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?” - Matthew 25:34-46 ESV
the origins of Hospitality What are the origins of the hospitable Malpas notes that when the human relationship? Should hosts always be Other visits us, we experience her prepared to welcome any guest who spatially as a face. “Man as other comes knocks at their door? Is the home a to us from the outside, a separated – or private or a public place? What should holy – face. His exteriority, that is, his guests expect? These questions cross appeal to me, is his truth . . . The face the boundary between our everyday to face is a final and irreducible relation experience of hospitality and our theory which no concept could cover without of the Other. To the thinker who guide our critique thinks that concept of Western finding himself hospitality, we’ll forthwith before a use paradigmatic new interlocutor; texts from Genesis it makes possible where God relates the pluralism of to humans as a society.” The face visitor. is the Otherness In Genesis of the Other that 18 and 19 God, overwhelms us who has become and that makes a mysterious and ethical demands hidden Other in the on us. For Levinas, course of the book it is this quality so far, comes to visit in the Other that “Acts of Mercy” woodcut by Ade Bethune Abraham and Lot bringing demands our the promise of Isaac’s birth hospitality and our and the burning judgment of heaven on care for him. the cities of the valley. Both Abraham Should we then care for the and Lot welcome their guests graciously: Other even more than we care for our Abraham bakes bread and slaughters own existence? As the philosopher a cow, while Lot insists that his guests Heidegger suggests, we are attuned to spend the night for their protection. They caring for ourselves by making homes, both reason with their visitors: Abraham tools, and culture. Must this care for intercedes for God’s mercy on Sodom, one’s own home as a boundary from the and Lot pleads for permission to escape world be sacrificed for the sake of the to a small town rather than to the hilly holy face of the Other that demands our countryside. These stories are taking care, attention, and ethical response? place in the context of a face-to-face For Abraham, the Other’s face brings relationship of hospitality between the hospitality; so too for Lot, but in a much person and the ‘Other’. different way. The difference is place.
Lot is compelled to bargain with his neighbours. Hospitality to his guests extends so far that Lot offers his virgin daughters to the corrupt members of his city so they can satisfy their twisted sexual urges with these girls rather than with his guests. Lot’s place is clearly affecting his ability to understand what is good and righteous. Abraham, the faithful tent dweller who will bless the nations, intercedes with YHWH for mercy on Sodom and Gomorrah, while Lot, the addicted city dweller, begs the angels to let him flee to the small town of Zoar, rather than go into the mountains. Abraham’s tent is well organized for hosting. He whips together a feast, serving and entertaining his guests. But he also lives with tension, and in expectant hope. He waits for the promise of a land and a people, while at the same time interceding for the nations around him, welcoming them into his prayers.
The author of Hebrews admits that hospitality and faith lives in this tension, in a tent. “They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were strangers and aliens on earth.” YHWH himself has come to earth to visit his people in mercy and judgement. The welcome given to God by Abraham and Lot happens in a physical place, with material food, water and shelter, where each particular welcome is analogous to the promise/judgement God comes with. Thus God, the omnipresent, appears as an embodied man who must be welcomed as a guest into his own world. The tension and grandeur that is identifiable in our own experience of hospitality is expressed in the Genesis text as Abraham and Lot learn to host God. t Ben Bouwman is a Master’s student at Mcmaster University. He likes design and basketball and studies philosophy.
How to refer to strangers Yesterday my friend told me that one of his professors had taken to calling him “sir” as of late. This appalled him.
Originally born in Ethiopia, then a refugee in Kenya, he is now a permanent resident of Canada. Given this background, the term “sir” has colonial connotations for him. It brings to his mind the image of a powerful white man – someone to be feared. I was genuinely interested in this, since I use the title “sir” (as well as “miss” or “ma’am”) when serving customers in the café where I work. At the same time, I’m pretty committed to uprooting the black, withered roots of colonialism. If there was a contradiction between these two things, I wanted to remedy it. So I asked him: “What Kiswahili word would you use to acknowledge a stranger?” His reply was simple and succinct. “Ndugu.” Brother. t
Hospitality, Institutionalized The word hospitality is sometimes nuanced. As Henri Nouwen points out, it can often be imagined as “tea parties, bland conversation, and a general atmosphere of coziness.” Christine Pohl says that this is not the case and rather that Jesus himself “promised that welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry person, and visiting the sick were acts of personal kindness to the Son of man himself”.These were authentic practices of hospitality, practices aimed towards those who are in need. Lactantius, the Christian tutor to Constantine’s son, affirmed “the house of the Just man ought not to be open to the illustrious, but to the lowly and abject.” When Christianity was first developing in the Roman world, hospitality tended to be “located within the household”. Yet following the conversion of Constantine the persecuted Christians received “substantial public resources” for the development of this hospitality. From these resources Christians established hospitals to “care for strangers… particularly poor strangers who had no other resources, and for the local poor”. These early hospitals slowly differentiated to accommodate the various needs of orphans, widows, strangers, sick and poor. This same history is narrated by historian and defrocked Catholic Priest Ivan Illich in “the Rivers North of the Future” toward somewhat of a different end. He says that part of the culture of early Christianity prescribed that each house have an “extra mattress, a bit of candle, and some dry bread in case the Lord Jesus should knock at the door in the form of a stranger without a roof – a form of behaviour that was utterly foreign to any of the cultures of the Roman Empire.”Illich points out that at the time of Constantine these practices of hospitality were beginning to be institutionalized.The dangers of this were recognized by the likes of John Chrysostom who warned against the creations of these xenodocheia (“houses for foreigners”) as
they would take the vocation of hospitality away from individual Christians and their households. Illich, a greater storyteller, relates the contemporary effects of these bygone historical moments. A particular convert from China at the beginning of 20th century decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome (having converted to Catholicism). For most of his journey this man only had to introduce himself as a religious pilgrim and he would find a place to stay and food to eat at any village he came to. By the time he got to areas under Eastern Orthodoxy this had changed and instead of being received into homes, he was placed in the parish house to be cared for not by the people of the town but by “the Church” as an institution. As he came to Poland people would raise money to “put himself up in a cheap hotel”. It seemed that the more the Church became embedded into culture, the more institutionalized hospitality became. While declaring this the “degradation of hospitality and its replacement by care giving institutions”, Illich is also sympathetic, pointing to the difficult situation the church was in. As the social climate in the Empire got progressively worse, major migrations were occurring. These left cities like Rome and Constantinople with many homeless migrants and refugees. In this tense and unprecedented situation the Churches received funds from the Empire to deal with the burgeoning populations. The Church in the fourth century, with its sudden favour of emperors and its almost inevitable institutionalization of hospitality, set the precedent for a new kind of hospitality. The effects have been far reaching, even beyond the sphere of ecclesial practice to the major characteristics of western society in the 21st century. t Isaiah Boronka lives in a new monastic community in Kitchener and spends his time volunteering, learning and building friendships.
The OLD rabbi’s Question
Photo by Jessie Golem
An old Rabbi once asked his students how one could recognize the time when night ends and day begins. “Is it when, from a great distance, you can tell a dog from a sheep?” one student asked. “No,” said the Rabbi. “Is it when, from a great distance, you can tell a date palm from a fig tree?” another student asked.
“No,” said the Rabbi. “Then when is it?” the students asked. “It is when you look into the face of any human creature and see your brother or your sister there. Until then, night is still with us.”
“Equal But not the same” I believe that God, the Creator, gave us material. I believe we are created in God’s image and are therefore to find joy in giving to one another. I believe that we are to live in a community because God exists as a community of the Trinity. I believe that The Messiah healed the divisions amongst humans that resulted from the fall. God’s love through Jesus, much like the Universe, is expanding. There is no limit to how much we are to give of ourselves. A fun part is that we are doing it unto Christ. Yet, there remains this great separation, even amongst the followers of the way! “Acts of Mercy” woodcut by Ade Bethune The legitimate need for the term “radical without the unpleasantness of dealing hospitality” is telling of our failures. with the socially unrefined. Why is it difficult to accept everyone as These are the questions and the family, to love them as answers that I’ve we would be loved? If “The legitimate need for the found thus far: there is any spiritual term ‘radical hospitality is Why don’t we use truth in what I very terms like ‘hospitality’ telling of our failures.” briefly referenced in to describe having my opening paragraph our best friend over then the simple answer is Satan, the old for the night? Because we love how Prince of this world and patriarch of we feel when we are around them and capitalism. Satan is the proprietor of the term hospitality describes an act our coffee and cocaine culture that has of service. Maybe we should drop the commoditized time. Satan applies his word hospitality and replace it with tried and tested technique of “divide and togetherness. concur”. Tasks and their stress, financial Why do we need down time? Because productivity as self worth, lies and wars our up time calls us to tasks that our souls are but a few of the mechanisms that may reject and we often hurt one another Satan orchestrates to commoditize our during our forced interactions. time and divide us. “Time is money” Why do we find it challenging to and many people feel that they don’t spend our life with people with mental have either to offer the bed ridden, sick health struggles? Because we’re told, or dying. They also feel that they’ve and we believe, that we deserve a life of earned the privilege to walk amongst ‘perfection’ away from the lepers and luxury and we couldn’t possibly find joy in loving our kin – that’s work! That’s
(and subsequently our church) loves unpaid work! (gasp) Why can’t we long to touch the face hierarchy, therefore equal must mean ‘the of the stranger like we do the face of the same’ -while ‘not the same’ must mean newborn baby? Because there is enough above me or below me. The elite class cause to fear one another. Lets undo fear! sets the ranking and we coalesce with out What do the Scriptures tell us? even being asked to. Here we face the greatest threat The Scriptures tell us that those who have to togetherness. We are programmed opened their doors have “entertained to interact using principles of ‘power angels with out knowing it”! over’ one another. Terms like “needy” Why else is it difficult to be in pure love with everyone and to seek togetherness? or “clingy” are often applied to those One reason is that our church and our who might benefit most from some culture teach us to show love, at best, and togetherness. These same terms could people in your life will actually reject you easily describe the internalized need we because they don’t want to hang out with have for power. For example, we cling you and your “crazy” dirty friends. Also, to notions of control as our unexpected current concepts of love and equality houseguests plan out a full day of errands for us to run for them. are superficial and shy away from helpful ‘Equal but not the same’... We feel hard done by notions such as ‘equal is not easily understood in and forget to celebrate the fact that they feel but not the same’. The our culture.” comfortable asking phrase describes a view because they’ve seen wherein everyone can God in our eyes. Too often society invites be equal even though some folks might us to use our skills of leadership to help only ask of things and never actively the needy. As an anarchist I have little seek to contribute, or have the ability to value for society or leadership as a static contribute, in a way that is quantifiable role. I am in need of your liberation as under mainstream Western economics. you are in need of mine. Our liberation is We are taught to be hospitable in these as one, so lets cling to it! The enlightened situations, but I know we can do better. world offers us a model of ‘power with’. ‘Equal but not the same’ values a life, That’s nice, but the way we actually its dreams and its smiles while also taking receive power with one another is in intentional care of each other’s needs. power under God. I see God in your eyes The concept asserts that everyone is fit to vote and recognizes that time might and we are all leaders! t Ian Stumpf took five days to write be required to assist someone in gaining this because the phone or doorbell kept a healthy perspective on the matter at ringing and it was never someone who hand. One must do away with bias and just wanted to say “hi”. He isn’t afraid accept the eventual vote. ‘Equal but not of demons but he is, none-the-less, afraid the same’ is much broader than these clumsy examples and I hope that you of the Harper regime. He loves you and/ will ponder it further as it is not easily or wants to learn how to love you. understood in our culture. Our culture
Lessons from Lunik ix
Photo by Michelle Drew
After two layovers and twelve hours aboard airplanes, my wife and I walked into a snowy Kocise airport. It was two days after Christmas. We were greeted by two kisses on the cheek from Elena, a Slovakian couch surfer we found online. We had never met in person before; she only knew that we were visiting her city to find our friends who had been deported from Hamilton back to Lunik 9, the largest Roma ghetto in Central Europe. There was no telephone at the airport to contact our friends, so we decided to just get into a cab and go with our two big suitcases full of gifts to Lunik 9. When the cab finally stopped, the kids outside gathered around us, surprised and interested to see who was visiting. We tried to remain confident even though we knew only a handful of Roma words. Elena stepped out of the cab and asked the
children about where our friends might be. One boy headed off into one of the buildings and suddenly, several stories up, we heard our friends yelling with excitement--their heads popping out from a broken window! They came down and greeted us crying and smiling. We grabbed the suitcases and walked past children sniffing gas in a hallway that smelled like a barn, up five floors to their cousin’s apartment. They fed us chicken and pasta and introduced us to all of their relatives who they had shared the apartment with since being sent back from Canada. After eating, we and the children got out markers and took turns drawing each other. The suitcase was opened up. The cookies and candies sent from their grandmother were first offered to us. They took out the hide-away bed from in the couch and we went to sleep, tired from the overseas trip
with the television on and children crawling returned their hospitality with as much food over us intermittently. as we could carry from the supermarket Staying with our friends in Lunik 9 was plus a gift from our church: a new stove to a big deal for us and them. For Sylvia, the cook food and heat up their empty flat. mother, we were like family. Unfortunately, One night, after a day of hard work we discovered that perspective was not cleaning the apartment, collecting and shared with some of their other family. chopping wood, and laboriously cooking When we returned one evening from a day and washing up using their new fireplace, trip to the city we learned through translation we celebrated their hospitality by singing that we had outstayed our welcome at songs and telling old stories around lit their cousin’s house. candles that we had Confused and a bit “I believe hospitality is brought from Canada. scared we were led a gift anyone can give.” The kids were playing next door to another with each other nicely, family member’s home, and so we honoured their who were more hospitable to Canadian requests to sing “God is bigger then the travellers. A passionate dispute ensued bogeyman” yet one more time. Afterward, between our friend Sylvia and her cousin we laid down, prayed, and said good night. about hospitality. My prayer was one of thanksgiving for our That night, after the fight had died Roma friends’ hospitality. I believe that down, we and our friends all slept in the hospitality is a gift that anyone can give. same room -which is a good way to stay Even in their poverty, our friends gave up warm when you have no hydro. The next the only bed they had and slept on cushions morning, like all other mornings, they on the floor, and we thank God for them. offered us coffee and tea from the pot on Jared Both is a student at Conrad Grebel. their cousin’s stove. Each day we enjoyed He and his wfie Michelle live in Hamilton this modest breakfast with our friends. We where he runs a Johnny Cash Club.
Photo by Michelle Drew
Prayer
Banksy’s “Dove with flak jacket and cross-hairs”
God of the weak and the wounded, grant us your forgiveness. We have been heedless in our thoughts, cruel in our words, shameful in our actions. We are indifferent to a world made sad by want and wastefulness;
We pass by on the other side when we see our neighbour in need; We wander from the way that leads to peace in paths of our own pleasing. God of the weak and wounded, grant us your forgiveness. Amen.
The Beansprout Collective is a group of unfettered idealists, activists and artists engaging at the intersection of faith and social justice. With members scattered around southern Ontario, we are an umbrella for various events, concerts and media that our members organize. So far most of our work has been organizing fundraisers, concerts, street theatre, and the ‘Up from The Gutter’ festival. Membership is open! This is our third zine.
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