Hospitality the Sacred Art

by Sawyer, Nanette

• ISBN13: 9781594732287
• ISBN10: 1594732280
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-10-30
• Publisher: Skylight Paths Pub

Summary

We may think of hospitality as merely being polite to guests, but the ancients understood the profound potential hospitality holds for building and transforming lasting relationships?for binding families together, making strangers into friends, even turning enemies into neighbors.Hospitality as an intentional spiritual practice has the radical ability to change hearts, transform communities, and mediate divine graciousness in the world and in our own lives. With wit and verve, Sawyer guides readers through the process of claiming hospitality as a multidimensional approach to life that can inform all of your relationships. Practicing hospitality can:? Allow you to accept yourself for who you are?and accept God?s acceptance of you? Strengthen your family life through understanding and compassion ? Improve your communities by honoring differences of opinion? Overcome dividing lines by offering compassion to strangers and enemiesAvailable to anyone of any faith, hospitality is a powerful tool for creating a more sacred world, one kindness at a time.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Introduction: Hospitality as Transformation	p. 1
Hospitality to God: Welcoming God's Welcome	p. 10
Hospitality to Self: Inviting the Authentic Self	p. 30
Hospitality to Family: Offering Full Presence to Those Closest to Us	p. 52
Hospitality to Neighbors: Becoming the Merciful Neighbor	p. 72
Hospitality to Strangers: Pursuing Kinship Rather than Estrangement	p. 94
Hospitality to Enemies: Extending Generosity through Non-Retaliation	p. 118
Hospitality to Creation: Knowing Creation Relationally	p. 142
Acknowledgments	p. 167
Notes	p. 169
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 176
Index of Exercises and Practices	p. 180
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.