Service two: Hospitality
Service two- Hospitality
Above is a 15-minute version of the second service. Please note that service recordings are designed to give you a feel for the worldview/philosophy behind services. They lack the music, visuals, and presence of other people that are part of real-time services.
Prompts for reflection:
Are you at home in the world?
What do you fear about hospitality?
How can you develop a habit of hospitality?
We cannot survive spiritually separated in a world that is geographically together. Martin Luther King
You can’t ignore people when God is looking out their eyes at you. Lonni Collins Pratt
You can set your will to be more open to others but your heart still has to stretch gradually. Lonni Collins Pratt
Related readings:
The Rule of St Benedict: https://www.solesmes.com/sites/default/files/upload/pdf/rule_of_st_benedict.pdf
Radical Hospitality, by Lonni Collins Pratt
Strength to Love, by Martin Luther King
Music:
Alleluia, sung by the St. Petersburg Chamber Choir, was written by an anonymous composer in 13th Century Russia. It is in the calmest tradition of the Orthodox service. Literally translated, Alleluia means “Praise ye Yah”, which is short for “Praise Yahweh, you people”. In Christianity it translates to “Praise the Lord”, or “Praise be to God”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLsSan9koAU&t=1986s
İmprovisation by Özgür Baba & Hamed Habibpour. This is a beautifully contemplative piece by two folk musician friends, one from Turkey (Özgür Baba) and the other from Iran (Hamed Habibpour). Improvisation requires the participants to focus intently upon each other and to listen deeply. It is a circular process of accepting the musical and energetic offering from another, and in turn making your own offering.