Our LINC NT staff watched the movie The Visitor at our staff retreat. It's about a professor who, after getting caught up in his intellectual life and losing all passion, suddenly finds himself face-to-face with two undocumented aliens living in his apartment in New York City. Through a series of remarkable events (it truly is an incredible movie, I would consider it a must-see), he finds himself relating to the two as people, opening up first his home and finally his entire life to them. As their lives intersect and become more and more intertwined, he becomes radically changed and rediscovers true living. And don't worry, I haven't spoiled the movie for you - there's still plenty to see!
One of the beautiful things about the movie is the amount of hospitality that Walter, the American character, shows. Americans are notorious for being generous but not hospitable. More relational cultures are often hospitable but not generous. Americans are usually fine with throwing money at an issue but they don't want it to affect them or to get too intimately involved. We will surely donate money or clothes to a homeless shelter, but we would never fathom having a homeless person enter our lives. Being generous is all well and good (and as a person who depends on donations for my livelihood, I'm quite grateful!), but not if the humanity is lost. People are people, and we must approach them as such. We must allow their stories to intersect ours so that we are mutually impacted.
Is there anyone in your life right now to whom you are being called to be hospitable? How can you allow the lives of people around you to intersect yours?
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