Season 24: Episode 6 | Making Room: Welcoming the One Who is Strange to You
What does it mean to be welcoming and inclusive from a rooted depth, and how do we see the Holy Spirit nudging us towards this concept? Ruth is joined by a special guest, Transforming Center’s very own cultivator of community and connection, Tina Harris, today to discuss the many ways we are called to practice hospitality in the name of Christ. Tina shares her own transformative experiences practicing radical hospitality, what it has felt like to not be welcomed, and practical and concrete ways churches can begin to become more welcoming and inclusive of all types of people. They also discuss why they think there is a resistance to this invitation and lament the ways that beautiful words and ideas like diversity, equity, and inclusion have become politicized, hot button issues.
This season we are exploring the future of Christian spirituality. Based on her own experience and the lives of people she accompanies on the journey, Ruth has been naming what she is noticing and observing regarding the future of Christian spirituality– how the Spirit is moving and how we can align ourselves to participate in the future God is leading us into. Elements she is naming include respect for the role of desire; emphasis on spiritual direction; welcoming and inclusive; committed to justice; and more. This season Ruth will sit down with thoughtful Christian leaders to discuss their thoughts on one of these elements, as it has to do with the future of Christian spirituality. This season was inspired by the Beyond Words series by the same name. Check out those posts here.
Tina Harris is ordained in the United Methodist Church and holds a Master of Divinity from St. Paul School of Theology. She has served the church in a variety of roles, including Lead Pastor and Director of Mission, Service and Justice Ministries in the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church. Tina is passionate about community engagement and has served and/or actively supported several civic organizations and ministries. As an attorney and diversity leader, a common thread in her work is to gather individuals into communities, challenge comfort zones and invite those whom society has overlooked to take their place at the table.
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Listen to other episodes from Season 24 Access past podcast seasons
Mentioned in this episode:
- Soul Feast by Marjorie J. Thompson
- Contemporary Icons from Kelly Latimore (we discussed Madonna and Child, Mama, and The Trinity)
- Origin Movie
- Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition by Christine Pohl
Music Credit:
Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist
Tender Moment from Music in Solitude
Join us for our upcoming Online Oasis: When the Road is Dark and Dim: Navigating the Dark Night, Depression, and Grief on the Spiritual Journey. In this Online Oasis event, Dr. Bob Watson, a licensed clinical psychologist, joins Ruth to explore the differences and the overlaps between the dark night of the soul, depression, and the experience of grief on the spiritual journey. Whether you are wondering about this for yourself, for someone you love, or someone you are accompanying as a pastor, psychologist or spiritual director, this conversation will equip you to more wisely discern what is really going on, help you learn how to welcome God’s presence into this aspect of the journey, and identify the appropriate resources for each. It is ideal for: pastors, spiritual directors, psychologists, individuals, spiritual friends. Join us on Wednesday, October 30 from 12-1:30 CST. Learn more and register HERE.
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The Transforming Center exists to create space for God to strengthen leaders and transform communities. You are invited to join our next Transforming Community:® A Two-year Spiritual Formation Experience for Leaders. Delivered in nine quarterly retreats, this practice-based learning opportunity is grounded in the conviction that the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self! Learn more and apply HERE.
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Ruth and Tina – thank you! When the two of you tag team, you never disappoint. I had to listen to this podcast in multiple sessions – for various reasons- which gave me some pondering time along the way. If you mentioned this area of ‘stranger-ness” please forgive my forgetfulness! Perhaps the first way I was aware of learning to welcome the stranger was in the area of doctrinal differences within Christianity. What freedom I found in beginning that walk with others who were not like me- many of whom were also different in other ways (of course!) As Ruth said, as we were both (all) moving toward the Center, who is Christ, we moved closer together. You have helped provide a container and guidance for part of this journey, though the mile-markers go back many years.
I also resonate with the idea of fear being a chief resistance. One fear can be, and was for me in some situations of welcoming the other, a fear of doing, saying or insinuating something hurtful or just plain ignorant. God started whispering “just listen for awhile and don’t try to change anything in a big way”, and then… I started encountering small ways, closer relationships, and dear people who were willing and gracious with my mistakes. I felt less needy and more confidence, not in myself, but in God who was working to bring us together in healing and transformative ways. You have both been part of this growth in community. Thank you so much for this podcast. I leave it with much hope.