No Strangers Here

Christian Hospitality and Refugee Ministry in Twenty-First-Century Hong Kong

Chan

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781532604164
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Theology

Churches are traditionally among the first to respond to the call to aid strangers in distress. In this age of globalization, one group of strangers in particular--asylum seekers and refugees--is in urgent need of welcome as they flee their homelands in search of safety. This same group, however, faces hostility and rejection in many places. What should be the church's response? This book argues that Christian hospitality offers a powerful theological and pastoral response to such vulnerable strangers in our midst.For that to happen, the church must answer two questions: "What is Christian hospitality?" and "How do we put it into practice with refugees and asylum seekers?" Part One answers the first question with a cross-disciplinary study of sacred hospitality in both ancient and modern times. Part Two tackles the second with a fascinating case study of the church's outreach to refugees and asylum seekers in an international Chinese city. As communities worldwide receive refugees and asylum seekers, this book offers Christian hospitality and the Hong Kong experience as one hopeful response to needy strangers at our doorstep. It is a welcome theological and practical resource for refugee ministry in the twenty-first century.

Part One

The Concept of Christian Hospitality to Strangers

Chapter 1

The Religious Tradition of Hospitality

Sacred elements have shaped hospitality since its ancient beginnings. Two prime examples are the major cultures in antiquity that influenced the development of Christian hospitality. The first is the Semitic culture of the ancient Near East as illustrated by the model of Abrahamic hospitality. Our focal text of Genesis 18:1–16 is one of the most accessible stories which scholars have drawn upon to reconstruct some beliefs and practices of the region. The second culture under study is the Greco-Roman hospitality drawn from the writings of the poet Homer and practices in the civic sphere during the time of the Roman Empire. Given the immense scope and diversity of these two cultures, we do not attempt to give a comprehensive description of ancient Near Eastern or Greco-Roman hospitality. Rather, the purpose is to sketch in broad strokes some of the religious elements of these two traditions that helped shape hospitality in the East and West, and ultimately in Christianity. The phenomenon of “divine visitation” features prominently in all three. After our historical exploration, we present valuable research on the roles of hosts and guests from the fields of anthropology and linguistics. This cross-disciplinary expedition will shed more light on the nature and purposes of ancient hospitality along with demonstrating its integral relationship to the sacred in antiquity.

Hospitality in the ancient Near East

The term “ancient Near East” is not a precise geographic region, but can be used to describe the area demarcated by the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and the Caspian Sea in the north, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Red Sea and Sinai Peninsula in the south. Historically, beginning around 3000 BCE, this area included ancient Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Syria-Palestine, and Egypt and corresponds roughly to what is called the Middle East in modern times.1

The traditional society of the ancient Near East has been described as agonistic. This means that defensive or aggressive social interaction was used in order to counter natural elements beyond human control or hostile groups outside one’s own community. In such a context, the custom of hospitality provided a means of taking care of travelers in the harsh desert and nomadic settings while providing protection and honor for the household of the host in receiving guests from afar. Water, food, and shelter were essential provisions for those who were out of place, that is, away from their home base and without benefit of kith and kin.

Undoubtedly, traveling was dangerous in antiquity. The hostile environment was due not only to topography and climate but also to the need for travelers to move across ambiguous territory on friendly terms. Hospitality was a functional institution that allowed travelers safe passage from one location to the next, from daytime to nighttime, from exterior to interior spaces in a non-homogenous society.2 Strangers could expect the right to be hosted for up to three days. Afterwards, protection might be provided for a limited time, which for some tribes was “until the salt he has eaten has left his stomach.”

However, hospitality was not offered to every traveler or stranger. Certain groups like armies and traders, who were intentional wanderers with no fixed home base, were regarded with suspicion. Armies were considered a destructive threat while traders moved goods from one place to another. These transient groups who traveled in large numbers for protection were excluded from traditional hospitality. Instead, it was given usually to those with whom there was some extended kinship or tribal connection and from whom hospitality might be needed in the future.3

Besides providing safe passage for travelers, hospitality offered another significant benefit—hearing from strangers who could share information about the different world from which they came. This broadening of horizons through welcoming strangers would have even greater consequences if it were discovered that the visitor came from another realm altogether, that is, from the heavenly places. Such is the case in the story of Abraham and the three visitors by the oaks of Mamre.

The ancient biblical figure of Abraham as a model of hospitality is shared by the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.4 Abraham’s own background as a nomadic foreigner is remembered in his obedience to the call of God to leave behind his country and his people to go to an unknown land (Gen 12). As a stranger living in a foreign land thereafter, he is depicted as both the recipient and giver of hospitality. Moreover, the story of divine visitation to Abraham and his wife Sarah, found in Genesis 18:1–16, illustrates customs of hospitality in the ancient Near East and reveals its religious significance in Hebrew tradition.

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’ And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said, ‘There, in the tent.’ Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. (Gen 18:1–10)

In this passage, one vividly sees elements of ancient Near Eastern hospitality, which had been transformed by necessity into a highly esteemed virtue. Abraham shows eagerness to host by his running to meet the guests at the entrance to his tent. He uses formal language to invite the visitors to be his guests and he bows as a gesture of respect. Not only does he provide them with a place to rest, but he also gives them bread to eat and water for drinking and washing their feet. For the host to wash the feet of a visitor was to elevate the stranger to the status of guest. The guest was then under the complete care and protection of the host.5 Following these customary courtesies, Abraham assures them that he will not detain them further although they are welcome to remain as his guests. Upon learning that they will stay longer, he rushes to prepare a feast for them with the speedy assistance of his wife and servants. Next he brings out generous portions of the finest food and serves them personally, standing as a sign of honor while they eat.

Matthews constructs a model of protocol in ancient Near Eastern hospitality based on the story of Abraham and other Old Testament narratives, with the following features:

a. Hospitality offered by individuals or a community is based on a “zone of obligation,” or geographical boundaries within which a host is responsible for hospitality to strangers.

b. The initial invitation to hospitality is offered for a specified period of time by the male head of household or a male representative of the town, and this can be extended if mutually agreed upon by both host and guest.

c. The stranger may decline the offer ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part One: The Concept of Christian Hospitality to Strangers
• Part Two: The Practice of Christian Hospitality to Refugees and Asylum Seekers
• Bibliography