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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York

Good morning.

In Canterbury this week, an international meeting of Anglican Bishops, the Lambeth Conference, will put the first letter of Peter at the centre of our discussions. My reflections also begin with some of his challenging words: ‘Be hospitable to one another.’

Some years ago I visited the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in South Africa. I asked to lodge with a family, and stayed a few nights with Maria in the Township parish of Paballelo, close to the Namibian border.

Her house was a kind of corrugated iron shack. Very few amenities. Spaces separated from one another by cardboard tacked onto simple wooden frames. She lived there with her two daughters. There was only one bed. No toilet. No running water.

That night I looked through the holes in the ceiling to the African sky, thinking I won’t be able to wash, or have the cup of tea that I usually think so essential to start the day. I didn't sleep well.

At about 5:00am I heard Maria get up. Through the thin walls, I heard her say her prayers and go outside. About half an hour later there was a tap on my door. Maria came in with a basin of warm water and a cup of tea.

To receive hospitality is always a humbling joy. But to receive hospitality from the poorest of the poor is something I'm still processing.

And so we pray –
Generous God, I know all too well, that I’m not always very good at showing hospitality to others. Teach me, like Maria, to learn from the scriptures, to learn from Jesus that our discipleship is measured by love. And help us as a nation and a world to be more generous.

Amen.

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