Further to his theme of Generous Hospitality, David Enticott offers this story that recognizes the inclusive nature of a hearty welcome:Back in 1845 an American writer decided to devote himself to practising an inclusive brand of hospitality. He took an axe and built a small wooden hut on the shores of a pond in Massachusetts. Henry David Thoreau wanted to discover what really mattered in life. He lived simply, cultivated some crops and received anyone who came to stay with him, regardless of their position in society.
Thoreau kept a journal of experiences that later became a famous book called Walden. In it, he wrote these words:
“I think that I love society as much as most. I am naturally no hermit and so I had three wooden chairs in my house: the first for solitude, the second for friendship and the third for strangers.
Whoever came, here in my small house- OUR SENTENCES COULD UNFOLD INTO SOMETHING MUCH LARGER.
I had many cheering visitors during my stay. Children came a-berrying, railroad men took their Sunday walk in clean shirts, fishermen and hunters, poets and philosophers; in short all honest pilgrims, who came out to the woods for freedoms sake!”
Source: David Enticott, Sermon, Whitley College Chapel, 26 February, 2007.
Image: Picture of Walden Pond, surrounded by the woods outside Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau described Walden Pond as "blue at one time and green at another, even from the same point of view. Lying between the earth and the heavens, it partakes of the colour of both."
Source: David Enticott, Sermon, Whitley College Chapel, 26 February, 2007.
Image: Picture of Walden Pond, surrounded by the woods outside Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau described Walden Pond as "blue at one time and green at another, even from the same point of view. Lying between the earth and the heavens, it partakes of the colour of both."