Hospitality

This session is the first of five introductory sessions for a Small Group. Members are encouraged to think about hospitality, particularly as it relates to joining a new group. 

In addition, this session includes 5 minutes for the facilitator to welcome everyone to the group, and 10 minutes to go over ground rules and discuss whether or not anyone needs additional agreements to feel safe. Members will have a chance to suggest modifications to the ground rules in the 5th session.

For another perspective on hospitality, see the session Radical Hospitality at UUSF.

Member Preparation

In preparation for this session, take some time to read over the following quotes, and to think about what hospitality means to you.

"Practicing hospitality expresses our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of each person.  Through our actions of hospitality we move toward creating a world in which we are all treated with justice, equality, and compassion." - David Rynick

"If you want to be a person of great spirit, you can't do life alone.  If spirituality matters to you, you can't do spiritually alone either.  To really grow as a human being you need other people." - Daniel Holman and Lonni Collins Pratt

"We live unavoidably side by side." - Immanuel Kant

"We are all wanderers, passing through, guests of the universe, and our job as a religious clan is to share earth’s bounty and to set a warm, inviting place for one another." - Carolyn and Tom Owen-Towle

"When I let strange people and strange ideas into my heart, I am beginning to shape a new world…Hospitality means we take people into the space that is our lives and minds and our hearts and our efforts.  Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves." - Joan Chittister, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily

These questions provide ways you may want to approach this topic. Remember to focus on just one or two of the questions, if you choose to use them, as this will allow you to explore the topic in more depth.

  • Think about your experiences of friendship, hospitality, being made welcome, having someone greet you as you enter a room of strangers, and being given directions. In what ways have these experiences been similar or different?
  • Have you had experiences with others being hospitable or inhospitable toward you?  How have these experiences shaped your own beliefs or practices?
  • In what situations have you…
    - Not wanted to be hospitable?  Why?
    - Wanted to be hospitable, but weren’t? What held you back?
    - Been hospitable? What did you do? How did you feel? How did you hope the other person felt?
  • What feelings, beliefs, and hopes do you hold as you start this process of forming a new small group community?  What, if anything, can we do to extend hospitality to each other? To those outside the group in the larger community?

Special Materials

  • Name tags and marker(s).
  • Ground rules written out on a large piece of paper or poster board.
  • Marker to add any additional ground rules or agreements to the list.

Further Exploration