When we truly listen to others, we provide places in our hearts for them.
In the ancient Middle East, where the practice of hospitality apparently began, the basic idea was that each household (or family) should be open to strange (different, or alien) travelers who needed food and a lodging. Jesus captured the significance of ancient hospitality when he said that no one should turn down a stranger because that stranger might be God.
Pubs (public restaurants, often with limited lodging) eventually replaced much household hospitality. Today, common-meal B&Bs are the remnant, or maybe reawakening, of such ancient hospitality.
Ancient hospitality served a friendship-forming, cross-cultural function for promoting peace (what the ancient Hebrews called “shalom”).
By listening to each other’s stories, hosts and guests gained greater understanding of and less fear about one another’s differences. Especially as the children from both families played joyfully amidst the parents, humankind seemed as one,
Today, where such hospitality is largely replaced by the more private hospitality industry, the art of cross-cultural listening is essential. Mutual listening is what we need to begin to empathize and sympathize with those who are both different from us and part of the same humanity.
Listening gets us outside of ourselves and into relationships. When we don’t listen to one another across our differences, we become like ships passing on foggy nights, barely able to see the names on our hulls, let alone to hear one another’s mayday calls.
— Dr. Q
