Hospitality for the Coming Age

Donna, Anna Lisa, Al, Travis and Karen after sharing dinner.

Every once in awhile I hear a story about someone transforming a moment of violence or theft, and I am moved. It’s like a peace activist’s dream come true – to have an opportunity to put all those theories to the test and find a humanizing outcome.

I have learned a lot about sustainable living and expect to be eating well, even as the economic crisis deepens. Many of the people I love live on farms with strong food supplies. “What will I do when hungry people from the city come to my farm with guns and demand our food and water?” is a common question in my circle of friends.

“Welcome them with open arms,” my friend Andrea once said. I really want to rest in that answer, but what if there are a lot of people, and they eat through our pantry, and then move on to the next farm? That certainly isn’t sustainable.

Obviously education and urban gardening are essential, and we should have gotten these programs going yesterday. We’re working slowly, but surely, on it in Richmond. But these initiatives won’t let us avoid the question of sharing in the midst of scarcity.

So I’ll pass on this story from my own Church of the Brethren heritage, from Gleanings.

[Gleanings is a regular feature of BRANCHES, a publication of Muskegon County Cooperating Churches, 1095 Third St., Suite 10, Muskegon, MI 49441. Feel free to pass this essay on as long as proper credit is given.]

Gleanings by Tom Wagner May/June 2009
Mutual Responsibility

Amidst the hillsides of my native southeastern Pennsylvania echoes the memory of a beloved Dunker elder named John Herr (1848-1931). As was common practice among Brethren of that era, Brother Herr earned his living from farming and served his faith community as a member of a non-salaried ministry team. He reportedly preached in fluent German and English. From the turn of the 20^th century to the early 1920s he served congregations in Berks and Lebanon Counties as “elder-in-charge” or “bishop”, including my childhood congregation at Myerstown.

The story has often been told of how one night Elder Herr was awakened by a noise from his smokehouse. He quietly got out of bed and made his way to the smokehouse to investigate. There he discovered two men, one at the door receiving hams passed to him by another inside the building. The unannounced appearance of the Dunker elder startled the thief at the door so much that he ran off without warning his partner. Brother Herr said nothing, and simply stood in the man’s place by the door. When the thief who was unaware of the switch asked how many hams he should take, Brother Herr replied that he might as well take them all. Only then did the thief realize he had been caught in the act and tried to escape. Recognizing the thief as one of his neighbors, Herr strongly urged him to take at least one ham home to his family. At first the man refused, saying he didn’t need a ham. The elder countered that anyone who sneaked on to his neighbor’s homestead in the middle of the night for ham must be in desperate need. Again Herr insisted that his neighbor take a ham home, and suggested that next time he needed food to just come and ask. He could have as much food as he needed. It is said that Elder Herr never revealed the identities of his late night visitors, even to his own family.¹

This story came to mind a few weeks ago during a conversation about the current economic crisis. A good friend expressed concern that the deepening recession could result in an outbreak of lawlessness. He spoke of eventual confrontations between rural households and bandits scouring the countryside for food. The scenario hits close to home. Both our households have put great effort into supplying our tables with the work of our hands and the bounty of the land. I don’t believe my friend is suffering from paranoia. He has a long history of progressive activism and cooperative economic ventures. Rather his forebodings speak prophetically to the ultimate outcome of unbridled self-interest-a nightmare of broken relationships and shredded safety nets. We have to begin looking out for each other again. Those who have benefited the most from our society have a greater responsibility to contribute to the needs of that society for the common good.

Desperate circumstances often lead to desperate actions. The smokehouse incident described above was essentially a confrontation between individuals. Though few of us would condone the thieves’ behavior, many of us can sympathize with the motivation to provide for one’s family. Furthermore, had John Herr chosen to defend his property rights by turning his neighbors over to the authorities, few would question his right to do so. However, he chose to overlook the trespass. The moment when he recognized the thieves as neighbors was a moment when compassion overwhelmed self-interest. Elder Herr understood the need and offered to help to the best of his ability. He also did what he could to mend the breach of trust in that relationship, even to the point of guarding their reputations in the local community.

In common use, the word “neighbor” usually refers to folks living across the street or down the road, but it can also carry a more expansive meaning. Recall that Jesus once answered the question, “Who is my neighbor?” with a story about a despised Samaritan who took responsibility for the welfare of an injured Jew (Luke 10:25-37). In this case the definition was extended to include even a perceived enemy. Dunker elder Michael Frantz (1687-1748) described the relationship with our neighbor as “the outward communion with God”. Under that heading he wrote about our relationship with wealth and property. “To this extent ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ may be spoken on this basis, that this is mine and that is yours to administer and keep until a time of need for the poor and suffering in and outside the congregation. To love one’s neighbor as one’s self shows clearly what communion is. Thus it behooves him who has two coats to give to him who has none, and he who has food, let him do the same. From this it is understood that he who has two portions, be it food or clothing, house, property, livestock, money or whatever his neighbor needs for his life’s necessity, then love should compel him to give to his brother and to his neighbor and to do as he can for their need.”² This gives us food for thought as we approach the celebration of Pentecost and life in the early church.

Tom Wagner is a former pastor in the Church of the Brethren (Dunker) and serves MCCC as clerk and archivist.

¹Guy R. Saylor and others, History of the Church of the Brethren, Eastern Pennsylvania 1915-1965 (Lancaster, PA: 1965), p. 248.

²Donald F. Durnbaugh, ed., The Brethren in Colonial America, (Elgin, IL: Brethren Press, 1967), p. 453.

Tags: crisis, food, share, steal, theft, transformation, violence, water

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