Helping Others through Hospitality

Helping Others through Hospitality

Do you remember the first time you tried to cook a Lenten meal for your family? It can be quite intimidating to look at a bowl full of vegetables and realize that you need to find a way to cook them without the flavor enhancement of milk, eggs, chicken stock, or even olive oil depending on the level of fasting you are keeping this year for Great Lent. We’re here to help!

Well….I don’t mean Be Transfigured Ministries will create a new category for Lenten menu planning, but WE THE CHURCH  are here to help. We all remember how difficult fasting was when we first took the step into Lenten kitchen. As part of our helping others as the Church theme this week, I want to invite you to call a friend who might be a ‘fasting newbie’ and ask what’s for dinner. Then offer to bring dinner.

Take a moment and use your experience in preparing a fasting menu to help your fellow Orthodox Christian realize not only the ease but flavor and joy of fasting. If you’re really feeling ambitious, offer to bring the ingredients and cook them together. What can be more helpful than cooking for someone?

Showing hospitality is a significant part of living an Orthodox Christian life, and there are many ways to show hospitality. It doesn’t only mean helping strangers. It can and should also mean helping a working mother provide a healthy fasting meal for her children. It can and should mean helping a new convert succeed with simple and still delicious Lenten foods. There’s one thing hospitality is not…..hospitality is NOT sitting alone, serving yourself, and leaving others to fend for themselves. That’s just selfish.