From Dean Baker’s blog:

Here’s what I wrote for this week’s enewsletter:

On Tuesday night the vestry concluded its discussion of Stephanie Speller’s Radical Welcome.   I chose this book because it focused on a core value of Trinity Cathedral – openness.  Stephanie challenges churches that consider themselves to be inclusive or welcoming to look beneath the surface and see how open they really are to people who are different.  She asks us to look at our neighborhood and see if the people inside the church reflect those who walk by the church.  She also points out that if we are truly open to others, we will be changed by welcoming them into our midst.   This books has had a lovely impact on the vestry.  We are now more open to the leading of the Spirit.  We are more sensitive to the presence of people that pass through our facility who aren’t connected to our community.  We aren’t sure quite where we will be led, but we know God afoot and we are being led on an adventure.

At the same time we were having this discussion, 93 homeless people were being fed dinner in the Great Hall.  They were to be our guests for the night.  This was the fourth night in the past week we have housed homeless people in response to this sudden cold and wet spell.   The vestry talked about the possibility of opening the church so our guests could enjoy the peace and beauty of the sanctuary.  We couldn’t do it that night because we were also hosting a community musical group that was presenting Handel’s Messiah.