{"id":632,"date":"2014-06-05T21:57:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-05T21:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html"},"modified":"2014-06-05T21:57:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-05T21:57:00","slug":"a-mostly-ordinary-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html","title":{"rendered":"A Mostly Ordinary Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
by Peter Gathje<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
R3 Contributor<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Some mornings at Manna House are mostly ordinary.\u00a0 I arrive at\u00a0<\/u>6:40a.m.<\/span><\/span><\/u>, and Montrell is there waiting at the front gate to greet me.\u00a0 He\u2019s always there earlier than me and he always jokes that I\u2019m late.\u00a0 After I get the gate open and get into the house, there is more routine:\u00a0 plug in the coffee pots, unlock all the interior doors, open a few shut windows, open blinds, check laundry, sit and read, reflect and pray until\u00a07:30a.m.<\/span><\/span>, fill sugar containers, set out other items for serving coffee, start to let early arriving volunteers into the house, and then, at\u00a07:45a.m.<\/span><\/span>, take the list for showers and \u201csocks and hygiene.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Once we do job assignments with volunteers, we pray, then we open the gate to the backyard at\u00a0<\/u>8:00a.m.<\/span><\/span><\/u>, pray with our guests, and the morning begins:\u00a0 serving coffee, offering showers with a change of clothes, offering \u201csocks and hygiene.\u201d\u00a0 Hospitality isn\u2019t that complicated, at least on a mostly ordinary day.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0There are a few \u201cspecial requests\u201d to be addressed.\u00a0 One guest needs a pair of shoes, another needs a Bible, yet another is seeking a \u201cletter of homelessness\u201d for a rehabilitation program.\u00a0 There is nothing really that special about those requests, except that they don\u2019t happen every day.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
I don\u2019t mind mostly ordinary mornings at Manna House.\u00a0 Hospitality moves along with a kind of organized chaos.\u00a0 There are no serious conflicts or fights.\u00a0 There is instead a lot of laughter as stories and jokes get shared.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of sugar and creamer served with the coffee.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of laundry to be done.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of sorting of donations to get through.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
In the midst of this mostly ordinary morning, though, we learn that a guest has lost his twenty two year old son to a drug overdose.\u00a0 The guest is weeping in the backyard.\u00a0 Some of us long term volunteers take turns listening, consoling, just sitting with him.\u00a0 His heart is broken.\u00a0 He\u2019s lost three other family members in the past year.\u00a0 He\u2019s a man of many sorrows.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Meanwhile, in the house, a new guest arrives.\u00a0 He looks lost and he is lost.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m from\u00a0<\/u>Atlanta<\/u>.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know where to go or what to do.\u201d\u00a0 Byron takes him aside to fill him in on what\u2019s available at Manna House and in\u00a0<\/u>Memphis<\/u>.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Still, the ordinary steadily goes on.\u00a0 A few guests share hopes about job prospects.\u00a0 Another guest shares a hope about getting into some housing.\u00a0 There\u2019s a chess game that is played with friendly intensity. As the morning draws to a close, floors get swept and mopped.\u00a0 Toilets and showers get cleaned.\u00a0 Coffee pots and sugar dispensers get washed.\u00a0 Laundry gets started.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0At reflection time, after we\u2019ve closed and are done cleaning up, we have a few moments to share thoughts from the morning. The Germantown United Methodist Youth Group has returned to volunteer every\u00a0Monday<\/span><\/span>, as they have done for many past summers.\u00a0 One of the youth in the group asks about Sarah.\u00a0 \u201cShe wasn\u2019t here today.\u00a0 I remember her from last summer.\u00a0 Does she still come?\u201d\u00a0 I have to let this young person know that Sarah died this past December.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0Hospitality isn\u2019t that complicated on a mostly ordinary day.\u00a0 There is joy and there is sorrow.\u00a0 There\u2019s sharing of our lives in ways that keep us going, guests and volunteers alike.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I guess in some ways hospitality is like a sacrament, at least if we go with the definition from the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Baltimore Catechism<\/i>that I\u2019m old enough to remember: \u201cA sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus instituted hospitality for his disciples by telling them a story about the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and imprisoned, and then telling them, \u201cWhatever you do unto the least of these you do unto me\u201d (Mt 25:40).\u00a0 The grace comes in sharing hospitality; it is mostly the ordinary grace of sharing a welcome, some time together, and a few other goods.\u00a0 And ordinary or not, this grace changes our hearts and our lives, and brings us a little closer to God\u2019s Beloved Community.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Follow Peter on Twitter @petegath<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Peter Gathje R3 Contributor Some mornings at Manna House are mostly ordinary.\u00a0 I arrive at\u00a06:40a.m., and Montrell is there waiting at the front gate to greet me.\u00a0 He\u2019s always there earlier than me and he always jokes that I\u2019m late.\u00a0 After I get the gate open and get into the house, there is more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Mostly Ordinary Morning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Peter GathjeR3 ContributorSome mornings at Manna House are mostly ordinary.  I arrive at 6:40a.m., and Montrell is there waiting at the front\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Mostly Ordinary Morning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Peter GathjeR3 ContributorSome mornings at Manna House are mostly ordinary.  I arrive at 6:40a.m., and Montrell is there waiting at the front\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-05T21:57:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html\",\"name\":\"A Mostly Ordinary Morning\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-05T21:57:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-05T21:57:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"by Peter GathjeR3 ContributorSome mornings at Manna House are mostly ordinary.  I arrive at 6:40a.m., and Montrell is there waiting at the front\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Mostly Ordinary Morning\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Mostly Ordinary Morning","description":"by Peter GathjeR3 ContributorSome mornings at Manna House are mostly ordinary.  I arrive at 6:40a.m., and Montrell is there waiting at the front","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Mostly Ordinary Morning","og_description":"by Peter GathjeR3 ContributorSome mornings at Manna House are mostly ordinary.  I arrive at 6:40a.m., and Montrell is there waiting at the front","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2014-06-05T21:57:00+00:00","author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html","name":"A Mostly Ordinary Morning","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-05T21:57:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-05T21:57:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"by Peter GathjeR3 ContributorSome mornings at Manna House are mostly ordinary.  I arrive at 6:40a.m., and Montrell is there waiting at the front","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/06\/a-mostly-ordinary-morning.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Mostly Ordinary Morning"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}