COMMENTS on hospitality by Melody

Your Way Monday
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From Melody in a com-box below.

One way in which we can extend hospitality to others is to feed the sick and bereaved. I'm sure we've all taken a casserole or a pie to a family which has experienced a death; knowing that cooking for visiting relatives would just be one more stress they didn't need. I have taken chicken soup to sick neighbors, and it was always appreciated.

A friend of ours who has a large family had serious surgery. Of course these days, even for a major thing, they dismiss you from the hospital within 2 or 3 days. So her friends from church signed up to bring in meals each day for a couple of weeks. Many parishes have a ministry set up to take food to families in situations like this. (It is a good idea to check and see if there are any dietary restrictions for people who have been ill.)

I am better at doing something like this than at entertaining others at our house (unlike my Mom, who must have been a closet Benedictine!). Mainly because I am bad at cleaning house. Which is why I am home from work today. Our son and his wife are coming to visit tomorrow, and the place is such a pit that I had to take a vacation day to get it halfway decent. So I'd better quit messing around and get busy.
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the more the merrier [from uncle jim]

We currently have an invitation out to about 60 people to come for dinner next Saturday evening. The way the invite goes, the first 25 to respond get in. We do this 3 - 6 times a year I would guess. Each time there may be some of the same folks invited, especially from among those who couldn't make it the previous time ... or didn't make their response in time. Through the course of the year, we keep trying to get some new people in the door. It is usually a pretty good mix of folks - and most of the time it includes families - kids - a few or a lot. Once in a while we'll make it an adults only invite to people who don't have kids at home. But it is a lot of fun. I encourage others to try it. You don't have to go large - half a dozen would do. Invite 20 and say the first 6 or 8 to respond get in. Oh - and you let them know that once you have a head count and demographic, you'll be calling them to let them know what they can bring.
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