Hospitality on Our Earth Home
Friday, April 24, 2026
We can begin to heal that rift between our love and actions, our values and our daily lives, by turning our attention to whatever patch of ground we have been given to tend, even if it is a potted planter on a balcony in the city.
—Ragan Sutterfield, Watch and Wonder
An avid bird watcher, Anglican priest Ragan Sutterfield reflects on what it means to practice hospitality to nature in its many forms:
Hospitality, in the Christian understanding, is at the heart of all existence, the creation itself. Nothing exists of necessity, all is an extravagance—a gift of the God who made room for the creation…. What if part of what that means is that we too are meant to make room—that part of being fully human is to open up space for other creatures? [1]
Sutterfield suggests ways we can disrupt the commodification of nature and act hospitably:
To plant a garden, to create a wetland—these seem like small acts in the face of our world of concrete, our obsession with never-ending economic growth. What difference can it make? I think of G. K. Chesterton’s comment, in his wonderful economic critique, The Outline of Sanity, which takes aim at industrial capitalism’s takeover of small shops and farms:
Do anything, however small, that will prevent the completion of the work of capitalist combination. Do anything that will even delay that completion. Save one shop out of a hundred shops…. Keep open one door out of a hundred doors; for so long as one door is open, we are not in prison. Ahab has not his kingdom so long as Naboth has his vineyard [1 Kings 21]. Haman will not be happy in the palace while Mordecai is sitting in the gate [Esther 5:9–13]…. [2]
Hospitality is more than resistance, however; it is also a sacramental practice—a way by which we learn to recognize the holy in the wild lives around us. “There are no unsacred places,” writes Wendell Berry, “there are only sacred places and desecrated places.” The practice of reconciliation ecology is an act in which we relate to the world in its sacredness, keeping ourselves from seeing it as a mere landscape or an interchangeable abstraction for our desires.
I think here of the Orthodox churches of Ethiopia, many of which preserve a belt of forest around their buildings to resemble a renewed Eden. Those sacred forests are now providing the seeds for restoration in the larger landscape, which has been decimated by extractive agriculture. What if we kept alive our yards, the marginal places in the midst of our cities, our places of worship and work, as sacred—not only as places of hospitality for the wild now but also as sources of hospitality for the future? What if each yard could host the future of the planet by holding onto the life needed to reseed the world when we finally wake from the delusions of our extractive ways of life? [3]
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John Chaffee 5 On Friday
1.
“Emotionally immature people don’t step back and think about how their behavior impacts others. There’s no cringe factor for them, so they seldom apologize or experience regret.”
– Lindsay C. Gibson in Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents
For the record, I have not read this book yet. However, I heard about it from a good friend, and it has been enlightening.
So this week I googled some quotes from it, and this was one of the standout ones.
Emotionally healthy/mature people are able to meaningfully reflect on their own behavior and “cringe.” It is from this moment of self-accountability that mature people apologize and make a conscious change to their behavior.
As I think back over my life, I realize I have encountered people who seem to have an invincible wall against their own “cringe moments.” And, if I am being honest, those types are the most difficult for me to stay in a relationship with… but you can go far with someone who knows how to apologize and make amends.
2.
“Is not the person who strips another of clothing called a thief? And those who do not clothe the naked when they have the power to do so, should they not be called the same?”
– Basil of Caesarea, 4th Century Early Church Father & Bishop
Basil of Caesarea is one of the Cappadocian theologians of the 4th century. The other two were Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa (who also happened to be Basil’s younger brother). Together, they were titans of theology and contributed much to the discussion of orthodox theology at a time when the creeds of the early church were just beginning to be formalized.
Fascinatingly enough, Basil and Gregory came from a very rich, aristocratic family. They held enormous esteem in their region, and their large family produced many notable figures who later became considered saints.
That said, Basil was deeply struck by the account of the young rich man who came to Jesus asking about eternal life, and walked away saddened when Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions and give them to the poor.
Here it is, in full:
“Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
“Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Matthew 19:16-22)
No doubt, this deeply impacted Basil, who came from a wealthy family and was likely a young man himself when he heard or read that passage of Scripture. In response, Basil became an outspoken preacher against materialism and how greed and avarice come at the cost of caring for our neighbors with less.
For Basil, being rich was not a problem. The problem was storing all that accumulated wealth and not using it to benefit those around you. In this way, Basil connected the issue of wealth directly with the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
3.
“As a handful of sand thrown into the sea, so are the sins of all humanity in the ocean of divine mercy.”
– Isaac of Nineveh, 7th Century Ascetic
Not only is the love and grace of God unconditional, but it is also infinite.
4.
“Psychologically, as long as we are criticizing, diagnosing, passing judgment, we will at some level be bracing for counterattack, where if we lead with empathy, we remain secure and grounded. We give and receive mercy through the same opening.”
– Isaac Slater in Do Not Judge Anyone: Desert Wisdom for a Polarized World
Isaac Slater is a Cistercian monk, a member of a Catholic order known for its cloistered life of silence, ora et labora (prayer and work), and an intense practice of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
I have been reading this book because I realized how dang judgmental I am. I am excruciatingly judgmental in my head, and I am certain it sometimes leaks out. So why not hit the nail on the head and intentionally get a book of wisdom about the very topic?
Do Not Judge Anyone is full of references to the New Testament and figures from the early Desert Monastics (whom I am a fond admirer of). It is not a flashy book, but it packs a punch, and I am finding myself underlining whole paragraphs. It is such a good read, it is making me realize how prevalent judgment is in our world, and that it is so much easier to talk about anything else but how we want to feel better about ourselves by finding someone else to look down on.
My goodness, we are such a wreck, aren’t we? Lord, have mercy.
5.
“Love needs no cause beyond itself, nor does it demand fruits; it is its own purpose. I love because I love; I love that I may love.”
– St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th Century Cistercian Monk
Meister Eckhart said something similar.
Love does not need a why.
Love just loves.
Love has no desire to manipulate or force a particular outcome.
Love loves with freedom and without strings attached.
If Love ever loves for the purpose of being reciprocated, to control, to effect a particular outcome, to be seen as loving, or for any other reason than simply to Love… then it isn’t Love; it is a mutation or a malformed mode of relationship.
