Recently I have been embracing my call of hospitality in many different ways and I've been discovering new ways to do so via food and the table. Since starting my job of teaching nutrition almost a year ago I have developed a huge love for local, fresh food. This has only naturally given me a profound appreciation of my garden plots and the act of producing my own food. It has connected what and how I eat to hospitality. Back in my undergrad I felt an explicit call to hospitality in my home, but had no idea that it would come to fruition in such a way as it has. In the midst of devouring essays by Wendell Berry and other gardeners, I had the privilege of reading to review Brian Craig Drurey's book "Relational Discipleship: Moving back home with God." I loved this quick and easy read and don't let the fact that it's an easy read tempt you to believe it's irrelevant. It's incredibly relevant in today's postmodern world. Here are my thoughts:
"Incredible read! Very good resource for discipleship. As someone who very much believes in what is called Relational Theology, I found Relational Discipleship to be an excellent companion through life. As someone who used to work for a church and now attends a house church I found Drurey's work very applicable and needed in such a time as this when churches all over the globe need to drastically re-evaluate their models! I especially enjoyed his metaphors and illustrations to demonstrate the process of returning home with God. There is such a need for hospitality in not only our discipleship practices, but also in our lives. We, American Christians, have seemed to have lost our call to hospitality, to open up our tables to the stranger, foreigner, and orphan. Food is something that can unite us all despite differences and Drurey's book reinvites back into a mode of hospitality. I could go on and on about his use of metaphors and his description of the woods, porch, door, and house of God, but to truly appreciate this book like I have you need to read it. You need to open the door to it's pages and taste and see how good and needed it is in our current climate."
