How do you practise hospitality?
Henri J.M. Nouwen in his Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life (1975) observed:
Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.
We wonder whether management at The Bellevue on London Street have been reading Nouwen’s thoughtful bestseller. Certainly, according to the A-board outside their premises, they offer free space in the form of a mezzanine floor for parties of over 25.
There again, it is unclear to us exactly what change they imagine will take place in large groups of undisturbed men and women after a complimentary nibbling.
Photo (top-right) by @Lunchquest