On Saturday, October 24, I left Coate’s Closet to pay a visit to Nancy’s Corner in The Madera Tribune. She had written a column in that issue about several relationships she has had over the years. She identified these as friendships, and most of them lasted a long time. These articles caught my interest, since I have been engaged with my 100-year-old former college professor Reuben Welch in a study of human relationships that endure.
I first met Reuben in 1967 when I matriculated at Pasadena Nazarene College. I enrolled at PNC to study for the Christian Ministry but wound up majoring in History and becoming a public school teacher. Nevertheless, I remained intrigued with human relationships and what holds them together.
Reuben pointed me to two examples of God’s Glue The first one was “forgiveness.”
Resting on theologian Paul Tillich’s shoulders, Rueben maintains, “No relationship can continue without silent acts of forgiveness, repeated again and again, not in the context of a formal asking but rather freely given.”
The second adhesive of God’s Grace holding relationships together, according to Reuben, is Hospitality. This is defined as the extension of “an open space by one party, which receives the thoughts and feelings of others.
We’re all so full up with ourselves, but the creation of an empty space of hospitality that just lets another person’s thoughts and feelings come in, makes me think of God’s awesome opening of hospitable space to us.”
“In this way” Ruben says, “God opens up His heart to us and makes loving space for us and then invites us in. That space then becomes our place to go and to become and to give out.”
— Bill Coate,
Madera