Extending an invitation, setting up an appropriate site, preparing food and drink, and planning a program at home are all aspects of home-based hospitality that translate very well into church-based hospitality.

By creating welcoming threshold places and training members to practice good Christian hospitality, congregations can help people to feel comfortable as they move from the outside world to the inside of the church for the very first time.

Americans have a deep desire to gather around tables with loved ones, even if relationships are sometimes strained by the experience. Deep inside us, we sense the importance of shared meals.

Many of these volunteers represent the best of the next generation. Yet they often arrive at their assigned site knowing little about the community and with little to no local support system.

It's time to invite the Occupy Movement to church! And Thanksgiving is the perfect occasion. Have some of the young protesters -- the "99ers" as they're becoming known -- from this rapidly growing movement over for a big holiday dinner!

In Genesis, rape is the means, not the essence, of Sodom's wickedness. Reading the story Sodom as being about homosexuality is like reading the story of an axe-murderer and saying it's about an axe.

Roman Catholic mass can be a stolid exercise, perhaps even more so during Midday Mass at Conception Abbey in rural Nodaway County, Missouri.

Sukkot is the holiday that most centers around guests and emphasizes hospitality. This is ironic since a sukkah is a temporary dwelling, not one's home at all.