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Advocates
Citizen advocacy relationships benefit people of all ages, including children. Hope (left) and Alicia (right) share a special connection fostering love and acceptance. |
Citizen advocacy relationships are diverse, and the level of "connectedness" has varied from person to person, and yet there is a unique commonality in each relationship. The concept of "radical hospitality" is the common thread in each relationship.
Every person has known the everydayness of hospitality, both as a giver and as a receiver. Hospitalilty can be a place of shelter when our lives are filled with storms, a listening ear when we are in trouble, the strength to act and protect in the face of injustice, or an open heart that receives us just as we are. However, it is only when we are in crisis or when we encounter someone in deep isolation or need, that we can really begin to appreciate the healing transformative power of hospitality.
Radical hospitality says, "come, it's okay to enter my life; you are welcome just as I am, just as you are." For many of us, this is a rather frightening prospect. In the fears of difference and otherness, it is difficult to consider making space at the table of our heart for another human being. Each person who has said "yes" to becoming a citizen advocate has considered this issue: who is to be included and who is to be excluded at their table of welcome? Each person has had to be open to the possibility of grace happening, has had to risk being changed in some fundamental way...
Only when you open the door of your life does the grace that makes us whole have a space to enter. Macon Bibb Citizen Advocacy opens the door for this grace while fostering community at its very best. |
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