February 1, 2011 – 7:15 pm
Frozen to Death The week after Christmas and it is freezing cold in Hotlanta. We have been opening our little dining room for a few people to come in and sleep during the cold nights. It is not enough for everyone. Randall Cook was a close friend of the Open Door Community. So close [...]
Hospitality,Vol. 25, No. 4 Mary Loring died Saturday February 25, 2006 from old age at Southminster Retirement Community, Charlotte, North Carolina. She was 93 years old, and in her final days, she was surrounded by her family singing Freedom songs and hymns of thanksgiving. Fifty-seven years ago she and her beloved husband, Harold A. Loring [...]
Hospitality, Vol. 24, No. 4 Mary, the mother of our nonviolent God, was a peasant girl about 14 years old when, in 5 BCE, she enters history. She comes today into our home, so let me introduce you to our meeting place. The Second Door. We have a sacred and holy place inside our house. [...]
February 1, 2004 – 3:57 pm
Hospitality, vol. 23, no. 2 Train trip with Dietrich, Viola, and Elizabeth, Murphy, and me to Amsterdam for the European Catholic Worker Gathering. Out of Hamburg, our train stopped for 45 minutes. In front of us a train was used for a man to obey his fear and utter desperation. He flung himself [...]
Hospitality, April 2003, vol. 22, no. 4 (Editor’s note: Ed Loring, a Partner at the Open Door Community, preached the following sermon at the Seattle Mennonite Church on September 29, 2002.) The Message to Laodicea And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful [...]
November 1, 1999 – 8:35 pm
Hospitality vol. 18, no. 11 One: Fragments Found The Cry For Help “Who killed Cock Robin? ‘I,’ said the sparrow, ‘With my little bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin.’ Who saw him die? ‘I,’ said the fly, ‘With my little eye, I saw him die.’ Who’ll make his [...]
One: August 1, 1999 A loud banging assaulted our front door. Agitation mingled with the stifling heat of more than 100 degrees. I went to the door, pushed wide the heavy green gift just above the panic bar. Quentin’s face was contorted, his breath heavy and foul, eyes on fire like Ponce’s asphalt in [...]
Like a bullfrog In a boy’s box He jumped Banging against the metal wall. Diving into undulant headlines of Mass murders in Buckheadtown when Market values fell like a hawk Hungry for amphibian flesh. He had hopped oft times before This Sabbath morn. His way of taking leave Like Santa up the chimney [...]
Hospitality vol. 18, no. 4 (Editor’s note: Bill Shain was a longtime friend of the Open Door. He died recently, at the age of 65, after a brave struggle with cancer; Ed Loring spoke at a memorial service in Bill’s honor at ____________________ where Bill was a member.) Blessed are the Peacemakers [...]
October 1, 1998 – 3:33 pm
Hospitality vol. 17, no. 10 On a dark and bloody Sunday night recently James Thomas was shot to death. He was hanging out not far from 910 on an infamous street corner. A place where pavement meets pavement; where drugs, sex and trouble are easily available after the sun winks twice and darkness [...]
