Place of Welcome Celebration

A delightful crowd of warm, friendly, people attended our Place of Welcome celebration in the Cloister Rooms at Chester Cathedral on the 15th October. Antony, the new Canon Missioner for the Cathedral, spoke beautifully on welcoming the stranger. He explained from scripture how it is the right thing to do, sometimes a hard thing to do, but also a good thing to do, and he about Jesus' radical welcome to all.

Antony highlighted the connection between the words hospitality and hostility, so closely related and yet so utterly opposed, and identified how welcoming can be challenging and difficult, but he encouraged us to keep going. Welcoming is transformative on all sides, as we welcome and listen, we can see people's lives changed for the better.

Margaret, one of our trustees, led a great discussion on unconscious bias. The room buzzed with conversation. Connections were made, and cake was consumed. It's no wonder many left feeling encouraged and uplifted - as one attendee fed back on their 'take-away' post it note, they were taking away JOY 😊 and we all took away a keyring reminder to 'not grow weary in doing good'.