Handmade quilts are on the beds, bus maps and Bibles on the shelves, and “home away from home” in the motto. The International Guest House in Northwest Washington, owned by the Allegheny Conference of the Mennonite Church USA, offers discount stays to any and all. Stoner and his wife spent the last year as the volunteer host couple; they return home to Ohio in August.
What have you learned from this year of practicing hospitality?
How much fun it is! And how challenging it is. It is fun and enjoyable because I love people. We have met people from all over the world, all backgrounds, all faith traditions, rich and famous, people who are struggling to get by. Our doors are open to everybody. Some people think this is just for Mennonites; it’s not. We advertise in B&B International, so we get a lot of our people coming through that, especially from China, Korea, Japan and South America.
We like to say that we can see the face of Jesus in every person who comes in our door. A previous volunteer of 20-some years ago said, “When I make the beds each day, I think I am making a bed in hopes that an angel might sleep here.” Whenever we have that attitude, we can see the face of Christ in everyone who walks in the door. The problem is sometimes we have to look at some a little bit longer than at others. We’ve had a few people who really stretch us on that.
Why is hospitality important to the Mennonite Church?
Hospitality is one of the main things that Jesus exemplified. He both was host and guest and showed how that was a reciprocity in which both were enriched in the process. And we say that it is in this process of entertaining folks that we will then experience Christ’s presence among us. It’s more than a tradition; it’s a ministry.
Most people think Mennonites wear long skirts or beards, confusing them with Amish people. What is a Mennonite?
There are some conservative branches of Mennonites that blend into the Amish, and really Amish and Mennonites come from the same tradition over in Switzerland and Germany and Alsace-Lorraine. Amish and Mennonites split ways many hundreds of years ago over the issue of shunning. Amish still think that shunning someone who isn’t following the rules will help bring them back into line. Mennonites do not practice shunning, and we say that forcing someone to comply to rules is not the way to go about regulating a group. And of course keeping the rules for the Amish is the big thing. That’s why dress code, lifestyle and so forth are such big issues. Although there would be some conservative branches of Mennonites that dress plainly, by and large, Mennonite USA members dress just like every other modern person.
At your core, what is one of your defining beliefs?
All people are created equal, and all people are children of God. And therefore in this role, I can accept anyone. I try not to be judgmental of anyone because God created all of us.
