When The Stranger Arrives
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“It is just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison, and his friends and companions brought a surgeon to treat him. The man would say: ‘I will not let the surgeon pull out this arrow until I know who shot me.’” —The Buddha, Cūḷamāluṅkya Sutta (Majjhima Nikāya 63)
This week at the Common Good Farm has been an exciting one. We have welcomed two baby Nigerian dwarf goats, Atticus and Evie! We have been looking forward to their arrival for months. In order to prepare for their arrival we built a pen, bought their food, spread the hay for their bedding and imagined how the goats would fit into our everyday routine. So far, they are magic. You can expect many future meditations about our adventures together.
Then another animal arrived. A few mornings ago, we discovered a young male rottweiler dog on our property. He weighs about 110 pounds. From everything we can tell, someone abandoned him, and he eventually found his way to us. He didn’t have a collar and wasn’t chipped. We can’t find his family, and he has decided he likes it here.
The thing is…we had not prepared for him.
He is sweet and gentle, and we are trying to find him a loving permanent home. For now, he has joined our busy household, which already has three dogs, chickens, goats, and people with their own routines and relationships.
At the Common Good Farm, hospitality is one of our core values. It sounds lovely when you say it like that. But then a 110-pound stranger moved in and made himself at home. Suddenly, hospitality feels much more real.
Our three dogs had to figure out if this big newcomer was a threat. Once they realized he wasn’t, something interesting happened. They started to adjust. They gave him space, he learned their signals, and they set boundaries. Together, they began to work out how to share a home none of them expected. We humans are learning to do the same.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the difference between welcoming someone and actually making room for them. Welcoming can sometimes just be a feeling. We might say, “Everyone is welcome here,” but not really change anything about ourselves.
But making room is different. Making room means accepting that someone else’s presence could change things. Their needs might interrupt our routines. Their story might challenge what we assume. We might need to make space.
The ancient Greek word for hospitality in Christian scriptures is philoxenia. It joins philos, meaning love or friendship, with xenos, meaning stranger. So hospitality literally means loving the stranger.
This idea goes far beyond Christianity. In Jewish tradition, welcoming guests, hachnasat orchim, is a sacred act. In Islam, caring for guests and strangers is a central spiritual teaching. Buddhist practices of mettā, or loving-kindness, encourage us to grow our compassion until even strangers are included. Maybe our traditions focus on hospitality because strangers shake up our lives.
The people we already know fit easily into the world we’ve built. We know where they belong, what they need, and what to expect from them. But when a stranger arrives, they bring a life we never planned for. Suddenly, we have a choice to make. We can protect our turf. Or we can choose to make room.
Making room doesn’t mean giving up all boundaries. I’ve seen our dogs show me that this week. They’ve been careful, let others know when something was too much, and kept their own places in the family. Hospitality has needed careful thought from everyone. But slowly, they’re learning that the circle can grow without anyone losing their place.
Maybe that’s what hospitality really asks of us. It’ not simply whether we are willing to open the door, but whether we are willing to let someone’s arrival change the shape of the room.
Our unexpected guest will hopefully find his permanent family soon (let us all pray). When he does, our household will settle back into another rhythm. But I hope we don’t settle all the way back. I hope something remains rearranged in us…
We never know when the stranger will arrive.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
When has an unexpected person, experience, or relationship disrupted your life and ultimately enlarged it?
Where do you find it easiest to offer welcome as a sentiment, but harder to make the accommodations that genuine belonging requires?
What might need to be rearranged in your life right now to make room for someone—or something—you did not expect?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For An Expansive Heart
Holy One, Keep our hearts open to the lives that arrive without warning, to the stranger at the door, to the interruption we did not plan. When our first instinct is to protect what is ours, give us enough spaciousness to wonder whether the circle might grow. Teach us the wisdom of welcome and the wisdom of boundaries, the courage to draw near and the patience to learn one another slowly. May we make room without losing ourselves. May we receive without needing to control. And when another life rearranges ours, may we resist the urge to put everything back exactly as it was. Leave something changed in us. A little more room. A little less fear. A wider sense of who belongs. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Make a Little Room
Sometime today, look at the spaces you inhabit—your home, your calendar, your relationships, your community—and ask yourself: Where is there room for someone I did not plan for?
You don’t need to manufacture an encounter with a stranger. Simply notice how tightly arranged your life has become.
Perhaps making room means leaving enough time in your day for an unexpected conversation. Perhaps it means reaching out to someone who is new to your community. Perhaps it means listening to a person whose experience is different from your own without immediately trying to fit their story into what you already believe.
Practice making one small accommodation. Then notice what happens inside you when your plans are interrupted.
Hospitality often begins there, not with a perfectly prepared guest room, but with our willingness to move over.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. Join the community here.
August 11 - September 1, 2026, 12:30-1:30pmET - Book Club in The Commons - FREE - We are reading our next book, “I Eat The Stars” by Sarah Wilson. We will meet each Tuesday for 6 weeks. It’s such great fun. I hope you will be a part. All are welcome! RSVP HERE.
August 20, 2026, 7-8:45pm ET - I will be joining Jackie Sussman for an online session on practicing eidetics as a part of our “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination” monthly series. Eidetic Imagery is a powerful tool for pastors, denominational leaders, coaches, and spiritual directors working with others, and for individuals seeking deeper integration and healing in their own lives. Jackie is a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, and has spent over forty years helping leaders and individuals unlock creativity, uncover hidden strengths, and move through limiting patterns. During this session, she will lead a live Eidetic process shaped by mythic imagery, offering a direct experience of the work. REGISTER HERE.
September 8, 2026, 12:30 - 1:30pm ET, ONLINE EVENT with NYTimes Best-Selling author and journalist, Sarah Wilson!!! Sarah has just published her latest book I Eat The Stars: How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World. Join us for this one hour conversation where we will talk with Sarah about how we face collapse, how we find beauty and who we can become in these challenging times. Scholarships are available. REGISTER HERE.
September 8, 2026, 7-9pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - I’ll be hosting a powerful online gathering on The Black Madonna: Sacred Wisdom for a World in Crisis with Matthew Fox, Alessandra Belloni, and Christena Cleveland. We will explore the Black Madonna as a symbol of resilience, liberation, sacred feminine wisdom, and healing in a fractured world through conversation, story, music, and spiritual reflection. If you feel drawn toward a deeper encounter with the Divine Feminine and the ancient traditions that continue to nourish movements for justice and wholeness, I hope you’ll join us. Learn more and REGISTER HERE.
September 14, 7-8:30pm ET ONLINE EVENT - I’m delighted to share that Dr. Margaret Wheatley is releasing a newly updated edition of her beloved book Perseverance: A Companion for the Journey this October. Written for those committed to serving the world with compassion in difficult times, the book offers daily wisdom and practical guidance for navigating grief, anger, exhaustion, and uncertainty while remaining rooted in love, courage, and presence. Meg and I will be in conversation to explore what perseverance looks like in this moment of history and how we can sustain ourselves for the long work ahead. I hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a deeply meaningful conversation. REGISTER HERE.
October 6, 2026 - 7-8:30pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - Matthew Fox and I are teaming up again to launch a series called Journeying with the Mystics. The mystics have always emerged in times of uncertainty. They appear when old certainties are crumbling, when institutions no longer provide easy answers, and when people find themselves longing for a deeper experience of the Sacred. Join us for an 18-session exploration of the teachings of St. John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Hildegard of Bingen, Kabir and Rumi, Meister Eckhart and more. This is more than a lecture series. It is an invitation into a living spiritual journey. REGISTER for the first session HERE!
October 18-21, 2026 - PREACH! 2026 Conference- I’ll be co-hosting PREACH in Minneapolis with Church Anew, a new gathering for preachers, storytellers, worship leaders, and spiritual communicators navigating what it means to speak with clarity, compassion, and courage in a changing world. If you’ve sensed that the preaching moment has changed and are longing for thoughtful community and renewed imagination for this work, I hope you’ll join us.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
I’m delighted to celebrate the upcoming release of Wisdom Church: Abundant Life for Aging Congregations by my colleague, Rev. Dr. Anna Hall. Rather than seeing aging congregations as communities in decline, Anna invites us to recognize them as communities rich with wisdom, purpose, and possibility. Her book offers a hopeful vision for moving beyond anxiety about the future and embracing the unique gifts of older adults as beloved children of God. If your congregation is navigating these questions, this is a resource well worth reading. You can preorder the Kindle edition now, with delivery on August 17: https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Church-Abundant-Aging-Congregations-ebook/dp/B0HBXGYTWC
Every Monday, 12pm ET - ONLINE WRITING GROUP - My dear friend, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, is leading a writing group open to all. This is a simple and spacious writing circle for people who want time to listen inwardly and put words on the page without overthinking, performing, or polishing. Meryl offers a prompt designed to invite reflection, imagination, and attunement to what is already alive within you. The practice honors writing as a way of listening, of letting images, memories, questions, and insights surface in their own time. Learn more here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.