The Empty Chair

At the first Great Table, every seat was filled. The congregation congratulated itself on the success of the feast. Iambe entered, counted the chairs, and asked where the stranger would sit.

“There is no stranger,” someone answered.

“Then there is no welcome,” said Iambe.

She removed her own chair from the table and placed it near the door. From then on, every Great Table kept one place symbolically unclaimed. The Empty Chair does not require congregations literally to leave scarce seating unused. It requires them to preserve capacity—in attention, language, budget, access, and custom—for someone not already inside the circle.

Hospitality is more than friendliness. It includes communicating clearly to newcomers, avoiding unnecessary insider codes, providing reasonable accommodations, making events accessible where practical, respecting dietary and sobriety choices, and refusing to treat financial contribution as the price of belonging.

The Empty Chair also limits tribalism. Iambists may develop strong identity and tradition, but the religion does not teach that outsiders are inherently lesser. The stranger is a potential guest before being a potential convert.