“Stranger” Things

While you might recognize the title as being that of the current Netflix series of which many of us eagerly await season three, the Bible is full of references to “stranger” things––that is, things that concern strangers. While we have talked much about hospitality over the last few weeks, this week we come to look at the “who” of hospitality: to whom are we to show hospitality?The word hospitality literally means “love of strangers.” I don’t know about you but, for me, that is asking a lot. I mean, strangers are, well, strange! They are not familiar, not part of our circles, and are often scary. After all, we teach our children to “beware of strangers,” “don’t talk to strangers,” and yet when we read the Bible we are struck by how much God has to say about “strangers.” In the Old Testament, God built his law to include them; in the New Testament, God himself becomes the “stranger!” Shocking, yes! And if you really seek to love and welcome the outsider, it actually might feel like the cross.So, join us on Sunday. As we gather as guests to this feast we enact every Sunday, it is helpful to remember that at one time we were all strangers to God and each other, and the reason we gather as family is because God loves strangers and outsiders––loved them enough to go the cross that he might make them his family. If God bore a huge cross to make us family, is it too much to ask for us to bear little crosses to welcome strangers so that they also might become friends?Blessings,Jim