hospitality

"Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it."

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews was writing in a time very different from ours. Hospitality was a matter of life and death. Whether you thought about it or not, you opened your doors to a stranger because someday, you'd be on the road and most likely in need of an open door yourself.

That isn't the case these days. For the vast majority of us our travels come with the luxuries of roadside comfort stations, hotels, airport shopping malls, and food courts. But hospitality to the stranger doesn't go out the window with ease of travel. These days that hospitality looks like real relationship. It looks like really listening when you ask the cashier, "how are you?" It looks like really caring about the elderly neighbor who shouldn't be mowing in the heat. It looks like reaching out to those who live in a different world (Haiti) or culture (Pakistan) when they are hurting. And, it might even mean giving allowances for others with whom we vehemently disagree in the name of freedom and hospitality.

It means being real, authentic, caring, loving, and empowering. It isn't easy, but it may mean that you'll entertain angels unawares.