Welcoming Strangers

Very unusually for me, at least recently, I was able to preach at the early Holy Communion service at Godmanchester on Sunday. Even more unusually, if all goes according to plan, I’ll be doing the same again this Sunday too. Here’s the sermon, more or less as preached:

Welcoming Strangers

Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me (Matthew 10:40).

Hospitality
In an age when people are growing further apart, there’s a greater need for friendliness than ever before. And the traditional value of hospitality is once more being rediscovered. Far from being an optional extra, hospitality is regarded by many as a sacred duty — the equivalent of welcoming the Lord himself.

There’s a delightful story in the Old Testament, you may remember, of the couple who made the prophet Elisha welcome under their roof. As a result they were rewarded with the gift of a son (2 Kings 4:8-17). This story gives us an indication of how precious hospitality is in the eyes of God.

The gospel reading, today, reminds us that all the small ways of giving and caring we take advantage of, even a trivial act of kindness, like the giving of a cup of cold water to a stranger on our doorstep (Matthew 10:42), will win God’s favour, and result in a great blessing.

This passage, from today’s gospel reading, has echo’s one of my favourite biblical passages, from much later in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 25:35-40) — I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. You can see that particular passage illustrated in the beautiful window behind me.

The world we live in is crying out for small acts of kindness, which cost little but are sadly missing — like a smile, a word of appreciation or a phone-call.

In extending a welcome to other people we’re following in the footsteps of the Master who has room for everybody in his heart.

Putting Jesus first
Inviting Jesus into our lives, and putting him first in our preference, is a demanding task as it involves a re-shaping of our attitudes. It may mean coming to grips with years of inbuilt selfishness, which goes against the grain.

Christ comes to our doors in many disguises, and isn’t always recognisable. If we haven’t cracked open the hard shell of indifference to others, we run the risk of letting slip so many opportunities for soul-making.

When a stranger comes looking for help, our natural instinct can tell us not to get involved, or put ourselves to any trouble. Unless we have made a conscious decision to reach out to those in want, we can resent the disturbance such intrusions make on our privacy, and run the risk of neglecting a genuine needy person.

Following Christ
Following Christ involves putting his way of life into practice, and in a Christian community this means everyone should feel welcome, and there should be no strangers or outcasts.

Hospitality means showing a generosity of disposition, and a willingness to interrupt our personal lives in order to perform some unrecorded act of kindness; because it isn’t what is given that counts, but the heart with which it’s given.

The least we can do for Christ, who has accepted us in our sinfulness, is to receive one another with open arms. In this way we respond to his compelling call for discipleship and allow his Word to take hold of us.

Below is a picture of the window I mention — which I have talked about on the blog before, most recently here. Interestingly, more than one person said afterwards that they hadn’t realized what was depicted in the window.