Welcoming Strangers. Welcoming Those Who Are Mourning.

Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.    Hebrews 13:1-3

We are a world in transition. And not all transition is welcomed. Has someone new moved into our neighborhood or started attending our churches?  Are we remembering the widows--long past their initial grief? What about our single friends? There are many with a deep-seated loneliness, a longing to feel loved. And it's not just the people that live alone. We can find ourselves with a loving family yet feel a deep sense of alienation. Let us do what is basic and integral to Christianity. Let us be hospitable to strangers, to the people on the street, but also to those who are new in our neighborhoods and life and to the widows and those who find themselves familyless or neglected by those who are supposed to care for them. Are we unaware of such people? Then sadly, we are too self-absorbed, because they are all around. And maybe we ourselves are one of them, just wishing someone in the body would reach out.

We can't be all things to all people, but we can practice hospitality to those around us. At the end of the age, when Jesus seperates the sheep from the goats--will many of us say we were too busy to obey?