Strangers in Our Midst

April 13, 2008

A few months ago I read the book Making Room: Recovering Hospitality As a Christian Tradition. After reading it I wrote the following review, which is in my goodreads: "We have always practiced hospitality but the Holy Spirit is using this book to help guide us in broadening that circle of welcome to strangers. I'm still not sure exactly how to do that, even after reading the book, but my heart is totally there. Very excited about what God has been changing in our lives and how this book will help us grow even more."

I can't say that we now have answered the hows of opening our home to strangers, especially those marginalized by our society, but we moved one step closer to that practice by actually hosting strangers in our home last night. By the time they left this afternoon they were friends not strangers which is pretty cool.

To be fair they weren't totally strangers, they are friends with our friend's friends - did you catch that?? They are moving to Maine soon to start a new job and a new life and were looking to connect with a local house church group. They have been "housechurching" for years and were able to share insights and encouragements to our fledgling group. When they called to confirm their plans to visit our group our family invited them to stay the night and then fellowship with the whole group the next day. A fairly safe risk in the world of inviting strangers into your home but a little step in that direction nonetheless.

Now I'll be very honest, I'm pretty bagged after a weekend of cooking, feeding, loving, vacuuming the kitchen floor, being emotionally vulnerable and checking that the toilet is flushed. We had friends for supper Friday night, strangers-who-are-now-friends who stayed Saturday night and we hosted a brunch church gathering today. But in my tiredness I'm excited that we took a step in the direction we want to go.</p>