Strangers part 1.

            “The stranger represents an unknown and ambiguous figure: friend or foe, resource or thief, giver or taker.  Yet three key events in the New Testament—Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost—all recount the coming of a divine stranger. In each case the newcomer brings blessings that both disorient and transform. ‘The child in the manger, the traveler on the road to Emmaus, and the mighty wind of the Spirit all meet us as mysterious visitors, challenging our belief systems even as they welcome us to new worlds.’  When despondent travelers on the Emmaus road extended hospitality to the stranger who had joined them, ‘their eyes were opened’ and they discovered that he was none other than the resurrected Christ (Luke 24:13035). The stranger plays a central role in biblical stories of faith, and for good reason. ‘The religious quest, the spiritual pilgrimage, is always taking us into new lands where we are strange to others and the yare strange to us. Faith is a venture into the unknown, into the realms of mystery, away from the safe and comfortable and secure.’

            Christian hospitality that represents the reign of God includes but is not limited to the offer and aid and comfort to the visitor or outsider…Strangers not only challenge and subvert our familiar worlds; they can enhance and even transform our way of life and our most intimate relationships. By honoring others precisely in their otherness, we embrace the new, the mysterious, and the unexpected:”^[1] “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Heb. 13:2)

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^[1] Guder, Darrell L., Missional Church, pp. 178-179