Hebrews 13:1
Let brotherly love continue.
Do not neglect hospitality,
for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.
Is hospitality a relic? A charming but antiquated niceness that is no longer feasible in out unpredictable and unreliable world? No, but if we continue to think in those terms, we will find ourselves in a landscape that is unhospitable. Many of us teach our children to be watchful of a stranger who approaches them, but have you ever seen the way a child will converse with a complete stranger?
I cannot recall the sepcifics but there is a story a mom tells about how her child ran up to an unkempt person at a park and offered her snack. The mom, at first terrified, was soon reduced to tears at the simplicity and gentleness of this encounter between her daughter and a stranger.
As we pray today for peace, let us also be open to offering a quick blessing to the cashier, or customer, or whoever we meet, even if it is a silent prayer, as we encounter people today.
