I have guests at the moment, not people I knew personally beforehand. I have more than enough physical space in the church owned house.
What is hospitality? Sharing the bread we have, actually I get back a lot too, my overgrown garden mown, others sharing the cooking...
But there is the balance - keeping safe, as a woman alone welcoming the stranger is a serious matter, not to be done without care.
And yet -
I think back to all the times I have lived with people not of my choosing, and often strangers. From university flat allocation to when I arranged a 6 month unpaid 'job' in a church in Australia in exchange for bed and board. Actually since I was 18 I have only lived alone for 5 years, and with 4 years back at parents that leaves over a decade living with people I didn't choose, people who were strangers at first. Of course some of that was with a locked personal room but I also remember the times that people welcomed me into their homes. Ok I may have come with references, a student on a placement etc, but I was still a stranger.
And those who care about my wellbeing now were glad of the welcome I recieved in other places. Is there inconsistency there? Not really because then they worried about me going into a stranger's place, now they worry about the strangers coming to my place. Sometimes those who love you are simply born to worry.
But if by welcoming others I can pass on the grace and hospitality that I have been shown by strangers then that chain of grace can carry on.
Whilst being wise to real risks we must still dare to care.
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