Matthew 25:35 - Be Nice!

MAIN IDEA – It is one thing to say that everyone is welcomed, but it is another to actually practice such a concept. We welcome the stranger on our terms. We embrace the stranger in the way that we are comfortable with. Sometimes that means bringing the stranger into our home and other times that means welcoming the stranger in a fenced in area in the backyard. This is not a political statement, but a human statement. There are people who we are more comfortable with and others who scare us. Personally, there are people that I get along with more than others. There are times when someone would visit the church and I roll my eyes and duck under the desk. There are other times when I run out to say hello with gusto. Our hospitality is selective.

Yet we are called to welcome the stranger. The stranger is not defined. The welcome is not defined. We are to welcome the stranger, no matter how uncomfortable that may make us feel.

Now the doors to the church are always open to everyone, but I don’t believe that is welcoming. Right now the stranger has to make the effort to enter into the doors, and someone who is very different from the congregation will very likely not walk through those doors. The stranger in the church is most likely someone who is going to be comfortable in the church. What if we were to go out and find the people who are true strangers and then reach out to them, comfort them, welcome them in a non-threatening, loving way? What if we went to the outcasts rather than waited for the outcasts to come to us? What if we went to those who are labeled as different and did what we could do make them feel comfortable? Could the church, could I do this proactive welcoming of the stranger?

THEOLOGICAL IDEA – As Christians we are strangers in this world. It is very easy to forget this, especially in America. Hauerwas again and again tries to call the church to remember that we are not a part of the secular politics, but a part of God’s politics, God’s realm. Perhaps one of the greatest challenges in welcoming the stranger is realizing that we are strangers ourselves. We reach out as people who are not a part of the establishment. We reach out as strangers.

There is also the idea of relationality. Levanis and Buber (ironic that they are both Jewish philosophers) both push the idea of seeing the other in a relational way. It is an I-thou rather than a I-it. This is stretching beyond other Christians to all of God’s children. Welcoming the stranger without judging the stranger is difficult but it is what I believe we are called to do.