1. Entering kindergarten, all kids are strangers. Some handle this better than others, but all are in a new place, a strange place.
2. As adults, we often find ourselves in the role of stranger. Examples.
3. Perhaps this is why we connect with the story of God’s people: bondage in Egypt, through the wilderness, towards the Promised Land; all places where they were strangers.
4. This parallels our own journey, with its twists and unexpected turns, with numerous wilderness experiences, on which we are sometimes strangers, sometimes guests, sometimes hosts.
5. We connect with the story of God’s people because it’s a story of hospitality given and hospitality received.
6. What role did hospitality play in the lives of our ancestors in faith: Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Paul, etc. What is it that marks the role of hospitality in the life of Christians as different?
7. Hospitality is a "core value" of Judaism and Christianity. Neither would have survived witout hospitality. In both religions, itinerant teachers travelled and were welcomed into homes and communities. Examples of Jesus as a guest in others’ homes. And Paul.
8. We discover our faith, our church, is dependent on hospitality, even today. Example: the hospitality shown to those who came to camp meetings in the early and mid 1800s in this area.
9. What if heaven is like the coffee hour at our churches? What if God welcomes us in the same way that we welcomed others? Would God turn away from a conversation with frieds to welcome us to the communion? Or will we be left standing in the corner alone, as we have left others standing alone?
