It was a very snowy windy day, as we were traveling back from Chicago, so we stayed behind a semi-truck most of the way back home.  As we followed the semi-truck, we thought of the semi driver as our angel.  Whenever some stranger helps me, I think of that person as an angel that God has placed there to help me.  It's a wonderful thought that there are angels out there to help us when we are in need and to protect us when we are in trouble.  Angels are also those who are strangers to us, those who don't look like us or act  like us, that might need our help.  When we show kindness to a stranger in our homes,  at church and anywhere we are, we might be entertaining an angel without knowing it.

We are all called to show hospitality to strangers whether in our homes, church, or community.  A kind word, an encouraging smile, a helpful hand, are all ways to show hospitality to those around us.  Here during worship we are called to greet one another with the peace of God, but doing so with only the people we know and sit around us isn't showing hospitality to strangers.  We need to get out of our pew and share the peace with those we know and don't know.  We need to seek out someone new to share the peace with, to greet a stranger and welcome them to church inviting them to have coffee with you during coffee hour; this is showing hospitality.  As Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”  It takes courage and time to ask a stranger to stay for coffee, to ask them their names, to invite them back to worship with us again, but when we do, we show them hospitality.  We show then that we  are a warm and friendly church.      Every member of our church can do this; taking the time to make others feel welcome is what a church does, and giving our time to them, we will be rewarded with a chance to be entertaining an angel.

I was just wondering how many angels I might have entertained in my life.  I hope it has been many and not just a few.  I hope I haven't missed a chance to entertain an angel because I have been to busy to notice, or too concerned about myself.  I hope also that I  haven't missed an opportunity to be an angel to someone else who needed help.  Let us try to put others before ourselves during worship and during coffee hour.  Try to invite someone new to stay and have a cup of coffee or juice, getting to know them and inviting them to come back to worship the next Sunday.  My hope is that we grow into a church that is inviting, warm and friendly, but we need all members to do this.  I will be praying for each member to show hospitality to all those around them.