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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
September 2002 |
(They might be angels … )
It was around 1952 or so when cries of "Help, help!" shocked us out of a summer night's sleep. A young stranger, stood alone in our yard, calling out, her voice pinched and high with panic.
Nothing so shocking had ever happened before at our quiet end of the mile-long country road. My parents dashed down stairs, with me close behind, and immediately let her in. I was unnerved. It was the middle of the night and here was a complete stranger in a state of disarray sitting at our kitchen table crying and wadding up the table cloth in her nervousness. My father, usually wary of strangers at our door, was talking soothingly to the her. My mother was fixing her a glass of water. They would call the police. It would be OK.
The young woman, really a girl, had dashed away from a stalled car down the road. It belonged to an older male companion who had driven her "out in the sticks" and made rough, unwanted advances. A foolish girl to be in such a fix! But we've all been foolish once, my mother said.
As I was thinking about Open House Month, images of that night have kept intruding on my consciousness. I think I know why.
Thousands of congregational "families" are about to be "awakened" by strangers this month. Unknown people sitting in our pews, sharing our hymnals, all looking for help of some sort. Our instinctive reaction is to avoid eye contact, to be wary of strangers in our midst -- even in church. And particularly if they dress unexpectedly, or speak with unfamiliar accents -- or have problems.
This month we'll need to concentrate on receiving these visitors generously. Not only because we have good news to share, but as St. Paul told the Hebrews, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that, some have entertained angels without knowing it." Heb. 13:2 (NRSV).
