Read
Genesis: 18:1-10
Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree.
Verse 4 (NIV)

Reflect
When I was very young, our family lived in the same house as another family. I was never sure of the reason or the circumstances but out of that arrangement I have a friendship that has lasted over 65 years.

When our family lived in Lincoln county, we took in a new immigrant family from Holland. They lived with us, ate with us and the entire time my parents helped them to navigate their new country of choice. We helped the father learn how to drive. The young man learned a new trade with me. From that arrangement we had new friends for a long time.

Community is about more than just a surface relationship. It calls for hospitality, and that often means putting oneself in a place of risk and vulnerability to include others. It means inviting others into your space to include them in what is going on.

Abraham and Sarah invited three strangers to rest, wash up, and eat. It might not seem like much, but this is an example of inviting strangers into our space so that they are not strangers anymore. Abraham and Sarah gave of themselves in order to make the strangers feel welcome, and they were blessed in amazing ways.

The ways we make room for others in our community is important.

Pray
Father, help us to invite others into our community as we invest in each other. Help us to see and serve you, in the stranger and in our community. Amen.