Lord, Help Us Reach Out

       There is a tendency deep within most of us to withdraw into ourselves when we are in close proximity to strangers. It is almost as if we wish to protect ourselves from anything or anyone who is different from us. Strangers are sometimes treated with indifference, silence, and even with hostility.

      We find this attitude of suspicion and indifference acted out toward those whom we do not know in the grocery store, the restaurant, on the telephone, and a in many places in our daily walk. It can even happen in churches. We place a wall between strangers and us. Yet Jesus tells us, “I was a stranger and you took me in.”

      Henri Nouwen, in his book “Reaching Out,” tells us, “…it is possible for men and women and obligatory for Christians to offer an open and hospitable space where strangers can cast off their strangeness and become our fellow human beings.” Hostility can be changed into hospitality, and hospitality has a Biblical connotation as Nouwen points out. By receiving strangers with holy hospitality, we become receptors of precious gifts, which may be carried by these strangers and therefore revealed and shared with us.

      Abraham received the three strangers and was given the gift of the promise of a son. When the widow showed kindness to Elijah, she received unlimited meal and oil and the raising of her son from the dead. The disciples on the road to Emmaus shared a meal with Jesus during which he revealed himself as the risen Lord.

      We never know when our reception of strangers will lead to blessings. This can be seen very clearly as we leave our “comfort zone” and go into Judea, Samaria, and the rest of the world. The mission field is as close as our family and the next church pew, and as far away as Peru and Kenya. Wherever we go we find strangers, strangers with precious gifts waiting to share.

      Mission teams from our local church have just returned from places like; New York City, New Mexico, Montana, and Kenya. The stories brought back were filled with blessings and the precious gifts shared by strangers. Below is a poem written by Ellen Russell who traveled this summer with the Kenyan Mission Team.      

 Lord, Help Us Reach Out

 On the opposite side of shrinking planet earth

We know privileged lives are an accident of birth

In the midst of such poverty, filth and dust

Here, many folks' dreams are sadly crushed

Beautiful black eyes and contagious smiles

Melt our hearts and erase all the long miles

Here, we are so different yet we are the same

Lord, help us to serve and glorify your name

These folks need a chance to reach their goals

As they hold on to Jesus in their sweet souls

Struggling and striving to overcome so much

Reaching out for hope through a loving touch

So eager to know us and share their story

Together we worship and give God glory

A sea of tiny faces singing, "How are you?"

Flurries of fist bumps in the crowd we pass through

We tote heavy blocks and sand, water and such

For second-floor classrooms they need so much

Giving Bibles and desks, crayons and supplies

Knowing how much this improves their lives

Medicine to protect them and glasses to read

Clean water to drink or grow struggling seeds

Helping teachers -- an encouragement for all

Counseling pastors, painting classroom walls  

We fellowship joyously with these precious ones

Offering our best to God's daughters and sons

We willingly adopt these sweet orphans as ours

Praying to be used through God's wondrous powers

Yes, we pray to be used as you guide and direct

Father, may love and hope replace want and neglect

Help us we reach out, Lord, as your feet and hands

Making disciples of nations as your word commands

 Rev. Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC, August 19, 2012