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Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (Romans 15:7)

When we are hospitable to another we create a space that is safe and that is open. Hospitality is a gracious welcoming of others into the presence of Christ.\xa0 It\u2019s a laying aside of our own desires to let others into our space.\xa0 That can seem like an intrusion at times and at other times, a welcome invitation.

There was a French village during World War II that risked their lives to shelter Jews.\xa0 When pastor Andre Trocm\xe9 was asked why the village did so, he said, \u201cI could not bear to be separated from Jesus.\u201d\xa0 That, is the hospitality of Christ.

Jesus welcomed the lame, the blind, the helpless, the haphazard, the tax collector, the prostitute, the demon-possessed, and he welcomes you and me.\xa0 God has welcomed us as his own dearly loved children.\xa0 Could we do anything less that offer that same love and grace to others?

Hospitality is not about making good impressions with our beautiful or elaborate homes or tantalizing cooking. \xa0It\u2019s not only about welcoming others into our homes.\xa0 If that was the case writing this devotional would be a moot point, as most of us have done little of that in over a year. \xa0Hospitality is a way of opening ourselves up to our neighbour and loving them in the same way that God has loved us.\xa0

Who is our neighbour?\xa0 We learn the answer at the end of the parable of the good Samaritan when an expert in the law asks the same question.\xa0 Jesus says to him of the priest and Levite who walked by the injured man and the Samaritan who helped him,\xa0\u201cWhich of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?\u201d The expert in the law replied, \u201cThe one who had mercy on him.\u201d Jesus told him,\xa0\u201cGo and do likewise.\u201d (Luke 10:36-37).

The original language gives us more depth to Jesus response.\xa0 Mercy is defined as \u201ckindness or goodwill toward the miserable and afflicted, joined with a desire to help them.\u201d \xa0You see, hospitality is not just about inviting someone to lunch after church, although that is definitely a mark of hospitality.\xa0 Being hospitable means that we are willing to associate with those of both high and low position.\xa0 It means that we don\u2019t uphold ourselves above others but that we invite them to share our space with us in order to share the love of Christ with them.

Hospitality opens us to share and open our space to others, and it invites us to receive from them.\xa0 To accept the gift of their presence and who they are and what we have to learn from them.\xa0 If someone is homeless for example, it doesn\u2019t mean that our heart cannot find a home in the treasure of their story.\xa0 If someone is different from us culturally, socially, economically, ecumenically, we do not have to cast them away as \u201cother\u201d than us.\xa0 There is always a reciprocation in hospitality.\xa0 A place where the giver becomes the receiver, and the receiver is able to give back.\xa0 What a beautiful picture of the grace and love of God in Christ.