Hospitality to strangers... Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:1-2 All day long we drove around in a Jeep loaded with rice, beans, and masa harina (the flour mix for making tortillas and tamales). I was all of 12 or 13 years old and had been volunteered to go with one of the local clergy to pass out food to flood victims in various communities in Guatemala. Every stop was the same…a bag of rice, a bag of beans, and a bag of masa given out to people who seemingly had lost everything. At every stop, people told the same stories and expressed their gratitude for simple gifts of food. Every stop…except the first. At that first stop, everything was the same until we got ready to leave. Some of the people gathered around us and told us to come back at the end of the day. The priest I was with assured them that we would. When the Jeep was finally empty (and we were bone tired), we kept our promise and returned to the first village we had visited. A shelter had been set up and tables cleaned off; a feast of rice and black beans along with fresh hot tortillas was waiting. People who had nothing, invited us to come and share in God’s provision for them. Hospitality to strangers…from strangers Blessings, Matthew+
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP p. 233) | 
