When I think of strangers, one of the funny moments that comes to mind was when Cynthia was having our first child, Morgan. We rushed to the hospital about 1:30 in the morning. There was a very kind nurse who helped us and stayed with us most of the time. Cynthia tells the story of how she was taking a breather from pushing, looked up and there were 12 people in the room! And she only knew me and the nurse! One of the things Ed Robb drew my attention to this week was how many strangers kept showing up to where Mary and Joseph after she gave birth to Jesus:
Shepherds, fresh from the fields of sheep
Wisemen, with their whole entourage, suddenly filling the space
Maybe the innkeeper checking things out
Most new moms that I know would not have been a fan of any of those folks walking into the birthing room, but Mary and Joseph seem to take it all in stride. Now maybe that’s a cultural thing—back then, maybe folks were more open to strangers just showing up. But I wonder if there’s something deeper at work.
One of the deep themes of the Bible is God using what happens to us, to help us be deeper and more compassionate people. Did you hear it in our Old Testament passage today? “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Cynthia and I still remember with great gratitude how warm and welcoming you all were when we first got here. We were complete strangers and we had no clue about anything. So many of you, and our neighbors, and strangers we met in the street and at the grocery store helped us figure out where to go, and how to find what we needed, and how things worked here. Whenever we find someone new to the neighborhood, we try to figure out the best way to help them.
Another deep theme of the Bible is God working through strangers to bring grace. Ed Robb tells the story of “a young woman who received a call while grocery shopping, informing her that her grandfather had died. The death wasn’t unexpected, but to hear the news was still a shock. ‘I just stood there and went white and numb. An older couple happened to be standing near me and sensed something was wrong. They asked but I couldn’t make words come out. They sat with me for a while, got ahold of my best friend to come pick me up, AND bought the groceries in my cart…That was one of the worst days of my life and I miss my grandpa every single day, but that kindness and humanity makes me cry in a good way.’”[1] What an extraordinary moment of grace! Are there bad apples out in the world? Sure, and we have to be vigilant, but I think most of the people in the world are far more kind and compassionate than we often think.
The idea that we do the right thing for someone else, help someone in great need, take care of someone who is a complete stranger, is really a crazy idea on the face of it. But this Biblical idea—welcome strangers because you were once a stranger—I think captures something really powerful about grace. Sometimes we are the ones who need grace. We are the ones who are new and unsure, awkward, left out and lonely. We know what it’s like to be with people who think or dress or talk, mourn or celebrate differently from us. And sometimes we are the ones who can show grace.
Welcoming strangers is actually part of why the church is. I love you all and I’m glad we are together and that we have good times together, but God is calling for us to grow even more into the kind of group that looks for the immigrant and the foreigner, for those who are lonely or left out, who are struggling and need a hand, who are lost in all the busyness and wondering if there isn’t something more. For Jesus, “no one was really a stranger to him. Meeting a stranger was an opportunity to demonstrate love and inclusion into the community of God.”[2]
As it turns out, when Morgan was being born, not everything went according to plan, and that crowd of strangers in the room helped everything turn out just great. The best things in life involve risk, being vulnerable, and into that space comes grace. The whole idea of Christmas starts with God taking a risk and becoming vulnerable…and sending Jesus. “Immigration, becoming strangers in a strange land, is never easy. Our Lord experienced this difficulty not only when his family had to flee to Egypt for safety but also when he first came to earth. Isn’t the Incarnation the ultimate example of migration? The story of Christmas is rooted in the truth that God’s only begotten son left heaven and came to earth—Immanuel, God with us.”[3] In Jesus, God stepped out of immortality and was born as a baby. Because God knows what it’s like to be born, and grow up, and have friends, and lose friends, and even die—we know God can help us through, love us into the future. Who knows how and through whom God is going to bless us? Who knows how God will work through us be a blessing!
[1]Ed Robb, Making Room: Sharing the Love of Christmas (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2020), pp. 29–30.
[2]Ibid, p. 29.
[3]Ibid, p. 41.