Strangers in Christ

I was in a Church yesterday with strangers - in fact , recently, I have been in Church a lot with people I don't know as I have been exploring. But it is interesting how different the liturgy sounds when you don't know people - it does not cease to be true that everyone around me is somehow linked to me because we are sharing in the Eucharist - it simply means I cannot call them by name and picture them going to their work or their home because I have no idea what that might be.

But although we do not know the details of each others lives, always, when we come before the altar we know that we all receive the same welcome and that has to affect how we view the stranger both in Church and outside.

I was thinking about Abraham welcoming his guests all those years ago - there is an inherent risk in hospitality - both physical and emotional but that is what we are called to. For Christians the first step, perhaps, might come in listening carefully to the words in the Eucharist which remind and instruct us that we are all one body - that means strangers too.