Abraham and Sarah have set a great example of hospitality for us to follow. In verse one, the narrator discloses the fact that “the Lord has appeared” to Abraham, yet Abraham himself does not. Abraham is resting quietly by the entrance of his tent when the three strangers appear. These three wanderers appear in the heat of the day, a time when most people would not be out. There is nothing superhuman about the appearance of these men. Abraham perceives them to be human. In these verses, they are referred to as men, but they are also called “angels.” The author of Hebrews certainly knew this story when he states, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Upon seeing the three men, Abraham hurries to them. He does not wait for the strangers to approach, but runs to them and bows before the three men. In bowing before the three strangers, Abraham has illustrates a gesture of honor and respect reinforced by the reference of himself as “your servant.” Abraham’s openhearted hospitality to the total strangers knows no bounds. He has water brought for them to bathe their feet, a much-appreciated comfort to the traveler with his sandal-like footwear and the dust of the roads.

Abraham invites the three men to sit under the tree and promises to fetch a morsel of bread. However, instead of providing a meager meal, Abraham, Sarah and a servant-boy prepare a feast for these strangers. Abraham goes to great lengths to make sure that “choice flour” is used for the bread. He asked Sarah to use only the finest and choicest of wheat flour, the type which meal offerings were later brought to the sanctuary. Abraham himself selects the calf for the main dish, a rare delicacy and a sign of princely hospitality. He provides curds and milk, the basic products of a pastoral economy.

After preparing this feast, Abraham personally serves the strangers this rich fare and stands close by, ready to attend to their needs. What a gesture of hospitality Abraham has shown. He has honored these three strangers with a large feast, when he only promised a little. The Talmud remarks “such is the way of the righteous; they promise little but perform much.”

Abraham’s intercession with the strangers is bold and persistent. What enables Abraham to act so humbly before strangers? What moves him to break open new possibilities for the Lord in dealing with the world? If we were to take a look at Abraham’s credentials, we would see that he was quite an extraordinary man. He was chosen by God to keep the way of justice and righteousness. He will become a great nation and all the earth will be blessed through him.

We do not share the credentials with Abraham, but we do share his humanness. What Abraham has, and what God listens to, is his compassion for the stranger. He shows hospitality to the traveler, even when he and Sarah are but wanderers in the land. Abraham offers these men what I like to call traveling mercies. I have to admit that I borrowed this term from a book by Anne Lamott entitled “Traveling Mercies.” It seems only fitting that I was reading this while on a trip with a group of students from Columbia Seminary to Geneva, Switzerland to study the ecumenical perspectives on missions in January.

At the end of our class, four of us traveled to a Mediterranean fishing village in Northern Italy. When we got to the town of Monterosa, we found the village already asleep as it was close to midnight. Just as the three strangers in the story of Abraham, we were traveling at a time when most people would not be out. The hostel that we had planned to stay out was already closed and we did not see much hope in finding beds for that night. A little frightened and feeling vulnerable, we began to walk around the town to find some sort of life. A man approached us and told us to follow him, that he would find us a place to stay. Within thirty minutes of wandering the streets with this man, we found an apartment to rent for the night. Such a gift from God is hospitality in a place where you least expect it. In this little fishing village, we were able to glimpse ancient traditions sustaining ways of life that shelter and nourish people, ways of life ready to receive strangers who are passing through. In this place, hospitality was more than an act of kindness- it was sustained by a way of life.

In our society today, it is rare that we experience traveling mercies when we are strangers. And it is hard for us to extend traveling mercies to the strangers we meet. What would happen in our society today if four foreign twenty year olds were wandering through in the middle of the night? Perhaps they would be fortunate to find a safe place to rest. But they, or others, might not. Is there not a crisis of hospitality in our society? It is evident in homelessness and widespread hostility to immigrants that there is a crisis of hospitality. It affects almost everyone in less noticeable ways as well. A stranger smiles, and we cautiously walk away. We sit next to someone we don’t know and do not offer a welcome gesture. In our retreat from hospitality, we find that even friends and relatives sit at tables less often than they used to.

Many of us know that we should offer hospitality, but we often wonder whether we can. For in offering welcome to the stranger, extending traveling mercies, we place ourselves in vulnerable positions. Hospitality is made up of hard work undertaken in risky conditions. Fear can crowd out what needs to be done.

This past week I realized what it means to be vulnerable when offering hospitality. I volunteer two mornings a week at a homeless breakfast with a community that lives the life of hospitality. On Wednesday morning, I was overtaken by an angry homeless man who felt the only way to get his breakfast was to take it rather than wait. In seeing no way to get the breakfast, he shoved me out of the way, grabbing me by the throat, and verbally harassed me. I have never been that violated before. In this situation, I have begun that hospitality is scary stuff. Now I could turn and run from this and let the fear overwhelm me.

However, I have chosen to continue my mornings with this community and to overcome my fear of strangers. The only way I can overcome my experience is through the support of communities in the practice of hospitality. I have had an abundance of support from my homeless friends who saw this exchange, from the community at Columbia Seminary and from the people whom I volunteer with. I realize that I am not struggling alone in the fear of practicing hospitality. And I find my strength in Christ.

Christine Pohl, a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, states that “hospitality is not optional for Christians, nor is it limited to those who are specially gifted for it. It is, instead, a necessary practice in the community of faith.” Abraham set the example for us early on when he rushed to offer welcome to the strangers. These three guests, in whom God was somehow present, brought to Abraham and Sarah a blessing. If we had continued to read the story in Genesis 18, we would have found out that it was these three strangers who brought a confirmation to Sarah that she would have a son in her old age. This message was only revealed in the context of a hospitable welcome to strangers. This formative story of biblical tradition on hospitality is positive about welcoming strangers. It connects hospitality with the presence of God, with promise and with blessing. When hospitality is most fully recognized, it not only welcomes strangers; it also recognizes their holiness. It sees the stranger as dear to and made in the image of God, despite the outer appearance or attitude of those we encounter.

It is not surprising that hospitality was a hallmark of virtue for Jews and Christians. In scripture, hospitality reflects more than meeting basic human survival needs. It connects us to God as well as to one another. Hospitality in biblical times was understood to be a way of meeting and receiving holy presence. Although providing hospitality was risky, it was a risk taken in faith. After all, the stranger just might be an angel- a messenger of God!

How then do we as Christians offer hospitality? This congregation has many ways of offering welcome to the strangers through the homeless breakfast on Sundays, the women’s shelter and the outreach to the international students of Atlanta. But it must not stop with these ministries. Hospitality must continue to those you sit next to in the pew, to those strangers you encounter on the street. A friend of mine recently shared a story about taking his daughter to Krispy Kreme one morning. As they were leaving the donut shop, they passed a man walking in. After several steps, his daughter stopped and said, “Dad you didn’t say hello to that man.” Saying hello, such a simple gesture of hospitality, but one we often overlook. Expanding hospitality to people we pass on the streets, people we sit next to today, to the people we work with is an important step in embodying hospitality.

A first step in making a place for hospitality in our lives may be to make room in our hearts. Our welcome to strangers begins with attitudes of love and generosity. “Our hearts can be enlarged by praying that God will give us eyes to see the opportunities around us, and by placing ourselves in places where we are likely to encounter strangers in need of welcome.” Hospitality is essentially an expression of love. It is a movement to include the guest in the very best of what we ourselves have received and can therefore offer. It is the act of sharing who we are as well as what we have. Abraham lived out this expression of love, sharing with the three strangers the very best that he and Sarah had to offer. Abraham placed the three wanderers in honor and greeted them with traveling mercies. Hospitality of heart lies beneath every hospitable act.

Throughout our lives, our capacity for hospitality will vary. We will meet different kinds of strangers in need of different types of responses. When our hearts and minds are open to hospitality, opportunities will come to a make a place for others. And in the act of welcoming strangers, offering traveling mercies, our lives will be enriched and transformed.

As Christians, we are called to follow Abraham’s example. To offer hospitality to a stranger is to welcome something new, unfamiliar and unknown into our life world. To welcome the stranger is to acknowledge him as a human being made in God’s image; it is to treat her as one of equal worth with ourselves. It is to bow humbly before the traveler and offer them a feast. That stranger at our door can be both a gift and a challenge, human and divine.

As the author of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us “Do not neglect to show hospitality to the strangers. For by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”