Entertaining angels unawares

With Chris Boulton on sabbatical, this is the first ‘vicar’s letter’ that is being read across the whole team – so it’s something new for people in Albury, Little Hadham and Much Hadham, but for Braughing, Furneux Pelham and Stocking Pelham – it’s business as usual! Chris, by the way, is having a good time and has already been to Swaziland and visited Kruger Game Park. Last heard he was enjoying the hospitality of Marcia Slaughter’s brother in Durban in South Africa and was planning to go to Cape Town. No doubt we’ll have heard more by the time this letter is printed!

Hospitality is something I’ve often talked about. For me it’s at the heart of the Christian gospel. It says ‘You matter. We care’. Over the next few weeks we’ll have plenty of opportunity to practise it in our churches and homes. With the warm weather we’re having as I write, those wonderful smells of barbeques wafting in the air have already touched my taste buds and soon it will be tea on the lawn or Pimms on the patio with friends! In our churches we’ll be welcoming visiting priests – some of whom we already know – such as Tony Raven (familiar to Little Hadham and Albury), Barry Rose (Chris’s training incumbent) and the Bishop of Hertford. Some non-eucharistic services will be taken by readers and other lay people. So although I’m sure we’ll be glad to see Chris safely home in July, it’s a great opportunity to experience different ways of doing things – and for the ‘host’ churches to practise that gift of hospitality! I know I always feel welcome when I go to ‘Chris’s parishes’ – it makes a difference when you feel someone is making sure you are alright!

The same is of course true for how we welcome others to our services.  Ensuring someone greets them with a smile and they have the right books is part of it, but some may also be helped by someone sitting near them to guide them through the service (many worry about when to stand or sit, for instance), or inviting them to that cuppa after the service. Anyone who’s been to a different church on holiday will know that it can feel very alien – we become blind to ‘our’ ways and are surprised when others do it differently!

The summer months are a great time for entertaining. People are often more relaxed, we can enjoy each other’s company. Jesus loved sharing meals with people. His hospitality mirrored God’s – all were welcomed to come and share his company. Maybe we can reflect on how our hospitality mirrors his. And just like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, who discovered they’d been entertaining an ‘angel’ unawares, who knows what we’ll discover?!

With my prayers and best wishes,
Jeanette (Team Vicar)