Keep Your Circles Open

Keep Your Circles Open

Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!

My community is filled with people whose ancestors immigrated to this area well over a hundred years ago. And it’s not just our community—all over central Minnesota folks put down roots so deep that Aaron and I are considered outsiders in our town, despite having moved here fifteen years ago and despite my having grown up a mere thirty miles away.

It’s been an interesting experience being the girl who belongs and yet doesn’t, who is a native but not a local, who understands the culture but is not part of this particular group from this particular town. I didn’t go to high school or college in this community, and my extended family’s ancestral roots—although deeply rooted in this land—are deeply rooted ninety miles away, which might as well be on the moon.

People who move to my community from afar often speak of struggling to make friends with the locals and instead find themselves establishing relationships with other nonlocals. How do you make friends with people who have no need for friends, who hang out on Friday nights with their clique formed in elementary school or every summer weekend with the cousins at the family cabin?

My local friends don’t exclude the rest of us on purpose. It’s just that their circles are closed, and they have no need to do the hard work of establishing new friendships. Life is admittedly easier when lived with existing friendships, and there is no need to seek out anyone else.

Closing our ranks to those who are new to our towns, our neighborhoods, or our churches is simply not scriptural. And while it is an easy trap for us to fall into, as followers of Christ we are commanded to be hospitable to the stranger. We are commanded to keep our circles open, to allow space for newcomers, to be the ones who take the social risk and move forward with an invitation. And, just maybe, when we do so, we’re inviting angels into our midst.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Look around for people who are new to your company, neighborhood, or church. Don’t let the sun set without getting a coffee date with them on your calendar.