Showing Hospitality

Shortly after writing my post on disaffected young people, I watched a television programme called "The Secret Millionaire". It is not the sort of programme I would normally watch but I noticed that the millionaire in question was visiting the very area of Liverpool where I work with those youngsters. The idea of the programme is that our millionaire would live incognito among the people, looking for worthy causes to which he could contribute.

Now the area has a bad reputation, being on of the most deprived in the UK. Many people keep away from its streets and yet I have always found the inhabitants very open and friendly. I am glad to say that impression came over in the film. Thankfully, the area is undergoing regeneration, although this seems slow and some elements are controversial.


Way back in the late 60's I attended church in the district and it was at that church I met and married Gill. As a young man I evangelised in the neighbourhood, played in a band in the church coffee bar and helped run the youth work. Imagine my surprise when our millionaire visited our old church. Since our time the church has gone through a transformation. Gone are the old pews and furniture to be replaced by modern chairs enabling the space to be used in a more creative way. - But back to our story.

Our millionaire was invited back for a meal by one of the families attending the church. They had no idea who he was, they simply thought he was someone with little money living on their own. Without going into detail the family had got into debt and were working hard to pay off the monies they owed. All of this meant that they could not raise the deposit for a house of their own.
Our millionaire was taken by their attitude and visited on a number of other occasions before 'coming clean' and telling them who he was. To their surprise he handed them a cheque for the deposit on the house. Three months later the family moved into the home for which so long they had dreamed.

During the programme I was reminded of a verse from the Bible. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." (Hebrews 13:2) Who are those people I meet each day? I could walk around the area I have mentioned believing all the people are layabouts and scroungers - after all that's what the press seems to call them - or I could see them a God sees them, people who he loves and for whom he died. Some may even be there for my benefit.

As a Franciscan I am often told that Francis was converted before the cross at St. Damiano, some others think it was when he was on the road to war. Francis, on the other hand, sees it as being when he put aside all the hate and revulsion of many years and kissed the leper - for him that was the moment of release.

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