Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 

Loving shows itself in practical ways: none more so than the sharing of hospitality.

‘The family (in other words, the Christian brothers and sisters) must continue to care for one another in practical ways. Mutual affection is vital; financial help for those in need is vital; the word used in verse 1 includes both. And the hospitality which so marked the early Christian community must be extended wherever possible, with the fascinating promise that in opening your front door you never know when an angel is going to walk in. It happened to Abraham in Genesis 18; it can happen to you.’ Tom Wright: ‘Hebrews for Everyone’, p.169.

Jesus, of course, reminded us, that when we receive strangers we receive Him (Mt.25:31-40).

Hospitality was important in the earliest days of the church, when they had no formal buildings for worship and met in homes; and where food played an important part in their gatherings. No doubt they remembered the part played by shared meals in the life and ministry of the Lord Himself. Hospitality was also a way of caring for the poor among them, and helping those who suffered loss and privation because of their Christian profession. Additionally, the inns were notoriously immoral, unhygienic and expensive, and Christian travellers needed a safe and welcoming place to stay.

Hospitality will always be important. Perhaps, in the church today, we need to recover a sense of what rich fellowship we can share, what ‘electric’ spiritual encounters we can have, what discipling may be done, around a meal table? Perhaps we should focus less on spotlights and smoke machines and more on bread and wine??