This past weekend I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan and had the opportunity to meet the principal of the Christian Secondary School established in Kabala, Sierra Leone. Alusine Bundu was chosen by lottery some years ago to immigrate to the US where he was able to study at Calvin College and from there we were able to appoint him to serve for a time establishing the secondary program at our school there. The weekend was a wonderful opportunity to meet this bright young man who has already faced a great many challenges in his life and soon hopes to bring his growing family to North America. He talked about his early days in the US and how he would be sitting at table eating or studying and no one would come and meet him, introduce themselves or befriend him. He began to wonder if there might be something wrong with himself. This slowly began to change and due in no small part I’m sure because of his own outgoing nature and the help of a few who understood what it meant to be a stranger.
If there is any country in the world that ought to understand what it means to welcome the stranger, it is Canada. We are a nation of people who are strangers, immigrants and refugees to these shores. The Bible is very clear about this. Welcome strangers because you were strangers. I think when you lose your sense that you were ever a stranger it is easy to forget that there are those who need to be embraced and gathered in.
And just maybe we should always be close to that knowing because we should feel like strangers to the dominant consumer culture that we live within. It should always feel somewhat alien and if it doesn’t we might want to ask ourselves why not? Why do I fit into this so well? A feeling of estrangement will keep us sensitized to those around us who are looking to be embraced in the circle of community. Certainly we ought to be capable of that.