Entertaining Angels

Click here for a powerpoint which can be used in the worship

Gathering

Leader: we gather together in Jesus' Name

All: Help us to explore, discover and learn togehther

Engaging

Imagine you could have a meal or a party for any person you wanted - who would you choose to invite? What sort of food would you give them?

What else would you do before they came to your house?

If you are visiting India to stay with friends, you will find that you are treated as a special guest - even if you don't feel you are very important. The Indians have very special ways to make people feel welcomeone of these is to make a Kolam. (Note: kolam is a Tamil word - you may be more familiar with the Hindi word "rangoli" for the patterns being talked about.) This is a sign or pattern of welcomewhich is drawn on the floor outside a home or building. Usually girls or women make these - they begin by making a grid of dots first of all, and then by joining the dots to make a pattern. Usually, the pattern will be filled in with coloured chalk powder, but sometimes they will use flower petals. If the kolam is drawn inside, it might have lamps surrounding it. Kolams take a long time to make but they are made to be walked through or over so they don't last very long.

When you have entered the building, you will always be given something to eat and drink. If you are visiting someone's home you will be probably be given a whole meal - even if it's nowhere near meal time. There won't just be one sort of food to eat - you will be given all kinds of different food. Even if the family haven't got very much money they will provide a very special meal for their guests.

If you have guests to your house, what usually happens is that someone will make the food and then you will all sit down to eat it. In India, you notice that this doesn't happen. The women will be busy making the food. Sometimes their neighbours will also come to help. The men in the family will serve you the food. Only after their visitors have eaten as much as they can and have left will the host family start to eat their meal. As a guest, it is important to remember this - and not to eat too much, or to stay too long talking, because all the members of the family, including the children, will be getting very hungry.

I wonder if you can think of any reason why people should be so welcoming to visitors? (ask the children for ideas) Even though the visitor might think they are nothing very special, the people have a sense of honour that you visit their house. Because of that, it's important to remember to be a good guest - to take off your shoes before you enter the house, to dress in a way that won't upset or offend people, to try everything that you are given and to remember to give a small gift to your host. Before you leave the house, if they are Christian, the host will always invite you to say a prayer for all those in the house.

In Old Testament book of Genesis, Abraham sees three people walking towards his home. Although he has never seen them before, he immediately tells his wife Sarah and his servants to prepare food and drink for them, invites them to come in and rest, offers to wash their feet, and sets a meal before them meal. Sarah gets the best food ready. It is important to welcome visitor and to give them the best hospitality possible.

Before they leave, the three strangers give Abraham some amazing news. Abraham and Sarah are very old, but the strangers tell him that he and his wife will have a child. These men are messengers from God. Nine months later, Abraham's child was born - a son called Isaac. Abraham's grandson was Jacob, the father of Joseph, and the whole of the people of Israel were descended from him. Abraham, his son Isaac and grandson Jacob were seen as the most important of the ancestors when the people eventually had their own land.

(Check it out: Genesis chp 18 vss 1-15)

Later, when people began to settle, God gave them laws to remind them that they were his people. One of the laws reminded people to care for the people who did not belong, and the visitors who were amongst them. They had to welcome them to their festivals and to make sure that they all had enough to eat. Later, one of the Christian writer in the New Testament told people to 'welcome visitors, for some have entertained angels when they did this'.

(Check it out: Hebrews chp 13 vs 2)

Responding

How can we make new people around us feel welcomed?

Are there people who come to this country who do not feel they are welcomed? What can we do to make them feel more at home?

Prayer

Thank God for the gift of hospitality, and pray for wisdom to see those whom we should welcome

Sending

Leader: Go in peace to discover God's world and your place in it.

All: We go in Jesus' nmae

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