Author: Danielle Steenwyk-Rowaan

I used to think racism looked like people in white hoods. People who made other people drink at different water fountains. People who enslaved others. And it does look like those things. But I’ve learned now that those are extreme and conveniently bygone examples of a disease that is much more pervasive, even today, than my education led me to believe.

I’m not naturally very good at hospitality. I like control, and being able to mostly expect what my day will bring. This is all well and good for throwing parties or having friends over for lunch, but biblical hospitality is another thing entirely. Think of Abraham, who threw out the red carpet for three visitors who showed up unannounced at his tent one day, rushing to provide them with some of the best of what he had. As it turns out, one of those visitors was God himself, who came bearing a great promise that would change the course of Abraham’s life.

In one day last week at Open Homes Hamilton, we received calls from shelters about six refugee claimants who needed housing as soon as possible. Six! It’s always a bit of a scramble when we get a call. We shoot messages back and forth among our leadership team, trying to decide if we have capacity to welcome a refugee claimant into one of our host homes.

Have you heard the one about Jesus’ disciples?

“No one ever talks about Jesus’ miracle of having 12 close friends in his 30s” (credit: Twitter user @Mormonger).

I just celebrated my 29th birthday, and this definitely rings true! It’s comforting to know that others my age feel the same way. I don’t want to paint too dreary a picture – I do have some close friends whom I’m very grateful for, even if we don’t see each other every recess and noon hour to play grounders. Friendship looks different these days.

I’m sad knowing that Christians, despite the constant biblical theme of blessing the stranger, still want limits on welcoming refugees and immigrants. Cultural misconceptions about refugees in particular are just as common among Christ-followers in Canada as they are in wider society. This at a time of unprecedented need for churches to open their arms to refugees, both those who are sponsored overseas and those who walk across our border and ask for protection.

I’m sad because I see us clinging to cultural power. As someone who has communicated with churches for the past five years, I can tell you that nothing mobilizes church people faster than a threat to our cultural power. Some of these perceived threats have been genuine causes for concern, and some . . . less so. But regardless, I lament that it’s not usually self-denying love of “the poor, the widow, the orphan and the stranger” that stirs us to rapid action, but threats to our own freedom.