Mark 9:36-37

Mark 9:36-37 He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

Malawi is called the "Warm Heart of Africa" and for a very good reason. In all of my travels around the world I have not found as friendly a country as Malawi. Everywhere we traveled, people (both young and old) would run to the roadside to wave. Part of that is the small number of cars and trucks makes the passing of one a big event, the main reason people came to see what was going on. Then when they saw that the truck had "Azungus" or white people, it really made things special. It got to the point that your arm was tired from waving but the look on the children's faces when you waved or made eye contact was almost magical.

When we arrived in Malawi, 50 members of our sister church had traveled to greet us at the airport. Now we think of travel as a half hour drive on nice roads but this was 5 to 6 hours out of their day to see us for 30 minutes. They traveled over dusty, bumpy roads crossing bridges that look like they should have collapsed years ago, just to say hello. We were greeted with songs, hugs and of course, a very formal introduction time. They helped us with our luggage and then went back home, 50 people crammed into the back of two small pick up trucks.

Frankly it was very humbling. I think of how many times I hear of housing needs in my own church when conferences or seminars are in town. Sometimes it is difficult to find homes for the participants as we are just too busy to be bothered. When our sister denomination sends folks over, it is hard to get people to greet them at the airport, a small couple hour commitment.

I learned the true meaning of hospitality during my visit. We were warned not to comment about people's possessions because if they saw you admiring something, you are going home with it. I made that mistake. Our hosts had a 6 foot tall giraffe carving in their living room which I was looking at one morning. My hostess saw this and tried very hard to get me to commit to taking it with me but thank goodness it was too large and heavy. But I did leave with two smaller giraffe carvings and a traditional African outfit (as did my wife and daughter) because we are now members of their village. One of the members of our group saw a sign for a nearby lake and her casual comment led to a day long excursion to see the lake as nearby is a vague term in Malawi. The lake was only 30 kilometers away but poor road conditions and lack of roads in some cases makes 30 km quite a distance.

Any need we had they attempted to meet even if it meant great inconvenience or expense. And of course, there was no compensating them for their hospitality. When I spoke of this with the Clerk of Session, he said they take very seriously the commands that Jesus gave to his followers in the Gospel of Mark chapter 9. I even discovered that guards had been hired to watch over each house we were in during the night and while we were out during the day. Malawi is no more dangerous than most places but they did not want to take the chance that having Azungus in the village might tempt some village folks to see what they might steal. Recently 16 bags of corn (meant for the orphans that our sister church cares for) were stolen. Within two days, members of the village found who had stolen the corn, turned the individual over to the authorities and returned the corn.

My challenge to you would be to assess your "hospitality factor". Do you go out of your way to help those in need? Do you offer hospitality to neighbors and friends? Next time the pastor asks for volunteers to host a dinner for a visiting group, what will your response be? What did Jesus say to do?

Blessings

Mark