Dear Jesus, remind us that hospitality toward the weary traveler is the gold standard that runs throughout the Bible. Your own disciples were often the strangers knocking at the door and welcoming them in was to welcome God in. But more and more we are barring our country against the stranger in need–denying them food, shelter, community. Open the prisons we have made for ourselves, thinking we have made those prisons for others in order to protect ourselves from them when it’s you we’ve shut out and let your welcoming love that knows no boundaries flow into our communities. Amen.

-Rev. Elizabeth Hazel, Park Falls, WI