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Available for over a year

Watching the horrors of war in Ukraine unfold has left many UK citizens wondering, what can we do? The sheer numbers of refugees are staggering, as, of course, they always are and have been in Syria, in Sudan, in Ethiopia and so many other places. Pictures of crowded trains stations, full of desperate people fleeing conflict, leaving everything behind, tug at our heartstrings. The scheme to enable Ukrainians to find a safe place in the UK has been met with both criticism for its red tape (though checks and balances are important) and enthusiasm by those wanting to make a difference. The scheme opened on Monday, and in just 24 hours, well over a hundred thousand people had registered to open their homes to refugees. In the last week, conversations with friends, or with colleagues at work meetings, have often turned to ‘can I offer my spare room, or turn my study into a spare room? How can I help someone know that they are safe, loved and wanted? What will the impact be on my family? What do I need to think about?’ Opening one’s home to a complete stranger is a big thing. There’s a large gap between the thought of reaching out, and the reality of having people whose language, customs, habits are different, come and share day-to-day reality. There is something vulnerable about opening up our homes, and the intimacy they represent. To welcome a refugee family, traumatised and bereft in so many ways, means inviting the reality of a distant war into our safest spaces. It means inviting grief and trauma to dwell among us and committing to share their cost and burden. Most religious traditions consider hospitality a virtue to be practiced. The New Testament tells believers, ‘do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so, some have entertained angels’. Hospitality for friends is easy. Hospitality for strangers, for the unknown and all it may bring, is much harder. But equally, it bears the seeds of something much greater. Some have entertained angels, says the writer, pointing to the fact that hospitality is not simply an act of charity towards another in need; hospitality changes the person who offers it. Hospitality offers the chance to meet God in the other person, to be drawn into something bigger than themselves. Hospitality to the other, to difference, is a first step in starting to build a better future and a bigger world, together.