Reverence Journal

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Hospitality is a love of Strangers

Xenophobia is the fear of strangers or foreigners.

Philoxenos is the love of strangers or foreigners.

Philoxenos is also the New Testament word for "hospitality."

Hospitality is not about how well decorated your home is, your ability to cook or how many bedrooms you have. If you have all of these things, but don't like strangers and foreigners, you are not hospitable.

Yet, you can have a pull-out couch, an overflowing litter box and a full ash tray and still be hospitable if you love strangers and foreigners.

It's the way that you feel about people that are different than you that determines whether you are hospitable or not.