Hospitality?

A few days ago (OK -- it really was Tuesday) I heard the doorbell ring.

I hear the doorbell ring most days and often I think to myself "Who is bothering me?" or sometimes "I wonder if I have a package!" But this day I just thought, "I think I'll answer the door."

When I opened it, I saw two young men wearing business suits with white shirts. They each had nametags on their chest pocket.

I immediately thought, "I want to be sure I have dinner made and I have set the table already, but I think I have time for this."

I said, "Come on in!"

They looked at me, puzzled, and came into the house. They followed me to our kitchen/dining room (we did a really cool remodeling last year) and as I made a bit of space for them on the bench we both sat down and started to talk. I noticed now that their nametags said "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" on them. One of the young men was Elder Day. The other was Elder Manning.

I asked them all kinds of questions about what they were doing and why they were doing it. They told me first that they were here to share the message from Jesus. We talked at length about Jesus love and Jesus call for us to be people who seek justice, show hospitality and live as positive witnesses for the good news. We could agree on that.

When we started talking about Joseph Smith and the prophet Moroni we couldn't find agreement. I brought us back to Jesus and we talked more.

The conversation didn't last much longer than 20 minutes. None of us experienced any life-changing inspiration, either. (Well, I guess I can only speak for myself. I don't know what kind of impact our brief meeting had on Elder Day and Elder Manning) But I do know that we sat together in a place of hospitality.

I'm not trying to pat myself on the back (much) for opening my doors to some people that I have some agreement but likely more disagreement with. I'm just thinking that showing hospitality has a lot to do with welcoming people whether it is convenient and comfortable or not.