Presbyterian pastors
take both Greek and Hebrew in seminary. So, we notice Greek-based
English words such as xenophobia, the fear of the stranger, the
other. We feel the need to train our children to fear strangers and
to keep them close. We all face it in the presidential election, if
race will be an issue in our vote. We hear broad hints of it when
Gov. Palin screeches that Sen. Obama does not see America like “the
rest fo us.”

Early Christians
countered xenophobia with xenophilia, hospitality, literally, love of
the stranger, the other. During the school year, we witness
xenophilia at, of all places, the local schools during lunchtime.
Volunteers for Big Brothers/Big Sisters have lunch, once a week, with
a student. It’s a small gesture, admittedly, but one where a
child realize3s that a stranger will try to get to know and support
them throughout the school year. I am particularly impressed that a
large number of high school students come in to share their time with
strangers the age of their younger brothers and sisters. I love how
other kids cast envious looks at the accompanied children, because an
adult comes in to spend a little time with a classmate. A lot of the
children are rarely on the receiving end of an envious look.

It’s not always
easy. School lunches have improved since the Dark Ages of my school
years. Mystery meat isn’t as popular, and peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches and salad are always available. Usually, I can feel
my cholesterol medicine kicking in just looking at the steam tables.
I will spare the gentle reader the effects of a school lunch burrito
on the system of someone in the fifties. It’s always good for a
laugh to see middle-aged men in dress shoes trying to play catch with
a football or a Frisbee. They run with legs moving very fast, but
stiffly, in a sort of scissor-kick. I like when the students will
show off one of their small electronic devices. Even with bifocals,
most of us can’t see the screen. Let alone what goes on it. I
like watching eyes glaze over when children describe schoolwork that
we have either forgotten or never even encountered in our school
days. School is an island of stability, order, and coherence in the
midst of a sea of chaos. In a way, both the students and the mentors
are tourists in a different world. The world of youth requires older
folks to bridge a chasm.

Xenophilia,
hospitality, makes room for strangers to expose what we all share in
common. It is a powerful vision to see adults taking the ideas,
concerns, and opinions of a child seriously, even if it is for one
short lunch a week. It’s a sterling example of how we can build
bridges across the divides. In religious tradition, we have so many
stories of Jesus appearing in the guise of a stranger. In Hebrews, we
hear that when we entertain a stranger, it could be “entertaining
angels, unaware.” For the Christian, the perspective to take is
one where we seek the image of Christ in those whom we met, to treat
them, as Luther said, as “little Christs.” In that
sense, Bib Brothers/Big Sisters teaches politics. The program builds
community. It teaches us the things we share in need and abundance.
It teaches us to care about the stranger, to avoid lumping people
into stereotypes and classifications. We get to see, firsthand, a
glimpse of the slow agriculture of making young hearts and minds
bloom in education. We see what hard work it is in building a future
together, for friend and stranger alike. Politics is all about seeing
friend and stranger as part of a whole, of how we live together and
move toward the ideal fo community.