蜜芽传媒

Good morning. Some years ago one of the contestants on Big Brother famously declared she thought East Anglia was somewhere abroad. So perhaps broadcasting the Today programme partly from Cambridge this morning will be good for the nation鈥檚 geography. As it is the East of England is a region where people from many countries have come, settled and shaped its life. The migrant workers of recent years, especially on the land and in food processing, have had many predecessors.

In my own city of Norwich, the Norman architecture of both the Cathedral and Castle provide a vivid reminder that it was conquest which reshaped the landscape a millennium ago. The Dutch architecture of some houses in Norwich illustrates the value of later trade with the Low Countries. It was the Dutch who brought their canaries with them. Our football team has been known as the Canaries for years and wears a dazzling yellow and green strip in celebration. Many of the original canary breeders were fleeing religious persecution at home. Locally they became known as 鈥渟trangers鈥�, a term still familiar in Norwich today. The city even has a Strangers鈥� Club where no one arriving at the bar is allowed to buy a drink if another member is already there, a highly hospitable custom.

In the Hebrew Bible the command to welcome the stranger is repeated time and again, not least because the people of Israel knew what it was to be strangers themselves in Egypt. In the gospel Jesus picks up the theme and says the basis of acceptance into God鈥檚 Kingdom is how we treat the least of our brothers and sisters. 鈥淲hen I was hungry, you gave me food. When I was thirsty, you gave me a drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me.鈥� In one of the Easter stories a stranger appears and walks with two of the disciples on a country road. It鈥檚 the stranger who opens their eyes to the meaning of the scriptures. Only later do they discover the stranger is Christ himself.

Despite all this, strangers don鈥檛 usually inspire much affection. We often tell our children to beware of strangers 鈥� and for good reason. Yet most of us know what it鈥檚 like to be a stranger ourselves. In a room full of people we don鈥檛 know we experience the discomfort of being an outsider, a stranger. It鈥檚 the same when we begin a new job, or move house to a new area or a different country. Divorce or bereavement can leave us so alone that we feel like a stranger even in familiar surroundings. But it鈥檚 these unsettling experiences which frequently make us more tender. The humanizing effect of being a stranger can be very powerful. Certainly it makes us grateful to those who reach out a hand of friendship.

Show less