God's Acre On the Go: Sacred Strangers

In Luke 24:13–35, two disciples walking to Emmaus encounter a mysterious stranger who opens the scriptures to them and ultimately reveals Himself in the breaking of bread. This moment—alongside the reminder from Hebrews 13:2 not to neglect hospitality to strangers—shapes our understanding of how Christ is often encountered through unexpected people and surprising conversations.

Drawing also from Mark 16:12–13, this sermon explores the Christian tradition of seeing the sacred in strangers. In a culture that conditions us toward "stranger danger," Jesus invites us into something radically different: welcoming the unfamiliar, recognizing the divine in unexpected places, and remembering that some of the most transformative encounters come from those we do not yet know. Through the experiences shared from the recent AMO mission trip to Kenya, we are reminded that often the sacred is found not in the familiar, but in the foreign—at tables shared with strangers who become lifelong friends in Christ.