There was an item on the television news the other evening about a lady of a hundred who had lived in the same house all her life. Her parents had run the adjoining shop, then she herself had the shop, and now she still walks around to buy her bits and pieces from the present owners. I don’t think that anyone in Tynemouth can match that, though I was very interested earlier in the year to take the funeral of a gentleman who had been one of the original residents in Knotts Flats and had lived there until he died..

One of the privileges of being a parish priest is that one is invited into many people’s houses. The reasons for that are many and various; baptisms, weddings and funerals of course, but then there are visits to see those who are ill or housebound, visits to discuss items of parish business or just popping to visit people for a chat. People’s houses or flats are all so different; some large, some small; some very modern, others traditional; some full of furniture and ‘things’, others minimalist. Now, before you begin to wonder, if I have visited your house, don’t worry - I may tell someone else what a lovely view it has from the window, but anything else is between you and me. If the breakfast plates were on the table when I called at 3pm, only we will know! More seriously, I have to say I love that part of the job and as I said above I do regard it as a privilege to be invited into people’s houses.

I guess we all have our dream house – perhaps something ultra modern with clean lines and open space, or perhaps something small and cosy. I was chatting to someone the other day and they had a mental picture of what they might like as something "oldy worldy" with oak beams.

If you have been reading carefully, you might have noticed that I have used the word "house" above. Of course, I could have used the word "home". Is there a difference? Well I suppose if we want to be precise there is; the house is the physical structure, what it looks like, where it is situated. It becomes a home when we fill it with our things, feel comfortable in it and so on. But I think the "house" is quite important; I have lived in eight houses and felt more at ease in some than others; anyone who has lived in several houses would say the same. Some people have real genuine affection for their house as a house as well as a home.

When I visit a house I am invariably offered a drink of some sort; offering hospitality is regarded as the courteous thing to do – and not just with the older generation. When I go to visit young couples in preparation for a wedding the same applies.

In the Bible we read about people being offered hospitality, but in that situation it was more than just a courtesy – offering hospitality was very much part of life in the Middle East and indeed a duty. An ancient Egyptian text called

Another aspect which surrounded this notion of homes and hospitality was that if one could come and go from one’s house and the house of others safely, then that was a sign of peace and security. There are several examples of this in the Bible, for example at the end of Psalm 121 " the Lord will keep watch over your going out and your coming in from this time forth …. "

Of course we often refer to the church as

And of course in terms of the hospitality of the church remember those words above "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that