In the American Heritage Dictionary, the word "stranger" is defined as "one who is neither friend nor acquaintance—a foreigner, newcomer, or outsider" or "one who is unaccustomed to or unacquainted with something specified."

Since early times, the issue humanity has continued to faced is how to handle or address differences. The Greeks divided people into two categories: those who were civilized and those who were barbarians.

In modern times the challenge of strangers is compounded by a rapidly pluralizing world in which the old and the familiar keep disappearing while new perspectives keep getting mixed in the public square, and while refugees, economic migrants, and politically displaced people fill our streets. It is a volatile mixture and a source of tension. For many, the stranger is a threat or a presence of something discomforting, so the attitude is defensive or hostile and the approach either outright rejection or coldly ignoring them.

When the dignity of all people is clearly taught in Scripture, how should followers of God respond and what can we offer to the wider society? Sadly, we haven't always responded much different from the norm.

When Jesus asked the crowd to define the word neighbor, first telling a story of three men and their different responses to a man in need, he could not have used a more potent example. To the people of Israel at that time, the Samaritans were despised, the lowest of the low. And yet the answer to Jesus' question was unavoidable. "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" (Luke 10:36). The expert in the law replied as anyone listening would have: "The one who had mercy on him" (10:37). And Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

The story exposes the hypocrisies of all those who considered themselves the insiders, the guardians of culture and honor, yet those who failed in the most fundamental way. Clearly, it is the stranger who stands out as the hero in the story.

The basis of civility, of respect, of communication, is the willingness to treat others as you wish to be treated. Multiculturalism is not a problem to be solved or a Trojan horse for cultural collapse. It is an ever deepening reality that is a part of our changing world, which demands courage, will and skill to be faced and addressed in terms that can make a difference.

As Robert Burns muses, "Oh, to see ourselves as others see us." Or as Stephen Covey notes, "Seek first to understand, then to be understood." To the degree we see our own vulnerability, needs and problems, to that degree can we reach out to others. This is the first step, to try to look at yourself in the eyes of the other. As Jesus instructs in Matthew 7:12, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This means listening, hearing, deferring judgment in order to gain perspective, insight and understanding. Neighborliness is characterized by deeds, not words only.

In Genesis 1, we read that we are made in the image of God. Irregardless of our status among the masses as outsider or insider, stranger or friend, the Bible clearly insists that all have value, worth, unique attributes and characteristics and that all are to be esteemed, cared for, and looked after. Your value is intrinsic, not extrinsic. Your neighbors were made in the image of the Almighty. Therefore, go and treat them likewise.