I love welcoming people. It’s a privilege to meet new folks each week at the Welcome Circle or at a First Steps class and hear why they came, and I’ll confess it’s a little selfish, because those conversations renew me. Every one of them is a spark.

Recently a new person told me in a First Steps class for new and returning folks that they had been “church shopping” – I imagine that this includes late-night scrolling through church websites and watching services online, making up the short list and then heading out to show up in person. It is not as easy as dumping into a shopping cart and having it delivered to one’s home. Then they said “I felt authentically welcome here.” and other folks in the circle agreed. I am still a little in awe. New folks don’t owe us a complement, and yet there it was. 

Thank YOU. Nobody mentioned a program or a flawless Sunday. They talked about how they were made to feel and how they were treated, and it was all of you; the one who showed someone to social hour, the one that greeted them, the one that smiled first, the neighbor who asked a question and actually listened to the answer. That is what welcome and hospitality looks like and it is how a spark gets caught. 

We also know our welcome is not perfect. And, there are those who arrive and feel unseen (or overlooked) and out of place, and we may never learn about that. Maybe what makes us welcoming is not that we have arrived at the perfect welcome, but that we keep reaching for it. Every day, every minute is an opportunity. 

So keep showing folks the way around our complicated campus, and keep opening the doors to families and new faces. Showing up the first few times can be stressful and we all know it is worth it in the end to be vulnerable and take a chance to find community. 

This month we are catching the spark of listening. Here’s my challenge for Sunday, October 11; make a point to meet someone who might be new, or someone you’ve never met. Sit with them, ask what brought them here and listen to their story. You may catch a spark you didn’t expect. It’s Souper Sunday and our Souper Sunday team is teaming up with COHHO, the committee on Hunger and Homelessness, to serve a 7-Can soup. You can support COHHOs in the greater community by bringing some canned food for the food donation drive. 

So bring a can, grab a cup of soup and take a seat with someone you’ve never met before. 

With love and gratitude for all you are,

Jen