It’s The Simple Things
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself to just be. Take a couple deep breaths, grab yourself a cup of coffee, light a candle, do something that brings you comfort. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Consider a time when the simplest of gestures completely changed your day for the better.
Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let's not be afraid to receive each day's surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy. It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.
— Henri J.M. Nouwen
Hebrews 13:16
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such gifts are pleasing to God.
1 Peter 4:9-10
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.
Food for Thought
I started a new job in January as a hospital chaplain on a Neurology floor at a local hospital. It had been a while since I had been in a hospital, and beginning a job in a medical setting during Covid was a nerve-racking start. I was also nervous stepping into my hospital chaplain role with an already established team of nurses. This was a team forged through the years and recently upended due to staffing needs. They were tired from a year of caring for others in a pandemic, and they were tired of uncertainty. No one had signed up for this.
As a team, we begin each day with a “team huddle” at 6:30 am. We update each other on current policies and procedures. Typically, the charge nurse makes announcements, and then everyone is off to their respective assignments - no one wants to wait any longer than they have to. My responsibility for the morning is a devotion of sorts. These devotions may be scripture, prayers, a thoughtful question, or a simple moment of silence. The nurses are getting used to these moments now, but when I started, this too was a new way of doing things. Another new thing - and on top of all the other stuff, nurses just don't have time for devotions. They are trained for efficiency and medical procedures, not devotions, and are rarely given time to reflect.
But this is precisely why I am there.
One morning after a devotion, one of the seasoned nurses, Steven, a fella with salt and pepper hair who is fairly no-nonsense, asked if I liked coffee. “Yes. Yes I do”, I responded, not quite understanding why he asked. I was met with a warm, “Welcome to the team!” With that and a hand clasped on my shoulder, he handed me a large steaming cup of coffee from a local coffee shop complete with sugar and cream.
I felt like I had been handed the game ball after a championship game!
Welcome comes in big and small ways. We think of welcome as an invitation into homes or parties, but not workspaces. Sure we welcome the new employee, but that is often a perfunctory invitation to “just be nice to them”. Hospital life, where I work, is harried and high speed. The only time we have to gather and connect is in the morning huddle. It’s the only time we sit together as a team. The fact that Steven takes the time each morning to stop and get an extra cup of coffee for a co-worker is a welcome of its own. “Here,” he says, “Welcome to the day, bring what it may.”
None of us expects The Cup. In fact, it is often hidden away in the corner until after the meeting when Steven offers it humbly to, usually, the person who needs it most.
I am grateful to have been welcomed into the fabric of our days together in this way - with a mundane regular coffee. It felt as if I was welcomed home as part of a family that has, and will continue, to care for others. I am pretty sure Steven isn’t aware of what this means to us. For him, it's a gift of comfort. A way to share in a day that is still new and open to possibilities.
Sometimes the best welcomes are done with simple gestures and a clasp on the shoulder that says “We’re glad you are here.” No words needed.
One small gesture can change the course of someone's day for the better. This week, try bringing your own “cup of coffee” into each day. Whether it be a literal cup of coffee, a smile, or maybe just a word of encouragement to someone who needs it.
Blessing
God of Welcome,
Remind us that Jesus simply asks us to love -
to love you and to love one another.
Guide us in doing this each day with a smile, a touch, a warm hug.
Extravagance of the heart is all that is needed.
A little Table Talk for your table...
Talk together about the people in your life who have extended welcome to you in small and significant ways.
Consider some simple ways you can offer welcome to others.
What makes you feel welcome?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Make a list of the things or people that make you feel happy and talk about why.
Pick some flowers or maybe bake cookies, and then gift them to a friend or neighbor as an act of love and welcome.
Talk about the small ways you can make others smile.
Meet our Welcoming Voice!
Khette Cox is originally from Knoxville TN. She has a BA from Emory and Henry College and an MDiv from Vanderbilt University. She is an ordained Baptist minister and is currently employed at Ascension St. Thomas West Hospital in Nashville, TN on the Neurology Floor. She lives in Nashville with her partner and two children and their dog-like cat Margaret Nox. She loves to hike and is learning to play the piano.
To hear more from Khette throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!