Not in Kansas Anymore
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.
Sometimes in our lives we find ourselves in the wilderness, sometimes in the belly of the great fish, sometimes in the desert. Often, in those places, we are navigated home by the most unlikely guides.
“There’s no place like home.”
- Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz
Hebrews 13:2
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:5
…God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’.
Food for Thought
It was the early summer of 2003 – nearly 20 years ago. I found myself feeling profoundly alone in one of the biggest cities I’d encountered at that time: Kansas City, Kansas. I was an English professor at a community college and an advisor for a student group that had a competition to attend. Chaperoning grown-ups is pretty easy as a rule, so I had a free morning to explore the city, and off I went.
I found myself in a solitary space pretty quickly, sitting at a bus STOP. I emphasize “stop” here because, at that time, I had not yet paused to reflect on what I would be facing when I returned home. My then-husband and I had decided to divorce, and I was to begin packing up his stuff, dealing with the attorney, and dismantling that segment of my life. I felt completely broken – like a failure of all failures as a woman, Christian, a wife, a daughter. I felt incredibly lonely and displaced. No place felt like home.
As I sat at that bus stop, I lost myself looking up at the buildings until I nearly made myself dizzy. I stared upwards for a bit, and when I decided to come back down to Earth, so to speak, I realized a companion had joined me on the bench.
Now, I’m “Southern by birth and by the grace of God”, as we say here in Tennessee, so I rarely meet a stranger. I spoke to the lady next to me, but she just continued to stare straight ahead with no responses to my charming morning greeting. I thought to myself, “Perhaps she’s lost in thought, or maybe she just didn’t hear me.” Then I studied her a little more closely.
She was dressed in her Sunday best – complete with gloves, a black pocketbook, and a small black Bible – like someone from another decade. She wore a coordinated polyester dress and jacket, a perfect coif, and sensible shoes. Her skin was dark and beautiful. She was polished and flawless. And her eyes were fixed, unwavering, on something straight ahead.
Just as I looked away and down, she spoke. I looked back towards her. This is what she said: “Jesus wants me to tell you something.” “Oh, great,’ I thought dubiously, ‘I wonder what she has to tell me. Here we go…” Yet I listened. She did not ask for my response or permission, nor did she appear to require any. She continued, “He wants you to know that you are enough. His grace is sufficient. You are enough.”
And the words hung there. How could she possibly know how very not enough I felt?
I can not tell you if I even thanked her for her words. I can not tell you if she spoke with any kind of accent. What I can tell you is that she spoke with great authority. I was silent and stunned in that sacred moment.
About that time, the bus rolled up. She rose, walked toward the bus and climbed the stairs, and I watched as she sat down. I was still on the bench – somewhat paralyzed. I quickly thought, “Well, maybe I can go sit with her. I gotta thank her.” I quickly gathered myself and walked to the bus, climbing the stairs to look for her.
I had seen her enter the bus.
I had seen her sit down.
But she was not there.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and in simply recounting this, I get chills. It was, and is, one of the most profound moments of my spiritual walk. As a stranger in a strange land, I found myself re-joining the family of God on a bench in the middle of a city where I had never been. I could not outrun the grace of my creator. I could not escape the palm of God’s hand.
At a time in my life when no place felt like home to me, this woman – this angel or messenger of God – welcomed me back to the land of the living, and reminded me that in God I am always home.
For that, I am truly grateful.
As you go about your daily walk, find someone on the bench, at the break-room table, or in the waiting room. Settle close enough to bless them by your presence, if not your words. Acknowledge them.
Show grace to a stranger – pay for the person’s meal who’s behind you in line. Smile at the parent in the grocery store checkout line juggling errands and children. Anonymously do one kind thing a day for someone.
The goal of this series is to take small steps toward inviting others into deeper community with you. One way might be inviting others to join in for a little Table Talk. Here is a printable version of today's Table Talk, Not in Kansas Anymore, that we hope you will use in whatever way is helpful in your journey!
Blessing
God of all, as we travel through our lives, please keep us mindful that we all experience what it is to be a stranger at one time or another. But also, remind us that your grace is unlimited and knows no stranger. You came to bind up the brokenhearted and to set the captive free. Help us to be open to your healing love and to extend that healing to those around us.
A little Table Talk for your table...
Share about a time when God showed up for you in the words or presence of a stranger.
Have you ever anonymously blessed a fellow traveler? How did that make you feel? What do you hope that action left behind in this world?
Discuss the idea of belonging in God’s world unconditionally. What does that look like to you?
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Ask your child if they have ever noticed someone at school, at church or on the playground who seemed lonely. What did they do for that person?
Talk with them about some things they can do to reach out in kindness to others. Make a list together or draw a picture of what kindness looks like.
Has there ever been a time when someone welcomed them to the table in the cafeteria or somewhere else? How did that feel?
Meet Our Welcoming Voice!
Kim Crowder (she/her/hers) is a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) and Peer Advocate at Mindoula Health, Inc. Kim earned her degrees at Emory & Henry College (B.A.) and East Tennessee State University (M.A) and is currently pursuing the MSW at ETSU. She initially focused her career on academia followed by human services. Kim recently completed her graduate certificate in Clinical Addiction & Counseling Studies and is scheduled to finish the MSW in May 2023. Kim remains passionate about her values of life-long learning and service to others and enjoys the beauty of the Appalachian mountains where she lives, time with her partner, Scott, and continuing her path of personal recovery.
To hear more from Kim throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!
Here are Five Things to Remember When Setting Your Own Welcome Table!