More From Kimberly Rice Smith

When I submitted my devotion on welcoming those who are not like us, I had no idea how crucial embracing that idea would become during the year that followed. I currently serve as the Lay Leader for the Sound District of the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. That district includes nine counties in eastern NC. Over the past five years, these counties have had cumulative trauma in the form of hurricane, followed by another hurricane and flood, followed by the pandemic.

Visiting churches across the district, both virtually and in person, has been a beautiful blessing for me and a stronghold for my faith. Getting to witness the creativity congregations have used to reach out to people in new ways has given me so much hope as we move through the season of Advent. Whether it’s church on the lawn tailgate style or early morning services on the banks of the Neuse River, people have shown up for Christ in glorious ways. I have seen churches build outdoor structures to serve their congregations while in the safety of their cars, and others broadcast over the local radio stations. It’s been exciting to see people so hungry for the fellowship and worship that they became open and welcome to so many new ways of doing things.

We’ve learned to meet online and that has allowed prayer groups and Bible studies to be open to people all around the world. We could sit in our pajamas by the fire and learn together even though thousands of miles separated us. We learned to welcome and embrace not only new people, but new ways of being together.

One of my daughters lives in Japan, so travel to see each other has been impossible. I have learned that photographs and video calls can mean so much. I may not have been able to physically reach out and hug her, but I’ve learned to love that “beep” on my phone at 3 a.m. because I know it’s a photograph from her day. We’ve learned to welcome technology in our lives as well.

My oldest lives in the mountains of NC. On a trip to visit her, I worshiped in a way I could have never imagined when I submitted the devotion. I got up early one Sunday morning and drove up Mt. Pisgah. There on the top of a mountain, I joined a live broadcast of my church at home. Soon, others had joined me in this mountaintop service and by the end, ten people had gathered around my iPad and had felt welcomed by a congregation hundreds of miles away. It was one of the most powerful experiences of my life.

Now that we are all getting back together in person, I pray that we don’t lose touch with the ways that we found to welcome others. I hope we remember the minute details we learned about each other as our computers allowed us to enter homes in new ways. We met their pets and learned what they liked to read by the books on the shelves behind them. We saw them in new ways and learned to embrace it all.

Welcoming looks different to me now than it did when I submitted my devotion. It is so much more now. And I pray we all hold on to what we have learned as we move forward into 2022. I give praise and thanks for a creative God who walks beside us through it all.