Thanks for your welcome, hospitality


Warmest of welcomes

If I were to choose one word to describe my experience of the Corpus Christi District after spending one week here, I would choose “hospitality.”
That hospitality began before I was official, with the warm and generous welcome of me provided by outgoing Superintendent Keith Wyatt and his family. We spent a delightful evening together and over a meal and dessert learned a lot about each other, the district and the beautiful district parsonage.
The next two working days, Keith and I met for some orientation to my responsibilities. I will always be grateful to Keith for working so thoroughly to make this quick transition a smooth one and to Molly and Becca for embracing my spouse, John, and my daughters.
That was our first impression. The second was on the night we moved in, when there to greet us at the parsonage were folks from St. John’s UMC. They made quick work of emptying the U-Haul truck that took us hours to load. Half an hour later, everything was set up, including our new bed frame, which would have taken John and me a long time to figure out.
Carol Loeb had left a breakfast casserole; Linda Seaman Elford provided a basket with coffee for the next morning; Sheila Yuras brought our supper. And that was just the beginning of the food that just kept on coming. The members there also furnished me a large gift certificate to Luby’s, so watch out for me there.
The next day Lynn Rogers was at the front door with two huge baskets of goodies, and after eating her chicken salad, I can see why she makes her living as a personal chef. The great cooks at St. Luke’s UMC brought a hot meal to me several times last week, and what my family didn’t eat on the weekend I am making last a long time this week.
During my first days in the office, Sheila Yuras and Cheryl Worley had to endure a lot of questions and a lot of stories. They, too, have been very generous with their time at a very busy time of year for the District Office. They kept the secret that the clergywomen of the district had planned a combination get-together and pounding for me Jan. 7. Thanks to Judy Baskins for gathering this fun group.
Our family surprised the pastor, Troy Bell, and members at St. Paul UMC Jan. 9 by joining worship there, and we were warmly embraced. The installation service that afternoon was planned by B.J. Rogers and members of the Committee on the District Superintendency with considerable effort on the part of Tim Brewer and Grace UMC, which hosted the service and reception following.
I am deeply appreciative that so many pastors and laypeople attended, and I do not take lightly the sacrifices you made to be there to welcome me.
Hospitality is a mark of our discipleship in Jesus Christ that has long and deep roots in Judaism. Of course, the hospitality that God requires of the faithful goes beyond our families and friends, stretching us spiritually to include the stranger and the oppressed, and Jesus might add, the enemy.
I won’t be a stranger in your midst for long, I hope, and now I know firsthand the quality of hospitality this district is capable of demonstrating. Thank you!