The Center for Leadership Excellence, in partnership with COSROW, is pleased to lift up the voices of women in ministry encouraging fellow women in ministry. Please enjoy this month’s Encouragement from Christina Turner, elder in full connection in the NC Conference, currently on leave. She writes about faith and pilgrim wanderings at her newsletter, Begin Again.
Anyone can sign up to receive Encouragement emails here.
They didn’t even know me.
Last fall, I volunteered at Iona Abbey on the remote Isle of Iona in Scotland. I also managed to contract a corneal ulcer. Nothing catastrophic, but not something they could treat on an island off an island off an island.
I took a ferry, and a bus, and another ferry, and a train, and a taxi to the hospital in Glasgow. At the end of a long, long day, I arrived at Petra and Sabine’s house.
They didn’t know me, this weird American lady who could barely open her eyes, but they were friends of the Abbey, and they opened their home to me. They arranged for a friend to pick me up at the train station and asked if I wanted some leftovers.
I expected cold pizza and some fruit. But when their son knocked on the door, he handed me a tray loaded down with homemade soup and bread, slaw and olives, three pieces of cake.
“What happens if you get sick all the way out there?” my family and friends had wondered. This is what.
Read 1 Kings 19:6–8 (NRSV):
He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.”
Reflect: God welcomes Elijah into rest with food and water. I love the image of God baking a cake for Elijah—not a chocolate cake, but something nourishing all the same. Welcome made tangible. Love made delicious.
Maybe you feel tired or anxious these days. Can you receive the welcome of the God who knows you? It doesn’t depend on how much you contribute, even in ministry. You are a child of God, worthy of compassion and care. You are seen. You are loved.
May you know the welcome of God, who meets you where you are, as you are. May you share it, too. Welcome made tangible. Love made delicious.
Take Action: How can you welcome someone this week? You don’t need to make the most beautiful scones or be the most social extrovert. Can you look out for someone who needs a chat, some care, or some food?
In partnership,
Center for Leadership Excellence and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women