Wednesday Word: Visitors

“We are all visitors now” – Someone Somewhere

I ran across this quote in some Episcopal news article somewhere. I can't remember if it was Episcopal News Service, Vestry Papers, the Episcopal Church Foundation, or somewhere else. Ultimately it doesn't matter, because what this person said is accurate.

As we begin the slow process of coming together again in our various churches (Saint John's for most of us, but other houses of worship in Hagerstown and around the country and world), we are returning as visitors to places we haven't been to for some time. Over the course of the pandemic we have all experienced any number of changes in our lives. Those changes make us different than we were before the pandemic started.

As we come back, let us treat each other as if we are all visitors.

Ask meaningful questions. Don't assume everyone knows how we are operating in this pandemic era, but offer to help direct people in the right direction. Wear your name tag. Introduce yourself to someone you a) don't know, or b) looks familiar but you can't quite remember their name. Wear your name tag. Ask yourself, “If I were new here, what would I want to know?” and then make sure you know the answer. Wear your name tag. When talking with a person after service, invite someone else into your conversation. And don't forget to wear your name tag.

Saint John's has a reputation for being a welcoming parish. This not only includes the experience of Joelene and myself as we were interviewing here, but it includes the testimonials of many parishioners as they tell of their first time here.

The danger, though, is that we fall into the trap of thinking we are a welcoming parish without actually doing any welcoming. We are especially vulnerable to this as most of us simply want to return to some sense of normalcy. But let us not forget . . . “normal” for us before the pandemic was to be welcoming.

We are all visitors now. Let's not forget to treat the visitor to Saint John's as the visitor in us would like to be treated.

Blessings,

Todd+