Pitchers and Tea Pots (10/22/26)

If you want to figure me out, there are two things you need to know. The first is that I was raised in the South where hospitality is imperative. The second is that I’ve been an “outsider” all of my life. My family moved from Iowa to Texas to Georgia to Iowa before I graduated from high school. My husband and I had 12 homes. So, it is little wonder that my faith lived includes welcoming others and my two favorite collections are pitchers and tea pots.

When someone drops in, I either put on the tea kettle and brew us a pot full of hot tea or I pull out a pitcher and fill the glasses with ice, and we sip iced tea as we visit. When I was growing up, hospitality demanded that one offer visitors a beverage and small snacks, if possible. The older I get, the more I recognize that hospitality is something we need to brush up on in our world.  I hope that when I am done with my pitchers and tea pots, my children and grandchildren will take them in and use them to welcome others into their home.

Our Savior understood the natural connection between people who share a meal or a needed beverage. We have the feeding of the multitudes in the gospels, we have the Last Supper, we have the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. As we journey in faith, hope and love, let us be open to welcoming others, to being hospitable. Let us seek to recognize our Savior in our guests. Let us hope our guests can recognize our Savior in us.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.