It might be because of the shift away from spending my days with newcomers on a regular basis or perhaps because of the current refugee crisis that headlines newspapers, but either way, the idea of welcoming the stranger has been on my mind lately. As my internship of working with newcomers came to a close, I thought about how we tried to extend hospitality and what it looked like.

“Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” 1 John 3:18. I would hope that our cooking classes, our sharing and exchanging of meals, our sitting around a table together and eating, provided a sense of comfort and normalcy to this exciting, yet anxious period of life. I would hope that our vegetable gardening, our pulling weeds and planting carrots and watching all the vegetables grow, provided a sense of peace, in knowing in the midst of change, some of the same foods grown in their home soil can be grown here in Canadian soil. I would hope that in labouring and spending time working together at this land, the goodness of God would be seen through relationships and nature.

Some of my favourite moments of the summer came from small gestures of being welcomed into the lives of newcomers, even their homes. (An interesting twist of the stranger extending hospitality to the non-stranger). And some of the difficult moments of the summer came from working with newcomers. We are all messy people with complex lives and experiences. But, at the end of the day we are all image bearers of God. Spending the past few months working with newcomers was a privilege and a learning experience. I am certain that I learned more about hospitality and relationships from them and for that I am grateful.

– Shanika Thomas