A small brewery in xxxxxx Florida, called xxxxxx, is the place in which I will practice my presence, and become a guest for the next fourteen weeks. This brewery is locally owned and is approximately two miles from XXX Presbyterian Church. The brewery is a spot where all sorts of people meet for a beer, food, trivia, comedy night, weekly yoga, and more. The spaces are both welcoming and open-aired so it is suitable during the pandemic, and for Florida restrictions. There are loads of outside seating, they offer picnic tables, and have a place to purchase food from local food trucks, as they do their best to keep all things local amid these troubling times.
The environment of the brewery is intimate, casual, and a place where individuals believe they belong or are searching for a listening ear. There is an open-air patio to visit eat and have a safe outdoor conversation. The bar is situated in an overhang where there is lots of open-air and is conducive to Florida in the springtime. There is also a room where pinball machines, old school video games, are available to the guest. The brewery has an industrial vibe and draws locals who are on holiday or visiting for six months, as well as snowbirds.
I will be practicing presence at xxxx on the same day, at the same time each week to establish a rhythm, and curiosity as I hope to be a guest and build relationships.
I noticed that the bartenders and owners were helpful as I studied and had a drink and were interested in my computer and textbooks. I kept the conversation light in hopes to establish a friendship each week. I look forward to spending my Thursday afternoons as a guest at XXX, and establishing connections.
This group is our LGBT+ community group on campus where they hold space for conversations surrounding the LGBT+ community and other topics. They hold their meetings on Tuesdays in the multicultural center where all students are welcome. This group is made up of various members of the LGBT+ community as well as allies of the community. Each person is unique to themself with varying careers, degrees, ages, and worldviews.
I chose the ProUD organization as an ally to the LGBT+ community. I was also already attending this group. I want to know how I can be more supportive and inclusive of the LGBT+ community. I’m here because I care.
In my observations, the environment is very relaxed and welcoming. The whole idea is to create a space for difficult conversation that is accepting of everyone whether LGBT+ or not. These people are kind and open to everyone’s ideas giving all the opportunity to speak.
I’m intrigued to know more about all the members as individuals whether they are allies or members of the LGBT+ community. I want to know how the Christian community has negatively impacted all of them personally, though that may not be a conversation that can be had in a large group. This will have me looking forward to the interviews.
I chose to practice presence at a local brewery in XXX. XXX one of the towns that I am a pastor in and have been wanting to do a better job of being present in the community outside of the normal hours that I am in the office. Worth Brewing is a local brewery that has eight beers on tap which they brew and three other guest taps. It is located in a historic building downtown and half is the brewery side with glass windows so you can see the process as the beer is being brewed. There are several tables, some booths, bar seating with original hardwood flooring and some art pieces and bar decor on the walls. There are games available and on the night I went it was bar trivia night. I arrived after it had started or else I would have joined one of the teams.
There were about 20 people there all of them playing trivia and I was the lone patron sitting at the bar. Everyone was having a good time laughing, talking, enjoying some good craft beer. Food is not sold on site but you can bring your own in and some people did this. I am thinking that a good way to begin conversation with people is to bring some good food with me next time.
What was challenging was the proper social distancing with Covid. If you moved around you had to wear a mask but one you were at a table or the bar you could take it off. As a new person that night I did not feel comfortable walking up to people’s tables and talking with them. Covid aside, I would have sat down at one of the tables and joined their team. Navigating that social distance tightrope will be a challenge going forward.
What is promising is that XXX is a small town (about 2,000) and I did not know a single person there. I believe this will be a great spot to practice presence and to have a conversation with people outside of the church. Especially if I offer to buy them a pint.
I have a two-sided plan for context. However last Wednesday evening I received a call that my grandpa was going to lose his battle with COVID. Most of you know that I became the caretaker of my grandparents at the beginning of 2019 when my grandmother was faced with terminal cancer. She passed away on April 11, 2019 and caring for Grandpa (fighting leukemia, Parkinson’s, and dementia) became my full-time job (along with seminary and a part-time Associate Pastor role.) His illnesses became more than either of us could handle and he was placed in a nursing home last fall. I haven’t seen him in person since November and he died last Thursday morning. As his caretaker, power of attorney, and co-trustee, I am faced with more than I imagined the past week and will need a few days to get caught up on seminary stuff. That being said, I would like to share my plan.
I plan to practice presence in two ways this spring. Because of the unpredictability of the pandemic and mitigations that we are experiencing in Northern Illinois, I am going attempt to be present in person and online in two separate groups. As of now, with the establishment open to the public, I plan to spend one hour each Thursday evening from 5 to 6 p.m. at “Cork & Tap”, which is just 10 minutes from my home. Attached to Cork & Tap is also a coffee shop/café, called Hazel’s. Between those two establishments, there is a great chance of coming into contact with a variety of people that I do not know on any given visit. Cork & Tap has a collection of board and card games to play, quiet places to read or have personal conversations, and they serve craft beer and wine. Hazel’s is the typical coffee café with sandwiches and soup, as well as terrific coffee. The businesses share an open doorway and allow patrons to carry food or drink between the two establishments. This combined business will be a context that I can practice presence in person. In case, our region of Illinois moves back to restaurants and pubs being closed, I am also practicing presence in an online neighborhood group for one of my two churches. Coming to this appointment in July 2020, mid-pandemic, I have not been able to get out and meet community members that do not attend my church. I haven’t even met all of my church members. Participating in this online community will help me to establish relationships beyond my church walls. I have sent the administrator of the page a request to practice presence by posting weekly a question relating to the community to help me come to understand my context better.
I look forward to focusing on presence in these two contexts beginning this week and the weeks to come.
My context is to assess the current status of the programs and ministries addressing food insecurity within the local area. I had been involved as a volunteer in several ministries before the pandemic, but I have a very limited understanding who leads those various ministries, how the programs actually work, how those in need become aware of resource options, and whether the disparate ministries coordinate together to identify and address gaps in coverage.
It was a blessing, on my first cold call, to reach an interim coordinator who was gracious and well-informed. We were able to visit for 25 minutes and I came away amazed at the maturity of the adaptations which have taken place due to COVID. There are many promising programs in place, and way more coordination of effort across ministries than I thought there would be. Challenges include a dramatic increase in the need for services due to the downturn in the economy over the past year. I found out about several volunteer opportunities which I could do while socially distanced. (e.g. run a delivery route for food drop-offs for those who cannot come to this particular food pantry).
I thought I would need multiple visits with area ministries and services in order to get an initial sense of the maturity and coordination between programs. For my first contact person, an interim in the position, to be so well-informed about the community resources was a real encouragement and a blessing. He provided me with contact names for the United Way, Salvation Army, the local school lunch program coordinator, and more. I will reach out to a different resource each week during the semester as I continue to learn about ministries focused on easing food insecurity within our local community.
Ok, so I feel like my context needs a little explaining and back story. I just moved to a new, small town, in Wisconsin from North Dakota a few weeks ago. I have a covenant to serve this small, Presbyterian church for the next 9 months. Anyways, it’s been tricky to know what an appropriate way to accomplish this assignment would be in my physical context so I am learning the ins and outs of this unique community. We (wife and three daughters) are situated in the midst of a jaw-droppingly beautiful national forest and are pretty isolated from major metropolitan areas. I can drive an hour before I hit a town over 10k people. So this led me to go for a virtual context with the virus and my ignorance of the community. In the best of times though, there’s not a lot of social gatherings outside of school events and family celebrations I suspect.
I don’t really identify as a “prepper”, but there are some aspects I am interested in. I served in the US Army, and have spent a lot of time out in the field for training purposes and I spent a year in Iraq. I also like the idea of being self-sustainable as much as possible. A big goal of mine is to start a homestead with a robust garden. I do wrestle with the idea of “hoarding” things that other people may need though. Also, we obviously move a lot, so I don’t want to carry a lot of stuff around the country. So when I was looking for a new group to join that I wasn’t already involved with, “casual prepper” caught my attention. I actually feel like they do fill that sweet spot between excess and, for lack of a better term, unprepared. A lot of it is nerdy, but I kind of like it. There’s stuff about how people are collecting rain water for gardens or general use. Stuff about solar panels and solar generators (just got one that I’m super excited to take camping in the Spring!). Off-grid cabin setups, just lots of interesting things people are doing for just-in-case scenarios.
I usually just sit back and read things, but I thought I would try to engage more. I posted a question about dehydrating meals and asked for vegan recipes. I had one person share a helpful video and one person made a comment that when the “stuff hits the fan” we won’t be vegan very long. I get his response, and that’s the kind of extreme stuff I’m not as interested in. How bad do things have to be before vegetables are not available for eating but meat still is? I think the dehydrated meals will be great for going out camping this next year but also a cool thing that you could keep in the car to give to homeless people when you come across them. Also, they keep for about 5 years and if there were to be grocery shortages because of supply chain issues it could be a solid backup option.
Someone asked a questing about if anyone practices fasting as a skill for prepping. This left a pretty good opening to share I’ve been practicing fasting as a spiritual discipline and wrote a little about why Christians have practiced fasting traditionally. Nobody really commented on that, but some people liked my comment. There were mixed responses to whether or not that is a healthy practice or not. Also though, some people shared how they had real experiences of nearly starving to death. So, it is really an interesting mix of diverse people I feel.
All in all, it’s been fun and comforting to find some people with similar interests. It’s something I don’t really talk about much with people outside of a couple of my family members. I’ll just add that they do not find me as crazy as they once did before the pandemic started!
I am a bit late joining in the discussion here – I was not able to begin practicing presence until yesterday. After flushing out a couple of the ideas we discussed in the meeting with XXX last week, and then talking with my SPM supervisor, we decided the best way to practice presence was to “host” pre and post worship service discussions. What is not “great” about this practice is that its a little more planned out than I think XXX intends. But, in Ohio there just are not opportunities to go into places and engage people we do not know. The places I might normally seek our, coffee shops, book stores, even hobby lessons just are not really operational here.
I will be online 30 minutes before worship service and 30 after, and propose a question or two about the sermon topic, and just engage the congregants as a way to get to know me and for me to practice presence. Yesterday I had some participation, which was great! I felt a bit distracted. It was my first day participating in the worship service and people wanted to talk, etc. All good stuff but I need to find someplace a bit quieter so I am engaged with those online. I also wish we were doing something more like Zoom so we could interact more freely and see each other.