How Do You Belong? Try Eating A Cookie!

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

How do you belong? Try eating a cookie.

 

The question—about belonging—is one I hear a lot. Sometimes, people ask me directly. How do I get involved in this community? How do I become a part of things? More often, the question is indirect or even unvoiced. How do I get to know people? How can I be known? How can I feel connected? How can I feel at home?

 

The answer—cookies—I don’t hear a lot. But I think it applies at this moment. Saturday is Grace’s Friendsgiving Potluck and Bake-off (from 5:30-7:30 p.m.). It’s a chance to share a potluck dish, bring some of your favorite cookies, and bid on some delicious pie or cake.

 

But, really, it’s a chance to belong. It is activities like this one that allow us to connect with people we already know and meet people who are new to us. If making conversations with new people is anxiety-producing for you (it is for me, even though it’s a part of my job), easy topics are right at hand. (Brownies or chocolate chip? Pumpkin or pecan?)

 

We connect as human beings not only over important topics—being available to one another in crisis, suffering, or struggle—but also over trivial ones. Cookie preferences are one of a thousand small things that allow us to get to know one another. Maybe it seems like they don’t matter in the moment. But when bad stuff goes down? It sure matters to have people around you who know that you want them to bring you chocolate chip cookies to make you smile.

 

Love is part of our mission at Grace, and belonging is one of our core values. This is what we do: we break bread together at the altar and then in the auditorium, too. We are connected as the body of Christ, whether in sacrament or at a party.

 

Come and enjoy the sweetness of being together.

 

Yours in Christ,
Anne+