{"id":54276,"date":"2019-02-28T15:35:34","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T15:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/?p=54276"},"modified":"2021-10-12T18:13:59","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T18:13:59","slug":"the-light-bulb-moment-parking-lot-as-a-listening-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/2019\/02\/28\/the-light-bulb-moment-parking-lot-as-a-listening-post\/","title":{"rendered":"The Light-Bulb Moment: Parking Lot as A Listening Post"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Innovation Coach Asefa M Wakjira visits with Partner Congregations Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Minneapolis and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Minneapolis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Written by <\/span>Sheila Foster,<\/span><\/i> St. Luke\u2019s Episcopal Church, Minneapolis, MN<\/span><\/p>\n

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This week, we hear from Sheila Foster, an Innovation Team Member at St. Luke\u2019s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, MN. Sheila is excited to share her team\u2019s light-bulb moment during the time of Accompaniment as they have been exploring ways to have authentic conversations with their neighbors.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church is excited to be a part of the Riverside Innovation Hub Project.\u00a0Our team of six, with our Innovation Coach Lindsay Boehmer, has been meeting regularly.\u00a0There are others who have joined in on our meetings along the way.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Where the story began.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Back in December, we were all in the midst of preparing for the Christmas season in the church and in our lives.\u00a0After a Sunday morning worship, four team members, including myself, gathered to collectively write our monthly reflection about what we had experienced, discovered, and accomplished in December.\u00a0This was not a planned gathering \u2014 it was born out of a moment that most team members were in the same place at the same time. Initially, we set aside 30 minutes with the goal of getting our reflection accomplished before Christmas. However, the time and conversation turned into so much more.\u00a0Our 30-minute conversation turned into a 2-hour conversation, and what we discovered helped to move us forward.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

With curiosity and uneasiness came fruitful conversations.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>In our discussion about Accompaniment and what that really meant, there was a realization that asking strangers questions \u2014 putting ourselves in a vulnerable place by engaging with people we do not know or have connection with \u2014 is scary and challenging.\u00a0How do we do that in an authentic manner, so we feel confident enough to ask questions and listen?\u00a0We reflected on what kind of questions we can ask, what do we need to share of ourselves to be able to ask those questions, and what are we afraid of.\u00a0The question then became \u2014 are there more opportunities we might be missing with engaging in a listening post? And can we create a listening post in our local neighborhood that feels relevant and authentic? <\/span><\/p>\n

In our time of Accompaniment, I had given a lot of thought to spaces in our surrounding neighborhood that St. Luke’s has connections with.\u00a0These places included: the space on our church building\u2019s front lawn which includes our garden where our neighbors pass through and sit; our front lawn where neighborhood children play; our prayer box where people walking by can leave a prayer or take prayer resources; and our emergency food box that makes food available to those in need.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The light-bulb moment.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Then, a new place came into my mind; I asked our team about our church parking lot that is a block away.\u00a0Some members did not even know that we had a parking lot!\u00a0They assumed the parking lot belonged to the surrounding businesses or the Montessori School that we share our building with because their playground is in the parking lot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This revelation sparked an incredible series of wondering questions.\u00a0 <\/span>Who parks in the lot? Does the parking lot get used all the time and by the same people?\u00a0Do the people in the apartment buildings across the street park in the lot? How can we get to know the people who use the parking lot?\u00a0Do they live in the neighborhood or do they drive in from other places?<\/span><\/i> \u00a0There were so many questions about who these people \u2014 local neighbors might be \u2014 and what we might learn from hearing their stories!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Since this incredible moment of discovery, we have had the opportunity to get to know the businesses surrounding the parking lot. We have made plans with the Coffee Shop, who shares our parking lot, to host a Coffee Hour event with our neighbors.\u00a0We are planning to give flyer invitations to the people parking their cars in the parking lot, surrounding business, and nearby apartments. We plan to invite them into a conversation about who our neighbors are. We want to listen to their perspectives about where they see consolation and desolation in the spaces and places we share. <\/span><\/p>\n

We hope to have an opportunity to listen and realize where God is at work in our neighborhood.\u00a0There is now a desire to know the story of others and, hopefully, this will lead to building relationships we did not even know were possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Sheila Foster, St. Luke\u2019s Episcopal Church, Minneapolis, MN   This week, we hear from Sheila Foster, an Innovation …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":465,"featured_media":54278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,178,179,88,183],"tags":[199,155,162,208],"class_list":["post-54276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-and-resources","category-partner-congregations","category-resource","category-riverside-innovation-hub","category-young-adults","tag-partner-congregations","tag-public-church","tag-riverside-innovation-hub","tag-young-adults"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/465"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54276"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54414,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54276\/revisions\/54414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/ccv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}