We have had more visitors in the parking lot this week than I can count. They are playing an interactive game called Pokémon Go. Don’t ask me about it; I only know you walk or ride around with your phone or tablet trying to capture Pokémon characters for points. Our parking lot is a place you can find a gem. I saw one guy standing in front of the labyrinth (the prayer walk) and thought that maybe he was looking for Jesus, but he just got back into his car and left.
It’s not uncommon for folks to come walking or riding a bike or in their cars into the parking lot during the week. A lot of folks from the businesses to our rear use the paths behind our sanctuary and the parking lot to take a walk on their break. On a less healthy note, there are a few folks who drive over here on a break and sit in their cars, listen to their tunes and take a smoke break. Our mailman finds some shade most days.
During the school year a bus driver or two will pull out from the garage just behind us and then wait for school to get out at the Middle School just up the road. From time to time you can find a police squad in our parking lot. Usually though, they are parked on the side of the road, right after the little hill coming west on Scenic Heights road. (You are welcome.). I make it a point to say a hello to those folks when I can.
But this Pokémon craze is something different. I don’t know how or who it was that put us as a Pokémon stop, but it has taken me most of the week to learn not to ask the folks if I can give them any help. Folks just ride or walk or drive in, capture whatever or whoever they are capturing on their phone, and leave. Different churches are reacting differently to this. Some are a bit anxious. Others are having some fun, like the one church that put something on their outdoor sign like, “Come here for a Pokémon stop on Sunday and stay for church at 9 a.m.”
I understand the need to take advantage of a “marketing opportunity,” but I think we are just going to let people come, get their Pokémon and go as they please, maybe with a little wave. Sometimes being a good neighbor is sharing your space without asking anything in return. It’s letting somebody “do their thing” without making it fit into “our thing.” Sometimes it works out. Like the night of the first Huddle when a neighborhood mom was taking her kid to our playground and ran into 60 people having a picnic. She said a few hellos, had some lemonade, and watched her kid play with other kids for a while. It was great.
I’m not sure where all this is going other than to say in these days and weeks when there is so much violence surrounding us, when so much seems to be a stake, I thought it would be good to remember how we are being something like a good neighbor. Maybe if we all took a little closer look at what being a good neighbor is about… maybe it would make something of a difference.
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
It’s not uncommon for folks to come walking or riding a bike or in their cars into the parking lot during the week. A lot of folks from the businesses to our rear use the paths behind our sanctuary and the parking lot to take a walk on their break. On a less healthy note, there are a few folks who drive over here on a break and sit in their cars, listen to their tunes and take a smoke break. Our mailman finds some shade most days.
During the school year a bus driver or two will pull out from the garage just behind us and then wait for school to get out at the Middle School just up the road. From time to time you can find a police squad in our parking lot. Usually though, they are parked on the side of the road, right after the little hill coming west on Scenic Heights road. (You are welcome.). I make it a point to say a hello to those folks when I can.
But this Pokémon craze is something different. I don’t know how or who it was that put us as a Pokémon stop, but it has taken me most of the week to learn not to ask the folks if I can give them any help. Folks just ride or walk or drive in, capture whatever or whoever they are capturing on their phone, and leave. Different churches are reacting differently to this. Some are a bit anxious. Others are having some fun, like the one church that put something on their outdoor sign like, “Come here for a Pokémon stop on Sunday and stay for church at 9 a.m.”
I understand the need to take advantage of a “marketing opportunity,” but I think we are just going to let people come, get their Pokémon and go as they please, maybe with a little wave. Sometimes being a good neighbor is sharing your space without asking anything in return. It’s letting somebody “do their thing” without making it fit into “our thing.” Sometimes it works out. Like the night of the first Huddle when a neighborhood mom was taking her kid to our playground and ran into 60 people having a picnic. She said a few hellos, had some lemonade, and watched her kid play with other kids for a while. It was great.
I’m not sure where all this is going other than to say in these days and weeks when there is so much violence surrounding us, when so much seems to be a stake, I thought it would be good to remember how we are being something like a good neighbor. Maybe if we all took a little closer look at what being a good neighbor is about… maybe it would make something of a difference.
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
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