kar0ling

I judge other churches. When I visit your church, I take note of whether you’ve got a bike rack, and whether it’s a good one, installed properly. I pay attention to whether your doors open to the street or the parking lot. Then I go in and it continues. Granted, I’m usually there for a specific purpose, not trying to find a new worshipping community, so I don’t need you to say hi to me or greet me warmly. But I judge you if you don’t. Did anyone give me a bulletin? Direct me to what I might need, be that a coat rack, the location of the sanctuary, a bathroom, etc.? Let’s be honest, I’m usually late, so did anyone come up after the service to say hi, introduce themselves, welcome me? It’s amazing how many failing marks most churches get. The desire to leave that awkward space and not hang around waiting for no one to talk to me is a great reminder that when I’m at home in my own congregation, there is some urgency to going over to greet that new person before he or she leaves with...

“State of the art” is usually the first sign of miserable malfunction. In my old office building, staff were forbidden to touch the temperature control for the state of the art ventilation system. Attempting to adjust had no bearing on the temperature of the room you were in, although it might cause discomfort in another part of the building. I’m always the coldest person in the room anyway, so I assumed it was my lot in life to be perpetually cold, unable to do anything about it other than load on sweaters and drink hot liquids. So, in my new office building – a much older edifice than the former – I simply assumed that the frigid temperature of my space was meant to be and couldn’t be changed. Drawing to the end of a cold day, an office mate popped her head in to say hi. How’s it going? she asked. Oh great, I replied. I’m happy to be here and everyone has been so hospitable. (I’m sharing office space with a related organization as my own has only 1.5 FTE staff in the city and n...

Of course my tongue is planted firmly in cheek with this hyperbolic statement…and I more than half believe it. But not for the reason you think. Sure, cycling is good because it reduces fossil fuel consumption, promotes cardiovascular health, puts you in touch with nature, and the latter two are good for emotional health. Riding a bike, you may or may not know, is humanizing. In apartment elevators, most people studiously avoid making any kind of contact with each other, but when I am that annoying person taking her bike on the elevator, more often than not, my fellow traveller is impelled to strike up a conversation. From “Nice weather, eh?” to “What do you think of the green paint on the bike lanes? My partner was involved in that. Does it work?” In winter, we all want to hunker down in our cars and separate ourselves from the elements, but I can’t tell you the number of times people have rolled down their windows to talk to me. BFB (before fat-bike), it was mostly swearing, but sin...