Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Community Building

This morning, I'm forgoing my morning walk.  I've been told that the locksmith will be here early, and while I'm pretty sure it won't be before sunrise, I don't want to risk missing the locksmith.  Plus, the lock is starting to spook me.  It took me a long time to get into my apartment last night after class.

So, I will stay here and bake bread and get reading for class done.  And since I don't have class or other commitments today, when the locksmith is done, I can still go for a walk.

I got into my apartment last night and felt exhausted--it wasn't about the lock.  I got home from Williamsburg on Monday at noon and worked on both the online classes that I'm teaching and a fairly intense analysis of preacher (me) and congregation that my Foundations of Preaching class required for Tuesday.  Yesterday, my schedule was fairly intense, with 2 classes and Chapel.

Last week the chapel intern asked me if I would read one of the passages for Tuesday.  I said yes before I realized it was the opening convocation, but I would have said yes anyway.  I was assigned the Call to Worship.  I got to the chapel early so that I could make sure I could navigate the stairs.  The professor in charge of the service also made sure that I was comfortable.  And it went well.

It was delightful to do the passing of the peace and to have my favorite New Testament professor say, "Peace be with you, Kristin."  Dr. Abts, who gave me great feedback on my poems as part of a Spring class, spoke to me after class--she looks so different in person!  As I waited in line to exit, I realized that one of my small group members from Spiritual Formation class was in line too--we made some small talk while waiting.

I am glad I had the experience of those online classes before coming to campus.  I feel like I have a bit of a head start towards knowing people.  Some of my fellow students from last year are taking in person classes, so that's a treat.

It's a shame that there's no food service on campus.  Or maybe it's more accurate to say that it's interesting that I feel more comfortable getting to know people over coffee or a meal than I do without food.

Last night, in the Foundations of Preaching class that's offered in hy-flex mode, we had our first small groups that were a mix of Zoom folks and in person classroom folks.  It went much better than I was expecting.  We're in a large lecture room, so two groups were at either end of the room (total of 3 of us in the room) while the remaining groups went outside of the room (to the lounge or hallway) to set up their groups.  We didn't have feedback, and we were able to hear each other--hurrah!

Before the class ended, several of us contributed to the chat to talk about how much it seemed to build community almost instantly.  In a small group on Zoom, we were able to see each other much more clearly which made us feel a better sense of connection.  I had a similar experience earlier in the day in my Pastoral Care and Counseling in Context class.  Even though we're on Zoom, we both live in DC.  maybe we could meet for coffee in real life some day.

Perhaps I'm not the only one who feels more comfortable building community over coffee.

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