3rd Space

If you know me you know that I always have some project that I’m working on. And when I get interested in something, I go all the way. I got into 3D photography one time and even got equipment to make my own viewmaster reels. When I dove into cooking, I found a wholesale spice merchant and bought massive amounts of spices (there are nearly 22 different chiles and spices in my Chili… I put powdered chiles in my chocolate chip cookies too).

I love to learn and I love to make things. Put that combo together and there is always a mysterious box being delivered by UPS to our door that makes my wife cringe, “What is Mark getting into now?”

While there is always something new to discover, two of my longstanding interests since childhood have been magic tricks and comic books. I think one of the reasons I’ve reminded interested in those is because there is a social community that I am a part of. When I lived in California I was a member of the Magic Castle in Beverly Hills, and also frequented the Best Magic Shop. When I moved to Texas my magic hangout was Magicland. These weren’t just places to purchase things (although I did alot of that!) it was also a place to interact with people of similar interests, where we would share ideas and often our lives. I remember the day my son and I drove up to Magicland after traveling a bunch to find that it has suddenly gone out of business. A piece of me died, it was sad.

Two weeks ago the comic book store I had visited for 17 years since moving to Texas closed shop. I drove by the store last night and it was completely vacant like a corpse devoid of it’s life, spirit, and soul. The space was still there, but the connection to people wasn’t, these relationships had no place to congregate.

I think many of us have “special places” that become extensions of our lives. It may be a gym, classroom on campus, mall, beverage joint (like Starbucks). It isn’t so much the physical place that is a part of us but the people we connect to while we are there. Do you have a place like that?

It seems that the church too, should be one of these spaces. Not the building, but the fellowship of people that gives energy to any space it occupies. It seems that less and less the church is not seen as one of these “special” places.

Since it isn’t the space, it must be that something isn’t happening when the people meet.
At the magic and comic hangouts there were some things that made the place special.
1) People you cared about and shared interests with.
2) Challenging one another with ideas.
3) Developing new skills and refining old ones.
4) Being creative together.
5) No or little agenda, just hanging out.

How does your youth group do at this and what could be done better? If the church shut down would people feel loss, would something die?

Mark