An Invitation

At the congregation prior to my coming to Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church, I had the honor of knowing a recipient of the “distinguished topical philatelist” award from the American Topical Association. He also currently sits on the board of directors for the biology  unit of the ATA. This man is a kind, generous, funny, and interesting person. But I have something to confess: until meeting him, I had no idea what philately is, and after finding out I had no interest in learning more. (It’s stamp collecting, by the way).

But here’s the thing…

If I received the biophilately journal that he edited it would be marked “return to sender”, but when I found out that Don was passionate about those lil’ lick-em stick-ems (a dumb, made up name for stamps, spread the word) I was excited that I got to learn about stamps. He also showed me a box of dead bugs, but that was what he used to do for work.

Do I now care about stamps? No. But I loved hearing him talk about his experience and passion.

I’ve learned about a bunch of other boring, trivial stuff over the course of my career, and I love it.

I love it.

Everybody has their things. For Don it was philately (and HAM radio). For Peter it was model trains. For Dick it was Scottish regalia. Everybody has their things and I love it.

My job is people. That’s why I do the work I do. That’s the work I want to do.

This blog post is an invitation. I want to learn about the thing you love that you don’t get a chance to talk about. I want to see your collection of magnets. I want to hear about the culture of competitive bagpiping. I want to learn about the cultural history of teeth. (none of those are real, but I’m willing to be proven wrong).

I want to know what your thing is.

I can almost guarantee that I won’t care about your thing (with the notable exception being Betty, whose godfather was Bill Gaines, creator of MAD Magazine). But that’s beside the point. I care about you, and so I want to learn your thing.

This summer I want to learn all sorts of nonsense. My job is people, and I haven’t had enough people-time in my job lately. This summer I want to change that.

Invite me over. Ask me out for coffee or lunch. Bring something fun to my office. I don’t care if I don’t care about what you want to talk about. I care about you.

Peace,

Jeff

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At Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church, we care deeply about what makes you come alive, even if we’ve never heard of it before. Come be part of a community where your passions, interests, and stories are welcome. Join us for worship on Sundays at 10:00 a.m., or drop by during the week; we’d love to meet you. We’re located at 1200 Winton Road South, Brighton, NY. Call us at (585) 244-8585 or visit our Facebook page to connect!