Breadsticks. Wine. Conversation. Blessing. Prayer. Tears. Laughter. Friendship. Kindness. Conviction. Did I just describe a Eucharist feast or a party of friends? One of my favorite parts of Hope Church’s Pub Theology is that it’s hard to tell the difference. In fact, I think our weekly gathering teaches us what communion is meant to be and I think the Eucharist teaches us what gathering together should be. We are God’s people, gathered together by the Holy Spirit as a hen gathers her chicks, pointing to God and being nourished to be a light to the world. We are young and we are not so young. We are diverse in our backgrounds, but strangely the same. We go to church every week, we go to church when a friend gets married. We have questions, we have answers. We have heartbreak, we have hugs. All of us reflect our Creator and all of us are being shaped by God’s spirit into the fullness of who God uniquely creates us to be. We might not use a liturgy, but we certainly embody its meaning.
Our goals are simple. We want to be a solid and secure place where all people and all perspectives our welcome. Some weeks we use our entire 90 minutes to ask deep and hard questions about our readings for the week. Other weeks, we laugh about a Netflix movie a few of us happened to watch the week before. Every week, we eat appetizers and drink a beer or soda. Yes, we have a book we study, but reading it is only encouraged, not required. The book serves our life discussions, we do not serve the book. Just like the Lord’s Supper, there is always enough space and enough food, so please join us some time! We meet every Wednesday at Hops, 84 East 8th Street, from 7:00-8:30 PM. Email me, Pastor Beth, any questions you have: bcarroll@hopechurchrca.org.