Welcome to the Reboot! (of the Thursday Evening Conversations Group)

by Bridget R.

Feeling frustrated, feeling unheard, or do you have something exciting to share? Thursday

conversations is your place to go. My name is Bridget (pronouns are she, her, and hers). I host the Thursday evening conversations group, a group that meets online on Thursday evenings.

It began in 2020 during Covid as a place for community when we were all locked away in our homes. It made the loneliness and fear so much better. It made you feel you were not alone.

Now it is used as a place for discussion of a variety of topics. On the first Thursday of the month, we don’t meet in order to allow people the opportunity to go to Jan Coe's sound bath at church. If you haven’t been--the sound bath is wonderful! The third Thursday of the month, we talk about happy news only. Sometimes the world is just too overwhelming, so we take time to look for the good things going on. The rest of the time, we speak on a variety of topics.

Last week, the topic was punishment. This week, it’s Halloween. We also talk about politics usually monthly because so much happens every day. Sometimes it’s fun topics, like "What’s your favorite movie?" Sometimes people share topics that they know a lot about. They teach us and then we have a discussion.

Here's how a session works: we begin with checking in. If someone has something bothering them or something happy to share, that's the time to catch up. Then I do a chalice lighting and reading. After that, we begin discussing the topic of the week. Our talks begin at 6:30pm on Thursdays and ends at 8pm. At the end of our conversations, we discuss what we would like to do the next week and then vote on it.

Right now, the group is all women but the group is open to everyone. We want everyone to feel welcome and to have a safe place to discuss hard topics. There are so many hard topics in life and having a safe group to discuss those is very helpful.

On a personal note the group helped me in my deconstruction process. I was evangelical and the deconstruction process from that is very hard. But people sharing their stories and just being there to listen helped me so much.

So please feel welcomed to come to the Thursday evening conversations. You can find the zoom link in the church newsletter.