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Dig Into Big Ideas at Commons

Are you craving meaningful conversations?

By Bobbi Salkeld

Between Sundays, a Commons podcast about finding the sacred in the everyday, is set to launch the third season this week. In it, I have long-form conversations with people around Commons you’ll benefit from knowing. The season is called “Why does it matter?”, and it’s all about meaning-making.

Meaning-making is the effort to find purpose, define our values, and feel significant. A 2013 study by a team of psychologists at Florida State University points to the importance of meaning-making. They found that the pursuit of meaning is more valuable than the pursuit of happiness. Happiness may lead to selfish pursuits; however, meaning draws us out of ourselves and into deeper relationships with others.

In her book, The Power of Meaning, Emily Esfahani-Smith explores four pillars of meaning: belonging, purpose, storytelling, and transcendence. When I read about the pillars, I had the feeling you get when you read something that resonates with you. “Yes,” I thought, “These are the things that bring me a deeper sense of what matters. I want to have conversations about what the pillars look like in everyday life.”

Which brings me to one of the upcoming episodes of Between Sundays. Episode 2: Board Games. Now an episode about board games might seem … boring? But I’m telling you: it is not. I sat down with Joshua Field, a longtime Commons friend, to talk about his love of games. Now, I don’t love board games, but board games are doorways to love.

Joshua speaks about board games as “third things” that build relationships. Third things receive the attention of two or more people who focus on something other than themselves. Here’s a definition of a “third thing” from the poet Donald Hall in the context of intimacy.

“Third things are essential to marriages, [they are] objects or practices or habits or arts or institutions or games or human beings that provide a site of joint rapture or contentment. Each member of a couple is separate; the two come together in double attention.” – Donald Hall, Poetry Magazine, November 2004.

People draw closer together when they care about a third thing. Do you love reading? Me too! Do you ski? Let’s go! Have you played Sushi Go!? I’ll deal. You could say that being a church community is about casting our collective gaze onto a third thing. With our differences, we draw closer together through the story of Jesus.

The conversation with Joshua made me realize that this season is all about third things. Each episode is an exercise of affection. We talk about children’s literature, board games, independent film, science labs, and the land. When you listen to someone talk about something they love, you love the thing a little more too. Past that, you notice the attention you give to what you love, and how much what you love gives your life meaning.

That’s what this season of Between Sundays feels like for me. It feels like love. Love for the people we form a community with at Commons. Love for the passions that get us out of bed on the weekend. Love for the fun we have when we’re doing exactly what we need to be doing.

I loved making this season of Between Sundays with Jonathan Petkau in conversation with Sonia Jarmula, Joshua Field, Ingrid Vargas, Paul Stewardson, and Nicole Scott. We hope you’ll listen and share these conversations with friends. May they spark deeper conversations around you.

We make Between Sundays on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta. It’s a privilege to make a podcast in this place.

Season III

New episode out March 2nd!

Listen to the Between Sundays podcast by searching “Commons Church Between Sundays” on your podcast app or by clicking the "Listen Now" button below