Block Party

When we started passing out flyers for the first annual New Church Circle Block Party two years ago, we weren't quite sure what people would think of us walking up to their door as a couple with mysterious literature in hand. Okay, we thought people would think Jehovah's Witness. Wouldn't you? And I'm sure some people did. Once we approached an ajar front door and when I was close enough to see in through the living room window, I saw someone leap off the lazy-boy and onto the floor in a barrel roll. Then as I took a couple steps closer, the front door clicked shut.

A few years ago I watched this documentary on the history of refrigeration in America. In the mid twentieth century when home air-conditioning came about, a strange cultural phenomenon happened: in the summertime people moved from outside in their yards and on their porches, to the climate-controlled indoors. Subsequently, neighbors started spending a lot less time with one another. 

I totally get all that. Here in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, where it is winter almost nine months of the year. people stay indoors. Especially in a small town, where practically everything closes by 6 pm. And people move around so much. I think I read recently that the American homeowner moves, on average, every five years. It is hard to get to know your neighbors when you hardly ever see them and it's hard to want to get to know them when they come and go so often. 

This is where Nate and I are old-fashioned, I guess. Plus, we don't have air-conditioning. You see, the idea of getting to know our neighbors and being a good neighbor really means something to us. We didn't grow up in the same place but we both grew up in wonderful suburban neighborhoods where neighbors knew one another and took care of each other. We had neighborhood watch programs and block parties. Also, Jesus had some pretty powerful stuff to say about neighbors, like doing good to them, with love.

So this year we threw our third-annual New Church Circle block party. It doesn't take much, really. I print off a bunch of flyers and Nate and I walk around to each house a couple weeks in advance and pass them out. We provide burgers, hot dogs and drinks and ask everybody to being a side or dessert. Admittedly, we buy the cheap stuff but nobody really cares. Last year I went into Trader Joe's and asked what their best "value" beer is. You know, tastes good but affordable for a party. I've been buying their Simpler Times Pilsner ever since, and people love it. Plus, could there be a better theme for your neighborhood party than Simpler Times?

As great as the whole thing is in theory, this year I started to have my doubts. The party "starts" at 4 but by 4:45 then 5:15 no one had come. I took my dogs for a walk around the block as a friendly reminder that we exist and, by the way, there is a block party today. Then at about 5:30 some regular attenders from down the street showed up with their potluck offering. Then another and more and more. We still didn't have the showing we usually have but there was something nice about being able to sit and really talk with everybody there, introvert or not. And when it was just a few of us, with the Bob Marley Pandora station playing softly in the background, one of the ladies sitting next to me in our lawn chairs looked intently at me and said:

Thanks for doing this. Really. Thank you. It means a lot. 

It may be hard for twenty-first century Americans to want to show up to for an evening with neighbors but I think that deep down we believe it is important and positive.

This may have been the least attended of our block parties to date, but I cannot help but feel like it was the most successful. For one, there was a big part of Nate and I that did not want to do it. I didn't want to print off flyers and walk around the neighborhood or buy burgers and beer. Then when nobody was showing up we thought we might be off the hook.

Look, nobody wants to do this thing. We should just throw in the towel. It'll be easier, anyway. 

But we did do it. I printed off flyers, we spent a couple hours passing them out and I spent about sixty bucks in preparation. When nobody was showing up for the first hour and a half, we kept the music going and started the grill anyway. Part of being a good neighbor is just showing up. It may actually be the biggest part. That day we may have had to talk ourselves into it, but we decided that even if nobody else showed up, we would. We would keep inviting people and we would be here. Success.

Then there is the hospitality. The state of our house is definitely not perfection, nor has it been for the past three block parties. We really are still living in a construction zone over here. The first year we were painting the outside of our house and so it was a combination of old brown and new gray. Last year we were tearing up our landscaping. This year we had been using our patio to store scraps of insulation and wood from our upstairs project. But you know what, we cannot wait for our house to be finished before we have a party. We would never have a party.

Front patio before: a cluttered mess of building materials

Don't get me wrong, we definitely cleaned up beforehand. That is still important, I think. But as long as the environment is clean and safe, who cares if it is perfectly functional or beautiful?

Front patio after: a clean slate

Once when I was in college I heard this lady say that the primary difference between entertaining and hospitality is that entertaining is about me-- what I can display, how I can entertain-- while hospitality is about my guests-- making them comfortable and safe and providing an environment where they can feel at home. With entertaining, your guests are an audience but with hospitality, your guests are the main players. And anyway, last time I checked nobody feels like their home is ever finished or perfect. So if mine isn't either (and it isn't) then I figure people are more likely to feel at home. Success.

Then, just about every day for the week between our party and the start of school, we had a new visitor in our home. A six year-old redhead from down the street would knock on our door and come inside to hang out for hours. We didn't have to babysit her, she was content just to watch cartoons on Netflix, climb on our stairs and feed our cats treats. When I was her age I would also show up to a neighbor's house and hang out for a while and so it means so much to me to be able to pay that forward. And it means so much to me that I have this grown-up house now, where kids can come and feel safe and happy. Success.

Sure, you can come in and hang out. We're neighbors. 

Are Nate and I amazing people and excellent Christians because we host a bock party every year? Not necessarily. I'm first to admit that we still have yet to be able to really serve people when and where they most need it. But for us, the block party is when we meet and get to know our neighbors by name. We learn more about what questions to ask them when we see them on the street, we learn what tools they'll need to borrow for their next project and find out that we can be praying for their daughter with cancer. The block party may just be the tip of the iceberg but it is also the ice-breaker.

So, yes, I'd say our third-annual New Church Circle block party was a success.  I think we'll do it again next year.