Food, traditions to be exchanged at church

In the spirit of the season, East Liberty Presbyterian Church is holding an intergenerational lunch discussion from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, which will be centered on the theme of traditions.

“The Great Exchange: Traditions” is part of a twice yearly program that Wil Forrest, coordinator of young adult and outreach ministries, designed to help integrate generations.

The church has held this program for about three years, and prior topics of discussion have included music, play, holidays and travel. People of all ages, from teens through senior citizens are encouraged to attend and mix with other age groups.

Many of the young adults of the church come to Pittsburgh for school or work but didn’t grow up here, so they tend to feel disconnected from the children and seniors in the church, Mr. Forrest said.

“I thought, ‘How do we get people together?’ We have a roundtable discussion. How do we get people around the table? We have food,” Mr. Forrest said.

He prepares a baked potato bar with a large bowl of spinach and a wide array of toppings from vegetables to butter, sour cream and bacon bits. The church’s senior ministry provides desserts.

As people enter, Mr. Forrest assigns them to tables, with each table of eight includes at least one teen, one young adult, one middle-aged adult and one senior.

As people sit down, they can read a welcome note that invites people to get their food, introduce themselves and kick off the discussion by giving their answers to a question such as “What do you think of when you hear the word tradition?”

After they get their food and Mr. Forrest says the blessing, he invites people to follow the prescribed structure as closely or as loosely as they wish.

“I tell them, ‘If your table is freewheelin’, do whatever you want to do for the next hour.’” During a past event that centered around the topic of play, he left decks of cards on the tables, and some tables played rummy and chatted for an hour.

“There are always one or two tables that go broke and do whatever they want to do, and there are a couple tables that go through the questions one by one and check them all off,” he said.

After the two-hour session, most folks leave, but a few stick around to continue the discussion.

He expects this year’s event to focus largely on holidays, and so he scheduled it intentionally between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The discussion questions encourage people to tell stories and share memories as well as to think ahead and dream for the future. He’ll also ask them to reflect on what they believe is the value of having traditions.

“Hopefully they do place some value on that topic, and it’s not just that they like baked potatoes,” he joked.

Mr. Forrest has found that ongoing relationships tend to develop from these events.

“Sometimes in the church community we don’t focus on each other,” he said, noting that he’s out to change that. “Part of why I go to church is I consider it another family.”

“The Great Exchange: Traditions” will be held in the church’s social hall and is open to the public. For more information: cathedralofhope.org/events/.