No social aspect for outsiders

I felt bad when I got one of the recent email updates from HP because it said the following:  

"During our worship service there will be a short break for socializing and 'body building'.  We encourage you to seek out people you don't know and get acquainted."

I didn't feel bad because they were going to try something like this during the service, I felt because I knew how it would go.  It would remain a surface thing, people saying "Hi!" to each other as if they mean it and then turning and commenting on how you looked, felt, smelled, whatever.  This is what I go through every Sunday after 10 years of attending HP.  I even went through at a local BBQ restaurant a couple of weeks ago, where a very large part of the "in" crowd at HP came in and filled the tables around me and my family, yet only one of them said anything to me.  Most of them avoided any eye contact with me and made sure they paid attention to whoever they were trying to sit by rather than greet a fellow church member that had been part of HP for 10 years.  

I feel so bad for them.  No follow-through on initiatives, no updates on a capital campaign once it's all up and running, and no plan for the future ("we're going somewhere!")  Oh, well...

Sad about social interaction

It was funny reading the weekly update from HP this week.  It talked about how there would be a pause in the Sunday morning service to allow for inthe Whiterpersonal action and discsusion to help promote a more social environment.  This effort is so disappointing that it appalls me to hear of it.  It is so formulaic that it smacks of a thinly veiled attempt to show the social aspect of HP.  

I have an experience that will help illustrate the difficultiy that Steven and his followers deal with:  I ate lunch at the original Shane's last week, and the Whites,the Dykes, and the Jones all were in attendance.  They all ordered their food and made a big deal about greeting the elder in their family, but me and my family were there and got no greetings, no welcomes, no acknowledgements.  I smiled and nodded but got nothing in return, especially from the Dykes male and the White male.  I was not encouraged nor even acknowledged, even though I giive  a significant portion to the church.  I accept my place as outsider and outcast from HP, but it is hard to see it up close and first-hand.  

My Savior did not do things this way.  He ate with sinners, drank with tax collectors, and associated with the less-than-savory in his time.  I do the same, leading a life of shift work, darkness, and separation.  I pray for the bigoted and the foolish, and hope that they escape the bondage they live with every day.