Churches and Faith Communities as Third Places/ Third Place Stories
Churches as third places, hmm? My experience parallels that, but not exactly.
I’ve learned spiritual principles in church basements. My third place for the last 4 decades has been in the halls of Overeaters Anonymous (OA). I have had an eating disorder for many decades. For the first half of my life, I dealt with it alone, using occasional therapists who were well-meaning but largely without any answers for me.
I am not nor was I ever obese. My disease manifested as obsession with food: eating quantities in private. The shame I felt on the few occasions I was caught was devastating.
One therapist referred me to Overeaters Anonymous, for which I will be forever grateful. Finding others who did the same things with food that I did, helped me realize I was no longer alone. The shame of being an overeater was replaced by hope that I was not doomed to a life of solitary, self-destructive eating.
Later on, I learned tools that helped stop the compulsion to overeat. I learned this from the stories of others.
And telling my story is one of the most therapeutic tools I have discovered. Connection to others is an invaluable part of who I am today. Entering into another’s suffering, in hope that that act will have redemptive value, is essential and life-giving. OA showed me the stairway that led upstairs from the basement and into the sanctuary.
-Marianne Dalton