Resonance and the Art Table: A Parish Story from Oceanside, CA
Neighboring often starts smaller and simpler than you’d expect.
In Oceanside, California, it looked like a few tables set up in conjunction with a weekly shower ministry, facilitated by St. Brigid's Epsicopcal Church. A corner in the community, carved out every Wednesday morning where folks could come shower, get free haircuts, collect hygiene supplies, sit and eat a hot breakfast, and be met with people who care about them, care to know their names and meet them where they’re at.
But one of the tables was set aside for a different purpose, laden with art supplies it was an open invite to sit, draw, color, and maybe stay a little longer than they planned. It was simply, and appropriately, named “The Art Table.”
Joey Aszterbaum, a dedicated member of St. Brigid’s and the broader community noticed the appetite for creativity and connection that was growing, week by week at The Art Table.
There was a taste, not solely for resources or food, but for expression, for being seen, making something new come about.
So, he followed what was happening, and Joey launched the event Resonance. He calls it: “Oceanside’s most open, open mic.”
It’s facilitated space where just about anything can happen. People read stories aloud and offer glimpses into their lives that might have gone unseen by others. Some work up the courage to read poetry aloud, other give a shot at stand-up comedy for the first time. Someone always starts playing music, and it’s inevitable that the same question is always, instinctively posed: “Do you mind if we play along?”
Of course, there are always dance breaks in the middle. Sometimes at the end too.
Resonance makes room for collaboration in its rawest form, lacking polished-ness, and precise curation, no means to an end, or anything specific theme or strategy. It’s simple: Just neighbors contributing what they have. Instruments they’ve played their whole lives, or just recently picked up, stories that were written long ago, waiting for the chance to emerge into the world, or stories that are being made up on the spot, springing from imagination.
“The point is, come do whatever nonsense you want,” Joey says. He tells folks, “Let’s go hang out and make beautiful things.”
When Resonance first launched, St. Brigid’s needed space to host the open mics. They ended up partnering with a local downtown theater because, put simply, “you work with what God gives you.”
This posture seems to run through everything at St. Brigid’s, a church that doesn’t spend hours perfecting a clear pipeline in order to get someone from the art table funneled into service on a Sunday morning. Getting people to “join” their congregation isn’t the point, because they are with their neighbors at several points in the week building, dreaming, and creating from a place of joy, together. And there, they encounter God in one another.
Resonance has been on pause the past several months due to renovations happening at the local theater, but will resume in early June at the local Civic Center Library. Still a tad improvised. Still emanating from the core value of joy. Still with the same manner of participation.
Still simply asking, in one way or another:
Do you mind if we play along?
