General Learning • Tenneson Woolf

June 21, 2017

Principles for Living Reconciliation Meaningfully

As a Canadian, this wakes me up. Disturbs me. Encourages me. Calls me to integrity. Reminds me of need for community.

It is written by pal and colleague Chris Corrigan, who has given this attention for 30 years. Chris goes on to list five principles for living reconciliation meaningfully.

Wednesday is National Aboriginal Day and ten days later, Canada commemerates its 150th birthday. Since the centenary in 1967 and even since Canada 125 in 1992, the whole enterprise of Canada has become deeply informed by the need for reconciliation between indigenous people and communities, and settler people and communities.

We are all treaty people. Everyone in Canada who has citizenship is also a beneficiary to the treaties that were signed and made as a way of acknowledging and making binding, the relationship between settler communities and indigenous nations. The ability to own private land, for example, is one way in which settlers benefit from treaties that were signed long ago, even if those treaties.

Waking up isn’t necessarily easy. But it is essential.

Thanks Chris.

June 20, 2017

Convene to Nuance Integrity

Earlier this week I read a friends completed dissertation. It’s Sara Rosenau, a pastor and friend within the United Church of Christ faith tradition. Sara is wicked smart. Very thoughtful. And playful. It’s a really nice combo. And I’m glad we are working together in support of a cultural evolution in the Central Pacific Conference.

Sara’s dissertation is filled with good developed content (150 ish pages) and fantastic concise gems built around her overarching theme of becoming church, with particular focus on an ecclisiology of failure, embodied politics, and queer grace. It’s loaded. It’s full. I told Sara that it advances scholarly work and human consciousness. It’s the real deal.

Here’s the utmost gem for me, as one who has been working much with faith communities over the last ten years and trying to sort through the complexity to see what is unique about faith communities and participative leadership.

Sara writes, “Church doesn’t market to sell product. It convenes to nuance integrity.”

That’s gold, right! It’s not about manufacturing good humans. Though that has been tried with much success in some traditions. That success tends to top out with obedience, which has always felt kind of disappointing to me. Clear thinking, inspired community able to wrestle with all kinds of good, bad, and ugly — that’s a lot more compelling to me. I love Sara’s second part. “It convenes to nuance integrity.” Still gold! That’s the part that recognizes that some things must be done together, this nuancing. And it recognizes something that is already there. Already in people.

Thanks Sara. Clear. And accurate. And beautifully spoken.

June 19, 2017

Circle Up

In three days I’ll be hosting a weekend event at my home. That’s my living room pictured above. Readied and rearranged a bit to accommodate eight of us for a weekend of friends in this.

It’s deep spirited work and life for which I’m grateful.

June 8, 2017

On Vision — Nuances from Spirit and Complexity

A good friend, Caitlin Frost, asks yesterday through email for ideas about teaching vision and working with vision. She’s smart on her own. She’s also smart to ask.

I respond quickly, delightfully distracted by her question, and putting aside my current todo list. Nuances of spirit, of the unseen often take me like this.

“One of the things I’m leaning into these days is the ‘arrival’ of vision, not just the ‘creating’ of it. As you say, connected to emergence. I encourage the group to ‘look away’ from some intense thinking and see what ‘sticks.’ Or give them multiple modalities. I love the way that drawing, for instance, changes the impression (true for ‘non-artists’ also). I want them to welcome it to arrive — not just work at it.”

I love, and need, approaches rooted in discernment and a self-organizing premise. It’s related to, but different from tenacity. Gut feel is related to, but different than powering up for thirty more pushups. Discernment and self-organizing trusts a natural process (water runs down hill). It’s an alternative to more engineering (you can make water run uphill; it just might not be the most simple way).

Chris Corrigan also responded. Chris knows as much as anyone I know about working from a complexity framework.

You can have a vision of a full bath tub of steaming hot water. You can have a vision of making your home run on rain water alone. You can have a vision of safe drinking water for all humans.

The first is simple, short term and you have all the tools and abilities to make it happen.

The second is more complicated and you require a few experts to make it happen, but with the right people and resources, you can achieve it.

The third is not up to you. It is a complex and adaptive system. You may be motivated by a desire to see safe drinking water for all humans but you are unlikely to achieve it because it is a complex problem. Intention can make a difference here and instead of working TOWARDS a tangible vision you can work FROM an intention and guide your actions against that.

Read the rest of Chris’ post here.

Nuances can make all of the difference. Often with things that are presumed that “we all know,” including words that are so common like vision.

Thanks friends. It’s good to walk the path together.