My Journey’s Weblog

In a recent post I wrote about questions and how, in our conversations, they impact community. It was stated that the traditional questions that permeate conversation regarding organizational issues, have no power to change the future, to make a difference. I recognize that truth in my own experience. In my corporate days, I sat in many meetings where the traditional questions dominated. They would create a frenzy of helplessness and hopelessness. On more than one occasion, I was compelled to comment to the participants that it was apparent that there was nothing that could be done and the company would be best served by us committing an honorable suicide. We didn’t and nothing changed. Sadly the process was repeated over and over. There was no enlightened leadership that understood the nature of great questions to lead us out of our squirrel cage existence.
The referenced booklet describes the nature of powerful questions.  

It is the questions that change our life. We all look for answers and all we get in response is more questions. This is why questions confront in ways that statements and answers don’t. And why questions are essential for the restoration of community.

Elements of a Great Question

• It is ambiguous
• It is personal
• It evokes anxiety and accountability

Each time a small group takes up a question, set it up by explaining why the question is important and then telling people not to be helpful. Trying to be helpful and giving advice are really ways to control others. Advice is a conversation stopper. We want to substitute curiosity for advice or a call to action. Urge participants to ask others why does that mean so much to you? If we quickly move to action, then tomorrow will be just like yesterday.

The Questions

There are five language actions which, when taken in the presence of others, create community and shift the public debate. These are:

• To declare a possibility
• To take ownership — I created the world I live in
• To say no authentically
• To make a promise with no expectation of return
• To declare the gifts we and others bring to the room

Each of the conversations is created through its own set of questions. Whatever the venue, accountable community is created when we ask certain questions.

Here is a summary of the core question associated with each language action:

1. To what extent are you here by choice? (Invitation)

2. What declarations are you prepared to make about the possibilities for the future? (Possibilities)

3. How invested and participative do you plan to be in this meeting? (Ownership)

4. To what extent do you see yourself as part of the cause of what you are trying to fix? (Ownership)

5. What are your doubts and reservations? (Dissent)

6. What promises are you willing to make to your peers? (Commitment)

7. What gifts have you received from each other? (Gifts)

I am reading daily the Asbury Theological Seminary’s Kingdomtide Reader. This prayer from yesterday’s reading resonated deeply.

Eternal God, we have been led by the Spirit to places unfamiliar, to wildernesses barren, to areas uncomfortable and frightening.  We are surrounded by temptations; we are hungry; we thirst.  We have wondered if truly the Spirit led us, or if it was the devil.  Meet us in our desert, we pray, and strengthen us to overcome every sinful craving and temptation, through the power of your Word and the guidance of the Spirit.  Amen.

Meredith and Sugar

Today is Meredith Crockett’s 10th birthday. She is excited and so am I. She is a good granddaughter and always watches out for all the animals and her PaPa. I hope you have a great day.

It is Labor Day and it is nice to have a day off. We are cooking out for lunch. Mark and Margo Black are in town and they will join us for lunch with the Crocketts. We enjoyed a visit by Carter and Lori Saturday evening. They left Sunday morning to return to Birmingham. Although it is supposed to be hot today, it is a beautiful morning. I got in a run and now I’m cooling off on the front porch.

This is a big week in Wilmore. The seminary starts their fall session this week. There is a community wide welcome home celebration on Friday. I hope to attend opening chapel on Tuesday. This may be the week that we complete our outside painting. With Asbury College and the seminary in full swing, activity has really picked up. Maybe a little fishing one day?

Crocketts and Blacks - Labor Day

Recently Wade Hodges’s blog linked to a booklet entitled Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community: Changing the Nature of Conversation. It is authored by Peter Block and others. The purpose of the material is to present a set of ideas and tools designed to restore and reconcile community by shifting the nature of public conversation.  Although the subject put me off a bit, as I read through the material I found the information and ideas compelling. I believe the nature of our conversations can be a reliable barometer of the depth and meaning of our relationships as well as a powerful force in building and sustaining community. What follows is my interpretation/re-statement/paraphrase of some of the concepts and principles in the booklet.

Language has power. How we speak to each other is the medium through which a more positive future is created or denied. As we engage in conversation the questions we ask and the speaking that they evoke constitute powerful action. The questions we ask will either maintain the status quo or bring an alternative future into the room. There are traditional questions which have little power to to create a future different from the present. These questions are, in the asking, the very obstacle to what has given rise to the question in the first place. For example, these questions seem to be universal to conversations about organizational issues:

How do we hold people accountable?
How do we get people to show up and be committed?
How do we get others to be more responsible?
How do we get people on-board and to do the right thing?
How do we get others to buy into our vision?
How do we get these people to change?
How much does it cost and where do we get the money?
How do we negotiate for something better?
What new policy or legislation will more our interests forward?
Where is it working? Who has solved this elsewhere and how do we import the knowledge?

In answering these questions we support the dominant belief that a different future can be negotiated, mandated, and controlled into existence. They call us to try harder at what we have been doing. They urge us to raise standards, measure more closely, and return to the basics, purportedly to create accountability, but in reality maintain dominance. These questions are wrong, not because they don’t matter, but because they have no power to make a difference in the world. These questions are the cause of the very thing that we are trying to change: fragmented and unproductive communities.

More to come.

All of these lines across my face,
Tell you the story of who I am;
So many stories of where I’ve been,
And how I got to where I am.
But these stories don’t mean anything
When you’ve got no one to tell them to.
It’s true - I was made for you.
THE STORY

This morning I attended a class led by Marilyn Elliott. She opened the class with a recording of the song above. She shared deeply the experiences of her life over the last year. I was amazed at the depth and meaning of her words. The presence of God was pervasive. Here are some insights from her experience that were shared:

• God is the redeemer of everything. 
• Formation happens continually.
• God’s redemption is a long haul.
• People we share our mess with will become our treasure.
• You will not find friends in the Christian community if you just have a smile on your face.
• It is not important that you feel God is there if you are sure that he is.
• Do not push against the pace of grace.

I consider this morning’s experience as a highlight of my journey.

Occasionally I have the opportunity to see myself as though I am looking in a mirror. This morning I was listening to a speaker from Mosaic taking about the importance of discipline. Not being very discipline himself, he was describing disciplined people. One trait many disciplined people have is that they live by To Do Lists. They religiously write down everything they plan to do and check it off when it completed. They get energized by checking off their To Do items. For some discipline freaks they even write down things that they do that were not on their list and then check them off. OUCH!

Yesterday was a busy day. With Jerod’s help, I installed the laminate flooring in Blake and Grayson’s bedroom. Last evening we set up their beds. I was pleased with the results and the boys were happy with their new room. There are a few details to be done but it is finished for all practical purposes. Blake and Grayson each have their own desks and space to put their special things.

I have not posted for a few days. It is Monday morning and I’m in my usual spot on the front porch. The week is shaping up to be somewhat busy. Today I’m going to install some laminate flooring in Grayson and Blake’s bedroom. This is a first, so I will be learning a lot. I’ve got two windows to prepare and paint on the recently painted side of our house. I will clean the remaining unpainted section of our house and, hopefully, get the last of the painting done this week. I’m working on a ventilation system for our basement/cellar to help reduce the moisture. It is a home grown solution so I’m anxious to see if it works.

Last week was eventful in a good way. On Tuesday’s, my friend Vladimir and I meet to talk and share our experience’s with each other. He is an interesting person and our discussions are lively and far ranging. We had one of the shepherding elders and his wife from First Alliance Church to visit us Tuesday evening. It was a very enjoyable occasion. I spent several hours completing the bed project for Blake and Grayson. It is waiting for the flooring to get set up.

We had two, as has become our custom, great worship experiences over the week-end. On Saturday evening’s we regularly attend Southland Christian Church. Jon Weese’s lesson on worship was very good as well as the worship experience. It has been a while since I have prostrated myself in prayer in a church assembly. It needs to become more of a normal experience. Sunday morning’s we usually attend First Alliance Church. Pastor Steve Elliott had a thoughtful and challenging lesson on promises, both God and ours. Here are two quotes that I noted from the lesson:

“If you have promises that you keep, then you are like God! NOT “you are God” but you are like God.”

“The promises we make form the future.”

The highlight of the weekend came when we drove to Elizabethtown, KY to attend an open house for Andrew Verble. Andrew is the young man who was in a serious car accident over a year ago. He sustained devastating head injuries and was not expected to survive and if he did, would not be functional. He did survive and has been in a miraculous process of recovery. He is currently in rehab in Texas and was given a pass to come home for a week. Yesterday was a great celebration of prayer and thanksgiving for his progress and continued recovery. God was honored.

If you haven’t noticed, I added a Library page to my blog. If you are interested in what I’m reading, check it out. The website I’m using is pretty good.

This morning was a special experience. Out for an early run, as I made my way around the path at Centennial Park, I looked to the east and the sun was breaking over the horizon and flooding the rolling hills with warm sunlight. I could only stop and worship.