Last weekend, I was driving to Santa Maria to facilitate a workshop called Emerging Grace: Missional Ministries in the Grace Margin (http://www.kscopeinstitute.org/east.html) for two Episcopal Churches. As I turned from the tranquil view of the Pacific Ocean and drove inland, I noticed something different: the mountains were green! The mountains of southern California are usually golden yellow -- one of the reasons why the early Chinese immigrants called California “Gold Mountain.” The mountains are green because Southern California has been getting a lot rain this winter/spring. What miracle water can perform – it can turn a whole mountain green.
As I beheld this unusual sight, I recalled an incident where I was viewing various kinds of trees in a garden nursery, trying to decide on ones I should plant for my garden. I was fascinated by the Japanese maple trees with their intricate leaves of red, yellow, and different shades of green. I had no idea how to take care of such beautiful plants. So I asked the owner of the nursery, “How do I take care of them?” He smiled and said, “Easy, just add water.”
It’s that simple! Just add water and these beautiful plants will grow!
Just add water and the mountains turn green too!
-
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 50:10-11)
This 2500+ year old quote from the Hebrew Scriptures reminds us of the miracle that water performs. Water interacts with other elements – the seeds, the fertile ground, the sun – and the plant sprouts from the seed, stems emerge, leaves open, buds form, flowers blossom, fruits grow. Yet, water retains its property and it returns to “heaven” to be recycled for the next rain. This Hebrew text also invites us to think of God’s Word as water. Like water, God’s Commandments interact with the gifts in the community creating new growth and hopes. The human community is revitalized as the Word flows through it.
The Bible is full of miracles about transformation from death to life. As Christians move toward Easter, we are reading Scriptures that deal with death and resurrection, dying and rising. We often wonder how these seemingly impossible things can happen in our lives and communities today. Living in this so-called economic hard time is like living in a dried-up barren land. Many organizations and communities I work with are struggling. Money is not flowing; resources are not moving. Everywhere we look, funding is being cut. People are afraid to lose their jobs, their homes, their livelihoods. When resources are not flowing in our communities, we are like dry-bones in the valley, cut-off, disconnected – unsustainable. Yes, we wonder how the miracle of resurrection can happen today, and what our role is in facilitating these miracles.
Just add water and things will grow. Just add water and the barren ground can turn into a food-yielding field. Just add water and the dry-yellow California mountains turn into lush green landscape. The miracle from death to resurrection is all around us if we only open our eyes and see. And our roles in making miracles happen can be as simple as “just add water.”
Sustainist leaders think of their leadership role as water. Sustainists use their skills, knowledge, experiences, and disciplines to “flow” through a community, interacting and connecting different people/groups/gifts, and causing new things to happen. What’s more, sustainist leaders don’t get drained. Like water, what they put out returns to them, and they can recirculate their energy to start a new cycle of regeneration, which in turn, flows through the community again and creates new hope, new life, new energy, new fruits, new resources. In the desolate landscape of our world today, community leaders need to learn and practice sustainist skills and processes to reconnect and re-source a seemingly barren community by flowing through with their rejuvenating spirituality, creating a time and place of life and growth.
Through this weekly blog, I will attempt to describe different aspects of this rejuvenating flowing—through sustainist spirituality. For this week, I begin with a very basic sustainist skill that I teach called Mutual Invitation (see instructions in the box). You can use this technique for a group of 5 to 12 people. This skill includes everyone in the group. Your role as a leader is simply to uphold the process. For best results:
- Post a topic for sharing
- Give people time to ponder (or write their thoughts down)
- Explain Mutual Invitation clearly
- Start the sharing yourself and then invite someone to speak, which starts the Mutual Invitation process.
This process—Mutual Invitation—is like water. When a leader uses it effectively, we are essentially adding this water to the group. This “water” invites everyone in the group to share his/her ideas, gifts and experiences authentically. This “water” invites everyone to listen and connect, thus building relationships. In the invitation process, energy and power are flowing and shared through each person. Whenever I used this process, whether it was facilitating a Bible study or helping a group to explore an important topic, I always got more than I started with in terms of knowledge, understanding, energy and discovering resources. In other words, I felt sustained as a leader and I believe the participants also felt the same. Try it.
| Mutual Invitation (Instructions)
In order to ensure that everyone who wants to share has the opportunity to speak, we will proceed in the following way: The leader or a designated person will share first. After that person has spoken, he or she then invites another to share. Who you invite does not need to be the person next to you. After the next person has spoken, that person is given the privilege to invite another to share. If you have something to say but are not ready yet, say “pass for now” and then invite another to share. You will be invited again later. If you don't want to say anything, simply say "pass" and proceed to invite another to share. We will do this until everyone has been invited. We invite you to listen and not respond to someone’s sharing immediately. There will be time to respond and to ask clarifying questions after everyone has had an opportunity to share. From The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb by Eric H. F. Law, Chalice Press, 1992 |
| Reflection Questions for the 5th Sunday in Lent:
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Romans 8:6-11 What in you and/or your community needs unbinding? |
Comments