The Sustainist: December 2013

Leftover and Year-End Giving

Someone called me last year around this time and said, “I need the address of the Kaleidoscope Institute so I can send you a check.”

“What for?” I said because I could not remember doing anything for her organization that year.

“Oh,” she replied, “My department has a leftover amount of money from this year’s budget and my committee thought your organization should have it because of all the good things that you have done for us in the past.”

This year, a number of organizations that had contracted consultation and workshops with the Kaleidoscope Institute for 2014 insist on paying in full before the end of 2013. They said, “The reason why we can afford these workshops next year is that we have leftover money from this year’s budget.”

When I was a child, the celebration of Chinese New Year’s Eve always included a giant feast with the whole family. My mother would explain, “We have to have leftovers for tomorrow, the New Year.” Leftover is a sign of abundance. The word for leftover or extra, 餘, sound almost the same as the word for fish, 魚, in Cantonese. This is the reason why the image of the fish is in many Chinese designs symbolizing blessings and abundance. And of course, we always have fish soup as part of the New Year’s Eve feast.

I have been writing The Sustainist Blog for almost 3 years. I am also the Executive Director and Founder of the Kaleidoscope Institute, of which the mission is to create inclusive and sustainable churches and communities. So, much of what I wrote came from my work through the Kaleidoscope Institute. That is, The Sustainist blog is the abundance, the extra, that flowed from the Kaleidoscope Institute. Also, a major part of the blog posts became the foundation of my new book published this year, Holy Currencies. That is, the book was the abundance that flowed from the blog. I give thanks to you, the readers, who provided the motivation for me to write weekly.

Many of you have been subscribers of The Sustainist from the beginning. Many of you have also received resources from the Kaleidoscope Institute over the years. What are the extras, the leftovers that flowed from these resources for you?

As we approach the end of 2013, I invite you to examine your year and give thanks for the abundance that you have received. Then consider offering the leftover, the extra, to individuals and organizations that will receive the gifts and keep the blessings flowing for their families, friends, and communities. If the Sustainist blog and the Kaleidoscope Institute has been part of these blessings for you, please consider sharing your abundance by giving to the Kaleidoscope Institute. You can make a donation through our website: www.kscopeinstitute.org or click on the following that will take to directly to the KI donation page:

Mission of the Kaleidoscope Institute: To create inclusive and sustainable churches and communities.

Objectives:

To transform the way community and church leaders think about church—from a static, linear and maintenance-type mode to a dynamic, circulatory, and rejuvenating vision of a church that interacts with the wider community by maximizing the flow of spiritual, human and economic resources.
To empower church and community leaders with skills and knowledge to serve their communities more inclusively by facilitating and developing access to their Holy Currencies, thereby making both the churches and their related communities more sustainable.

Reflection Questions for 4^th Sunday of Advent (Year A)

Isaiah 7:10-16
What sign of God are you looking for?

Psalm 80:1-7,16-18
What does it mean to ask God to restore you?

Romans 1:1-7
What did you learn about the writer from the salutation of a letter?

Matthew 1:18-25
What can you learn from Joseph about welcoming Christ in your life?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Posted at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sustain the Weary with a Word

A year ago, I wrote a song dedicated to the family and friends impacted by the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School at Newtown, CT. On this anniversary of that horrific day, I thought it would be appropriate to re-blog the song and its lyrics.

Sustain the Weary with a Word

Download Sustain the Weary with a Word

Sustain the weary with a word:

A word of grace to hold the broken;
A word so deep and wide, it can’t be spoken
Sustain the weary with a word of grace

Sustain the weary with a word:
A word of truth with no denying
The thund’rous roar of pain and silent crying
Sustain the weary with a word of truth.

Sustain the weary with a word
A word of peace in spite of warring
Emotions claiming hopes of life restoring.
Sustain the weary with a word of peace.

Sustain the weary with a word:
A word of love to break the numbness
And reach for common pain that speaks of oneness.
Sustain the weary with a word of love.

Eric H. F. Law

Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Posted at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mandela the Sustainist

“Transformation also includes reconciliation and creating a nation united in the rich diversity of communities previously forced apart. If we think back ten years, . . . when we were mired in conflict, we can only marvel at how far we have come in a short time. We have risen above historical differences to reach out to one another and build a new united nation. The dismantling of apartheid is liberating us all, oppressor and oppressed alike, disadvantaged and privileged, to be the people we really are.”

-President Nelson Mandela said in a speech on February 10, 1999 to the Parliament of South Africa, 9 years after his release from prison.

The Anti-Apartheid movement was the first global network of which I was a part, during the 1980s and early 1990s, that affected amazing change locally in South Africa. This was all done without the internet and social media. At its heart was Nelson Mandela who was the sustainist force that insisted on reconciliation and the liberation for all. Behind his vision and leadership is the unshakable belief that we are all interconnected and interdependent on each other, in spite of a destructive system that forced us apart, creating disparity of wealth, power and resource. He showed the world that prisoners and prison guards can be friends, enemies can find common ground for reconciliation, revolution can happen without bloodshed and retaliation, and truth can be shared in service of reconciliation that opens possibilities of new sustainable relationship.

Reflection Questions for 3^rd Sunday of Advent (Year A)

Isaiah 35:1-10
How do we walk the Holy Way?

Psalm 146:4-9
What does it mean to have hope in God?

James 5:7-10
For what should you be patient?

Matthew 11:2-11
How does this text challenge your idea of a Messiah?

Eric H. F. Law
Kaleidoscope Institute
For competent leadership in a diverse changing world
www.kscopeinstitute.org

Posted at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Restoring Trust

I was on a plane from Los Angeles to Philadelphia on Monday. The flight was full. I had just heard a report on the radio as I drove to the airport about an Associated Press GfK poll conducted last month that found most Americans are suspicious of each other in everyday encounters. Nearly two-thirds of the people pooled say “you can’t be too careful” in dealing with people. The flight attendant came over to the “exit row” people and asked for a verbal confirmation that we were willing and able to help in case of an emergency. Of course, I said yes. But then I looked around the enclosed space of the plane and realized that if the poll was correct, 2 out of 3 people on the plane didn’t trust me. I realized how serious this is: how can a society be sustainable if people don’t trust each other? When we don’t trust, we don’t share our resources out of fear. When resources don’t flow, the community will starve. Perhaps, the U.S. Congress’s inability to get things done, the “stand your ground” law, “see something, say something,” inch-thick legal document for everything transaction, the gates and fences I see everywhere are all related to this inability to trust each other. ?

A survey of trust in the workplace done by Paul Bernthal, Ph.D. of Development Dimensions International showed that the top five ranked trust-reducing behaviors were:

Acts more concerned about his or her own welfare than anything else.
Sends mixed messages so that I never know where he or she stands.
Avoids taking responsibility for action (“passes the buck” or “drops the ball”).
Jumps to conclusions without checking the facts first.
Makes excuses or blames others when things don’t work out (“finger-pointing”).

And the top five ranked trust-building behaviors were:

Communicates with me openly and honestly, without distorting any information.
Shows confidence in my abilities by treating me as a skilled, competent associate.
Keeps promises and commitments.
Listens to and values what I say, even though he or she might not agree.
Cooperates with me and looks for ways in which we can help each other.

I invite you to read the two lists again and reflect on how you have behaved in that last week with your family members, neighbors, your friends, and co-workers. Have you been part of the trust-reducing culture? Have you fostered trust with people whom you encounter each day? How can you enable people around you to practice trust-building activities and processes to restore trust that is essential for developing sustainable communities?