Creating the Garden working positively together. Anne Topping. Gracious God
whose glory is above all our thoughts and whose mercy is over all your works;.
Creating the Garden working positively together
Anne Topping
Creating the Garden
working positively together
Gracious God whose glory is above all our thoughts and whose mercy is over all your works; may your Holy Spirit inspire our worship[sic], work and meeting today (additional words spoken) and make us attentive to your Word. Accept, we pray, the sacrifice of praise which your holy church offers to you this day. Being created by you, let us ever act for your glory, and being redeemed by you, let us render to you that which is your own; through Jesus Christ our Lord. John Wesley, Collection of Forms of Prayer, 1733
Anne Topping
Aim: to explore what influences ‘working positively together’ Purposes: to consider and reflect upon: - context: calling and culture - contribution of ‘self’ - being with others
“You can be in Eden wherever you are”.
Creating the Garden Context, Calling & Culture
What are the key words which describe the church culture in which you participate and work?
How old is this organisation? (metaphorically, e.g. infant/adolescent/old) What temperature is it? What colour is it? What gender? In a sentence, what is this organisation about? As a visitor, what strikes you within the first 5 minutes? What are the unwritten rules? How to really mess up? How to get it badly wrong? How would you describe the leadership? (What role do they take?) What happens to the organisation under stress? How do things get done in this organisation? How do you get things done in this organisation? What’s rewarded? What are the symbols of power? What do people wear? What not to wear? Who are the heroes and villains? How does the organisation have fun? What are the myths and legends?
Underlying core values: • The Christian Gospel – at the centre of everything • Open to the activity of God • Love, value, care and esteem of self and others • Trust, honesty and openness • Personal and professional integrity • Equality, fairness and justice • Methodist charisms April 2008
Calling? What are you being called into?
Followers of Christ
Love your neighbour as yourself. Matthew ch22 v39
Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other. Euripides
They will know we are Christians by our love. Jason Upton
Agape: the unconditional love that denies “self” for the care and compassion of others. Agape . . . It has everything to do with intentions - commitment to serve one another, and willingness to be vulnerable in the context of that service. Love that . . . is the full and unconditional commitment to another’s “completion,” to another being all that she can or he can and wants to be. Peter M Senge The 5th Discipline 1990
The first duty of love is to listen. Paul Tillich
Creating the Garden Context, Calling & Culture
Contribution of ‘self’
The glory of God is a human being fully alive; and to be alive consists in beholding God. Saint Irenaeus
. . .We are all meant to shine as children do. We are born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. “Marianne Williamson in her book A Woman’s Worth quoted by Mandela during his inaugural speech”
Self-esteem
is the inner picture you hold of yourself.
“modelling clay and sponge activity”
Self esteem Poor self esteem : takes a long time to remould after a knock. Strong self esteem : capacity to ‘spring back’ when knocked. Stop the negative internal voice as soon as it starts. Count your blessings. “No-one is coming to rescue you”. Don’t wait like Rapunsel.
Self esteem “Learn how to accept praise, don’t brush it off or pass it on.”
“Say Thank You and then . . . . . . believe it!”
Meeting a ‘Propagator’ at the Eden Project
Power:
- Personal power - Positional power - Given power
Personal power: being secure and confident inside yourself.
Get to know yourself: Your emotions and your needs.
Be responsible: You are responsible for the kind of person you are and how you live your life.
Make choices: Because you are responsible for your own behaviour and feelings, you can make choices about them.
Choosing: your own behaviour and feelings.
?
Choice & response
♡ ♡♡♡♡♡
React
Feelings: in the immediate . . . ~ Notice ~ Acknowledge ~ 15 minute guide ~ Move ~ Escape - for a while
Being with others
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Ground rules
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Test assumptions and inferences
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Share all relevant information
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Use specific examples and agree on what important words mean
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Explain your reasoning and intent
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Focus on interest, not positions
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Combine advocacy and inquiry
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Jointly design next steps and ways to test disagreements
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Discuss undiscussable issues
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Use a decision-making rule that generates the level of commitment needed.
Love is . . . patient, kind; It is not envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude. It does not insist on its own way; It is not irritable or resentful; It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will came to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end . . . . . . faith, hope and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13
“Joyful Mysteries” 1st The Annunciation Spiritual fruit: Humility 2nd The Visitation Spiritual fruit: Love of Neighbour 3rd The Nativity Spiritual fruit: Poverty of Spirit 4th The Presentation Spiritual fruit: Purity of mind and body 5th The finding of Jesus in the temple Spiritual fruit: Obedience
Wrath
‘Dementors’
Frightened tyrants
“Throughout history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall, think of it, always.” Ghandi
'All real living is meeting' “Encounter (Begegnung) is an event or situation in which relation (Beziehung) occurs. We can only grow and develop, according to Buber, once we have learned to live in relation to others, to recognize the possibilities of the space between us. The fundamental means is dialogue. Buber believed that in such encounters the eternal could be glimpsed. In dialogue, a person is present to another (and the other), they are attentive and aware - listening and waiting. In the stillness of this 'in-between world' they may encounter what cannot yet be put into words.”
Creating the Garden working positively together
What do you notice about the pieces? What would happen if you made your piece bigger? Smaller? Thicker? Thinner? What would happen if you kept hold of your piece, didn’t use it? What if you don’t think your piece matters? What if you think your piece is more important than others? What if you had more pieces than others? What if every day you have an opportunity to use your piece? What if every meeting you have a choice as to how to use your piece?
What is the most loving thing I can be or do in this moment?
Thank you
Anne Topping
[email protected]
Books Used: Gershen Kaufman, Lev Raphael, Pamela Espeland. Stick Up For Yourself! Free Spirit Publishing Mark Smith Quoting Martin Buber. Smith, M. K. (2001) 'Community' in the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/community/community.htm Martin Buber. I and Thou. Continuum. Jenny Mosely & Eileen Gillibrand. Personal Power. Positive Press. Roger Schwarz.The Skilled Facilitator. Jossey-Bass. Virginia Satir. Peoplemaking. Souvenir Press. Peter Senge. The Fifth Discipline.The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization. Doubleday. Marianne Williamson. A Woman’s Worth. Ballantine Books. Other: Quote: “They will know we are Christians by our love”. We are one in the Spirit. Song. Jason Upton. Watch:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CobNWUXb1M Jigsaw: Strangford Loch © Joe Cornish. The National Trust. Gibson’s puzzles. Photographs: All bar Strangford Loch (see above) annetoppingphotography.co.uk Anne Topping
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