Presence 1:Of Parts and Wholes
I am reading a book that Doug Pagitt lent me, Presence:Human Purpose and the Field of the Future (2004 Society for Organizational Leranign Inc. : Peter Senge, C.Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, Betty Flowers).
It ties together quantum theory, emerging creative systems, and education… so far.
I will make periodic posts as I go on this read.
Parts and Wholes:
everything is related. Since the industrial revolution most of society has thought in terms of machines. We assume a whole is made up of many parts, and wholeness depends on each part working effectively. Living systems do not work the same way. “Unlike machines, living systems, such as your body or a tree, create themselves. They are not a mere assemblage of thier parts but are continually growing and changing along with their elements.” (3). The authors site Buckminster Fuller for holding up his hand and asking, what is this?” To which he would respond, a hand is not a static thing, “what you see it not a hand… Its a ‘patterned integrity,’ the universe’s capacity to create hands” (4).
The hand is a concrete demonstration of the possibility of hand-ness. In fact, the cells in your hand replace themselves in less than a year and a half. Meaning: the matter crammed and ordered together that you are your using to scroll up or down your browser did not belong to your body 18 months ago— ashes to ashes and dust to dust, huh? Dieing and rising is not a one time thing, we are continually being converted as participants in the Way of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is continually sending new information, new circumstances, new relationships, new possibilities for us to step into. And this in not only true about individuals, but also about systems, families, organizations, and… churches.
However, A living system’s ability to re-create itself, “depends on our level of awareness, both individually and collectively.” The authors of presence suggest that “The basic problem with new species of global institutions is that they have not yet become aware of themselves as living” (7).
This makes me wonder the same thing about the church. Do Presbyterians or non-denominational CCM churches recognize that they are a whole made up of parts that are continually growing. Are we able to suspend our current self understandings long enough to imagine new ways of participating in God’s future revealed as the kingdom of God? And so the question of learning becomes significant. How do we change our thoughts and actions to include this kind of awareness? That will be the next post.
presbymeme II
So my new friend Bruce, who moderates an assemblage of ’self-identified Jesus followers who trace their ideological origins back to the reformation and utilize the language and infrastructures of political representative polity to make their decisions’ used his power to requisition a meme from those of us in the blogosphere….
The Rules // Presbymeme II
- in about 25 words each, answer the following five questions;
- tag five presbyterian bloggers and send them a note to let them know they were tagged;
- be sure to link to this original post, leave a comment or send a trackback to this post so others can find you;
The Questions // Presbymeme II /
1. What is your favorite faith-based hymn, song or chorus.
Currently tied between Lori Chaffer’s “Please Don’t Make me Sing this Song” and “Come Ye Faithful Raise the Strain” (hymn 14 blue hymnal- though I mess with 1870s melody) by John of Damascus (c. 675-749).
2. What was the context, content and/or topic of the last sermon that truly touched, convicted, inspired, challenged, comforted and/or otherwise moved you?Mark Lomax at Church Unbound as he spoke about the reign-dom of God.3. If you could have all Presbyterians read just one of your previous posts, what would it be and why?
I think the discussion around the future of presbymergent several months back was a good one to have my presbyterian colleagues weigh in on.
4. What are three PC(USA) flavored blogs you read on a regular basis?
- LeRonShultz
- Reverend Mother (a pseudonymous seminary classmate)
- Adam Walker Cleaveland
- Ryan Kemp Pappan
5. If the PC(USA) were a movie, what would it be and why?
“Stranger Than Fiction” the pop-pomo film where Will Farrell meets the voice of his narrator and strives to control his poetic destiny. Why?: Because we continue to hear the voice of our Narrator, but in our fear of our imminent death we run the other way or try to form committees of experts to avoid our very vocation. And because I’m pleasantly surprised at the courage of folks I meet who do take the risk of stepping into the script, and laying down our tribe’s future for something larger than our own story, only to find that this is the very act that makes our story and tribe what it is.
no bad news
I think Daley turned me on to Patti first
I don’t need none of your bad news today
You’re a sad little boy, anyone can see you’re just a sad little boy
That’s why you’re carrying on that way
Why don’t you burn it all down, burn your own house down, burn your own house down
Try to kill your own disease
And leave the rest of us, there’s a lot of us, leave the rest of us
Who wanna live in peace to live in peaceI’m gonna find me a man, love him so well, love him so strong, love him so slow
We’re gonna go way beyond the walls of this fortress
And we won’t be afraid, we won’t be afraid, and though the darkness may come our way
We won’t be afraid to be alive anymore
And we’ll grow kindness in our hearts for all the strangers among us
Till there are no strangers anymoreDon’t bring me bad news, no bad news
I don’t need none of your bad news today
You can’t have my fear, I’ve got nothing to lose, can’t have my fear
I’m not getting out of here alive anyway
And I don’t need none of these things, I don’t need none of these things
I’ve been handed
And the bird of peace is flying over, she’s flying over and
Coming in for a landing
