Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
On-going Leadership Success
On-going Leadership Success
by Rev Dr Durrell Watkins
Those
who led an organization into crisis or decline are unlikely to be the ones to
lead them out of it without a radical change in attitude and a willingness to
learn and try new things. When the organization exists to protect the comfort
and preferences of a few, or the privilege of even fewer, or to serve the
"leader(s)" who are supposed to be serving/leading the organization, then
turning around the organization is unlikely. In fact, if the ones charged with
casting a vision and/or implementing the policies and procedures will not admit
that a turn around is even needed, then continued decline, increasing
irrelevance, and eventual extinction is all but certain.
Leaders
who succeed beyond a season seem to be those who are continually learning, who
are keeping up with trends as they are (rather than trying to recreate a past
that is forever gone), who are willing to constantly assess the health of the
organization (based on verifiable metrics) and make course corrections as
needed, who are training, equipping, raising up, and attracting new leaders, who
are outwardly focused and service minded, who are making the most of
technological advances, who are optimistic without depending on magical fixes,
and who are transparent (without becoming defeatist) about both successes and
challenges, plans and setbacks, victories and disappointments.
If
a leader can cast and continually articulate a compelling vision, continually
train and equip other and new leaders, constantly learn and adapt and even
reinvent herself/himself as needed, and deal with the difficult facts while also
holding to a higher and more promising truth, then that leader is less likely to
burn out and will be more likely to remain effective for a very long time.
Leaders
who are unwilling to do these things will be cease to be leaders and will
become place holders until they become monuments to the past, until they become
mourners who are missing the movement or organization they once led before it
gasped its last breath.
I
learned long ago, that all newcomers to a church need "a friend and job." If
people are not invited into relationship and given meaningful work to do (which
will employ their skills and talents and personalities, which will add to a
vibrant, flexible, changing and growing community), they will not stay, or if
they stay they will not fully engage, and they certainly won't be part of
inviting others to give the community a try. Growth requires new people, and new
people have to be welcome and valued and allowed to be part of a viable future
rather that simply honoring a past which is not part of their
experience.
Growth
means change.
Growth
means newness.
Growth
means learning.
And
growth depends on effective leadership. As leadership experts have said over and
over, everything rises and falls on leadership, and leadership is influence, and
influence is part of relationship.
If
leaders are not leading forward, they are not leading at all, which means they
aren't really leaders (they are managers, and probably micromanagers, and what
they are managing is or will soon enough be in decline).
If
a message is life-giving, you'll want more people to hear it. To get more people
to hear it, the organization will have to become healthier, and the health of
organizations depend on healthy leadership; and healthy leadership will attract
new leaders even as the "old guard" are constantly learning and growing
themselves.
"Behold,
I make all things new!" Revelation 21.5
"Forget
the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing...do
you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the
wasteland." Isaiah 43.18-19
"As
congregations shrink, the members who would be the most help turning them around
often are among the first to go: the energetic, outward-focused people with an
urgent sense of purpose and good skills for group decision-making." Dan
Hotchkiss
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Progressive Spirituality Discussions
WHAT'S A MIRACLE?
REASONABLE, RELEVANT
RELIGION
SAVED FROM
WHAT?
RESPONSIBILITY WITHOUT
BLAME
IS THERE A SCIENCE TO
PRAYER?
OMNIPRESENCE
Sunday, January 19, 2014
First Three Sermons of 2014 ~ Sunshine Cathedral (a progressive Metropolitan Community Church)
Martin Luther King, Jr Sunday ~ Sunshine Cathedral
Baptism of Jesus Sunday ~ Sunshine Cathedral
Epiphany Sunday ~ Sunshine Cathedral
We've Come Too Far To Look Back
http://sermons.sunshinecathedral.org/2014/weve-come-too-far-to-look-back
We've Come Too Far To Look Back (Martin Luther King weekend sermon)
We've Come Too Far To Look Back (Martin Luther King weekend sermon)
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Confessions of a Progressive Christian ~ 2014
I have friends who have been so hurt by fundamentalist Christianity that they can't even imagine that there is any other way to be Christian; and because the Christianity they have experienced is so myopic, narrow, petty, anti-intellectual, self-serving, and mean-spirited, they not only reject it, they run from any mention of the bible, Jesus, sacraments, worship, or prayer.
Now, many of them do believe in God, and even those who say they don't believe in God nevertheless believe in love, beauty, hope, compassion, possibilities, life (and its deep mysteries)...which is what I mean when I say "God"...so either they aren't complete atheists, or I am one (and either way, it's OK).
Moreover, I'm not invested in making these dear friends have a fondness for Jesus, or scripture, or prayer, or worship; but it does somehow bother me that some of these things (at least some of the time) can be so empowering or healing for me, and yet they dismiss them as being at best irrelevant relics of a superstitious past, or at worst, dangerous weapons meant to actually diminish human value and creativity.
Atheists, I bless you as you are!
Non-Christian religious people (Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Wiccans, Sikhs, etc.), I bless you as you are!
Spiritual but not religious (those who ponder the deep questions and who explore the endless mysteries of life without the need for ritual, hymns, saintly heroes, or holy days), I bless you as you are!
But do consider that some of us who call ourselves Christians (or post-Christians or Progressive Christians or Metaphysical Christians or followers of Jesus) may be as different from the Christianity you reject as you are (in fact, we probably, in whole or in part, have rejected the very same version of Christianity that you have!).
When I speak of God, I am speaking of a universal presence, a non-discriminating power, the best in life, the source of life, the invisible but honestly experienced energy of love and hope and compassion and grace.
When I speak of Jesus I am speaking of a symbol.
Jesus wrote nothing (and we have no proof he could even read).
His ministry/career lasted less than three years (and probably only one).
We don't know what he looked like, sounded like, or what his sexual orientation was (though, whichever orientation you guess, there are just enough hints to suggest you are right...mine is a thoroughly Queer Jesus).
What we do know is that he helped people who had felt broken experience a sense of wholeness, so we imagine him to be a healer.
We know that he appealed to women and children, that he spoke to Samaritans and at least one Canaanite, that he may have had (at least) one "beloved" male companion, that he touched the untouchables, that he confronted injustice, that he cared about the poor, and that he was tortured to death by the horrifically cruel Roman practice of crucifixion.
Jesus cared about those who suffered, and he suffered himself, so in our sufferings he can be a symbol of compassion (passion = suffer, com = with....Jesus then symbolizes one who understands our suffering and in some way shares them).
Jesus spent his life giving people their dignity back, and when he was executed his friends, followers, and admirers returned the favor, insisting that he didn't stay dead and could still be felt, experienced, loved, and depended on in some way. And those stories of unconquerable dignity we call "Resurrection."
When I speak of the bible I am speaking of a collection of books,entirely human in origin, but from the human words a divine message of hope and healing can often be gleaned (sadly, a message of horror and oppression can also be gleaned, because in the final analysis readers make meaning...what we say the bible says has much more to do with us than the bible itself).
When I speak of prayer, I'm speaking of an inward attempt to feel connected to All That Is, an effort to summon hope, courage, or comfort, an experience of mental or spiritaul energy, an effort to imagine and embrace possibilities. Prayer is not, for me, an attempt to persuade a deity to do what It otherwise would not do without my begging. In fact, prayer is powerful in and of itself and need not be offered "to" anything or anyone.
When I speak of heaven or hell (and I so RARELY do), I'm speaking of states of consciousness. Joy or peace is heaven; fear or misery is hell. Neither is a reward or punishment for opinions we hold (sometimes called beliefs). And I don't know what is after this experience of life, but if there is something more, it is for all of us and it can be good for all of us. If God punished people for not being in the right club or for not affirming a certain belief or even for some depravity resulting from mental illness or internalized pain from abuse or oppression, then such a god would be either evil or demented, and such a tyrant, divine or not, must be resisted at all costs!
But I don't believe that God (hope, love, beauty, compassion, peace, energy) is evil, so I don't believe in everlasting damnation for any person for any reason.
When I speak of miracles I am not suggesting that a deity beyond us grants favors to some while ignoring or denying others, nor am I suggesting that the laws of the universe are sometimes suspended (though there may be laws we don't yet fully understand or know how to employ just yet...flight, space travel, organ transplants, and instant messaging aren't breaking Nature's laws, they are understanding and cooperating with them in ways we once couldn't imagine); but rather, a miracle for me is a change of perception. When I see what I could not see before, when my perspective broadens or my hope is renewed or I embrace possibilities that weren't previously obvious to me, that is a miracle. I don't expect virgins to conceive, prophets to walk on water, or reluctant missionaries to set up housekeeping in the belly of a fish (but those mythic tales do show how we can each have a change of perception and therefor experience something differently than we did before).
When I speak of church I am speaking of a community of seekers who want to be in relationship with other seekers and with Something beyond (and still very much a part of) themselves.
And when I speak of sacraments I am speaking of human rituals that are meant to affirm our sacred value and remind us of the great potential (Christ, Buddha nature, Inward Light, Goddess, Higher Power, guardian angel, whatever image/name we choose) that is within each of us.
My Christianity is as valid (and I would argue as ancient) as Billy Graham's or the pope's.
You don't have to adopt my faith, but please don't confuse it for others that may share the name or some of the symbols (however differently interpreted) of Christianity. And don't dismiss it as being silly or crazy. There may be more to it than you have let yourself so far imagine. I bless you as you are. I seek your blessing as well.
That's the reality of my faith (riddled with doubts as it may be). It may not appeal to you, but do realize that it has done quite a lot of good for me. Whatever you embrace as Truth, I hope it proves to be a constant blessing in your life.
Durrell Watkins, DMin
Progressive Christian, Universalist, Spiritual Humanist (and some other stuff)
Now, many of them do believe in God, and even those who say they don't believe in God nevertheless believe in love, beauty, hope, compassion, possibilities, life (and its deep mysteries)...which is what I mean when I say "God"...so either they aren't complete atheists, or I am one (and either way, it's OK).
Moreover, I'm not invested in making these dear friends have a fondness for Jesus, or scripture, or prayer, or worship; but it does somehow bother me that some of these things (at least some of the time) can be so empowering or healing for me, and yet they dismiss them as being at best irrelevant relics of a superstitious past, or at worst, dangerous weapons meant to actually diminish human value and creativity.
Atheists, I bless you as you are!
Non-Christian religious people (Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Wiccans, Sikhs, etc.), I bless you as you are!
Spiritual but not religious (those who ponder the deep questions and who explore the endless mysteries of life without the need for ritual, hymns, saintly heroes, or holy days), I bless you as you are!
But do consider that some of us who call ourselves Christians (or post-Christians or Progressive Christians or Metaphysical Christians or followers of Jesus) may be as different from the Christianity you reject as you are (in fact, we probably, in whole or in part, have rejected the very same version of Christianity that you have!).
When I speak of God, I am speaking of a universal presence, a non-discriminating power, the best in life, the source of life, the invisible but honestly experienced energy of love and hope and compassion and grace.
When I speak of Jesus I am speaking of a symbol.
Jesus wrote nothing (and we have no proof he could even read).
His ministry/career lasted less than three years (and probably only one).
We don't know what he looked like, sounded like, or what his sexual orientation was (though, whichever orientation you guess, there are just enough hints to suggest you are right...mine is a thoroughly Queer Jesus).
What we do know is that he helped people who had felt broken experience a sense of wholeness, so we imagine him to be a healer.
We know that he appealed to women and children, that he spoke to Samaritans and at least one Canaanite, that he may have had (at least) one "beloved" male companion, that he touched the untouchables, that he confronted injustice, that he cared about the poor, and that he was tortured to death by the horrifically cruel Roman practice of crucifixion.
Jesus cared about those who suffered, and he suffered himself, so in our sufferings he can be a symbol of compassion (passion = suffer, com = with....Jesus then symbolizes one who understands our suffering and in some way shares them).
Jesus spent his life giving people their dignity back, and when he was executed his friends, followers, and admirers returned the favor, insisting that he didn't stay dead and could still be felt, experienced, loved, and depended on in some way. And those stories of unconquerable dignity we call "Resurrection."
When I speak of the bible I am speaking of a collection of books,entirely human in origin, but from the human words a divine message of hope and healing can often be gleaned (sadly, a message of horror and oppression can also be gleaned, because in the final analysis readers make meaning...what we say the bible says has much more to do with us than the bible itself).
When I speak of prayer, I'm speaking of an inward attempt to feel connected to All That Is, an effort to summon hope, courage, or comfort, an experience of mental or spiritaul energy, an effort to imagine and embrace possibilities. Prayer is not, for me, an attempt to persuade a deity to do what It otherwise would not do without my begging. In fact, prayer is powerful in and of itself and need not be offered "to" anything or anyone.
When I speak of heaven or hell (and I so RARELY do), I'm speaking of states of consciousness. Joy or peace is heaven; fear or misery is hell. Neither is a reward or punishment for opinions we hold (sometimes called beliefs). And I don't know what is after this experience of life, but if there is something more, it is for all of us and it can be good for all of us. If God punished people for not being in the right club or for not affirming a certain belief or even for some depravity resulting from mental illness or internalized pain from abuse or oppression, then such a god would be either evil or demented, and such a tyrant, divine or not, must be resisted at all costs!
But I don't believe that God (hope, love, beauty, compassion, peace, energy) is evil, so I don't believe in everlasting damnation for any person for any reason.
When I speak of miracles I am not suggesting that a deity beyond us grants favors to some while ignoring or denying others, nor am I suggesting that the laws of the universe are sometimes suspended (though there may be laws we don't yet fully understand or know how to employ just yet...flight, space travel, organ transplants, and instant messaging aren't breaking Nature's laws, they are understanding and cooperating with them in ways we once couldn't imagine); but rather, a miracle for me is a change of perception. When I see what I could not see before, when my perspective broadens or my hope is renewed or I embrace possibilities that weren't previously obvious to me, that is a miracle. I don't expect virgins to conceive, prophets to walk on water, or reluctant missionaries to set up housekeeping in the belly of a fish (but those mythic tales do show how we can each have a change of perception and therefor experience something differently than we did before).
When I speak of church I am speaking of a community of seekers who want to be in relationship with other seekers and with Something beyond (and still very much a part of) themselves.
And when I speak of sacraments I am speaking of human rituals that are meant to affirm our sacred value and remind us of the great potential (Christ, Buddha nature, Inward Light, Goddess, Higher Power, guardian angel, whatever image/name we choose) that is within each of us.
My Christianity is as valid (and I would argue as ancient) as Billy Graham's or the pope's.
You don't have to adopt my faith, but please don't confuse it for others that may share the name or some of the symbols (however differently interpreted) of Christianity. And don't dismiss it as being silly or crazy. There may be more to it than you have let yourself so far imagine. I bless you as you are. I seek your blessing as well.
That's the reality of my faith (riddled with doubts as it may be). It may not appeal to you, but do realize that it has done quite a lot of good for me. Whatever you embrace as Truth, I hope it proves to be a constant blessing in your life.
Durrell Watkins, DMin
Progressive Christian, Universalist, Spiritual Humanist (and some other stuff)
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Words of Wisdom
Words of Wisdom
"The more we hold to divine
perfection, in thought & feeling, the better is the creation that we see in
the outer." Helen Zagat
"I accept my good; I accept
abundant supply even though I cannot see the way in the outer. Now is the time.
My declaration brings it forth. I give thanks. I give thanks." Helen Zagat
"Since there is but one
Spirit and this Spirit is in you and in everything, then everywhere you go you
will meet this Spirit. You meet this Spirit in people, in places and in things.
There is a Divine Essence permeating everything, flowing through everything,
becoming all things." Ernest Holmes
"We grow into the things
that fill our thoughts..." Emmet Fox
"Jesus...constantly made a
point of his at-one-ness with God...We separate ourselves from God when we pray
to God afar off, as it were, instead of realizing that God dwells in us &
we in God."
Emmet Fox
"You are individualized
Spirit..." Thomas Troward
"Buried in every one of us
is God." Neville Goddard
"Everything is alive with
the Divine Life." HB Jeffery
"To be a progressive
Christian involves affirming 'God in all things and all things in God.'”
Bruce Epperly
"There is no power adverse
to God." Daisy M Baum
“Omnipresence! The many in the
One and the One in the many; the All-Knowing, All Powerful One. All forms and
forces are the expressions of Omnipresent, Intelligent Substance.” Nona Brooks
"Since there is but one
Substance, one Mind, one Life, I must be in eternal unity with that One that is
All in all." Fannie B James
"There is but One Presence
in the universe, and I am one with that Presence."
John Randolph Price
Monday, January 06, 2014
A Progressive Epiphany
A Progressive Epiphany
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO9OB7zH5l0
a sermon about the long history of progressive spirituality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO9OB7zH5l0
a sermon about the long history of progressive spirituality
Spiritual Discussions
REASONABLE,
RELEVANT RELIGION
SAVED
FROM WHAT?
RESPONSIBILITY
WITHOUT BLAME
IS
THERE A SCIENCE TO PRAYER?
OMNIPRESENCE
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