Reflections on a 4-evening open space (longish)

[Douglas D. Germann, Sr.]

To my good friends--

(Also posted to my weblog at http://www.footprintsinthewind.com/?p=83 .)

Last night was the closing circle. The last man to speak was an ex-Marine,
rugged, silent. He passed the stick to me without speaking--and then
withdrew it with a grin. We came in here as many, he said, "now we are
one."


One man said we were tired, "but it is a good tired." That is perhaps
something else we can promise people--you will be tired, drained, but it
will be a good tired.


In the closing circle, there was talk of coming together, of hearing and
meeting each other for the first time after so many years of brief meetings
in coffee hour after church. This was an OST on the theme "How then shall
we serve?" in my home church. The subtitle was "Where we invent, rally
support for, and choose our service projects for this year." Lutherans are
not known for being aggressive in the service arena.


It was a good event. Much got started, many promises were made, some will
inevitably not be kept. I felt the energy was down from the night before...
yet there were groups who clearly did not feel it was over because they
went on meeting well past the appointed time, and came back to each other
informally. Still, I was feeling let down by it. Why?


Perhaps it was because of the sadness of the end coming, the end of this
time of meeting. Perhaps it was because I was tired, exhausted. Perhaps it
was because I was not part of the rich conversations, a rowboat moored to a
far off island, hearing only the echo of random syllables across the water.
Perhaps it was because I knew so much more was possible.


And so I must continue to invite, to open spaces.


The questions I asked people to address in the closing circle were: How
(not what) did we learn? Who are we now?


We had probably 30 people in all attend this 4 day event, and we averaged
around 23 each evening. The fourth evening is tonight and I expect a drop
off as we head into actual work projects. The sessions were from 6:00 pm to
8:30 pm, Sunday through Wednesday evenings.


One of those projects is painting the walls of the fellowship hall. This I
see as the hallmark of this gathering. It was proposed the first evening,
and had a great deal of enthusiasm around it. The lady who said "You know,
what I'd like to see is..." had to be encouraged by several others from all
around the room to post this topic. Then the excitement was in the room!
This was a highly symbolic decision to be taken--and carried out. The room
had not been painted since the building was built 26 years ago. We had felt
locked into the colors chosen decades ago by our architect. Now we are
breaking loose, showing ourselves that we can do the impossible. By Tuesday
evening ladders and drop cloths were in the room, and about half the edges
had already been painted, meaning there was now no turning back.


There were 5 or 6 topics posted for Sunday evening, and 4 sessions held; 7
or 8 proposed for Monday, and 6 held; and 6 proposed on Tuesday and 5
sessions held. After that we reopened the space for action planning and two
projects were posted. Three sessions were held! Tuesday evening there was
an evening long butterfly conversation by two gentlemen who were not
members of the congregation, but others butter-flew around them and one of
them reported rich conversations in the process. The book of proceedings
had 15 reports. That is interesting to me because when we came into Tuesday
only 6 reports had been turned in. Several people took turns entering
reports into the computer for others and the job was done. We put the
reports into the copier, pushed the button, and walked off to the closing
circle. When we were done, we had copies for everybody, and three of us
stapled and handed them out.


The committee provided baby-sitting, rides for those who needed them, and
food, all without cost or baskets for donations.


There were no tears in the closing circle and I wonder about that. They
were perhaps not ready to open that much space. Whatever happens, whoever
comes, when it's not over....

                              :-Doug. Germann
                              Seeking people making community change.
                              From partly cloudy South Bend, Indiana

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist