Co-creation and Sticking it to the Man

What lead Anne to the subject of her last post (Bigger Than We Imagine) is also a great example of the co-creative aspect of Spirit of Truth(SoT). At SoT all members are encouraged to bring their story and their energy to create a better SoT and a better world.  The idea for co-creation is extremely important because at Spirit of Truth we believe all people are important and so is their perspective.  Last week during a reading from Corinthians discussing that exact idea, a chain reaction of events took place that lead to the focus of this weeks discussion on language.

The following is an example of co-creation through a simplified story of what occurred this week.

One of our members, Elora, had a moment during one of the worship gatherings where a certain word made her cringe. In this case the word was “lord” which to her brought up ideas of hierarchy and an imbalance of power. She brought it to Pastor Grant during a One to One conversation and they discussed the matter. The two of them decided that there were many words that sometimes seem cringe-worthy, but in this case Grant brought his understanding of the word to Elora and they celebrated a new shared meaning.

Later in the week Elora lead a meeting of the Narrative Group in which the issue of language was again brought up, this time in the context of helping newer members and older members come to a shared understanding of the words we use at SoT. This included functional terms like “One to Ones” as well as the cringe-worthy words that we all might have negative associations with. Another member of the Narrative Group suggested we discuss the matter during our short One to Ones at the worship gathering and a plan was quickly hatched to involve all members of the community.

Besides the language discussion at the gathering we also decided to keep a running list of words that we will discuss at future meetings, as well as an online page for language clarification (follow the link or look to the tab above).
At the worship gathering, Grant asked the group to discuss in pairs, the religious words we find keep us from getting the larger message and for a story of when we realized that it was happening.

For many of us, this brought up times when in a religious institution (Church, Temple, Synagogue) or celebrating a religious service (wedding, funeral) we were taken off guard by language that seemed to hurt the overall message. For example I discussed with my partner how sometimes I would skim ahead on hymns and prayers because I wasn’t sure I could honestly say what was written and I didn’t want to lie in church. Eventually this lead to me feeling choked up during songs for all the wrong reasons.

When we came back together as a large group the discussion brought up the following words and phrases:
Sin/sinner (shame),
obey,
Israel,
WWJD,
Lord,
Salvation (being saved)/savior,
father,


With some of these words the cringe feeling was brought on by the implied division between people (sinners and non-sinners), other words brought up a power imbalance, politics, or cultural trends that didn’t seem to quite follow the deeper understanding of the term. 

Elora shared her story along with what she had discussed with Grant.  Way back when Jews and Christians were using this language, it was under threat of death because at the time, only the Roman Emperor was "Lord." Religious rebels used the term to remind themselves and others that God has higher authority over all and that they should not devote themselves to anyone lower.  The term lord then became a sort of "stick it to the man" term used by spiritual people.  Elora was able to share with the group how the word in many ways went from implying a negative (imbalance of power) to a sort of radical righteousness in her mind.  

Other members were able to deconstruct some of the words. One brought up how when he hears "Israel" spoken he tries to think of the people not the political state.  Grant brought up how the root meaning of the word "sin" means to miss the mark (not hit the center of the target when shooting arrows).  He also brought up how the root of the word "salve" is the same as the word "salvation" both meaning to bring about healing. This came in handy when later at the gathering we sang the song "Now" by Rory Cooney which along with being a SoT favorite, also calls into question so many of the cringe worthy words and meanings we were talking about. 


Now by Rory Cooney


Now is the moment 
Now is the time 
This very day there is salvation. 


1) Don't want a heaven after I'm gone:
I need a place to keep my family warm.
Don't want a vision of saints robed in white
I want the blind to see the sweet morning light.


2)Don't want a future where God sets things right:
I want a neighborhood to walk safe at night.
Don't want a banquet in heaven above 'til
no one in hungry in this world that I love.


3) Don't want a kingdom, don't want a crown,
'Til all nations lay their angry weapons down.
No Armageddon, no thousand years,
no more tomorrows! Only now. Only here.



Now is the moment 
Now is the time 
This very day there is salvation. 



Spirit of Truth is a place where all of us co-create, 
we work together for justice, love and true salvation (healing) now and here.