Last Sunday the topic for discussion was taking a look at what obstacles the community of Northbridge faces to reaching the 6 communal aspirations that were identified and discussed the previous week.
People present on Sunday were invited to break up into six small groups as each group took an in-depth look at what obstacles they could identify for just one aspiration. After a time of individual idea sharing within their groups, each group was then invited to share their thoughts with the larger community as the responses were recorded on a marker board for all to see. Following each group’s sharing, the rest of the groups had some time to share any additional obstacles they could think of for achieving that specific aspiration.
Below are the 6 aspirations and the various obstacles that were identified for each one:
Neighbor Awareness: proximity, time, lack of existing relationships with diversity, lack of actual neighborhood, lack of opportunities for informal activities, no routine or activities, assimilating new people into broader community, unknown prejudices-lack of awareness of them, how to fit children into outward awareness, no model of how to do it (pluralism), lack of facility
Communal Awareness: too busy (outside NB), proximity to each other, only see each other once a week, habits (sit with same people), divergent lifestyle phases, personality-introverted style, opportunities to be vulnerable (in need), difficulty to share needs/weakness, lack of facility, lack of small group gathering for intimacy, unspoken discomfort (going along), rushed Sundays (at NB), structure as an obstacle/certain things must be done on Sunday
Self Awareness: defensiveness, time limits, lack of closeness that’s needed for honesty, inaccurate self-image, insecurity, fear of self, fear of the cost of self awareness (egos attaching to the world), projection (get upset about other people’s problems when they’re your own), lack of mature leadership (experience), personal woundedness (unhealed), lack of opportunities to promote self-awareness
God Awareness: preferences and practices are different, personal things that interfere with our relationship with others and God, self esteem issues, fear of the unknown, time, personal commitment, distraction (personal and communal), motivation-failure to take action, failure to make genuine commitment, deconstructed ideas & images (God, prayer, church), differences
Challenge: pressure to conform, different backgrounds/education, fear of getting bills paid, fear of being part of hierarchy, challenge of losing control, fear of control and conformity, challenge of playing it safe, challenge of going against denominational pull, different levels of commitment, different levels of spirituality, fear of being vulnerable (being judged), tendency towards sameness/tradition, fitting children into the process-kids questions
Celebration: time, energy, sarcasm (unhealthy ways), too much structure, not knowing how or what to celebrate, different backgrounds, don’t celebrate tradition, lack of “woo” or outgoing nature, lack of organization, limited musicians, hard time creating new ideas, knowing how to plan roles so everyone has a part
The identification of these obstacles to reaching the six commuanl aspirations will continue to help us in this process of identifying where were are going as a community in our continued weekly discussions.
As always, feel free to share a comment or idea on these obstacles and we look forward to continuing the discussion with you this coming Sunday!
Shane
