That's a wrap, folks! We're on our way to Becoming Bridge Builders!
Many thanks to everybody for coming to this workshop. We had about 45 people in total throughout the course of the weekend, all who became vulnerable and human enough to share our own sacred stories.
We learned how to start doing our "Iceberg Work"-- discovering all the stuff that makes us who we are, the many cultures that make us who we are, and what we need to be aware of in ourselves so that we might be able to actually reach out and be in relationships with others.
We took time to understand some of the history and context of intolerance and racism in the United States (and in all of our institutions, including churches, schools, workplaces, and government), and pondered where we're at individually and institutionally on the continuum from being in denial and defensive about racism to adapting to and integrating other cultures.
Perhaps most importantly, we spent some time asking ourselves what we need to learn & what needs to change in order for us to move from where we are to where we'd like to be.
But our work is not yet done. We cannot simply pat ourselves on the back, saying "well, we've done this, now!" We need to take our new-found awareness of ourselves into conversations about changing our institutions and our selves, perhaps even preparing for the grief that comes with change.
We learned how to start doing our "Iceberg Work"-- discovering all the stuff that makes us who we are, the many cultures that make us who we are, and what we need to be aware of in ourselves so that we might be able to actually reach out and be in relationships with others.
We took time to understand some of the history and context of intolerance and racism in the United States (and in all of our institutions, including churches, schools, workplaces, and government), and pondered where we're at individually and institutionally on the continuum from being in denial and defensive about racism to adapting to and integrating other cultures.
Perhaps most importantly, we spent some time asking ourselves what we need to learn & what needs to change in order for us to move from where we are to where we'd like to be.
But our work is not yet done. We cannot simply pat ourselves on the back, saying "well, we've done this, now!" We need to take our new-found awareness of ourselves into conversations about changing our institutions and our selves, perhaps even preparing for the grief that comes with change.