Have you ever met someone (or a group of people) and felt like it just "clicked" and you immediately fit with them?
Fitting
Individuals spend enormous energy trying to earn approval, whether growing for it, shrinking for it, or reshaping ourselves to get it - and communities spend enormous energy dispensing it, withholding it, or using it as a control mechanism. But approval is a diminishing game: it reduces people to auditioners and communities to panels of judges. This Spotlight will make the case for something better and truer, which we'll call "fitting." Fitting is cooperative. It assumes that both the person and the community bring something real to the encounter, and that the goal is a genuine match that honors who someone actually is while taking seriously what a community actually needs.
You were not made to audition. You were made to fit. And when fit is found, something in both you and the community becomes more fully itself.
Now that you've answered the Icebreaker, here's another question - this one, about puzzle pieces.
Hopefully that makes enough sense to get you started. As you continue into the Worship portion of the Spotlight, pray this prayer together:
Lord,
When we are tempted to treat others as assets
instead of as human beings needing belonging,
designed by you to work together for good,
and accepted by grace no matter the results,
show us a better way.
Increase our love for you
and our love for one another.
Amen.
Lord,
When we are tempted to treat others as assets
instead of as human beings needing belonging,
designed by you to work together for good,
and accepted by grace no matter the results,
show us a better way.
Increase our love for you
and our love for one another.
Amen.
Reflect on "fitting" with the poem "As Kingfishers Catch Fire." It's a very...poetic poem. The language is quite engineered, which can make it, at first read, a little confusing. This video will read it once, reflect a bit, and then read it once again. It's a powerful work of art.
Finding Fit
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. | Romans 12:3
What would it look like if you truly needed to find your fit in Seattle?
Not "what could you do if you got around to it."
Not "what sounds vaguely interesting."
But what would it look like if you needed (the way you need a job when the rent is due) to find the ways you could contribute?
Take a few minutes with these questions. Write as much or as little as you want, but try to be specific. Generic answers won't help you here.
START WITH WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT YOURSELF
What do you do well (that doesn't feel like work to you) that others seem to find hard but comes naturally to you?
What kinds of people do you find yourself drawn to, noticing, or thinking about when you move through the city?
What problem in Seattle makes you angry, sad, or restless in a way that won't quite leave you alone?
NOW LOOK OUTWARD
If you had to walk out the door today and find one neighborhood, organization, or pocket of need in Seattle where those things overlap, where would you go first?
Who do you already know who is doing work in this city that you respect? Could you call them this week and ask if you could buy them coffee and listen?
THE FIRST THREE STEPS
If you needed to start today, what would step one actually be?
Not a category. A specific action.
Step 1 - Probably internal:
Step 2 (once step 1 is done):
Step 3:
ONE LAST QUESTION
What has been stopping you from taking step one until now? Name it honestly.
Not "what could you do if you got around to it."
Not "what sounds vaguely interesting."
But what would it look like if you needed (the way you need a job when the rent is due) to find the ways you could contribute?
Take a few minutes with these questions. Write as much or as little as you want, but try to be specific. Generic answers won't help you here.
START WITH WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT YOURSELF
What do you do well (that doesn't feel like work to you) that others seem to find hard but comes naturally to you?
What kinds of people do you find yourself drawn to, noticing, or thinking about when you move through the city?
What problem in Seattle makes you angry, sad, or restless in a way that won't quite leave you alone?
NOW LOOK OUTWARD
If you had to walk out the door today and find one neighborhood, organization, or pocket of need in Seattle where those things overlap, where would you go first?
Who do you already know who is doing work in this city that you respect? Could you call them this week and ask if you could buy them coffee and listen?
THE FIRST THREE STEPS
If you needed to start today, what would step one actually be?
Not a category. A specific action.
Step 1 - Probably internal:
Step 2 (once step 1 is done):
Step 3:
ONE LAST QUESTION
What has been stopping you from taking step one until now? Name it honestly.
You were not made to audition. You were made to fit. The city needs what you specifically bring. This is not a pep talk, it's a theological point. Act like it's true!
Pray Together
No Comments