I remember, almost, the first time I participated in a conversation framed by the question, “What time is it in the world?” I think it was a World Cafe format. I think Juanita Brown and David Isaacs were lightly steering. This was the 90s. I remember being stirred by how people were being thoughtful. Juanita and David were inviting perspective, which, was the work then, and so often is today.
This Shades of Life video — thx Jerry, Kathy, Janet — asks this question. It sets up some of that context. Fun. And, led by Kathy and Jerry, touches the notion of “jump time,” a kind of punctuated equilibrium. It brings people to added layers of bigger picture and witness, which I love, and, which I feel is so often the work.
A couple of weeks ago I co-hosted a group of clergy which included some riffs on the question:
- What time is it in the world?
- What time is it in religious life?
- What time is it in religious leadership?
Cool, thoughtful responses. I love the way that groups actually have hunger to interact around such questions. I used to see people more often resist these kind of questions. It was resistance that saw some fluff and said, “let’s get to the real work.” These days, oh gosh, so many more people recognize these questions are the real work. Or are the real contexting that helps us get to the real work.
Fun.
In the above video, we all offer some reflection on the question, What time is it? And we reference and play with the 2-Loops model for change that I learned with Meg Wheatley and Deborah Frieze in those early Berkana days. Some of us took that question and that model to a lot of places (Chris, Caitlin, Teresa, Tim, Tuesday, Kathy, Jerry).
In the video I respond with a few one-liners.
- it’s a time of change
- it’s a time of rapid change
- it’s a time of letting go
- it’s a time of high hopes
- it’s a time of traumatic stress (both post and continual)
- it’s a time of hints and hunches (for what helps, centers, moves)
And, and.
I love thoughtful questions. I love questions and contexts that engage the heart, mind, belly. And I love learning with my friends, coming alive, carrying to other place.
What time is it? It’s a time for just such wonder, punctuated here and there with particular actions, but also seasoned well with some long-arc wonder.
Let’s remember.
