[Oe List ...] {Spam?} transformation happens!

[W. J.]

My apologies if you read this elsewhere. I'm just now catching up on sending it to several overlapping lists. I wrote it for the Springboard Gathering, but couldn't attend in person, landing instead in my local ER! (Better now, and back on line.) I look forward to joining the dialogue and hearing from each of you.--WMJ
transformation happens! 
In San Francisco I find myself sitting with profound gratitude for my colleagues as we envision a post-2007 form for those who care. I smile as I recall that my life timeline always ended in a dotted line past 2007, which was as far as we had charted the revolutions of the 20th century.

As I imagine a different future without the institutional baggage of the Institute of Cultural Affairs in the USA, I'm reminded first of the history of schism in the church.

At one time there were three Roman popes (in Rome, Pisa, and Avignnon) plus the Patriarch in Constantinople. Which led to a lot of confusion and political shenanigans, not to mention theological battles. Of course some of those factions that were excommunicating each other didn't realize that they were just facilitating a new burst of energy in the guys they were trying to get rid of. Sound vaguely familiar?

My other image is the Lunar Module on Apollo 13. I've always been so grateful that it provided life support for the astronauts on the journey home until the moment they were ready to crawl back into the main capsule for re-entry into our atmosphere. And then those guys just chucked it. And the LM just floated away and became space junk. Do you get it? The one essential vehicle that kept us alive, and for which we are so grateful, has become space junk!

We never intended to build expensive institutional monuments that were difficult to maintain. And yet the reformulation of the structures we inherited (like the headquaters of an insurance company, for example) and the structures we built have their own life cycle.

Recently I looked at satellite images of 5th City and discovered that there's apparently a parking lot where the Auto Center once stood. Surprise! That new business that I witnessed under construction and finally open for business not too many years ago was taken out of history! Two thirds of the population of East Garfield Park packed up and left, and the economic base, I imagine, just dried up. Something happened that was not in the model.

So just sitting in an unnamed state of grief over that awareness for several weeks, I finally realized that, whatever the eventual and unexpected outcome, all our expenditure in that place was good. Not good because we "won", but good because we cared. And because we dared to launch 5th City into history with the best model we could build, it seeded life-changing local transformation in many unrecognized micros around the world.

Having finally made it across the finish line of 2007, I realize that the reality of grief and loss in my life is part of the fabric of deciding what to do with whatever I've been given to work with at this point. 

At the end of The Ronin, when the `Digging Saint' finally finishes the tunnel through the mountain and breaks through to daylight, he discovers `the face of a cliff higher, steeper, wider, and more deadly than its mild brother at the other end.' That's our global reality in 2007.
Wayne Marshall Jones lives in San Francisco where he ponders the future and gives thanks for all who gave us this moment. His journey with EI/ICA/O:E began in 1958, when at age 18 he was first impacted by the Christian Faith and Life Community of Austin, TX.
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