NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

“Powerlessness and silence go together. We…should use our privileged positions not a a shelter from the world’s reality, but as a platform from which to speak. A voice is a gift. It should be cherished and used.” Margaret Atwood It was the last two sentences in this quote by Margaret Atwood that caught and held my attention. As I have said before in this space I am an introvert, something I didn’t realize until well into my adult life. I remember teachers throughout my schooling making comments like “Lynn needs to put up her hand more often.” Lynn needs to take a more active part in group discussions.” As I became an adult, I learned that I still shouldn't take part in discussions then either, unless it was just to agree with what was being said. That was so much simpler than trying to explain why I  had made the comment that I had. It took meeting someone later on in life, who actually listened, and not only listened, but accepted what I said as having value, that I be...

“We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.” ~ Rick Warren  In an online article Scott Anthon talks about how Kodak missed the challenges that faced them specifically by neglecting the importance of these three questions. What business are we in today? ...define the problem you are solving What new opportunities does the disruption [read technology] open up?  What capabilities do we need to realize these opportunities? Let's face it. The church is a business, a business with a bottom-line, with employees, with a plant, and with a customer base. As such it should also avail itself of some of the wisdom that comes from the business community about how to maintain or even enhance its market share. The three questions above are a good way to begin that process. Looking  at these points from the perspective of the church today and the challenge of declining attendance it is facing, what do we see? For the last 200 years of ...

“We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.” ~ Rick Warren I went into the bank the other day which is not something I regularly do since the inception of online banking. The problem that took me there was my fault, making a payment to the wrong credit card. It was solved quickly and easily, on the spot. Seeing I was there, I asked about closing an account that we had had for 14 years, that we no longer used, and had a zero balance. Simple, I thought. WRONG! While it was accomplished eventually, it took two tellers and their supervisor to do it. Banking has changed so much and so quickly, that an account opened a mere 14 years ago was an anachronism, while a more serious error using the current banking praises was fixed quickly and easily.  My first mobile phone, from about 1990, was hardly mobile being the size and weight of a small briefcase.  I kept it in the car for use in emergencies, but not turned on, as the battery life was short ...

As I was listening to the petitions during the Prayers of the People during church I was struck, not for the first time, by how current and important these petitions are. They ask for justice, for peace, for understanding among peoples. But then what also struck me was the response given by the congregation ‘Hear us, O Lord’ . This reminded me of my friend, who I will call Abigail [and we all have a friend just like her, I’m sure]. Abigail was convinced that when she was driving around a crowded parking lot at the mall, perhaps near Christmas. and a car left just as she approached, that there was divine intervention in that occurrence.  Nothing anyone could say to her could, or would, convince her otherwise. It is this mindset that the response ‘Hear us, O Lord’ to the petitions in the Prayers of the People shows: an expectation of divine intervention. Now my other friend, Jane, was finding walking difficult and needed to park close to the mall doors. Instead of ...

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” ~George Bernard Shaw This summer, as an 80th birthday present, my husband took a 45 minute flight on a B-25 bomber.  He was very excited about the prospect on the weeks leading up to the flight but as he told people about it, he was asked on more the one occasion if it was on his bucket list. When he said, ‘No’, the person posing the question seemed at loss for what to say next. So they would end up saying something like, ‘Well you’ll enjoy it anyway’ or just looking a little confused. But as an onlooker I could almost heard them saying  [to themselves] ‘If it’s not on his bucket list, then why is he so excited?’ Do you have bucket list? I don’t. Up front, I must admit that I have never seen the need, or had the desire, to have one. Indeed if I had put one together, ten or twenty or even 12 months ago, it would be useless today except in marking what was important to me AT THAT TIME. And ...