How I Got Here

And by here, I don’t actually mean to a physical space, but to the place where I am concerned with being a steward of a Sacred Space.

First, the Earth cooled …

Okay, okay. It’s probably an obscure reference to a movie (Airplane II) that I don’t really like, except for that one line. (If you google “first the earth cooled” you can learn more about the origin of the reference and how it is now used as a teaching point.)

I place the starting point at a Saturday intensive of A Small Group (ASG).

A Small Group is a loosely organized organization of people who would like to create an alternative future, a future distinct from the past, for ourselves and Cincinnati. ASG is loosely led by renowned author and consultant Peter Block, who happens to live in Cincinnati. You can find out more about ASG here and more about Peter here.

At the intensive, late in the spring of ‘06, I was pondering one of the powerful questions: What promise are you willing to make without an expectation of reward? Until that point I had always answered, “Nothing.” There was nothing I would promise without expectation of reward.

This time I had a different answer: Restore St. Elizabeth’s.

At Vineyard Central services the next day, I spoke it out. I got up in front of the congregation and said this is my call. “Restore St. Elizabeth’s.” There was some interest: enough to begin the process. What progress we’ve made has been in fits and starts.

But we have made progress. And we continue on the journey. More about that later.