{"id":17640,"date":"2018-05-17T18:14:19","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T01:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=17640"},"modified":"2018-05-17T18:14:19","modified_gmt":"2018-05-18T01:14:19","slug":"bridges-butterflies-and-birth-navigating-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/bridges-butterflies-and-birth-navigating-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridges, Butterflies, and Birth: Navigating Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By mid-August, nothing looks better to an eight-month pregnant woman than a window air-conditioner. Lugging a waddling body up a hill in 90% humidity, the cool apartment seems like heaven. While the first sign of pregnancy seemed like a celebration, by the eighth month, you just want to get that damn thing out. \u201cI\u2019m so ready for this to be over\u201d you say to yourself, and anyone who will listen. The womb has been a great place to incubate this new little being, but the status quo cannot continue indefinitely. And the reality is that, for any pregnancy, there\u2019s a sense of anxiety about what the actual birthing process will be like. You know there will be pain, but it remains hypothetical \"\"<\/a>until real labor begins. The transition\u2014hours and hours of labor pains, pacing, breathing, grabbing your husband\u2019s hand and ripping his fingers apart, screaming, pushing. Suddenly, there\u2019s a scrambling, a new wail, and this weird creature laid into your arms. The pain subsides, the sleepless nights begin, and a new normal is created. Then, three years later, in a moment of irrationality, the cycle repeats itself.<\/p>\n

Caterpillar<\/strong><\/h2>\n

So many metaphors to build upon in William and Susan Bridges\u2019 guide, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change<\/em>! The reality we all recognize is that change is inevitable and on-going. Once an organism or an organization ceases to change, it dies. Change, therefore, is a sign of life. As I read through the text, I grew frustrated with the repeated concept of transition<\/em> and mentally replaced it with transformation<\/em>. Transition<\/em> seems to connote a readjustment, perhaps shifting your place in the scheme of things. Transformation<\/em>, however, is an entirely new reality, a new creation. Like a caterpillar, happily munching on milkweed, an organization knows what it\u2019s about, everyone what their role is. I don\u2019t know the mental capacity of a caterpillar, but I do know what it\u2019s like to accept the reality of impending change and loss.[1]<\/a> As our family has transitioned repeatedly from one location to another, we have worked deliberately to acknowledge the upcoming transition. For instance, preparing to leave California, we verbalized that we wanted to \u201cfinish well.\u201d We literally said \u201cgood-bye\u201d to places (Fullerton Theatre Auditorium), things (the Ombu tree at the Arboretum), and people (too many to list). We walked through our house and said good-bye to each room, sharing memories of our time in those rooms and thanking God, in tears, for the place. We gave away beloved things to beloved friends. We openly and emphatically acknowledged our losses.[2]<\/a> We were confident in two things: our time in California was over; our unity as a family, and our love for our friends and the place wasn\u2019t.[3]<\/a> We\u2019ve said good-bye to past places too often not to have learned how to do it better. And so we mark endings with the ritual of good-bye to our house, and we don\u2019t shy away from telling stories of our time in that place.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Chrysalis<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Victor Turner introduced the anthropological concept of liminality<\/em>, the idea that the threshold, the ritual in-between place, is where change and creativity, upheaval and chaos occur. A caterpillar builds itself into a chrysalis. Within the hard exterior shell, the caterpillar\u2019s body disintegrates into gooey pulp and is reformed into a seemingly entirely new creature, although the DNA remains the same. After we left California, we spent a month with my parents and traveled across the country. In this neutral time, we explored Nevada and Nebraska, listened to California-dominant playlists, and too many This American Life<\/em> podcasts. We played with cousins and hiked in mountains. It was an in-between stage that allowed us time to grieve and step out of our normal rhythms.[5]<\/a> We thought creatively about living in a car together, and made short-term goals to leave Colorado.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Butterfly<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Emerging from a chrysalis is not easy, I imagine, but the result is Oh, so beautiful. \"\"<\/a>The butterfly appears, quite unlike the caterpillar, the \u201cexpression of a new identity,\u201d and yet, still the same creature.[7]<\/a> We arrived in Indianapolis and purposefully took steps to settle. We Made a Plan to explore our new city; we bought extra tickets to events, inviting new friends to join us.[8]<\/a> We walked through our new home and prayed a blessing in each room, saying \u201chello\u201d after we\u2019d said \u201cgood-bye\u201d to place in California. Our boys participated in settling, choosing colors and painting their own bedrooms.[9]<\/a> We introduced ourselves to our new church community and someone there quickly hired our oldest son for a summer job.<\/p>\n

The church I serve is 125 years old. It has had many life cycles. Its first iteration included a \u201cHustling Hundred\u201d men\u2019s group, a lovely euphemism for the KKK. Another iteration promoted membership numbers and competition, growing the church into the largest in our movement\u2014about 2000 in the 1920s. Another cycle saw us as an urban mission, handing out food and clothing to \u201cneedy people\u201d as our neighborhood\u2019s demographics changed. And our current iteration expresses itself as an asset-based community, seeking to join the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God in this place. On the horizon though, is the very change precipitated by our current success. \"\"<\/a>Gentrification, occupied homes, and more stable family situations are creeping out from the interior of the city onto the Near Eastside. As we prepare for this influx of \u201cstability,\u201d we will need to navigate that change with a healthy transition<\/span> transformation into another re-creation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m encouraged, however, because we\u2019ve managed it before; renewal is possible.[10]<\/a> This transformation brings to mind Jesus\u2019 use of the Last Supper as a liminal space between coalescing his followers, shaping his ministry, and, through his death and resurrection, ushering in the age of the Holy Spirit and the unleashing of the Kingdom of God. As Pentecost approaches this Sunday, I pray for our willingness to (again) let go[11]<\/a> and allow the Spirit to transform us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> William and Susan Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change<\/em>, (Da Capo Press, 2016), 30.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 31.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 37.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 38-39.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 49.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid., 52.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid., 65.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ibid., 67.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Ibid., 99.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Ibid., 94.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By mid-August, nothing looks better to an eight-month pregnant woman than a window air-conditioner. Lugging a waddling body up a hill in 90% humidity, the cool apartment seems like heaven. While the first sign of pregnancy seemed like a celebration, by the eighth month, you just want to get that damn thing out. \u201cI\u2019m so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1254,1240,1255,1250,1249,1252,1253,1251],"class_list":["post-17640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-birth","tag-bridges","tag-butterfly","tag-california","tag-indianapolis","tag-liminal","tag-pregnancy","tag-victor-turner","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17640"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17646,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17640\/revisions\/17646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}