I haven’t heard from Rick in a while, so it was good to get another good systems question from him. Rick asks about the concept of non-anxious presence and reactivity. Specifically, he shared his observation that some people seemed to try to act as a “non-anxious presence” by showing no affect (feelings or emotions) in a given situation. Like the character of Spock in Star Trek they attempted to stay emotionally aloof and non-responsive.

Rick said,

“My point is, would it be a misunderstanding to conclude that one never showed emotion? One can show appropriate emotion to lower anxiety or keep from binding it, right?”

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Soul Cakes: A November Family Faith Activity

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In 1996, Catholic Bishop Pierre Claverie of Algeria was martyred after a lifetime of serving the Christian and Muslim community in that country. Bishop Claverie was convinced that Jesus’ model for table ministry was the key to Islamic-Christian relations. A review of his biography, recently translated into English is featured below.

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At a recent conference I experienced that situation where an audience member asks a question, you do the best you can to respond on your feet in-the-moment, only to later, after the event is over, come up with a really good response. It’s that moment when you say to yourself, “Darn! I wish I’d said that then.”

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At a recent conference at which I served on a panel on leadership, the panelists were asked to provide opening comments about our thinking on the topic (my friend Margaret Marcuson also served on that panel. You can read her comments here). Here are the thoughts I shared at the start of our panel discussion and Q&A:

Leadership is a function of one’s position in a relationship system, and it is mediated by two things: context and self.

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Many of us have followed the work being done at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on the religious beliefs of American teens.  “Moralistic therapeutic deism” now rolls off our tongues with growing ease, though it does nothing to ease our minds about the future of the church.  I heard the Rev. Rhonda VanDyke Colby do a highly effective job of interpreting the research to a group of pastoral counselors, social workers and medical personnel recently.  As I listened I heard voices from the past.  This is something that often happens to those of us who have more past than others.  I knew that I had heard similar critiques of current beliefs.  Where and when?

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One of the most important qualities in any organization is the ability to solve its own problems. Organizations that cannot solve their own problems are in trouble. It won’t take long before they become overwhelmed as one unsolved problem begins to affect another. At that point the issues become systemic, and the only solution is to fix everything at the same time together. That’s a task that is more complex and overwhelming than most organizations can pull off.

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I do a lot of presentations at various places. About four to five months out of the year I often have one speaking engagement a week. I always appreciate the invitation to give a presentation about things of mutual interest. But I sometimes am frustrated on those occasions when I find myself having to think about my presentation while having to deal with inconveniences or obstacles to delivering a good session. Here are some suggestions from a weary presenter about how to be a good speaker’s host:

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