Beloved Community Gathering Conversations January 16, 2014

Several of us have been meeting to review and discuss Peter Block's book Community: The Structure of Belonging.

“This book is written to support those who care for the well-being of their community.  It is for anyone who wants to be part of creating an organization, neighborhood, city or country, that works for all...”

The overall premise of the book is to “build the social fabric and transform the isolation within our communities into connectedness and caring for the whole.” To do this we need to “shift our conversations from problems of the community to the possibility of community” and “commit to create a future distinct from the past.”

January 16, 2014 we met at the Redding Public Library and here are some notes from Ellen Pfeiffer regarding Chapter 4 The Restorative Community:

• “Restoration comes from the choice to value possibility and relatedness over problems, self-interest, and the rest of the stuck community’s agenda.” 
• “Restoration is created by the kinds of conversations we initiate with each other.  
• "The conversations are the leverage point for an alternative future.” 
• “Shifting the context from retribution to restoration will occur through language that moves in the following directions: from problems to possibility; from fear and fault to gifts, generosity and abundance; from law and oversight to social fabric…”
• “Restorative community is created when we allow ourselves to use the language of healing and relatedness and belonging. 
• “Our conversations and gatherings have the power to shift the context from retributive community to restorative community. 
• From conversations about problems to ones of possibility.
• From conversations about fear and fault to ones of gifts, generosity and abundance.
• From a bet on law and oversight to a preference for building the social fabric.
• From a focus on leaders to a focus on citizens” 
• "It moves us from having faith in professionals and those in positions of authority to having faith in our neighbors. 

What gifts/talents/generosity/abundance do we have that we can share with Shasta? How to increase the conversation? Consensus to look more into this both of these again and discuss at next gathering.

Idea of the Beloved Community: 

• “Volunteer Program” Lots of needs for volunteers (POP List) 
• Match needs up with Beloved Community members talents 
• Host of column in the Record Searchlight 
• Each organization describe who/what they need 
• Have the link between the public and the organization be The Beloved Community. Consensus to discuss this further at next gathering 

Upcoming Activities: 

• MLK Day of Service Celebration – Jan 20, 2014. Inside of program will be on the Beloved Community.  Eddie will talk about the Beloved Community.
• Sheriff’s Multicultural Festival at the Shasta Mall – Jan 25, 2015. Eddie has arranged for a table – needs volunteers 
• NAACP Dinner -  January 30, 2014
• Shasta Lake Multicultural Festival - February 22, 2014. Beloved Community will have a table – need volunteers.

Next Gathering: Thursday, Feb 6, 2014, 6 PM at the Redding Public Library.

• Discussion on Chapter 5 Take back our Projections – Susana to lead.
• Feedback/Interest from MLK Day of Service
• Continue conversations on above Volunteer Program
• Time Bank
• Asset Based Community Service
• Discussion of Needs:
• Craft of “Elevator Statement”
• Five Principles Design
• New logo - card

Upcoming Opportunities: Beloved Community Tables

Choose Nonviolence

January 20 2014 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The theme for the 2014 King holiday observance by the King Center, in Atlanta, CA is Remember! Celebrate! Act! King's Legacy of Peace for Our World.  It underscores the urgency of Dr. King’s challenge to people of every nation to choose nonviolence as a way of life, as well as a method for peaceful social change. 

People all over the world are crying out for an end to the senseless violence that afflicts their families, communities, nations and world. 

Bernice A. King, CEO of The King Center said, "Our hope is that The 2014 MLK holiday observance will help lay the foundation for a world-wide movement to begin building the beloved community of my father’s dream.” 

In Pursuit of Happiness: Becoming Beloved Community

The Bioneers series XIII radio program, broadcast at 10:30 AM on radio station KCHO (88.9 FM) featured and interview with John A Powell.

Powell states "It's obvious that we're not here for ourselves. That makes no evolutionary sense. There's something larger than us, and to the extent that we can live that and celebrate that, I think we're healthier, and then that's love.  So I think if we think of love in this way, and a beloved community in this way, when we hold all this stuff together, together."

Audio is no longer available, but you can read the full transcript here.

Regarding the beloved community, narrators John A. Powell and Grace Bauer say, "Dr. Martin Luther King’s global vision of Beloved Community foretold a world in which all people can share in the wealth of the Earth. Poverty, hunger, and homelessness would not be tolerated. Marginalization would be dissolved by inclusion. Love and trust would triumph over fear and hatred. He did not think the world was devoid of conflict or suffering, but rather that it could be resolved peacefully, mutually, and non-violently. As Dr. King wrote: “Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class and our nation.”