Continuing on our Creativity & Spirituality series.
Groups of four were gathered and given a single styrofoam cup. Everyone was invited to communicate to one another what their hopes for the church might be.
The only catch was that they could only communicate in silence through manipulating the styrofoam cup.
What we discovered during the process…
- The simplicity of the object forced us to think of ideas that we did not have before
- There was an admiration of how people were able to creatively express themselves with the object, gesturing, positioning, tearing, ripping, shaping, and decimating it.
- Those who might not speak up otherwise, were heard
- Because people took turns to manipulate the object, we learned that quite often the reality is that we rarely are offered a clean slate. Much of our work often must be built upon the impact of others before us.
- One group thought outside the box and found my stash of additional cups. Most of us often assume that we can only work with the resources that we have been given, not what we might have ‘access’ to.
- Our community of faith is latent with ideas that have not been expressed until people had an opportunity to communicate through a different medium
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
“…we rarely are offered a clean slate. Much of our work often must be built upon the impact of others before us.”
Great observation.
Hey Parke, it’s a reality that we all need to face. so often the idealist in me thinks i’m the first one on something, or that there wasn’t something already before me. I think we need to find ways to leverage history rather than be shocked by having to fight it…