This week at Q we tried something different, inviting everyone to bring one item with them that was personally significant. Relaxing around tables, we shared our items and why they meant so much to us.
Before we began our conversations, Danny shared how, just like money can grow in value through interest, we can find added value in items, ourselves and each other when we take an interest to look beyond the surface.
It's easy to devalue objects with the word "just":
"It's just a photo!"
"It's just a book!"
"It's just me!"
M&S Food adverts play on this idea telling the viewer "This isn't just a cheese and pickle sandwich..." and then proceed to give an elaborately poetic description of their sandwich, with all the details and nuances that justify their claim that "This isn't just a cheese and pickle sandwich."
At a visit to a museum this week, Danny noticed something about Lady Justice, a character that is often found depicted outside courthouses. She is usually shown wearing a blindfold to show that justice requires us to look beyond the biased viewpoint and prejudices we currently hold and instead to get a wider perspective.
Could it be that to really do just-ice to the people and things around us, we need to see things in new ways, looking beyond our own worldview and perspective?
"Maybe we'll see change the day we change the way we see."
Kev introduced a clip from a talk that Anth brought for us 4 years ago about Community.
In the video, Anth talks about how our common suffering can unites us and Kev added that our shared triumphs, failures, good days, bad days, ups, downs, laughter and tears are also part of the recipe of community. It’s the whole experience.
"The glue of true, lasting togetherness is not found in the uniformity of our beliefs, but in the humility of sharing our own humanity." Anth Chapman
Kev shared how he was drawn to the angle that we are more connected by our humanity than belief - especially in the context of Q, where many of us have a Christian heritage where we were once united by a central belief. We may not all share a common belief system anymore, but we do share in our human experience.
There's a motto that Kev explains he's had to hold onto dearly during the past few years with everything that’s been going on in the world, which is that there is more that unites us than divides us and this can be found through our shared humanity.
You can watch the whole message that the clip of Anth is taken from here...
These were a selection of quotes on the screen and tables this morning to remind us of the power of sharing our stories.
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