The Messenger - Jnauary 20, 2010

Pastor's Corner

"Deep Change"

How many times have you heard a wonderful speaker or read a wonderful book and thought, "I wish my daughter could hear that"! Or perhaps you even said, "I'd love to send that book (or recording) to my father (or my sister or my uncle Fred)." These are typical responses to sermons, books, and articles that admonish us to change, and it may well be that other folks would benefit from techniques that we have heard or seen. But those folks were not present, and, if they were, they'd probably think of something that you need to change instead.

That's because most people resist the need for change. It's so much easier to repeat behaviors that we have done for years (even when those behaviors no longer "work" very well) than to learn something new. It's also very, very easy to see how how others create problems at home, church, work, or school, and very, very hard to see the problems that we ourselves have caused. But very little progress can occur until we do.

Jesus gave us a brief but brilliant solution to our problems in his "Sermon on the Mount": "first take the plank out of your own eye--then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:5). But most of us need a bit of help applying this idea. That's why I have been reading a wonderful little book called Deep Change, by Robert E. Quinn.

Dr. Quinn is a professor in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Michigan, and he has worked with dozens of large businesses, non-profits, and government organizations that sensed a genuine need for change. Quinn discovered that most people in these groups felt "trapped" in some way--unable to bring about the changes their employer really needs. But Quinn found that all of us actually have quite a bit of power to bring about positive change if we start that work within ourselves.

Quinn's book has 4 sections: Deep Change, Personal Change, Organizational Change, and The Creation of Excellence. Each section has several chapters, and each chapter has several exercises to help you focus and apply its content. The whole book is not too long (230 pages), but the content is profound, and it is packed with personal tools for growth. Several pastors in our Presbytery will be reading Deep Change as part of our commitment to the Acts 16:5 Initiative, and I'm really looking forward to discussing it with them. I'm also looking forward to sharing it with the leaders of our church. That's because each of us is called to make a difference in some group that we serve, but real progress must begin within.

If you'd like to begin this journey, you can learn some great techniques by reading Deep Change.

Editor's Corner

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.
Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups ? porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite. He then told them all to help themselves to the hot chocolate.
When they each had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:

"Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress."

"The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink."

"What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup ... but you consciously went for the BEST cups."

"And then you began eyeing each other's cups."

"Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life."

"The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups."

The happiest people don't need the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.

-Author unknown
Shared by Keith Headley

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
And enjoy your hot chocolate!!

               Yesi

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=A92010 - First Presbyterian Church of San Pedro