Ask all the wrong questions
One of my problems…
One of my problems is that I want to ask questions. I just want to ask questions, you know?
Asking questions has been the main way that I’ve found myself in trouble, all of the times I’ve found myself in trouble. “Why do we do things this way?” “What if we try this?” “How did we arrive at this conclusion? Is it open to discussion?” “Can Aaron join us for this meeting?”^
Asking questions, especially all the wrong questions, is a way to get in trouble in part because asking questions opens things up to scrutiny; requesting that a status quo make sense of itself is a threat to the gravity of the status quo, and therefore a threat to those who benefit from the way things are.
What would it be like to cultivate an environment in which asking questions was a way of being? What would it take? What kind of people would we need to be? What kind of people would we become? What would we lose? What might we gain?
Don’t Hold Me To This is a set of conversations, using written pieces as catalyst, in which we try to create space for creative explorations, for adjusting old conclusions, for crafting deep understanding, and for changing, of all things, ourselves.
Thanks for joining us, and don’t hold us to any of this.
Cheers,
Jeremy
for the Don’t Hold Me To This Crew
^Turns out Aaron could not come to the meeting.
Here’s who we are
Shaynor Newsome
Shaynor has been an ordained minister for 20+ years, most recently as a pastor in the Pacific Northwest. His passions have meandered through rock climbing, bow hunting, and CrossFit along with doses of fly fishing and other outdoor and physical activities. Shaynor currently lives with his wife and daughter near family in the Dallas area; his oldest son is at the U of O. He serves as a pastoral coach for a non-profit and at a local counseling center. Shaynor founded Cities of Refuge, an online trauma resource offering shelter to the wounded and a bridge toward healing. He hopes that Don’t Hold Me To This will be an extension of that shelter through our shared stories. You can email Shaynor here.
Jeremy used to be pastor in institutional churches, but that ended terribly and sadly and disgustingly. Before that he was an adventure guide doing cool things like rock climbing and kayaking and being fit, but that, too is in the past. Now, Jeremy is a brand designer over at haimish.studio, does pastoral counseling to people who don’t fit in the institutional church, is married with five children, and through Don’t Hold Me To This is trying to figure out how to be more human.
You can reach Jeremy’s email here.