Common Good Espresso Cohort
“Without inner change, there is no outer change. Without collective change, no change matters.” Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams
In July 2017, after the murder of Sam Dubose, and the hung jury of police officee, Ray Tensing trial, two friends, Daniel Hughes, a black pastor from Price Hill, and Troy Bronsink, a white pastor from Bond Hill looked around for spaces to have difficult, courageous conversations about differing experiences of our same city, nation, and world. They decided to work together to facilitate spaces for these courageous conversations, convinening upwards of 600 people over the last two years. What arose were questions like:
Does contemplation even make a difference in the “real world” of political and racial chaos?
How does our interior work go public?
Where can we practice meaningful conversations that model self-care and solidarity?
Courage to Connect is a course designed to facilitate brave space for dialogue (as opposed to debate), and mindful awareness. Like-mindedness can damage community, but this group is designed to emphasize how shared intention or “like-heartedness” can hold together a room of people with very different experiences and convictions. We seek to amplify the voices of those who aren’t often heard in the mainstream, without asking the most vulnerable in our gathering to bear the weight of the conversations.
This is a conversational space. Our approach benefits from the behavioral work of mindfulness and the socio-cultural wisdom of folks like Ibram X Kendi, Stuart Hall, angel Kyodo williams, Rhonda Magee, Cornel West, bell hooks, Bruce Perry, Parker Palmer and Howard Thurman to name a few.
A great class for those wanting to take the next step from contemplation to action, and who have the courage to connect in meaningful ways.
Prerequisite: TBD
Schedule: Tuesday, July 7, starting at 11:30 AM PT /2:30 PM ET for 2 hours / 6 weeks