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Meditations for Meetings: Thoughtful Meditations for Board Meetings and for Leaders - Softcover

 
9781561482443: Meditations for Meetings: Thoughtful Meditations for Board Meetings and for Leaders
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Here are dozens of two-page-long meditations, written expressly for board meetings by seasoned board members. Each meditation begins with a Scripture, moves on to a personal story, and ends with a brief prayer. Each is about leadership--the courage it requires, the clarity it demands, the celebrations it sometimes offers.

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About the Author:
Edgar Stoesz has spent many hours in meetings where he has heard countless meditations and led some, as well.

He was a staff member of Mennonite Central Committee for 33 years, seven of those years as Associate Executive Secretary. He served as President-CEO of Mennonite Indemnity for 14 years. Stoesz spent six years on the board of Habitat for Humanity International, four of those years as Chair. He is currently First Vice President of Hospital Albert Schweitzer (Haiti). Presently he also chairs the board of the American Leprosy Mission.

He is the co-author of the book Doing Good Better: How to Be an Effective Board Member of a Nonprofit Organization (Good Books, 1997). He has written extensively for church periodicals and organizational newsletters

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
About Meditations for Meetings

Many board and committee meetings start with a meditation of some sort, or at least a prayer. This includes the U. S. Congress and even professional athletic games. Many of these moments, however, are little more than a pause to permit the meeting to settle down so the official business can begin. That is not good enough. Here is an opportunity to create a spiritual environment that will permeate the meeting and influence the decision-making process.

Meditations for Meetings is intended to help make God's presence felt in the board room. Many boards include members who can lead a meaningful devotional. Others boards do not. Some board members who believe in prayer do not feel comfortable praying publicly. Meditations for Meetings is designed to assist in all those circumstances.

This book contains 77 meditations written by 56 persons, an international collection of men and women. They are executives, teachers, and ministers. No single writer could produce such variety. Thank you for writing so forthrightly and with such spiritual depth.

Two esteemed friends helped me make the final selection of pieces in this collection--Lynette Meck and Myron Ebersole.

I also gratefully acknowledge the editing work of Phyllis Pellman Good in making the book more readable, while retaining the writers' meanings.

I have included 44 prayers with which the Rev. James David Ford, D.D., Chaplain, opened sessions of the U.S. House of Representatives. My grandson, Matthew Bauman, helped select the prayers.

Each prayer has a brief title indicating its character or theme. Use from this collection in settings or occasions when a prayer without a meditation is appropriate, or when you prefer one of these prayers to those included with individual meditations.

This book may be used in numerous ways. It is primarily intended for those times of reflection at the beginning of board or committee meetings. It may also be used to lead in small group worship.

Use the Index of themes (page 181) to select a meditation suitable for your particular meeting. Mix the meditation with silence; be free to expand or adapt readings to fit your group.

Leaders may want to use Meditations for Meetings for their own devotions, to gain Divine perspective on their role.

Ministers may find it to be a rich resource of illustrations and human interest stories. May all your work be blessed.

--Edgar Stoesz, Akron, Pennsylvania

Sample Excerpt--

And the Meditation of my Heart

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. --Psalm 19:14 (NRSV)

The overhead light in my office was retrofitted several years ago so that it automatically comes on when I enter the room and automatically shuts off when I leave. The light is sensitive to movement. It stays on as long as there is activity in the room. One problem is that occasionally the light goes off when I am in the room . . . when I am quietly reading or thinking. The light assumes there is no activity in the room when motion ceases. It counts only physical activity as evidence of human presence in the room.

Board meetings are similar. They consist primarily of people talking. When talk stops, we tend to assume that activity has stopped and that it is time to take action--to vote, to table, to move on to the next issue. We seem to believe that persons are active only when they are talking. I have been at meetings where an individual (usually one who has already made his or her point several times) will say, Well, no one else is talking so I will, as if talking is all that matters. There seems to be no room for the internal activities of thinking, meditating, or reflecting on an issue.

I do not recall being part of a board meeting where an issue was raised and we were given time to think about it before responding. Normally the question is asked and the talking begins, unless the group is too large and the members do not know one another.

Perhaps everyone feels pressed for time. Meetings are typically packed into a day and a half or two days, and there are too many items on the agenda. But boards should recognize that not all of the activity in the room is in the talk. Some of the activity is taking place in the silence. It would be wise for boards to pause and allow members to reflect, meditate, think, and pray from time to time, particularly before taking actions.

May both the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Some activity may be taking place in the silence.
--Wilma Ann Bailey, Grantham, Pennsylvania
© Good Books, Intercourse, PA 17534

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  • PublisherGood Books
  • Publication date2013
  • ISBN 10 1561482447
  • ISBN 13 9781561482443
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages192

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