Monthly Archives: December 2010

by

Marketing

If I told you that we were going on a hike in the Issaquah Alps that sounds pretty good by itself, maybe even exotic simply because of the term alps. If I added that we were going to hike Cougar Mountain it sounds even better like some kind of outlaw hideout or danger filled wilderness. Add to that a waterfall and an historic townsite and we’ve got a mystical adventure in an exotic wilderness right? I mean a hike up Cougar Mountain past a historic townsite along a well groomed path through the lush forests of the Issaquah Alps to a cascading waterfall sounds pretty good on a brochure. To be fair we had a great hike, but when you know that Cougar Mountain is more a hill than a mountain, many of the Issaquah Alps have neighborhoods on them, the historic town dam is about four feet high damming a creek, and the waterfall is maybe twenty feet high and five feet wide, the reality doesn’t quite live up to the billing. For the most part I knew what I was getting before I did the hike, but I just kept thinking how everything on paper sounded so good.

It’s amazing what words can do. The way you describe something can make the mundane magical or the magnificent morose. Like I said, the hike was fine and we had fun so the reality is what you make it, but there is something that words can do in painting a picture that doesn’t lie, but is so much more than what is really there or at times so much less. Perception can be influenced by expectation and one persons reality is rarely the same for another person.

How we choose to talk about something or not talk about something whether consciously or subconsciously has a direct effect on how others will experience it. If I sell you on this great hike through the pristine wilderness, I have raised the bar on what it could be significantly, so your expectations will be high. If instead I just said lets go for a hike up Coal Creek Trail, on this particular hike that might make it more enjoyable because there are no expectations. I am all for high expectations, but sometimes it’s nice to enter into something without them because then you are free to experience what really is. Sometimes I guess we are just trying to sell people on things we know they will enjoy so we paint that picture. On this particular hike I tried to get my oldest daughter to walk instead of being carried so I didn’t even bring the second pack. I worked her up telling her she could do it, comparing it to distances she has walked before and talking about how we had built up to this with her hiking a little more each time we head out. She ended up walking only about a third of it, but I did convince her that it might be fun to roll down the the downhill parts, which she thoroughly enjoyed, so my marketing did in fact enhance the overall experience for her even if carrying her without the pack was much harder.
Anyway my point is about the influence of our words and the way we share about something. When I was at the NCCCUSA event a couple weeks ago and there was a campaign called, “words matter.” This hike was kind of a silly illustration, but it made me think what you can do with words. We have to be careful because our negativity may ruin something good, and though our enthusiasm may set a difficult bar I would rather try to achieve the difficult than be brought down before I started.
by

The Rite of Reception

Last night I was able to attend the Rite of Reception for the Most Reverend J. Peter Sartain as the Ninth Bishop and Fifth Archbishop of Seattle. The service began with the Archbishop elect knocking on the great ceremonial bronze doors of St. James Cathedral. These doors are only opened for special occasions and later during the service the retiring Archbishop Burnett mentioned that this is only the ninth time Seattle has welcomed a new bishop. Only other bishops are allowed in the narthex as the incoming Archbishop knocks and makes his entrance. the Rite of Reception and the welcoming him through those great doors is symbolic of his being welcomed by the diocese and by the Cathedral itself, which will be his home church. Once he came into his seat a procession of other faith leaders, bishops from other “ecclesial communities,” and community leaders presenting varied demographics such as the deaf community, the black community, the filipino community, the young adult community and a whole litany of other groups.

The liturgy was rich and the atmosphere vibrant as you could actually feel the excitement in the Cathedral both for the experience of this uncommon event and for the future of the diocese under this new Archbishop. The music of drums and children filled the place before it had even started and then once it began you would have thought the gathered congregation was a mass choir that had rehearsed as everyone sang out each hymn and each response led by four phenomenal psalmists from the Cathedral.

The service took place on the Feast Day of St. Andrew and the celebration mirrored Andrews answer to lay down his nets and follow Jesus just as all are called to do so and Archbishop Sartain reflected on his own calling and journey of servanthood which have brought him to this place. His message was one of his own story and his true desire to be a servant. he said that, “to be for God is vocation…and to live is to be desired and loved by God.” His style was comfortable and relaxed and you felt like he was talking to you not at you as some who attain such high posts often seem to do. When I got to speak to him afterwards and offer greetings from my own bishop he seemed just as genuine and his humility sincere. He laid out his own understanding of his role that, “everything about me is to be for you,” and that he is called to be, “the bearer of the mystery.”
It was a privilege to be included as a guest for this occasion and I was impressed by Archbishop Sartain and am hopeful for his leadership here in Seattle. What everyone says about his is that he is a personable and down-to-earth guy and he has a gift for remembering you once he has met you. He certainly did nothing to dispel this in my own encounter with him.