Tapestry of Faith: Harvest the Power, 2nd Edition: A Lay Leadership Development Program for Adults

Activity 2: Mattering and Marginality

(25 minutes)

Materials

  • Paper and pens or pencils
  • Clock or timer
  • Bell or chime

Preparation

  • Ensure that participants have appropriate surfaces for writing.

Description

This activity is adapted from an exercise developed by Dr. L. Lee Knefelkamp, described in “Integrating Jewish Issues into the Teaching of Psychology” by Evelyn Torton Beck, Julie L. Goldberg, and L. Lee Knefelkamp, Chapter 17 in Teaching Gender and Multicultural Awareness (edited by Phyllis Bronstein and Kathryn Quina, Washington, DC: APA Press, 2003).

Distribute paper and writing implements. Invite participants to journal their responses to the prompts as you read them aloud. Allow the time suggested for writing after each prompt:

  • Consider a time in your life when your presence, your skills, and your ideas really mattered. What were the circumstances? How did you know that your contributions mattered? How did you respond to the situation in that moment? How did you respond, going forward? (Allow four minutes for journaling. Ring a bell or chime at the end of four minutes.)
  • Consider a time in your life when you felt marginalized—a time when you believed that your presence, your ideas, your skills, and your opinions were not all that important. What were the circumstances? What gave you the impression that your contributions were not really valued? How did you respond to the situation in that moment? How did you respond, going forward? (Allow four minutes for journaling. Ring a bell or chime at the end of four minutes.)
  • As you contrast the two situations, what strikes you? What was your level of engagement, energy, creativity, and imagination in each case? What conclusions can you draw from the two different experiences? (Allow three minutes for journaling. Ring a bell or chime at the end of three minutes.)

Invite participants to turn to another person and share as much of their experiences and conclusions as they are comfortable sharing. Tell participants that they will each have two minutes. After two minutes, ring a bell or chime to remind pairs to switch speakers.

Reconvene the group. Ask:

  • What conclusions can you draw from the two different experiences?
  • What role did power play in your experiences of mattering and marginality? What kind of power was in play? (Remind participants of the Types of Power handout and discussion in Workshop 1.)

How does this exercise offer insight into who might feel excluded from the “we” in our congregational covenant?