Encountering the Intercultural Iceberg: the Clergy Collar! Speakers Rev Lee Spice, Rev Piotr (Peter) Strzelecki VDM, and resource people from the WIMN executive, followed by conversation and a short AGM for the Network.

Join the Western Intercultural Ministry Network as we explore the cultural iceberg –specifically, the clergy collar. What values, histories, stories, power dynamics lie below the surface and the water lines of our lives when we see the clergy collar? Let’s talk Intercollartural Ministry together! (Scroll down for a fuller introduction.)

All welcome- all identities and all people on the intercultural learning journey. Click here to see the mandate and terms of reference for our network. Our Living Skies representatives to the Executive are Rev Mathias Ross and Rev Salesi Takau.

Our network crosses many time zones. Here’s our timing: 11:30AM – 1:30PM (PDT), BC
12:30PM – 2:30PM (MDT/ CST)- AB and SK
1:30PM – 3:30PM (CDT), MB and parts of NW Ontario
2:30PM – 4:30PM (EDT) ON and QC

Zoom link here.
Meeting ID: 961 7898 5162
Password: 279621

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Intro to our topic: In intercultural work, we often refer to the cultural iceberg.  With icebergs, only the top of the iceberg is visible on top of the ocean, while under the waterline the iceberg may be vast, deep and wide.  Often, the most important parts of ourselves may be hidden beneath the waterline, and encountering those can bring us into richer and more respectful relationship with each other. Sometimes, icebergs that look far away from each other on the surface can bump into each other under the water – sometimes gently, sometimes causing damage.

For our coffee and chai conversation this month, we are going to explore the cultural iceberg that we call the clergy collar.  On the surface, it might seem like a small thing, a symbol of office that some clergy intentionally wear and others do not.  Some church members and people in the general public are comforted by it, others are puzzled by it, others are traumatized by it.  Some clergy are comfortable wearing it, and others are not.  All of our responses to this visible symbol of office are informed by our values, our histories, our stories, our power in society – those often unseen things that exist beneath the water lines of our lives.  Let’s get together for meaningful conversation, and explore who we are as an intercultural community, through the lens of the cultural iceberg we call the clergy collar. Here’s one suggested reading, which may reflect the views of many in the church. And we’ll explore more views together.