What is "Public Narrative"?

First of all, the bird of paradise doesn’t really have anything to do with this post about Public Narrative, but is a little bonus for your visual enjoyment! It is also an emblem of the fact that most of us come from a completely different setting and climate to gather in this place. Seeing these “birds” growing along the sidewalks next to palm trees is a reminder to me that I’m not in Oregon any more, and there is something much larger than me, my parish, or my diocese being formed and lead in this gathering.

Public Narrative, a process developed by Harvard Kennedy School professor Marshall Gantz, is the structure for a series of “mission conversations” held throughout General Convention. Here’s a description of Public Narrative from the Kennedy School website: “Public narrative is how we turn values into action — the discursive process by which individuals, communities, and nations construct identity, formulate choices, and motivate action. Because we use narrative to engage the “head” and the “heart,” it both instructs and inspires, teaching us not only how we ought to act, but motivating us to act thus engaging the “hands” as well. Public narrative is a leadership art composed of three elements: a story of self, a story of us, and a story of now. A story of self communicates who I am — my values, my experience, why I do what I do. A story of us communicates who we are — our shared values, our shared experience, and why we do what we do. And a story of now articulates the present as a moment of challenge, choice, and hope."

We’ve had only one “mission conversation so far,” in which a group from our diocese gathered around a table and shared “stories of self.” However, during a “committee of the whole” session in the House of Deputies, we used a structure inspired by Public Narrative to have a holy conversation with the person next to us. (See an upcoming post, “What’s up with B033?”which I hope to post later this evening.) We meet this afternoon for a second mission conversation, when we will be sharing “stories of us.”