In my workplace, we host team devotions twice a week. All members of Medair’s Goma team (usually 50-60 people) come together to sing, share reflections on a Bible passage, and to hear key announcements. Lately we have been hosting these devotions via video calls.
An aspect of devotions that I truly love is that the person sharing reflections can be any member of the team. And when they are sharing, everyone else has to listen. There’s no correlation between one’s place in the hierarchy and one’s involvement in sharing. Additionally, our devotions are a space in which new, informal leaders emerge, as some people excel at convening the sessions, leading the singing, or offering prayers and reflections that articulate the mood of the team. This serves to upend the traditional power structure within the office, reminding us that nobody is worth more or less according to their title or the size of their salary.
Yesterday, my colleague Steve shared a reflection on Jesus’ command to loving one’s neighbour. He spoke about the current protests in the United States, and explained that he sees systemic racism as fundamentally arising from a lack of love for one’s neighbour – indeed a failure to recognise one’s neighbour. “Black people aren’t given the same consideration,” he said. Steve explained that, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), people who do not receive the same consideration are exactly the people that we should consider as our neighbours.
I’m struck by the depth and pertinence of Steve’s message. I’m also hugely grateful that he had the space to speak, and was confident enough to reflect with real honesty on a theme that means a lot to him (and to the wider team).
Something I hope to take into my own work is to help to create and maintain spaces where people feel comfortable to speak openly. Our experience as a team – and beyond that, as a group of people – is so much richer for it.