CAPACITIES OF ABUNDANCE Based on The Abundant Community By John McKnight and Peter Block 2014

Capacities of Abundant Communities Kindness Generosity Cooperation Forgiveness Acceptance of Fallibility Mystery

Kindness  Kindness is a relationship embedded with love, care and respect  It overlooks or accepts the frailties of the human condition.  Building blocks of kindness: music, dance, story telling

Generosity  Generosity is to make an offer for its own sake  Generosity emerges from the ground (properties) of abundance  Community abundance depends on generosity

Cooperation  Cooperation: “For me to win, you must win.”  Competition is a core value of scarcity. Cooperation is based on the belief that there is enough for each of us.  Caring for the whole and commitment to work something out.

Forgiveness  Forgiveness is the willingness to come to terms with having been wounded, to let it go and rebuild  We find a way to accept the dark side of our own past and somehow complete it

Fallibility  Acceptance of human limitations  We pray, do rituals, cultural ways of dealing with fallibility and tragedy  Frees us to use our gifts without fear

Mystery  Creating space for what is unknowable  Freedom from the burden of answers  Art, music, and ritual are ways to grasp the mystery in our lives

Assessing Capacities