I went through a frustrating phase in my development as a composer. I had creative ideas I fell in love with quickly, and then I would get tired of working on them before they evolved into a completed piece of music. I invested a lot of energy with nothing really to show for it aside from a drawer full of rejected or abandoned ideas.
Some people do this with romantic relationships. They really enjoy the NRE (New Relationship Energy) when things are new and they’re discovering fascinating things about one another and want to spend every waking moment together. But when the NRE wears off, they lose interest in the other person, and they seek out someone else they can experience that emotional burst of newness with. Their relationships never have a chance to develop in a mature depth of connection.
For some, this is reflected in being “workshop junkies,” bouncing from one innovative and inspiring workshop to the next. It’s exciting to explore new ideas and feel the burst of emotional energy that comes with fresh insights and possibilities. But unless we take time to let those ideas mature, they never really take root in a way that brings about meaningful results.
Whether people are talking about the growth and development of ideas or relationships or beings, this phase is often called the germination phase. It’s the flash of inspiration, the compelling new idea, or the euphoric bonding of one person with another. It’s the first step in a longer process. If we want an idea or a relationship or a being to grow and mature into a state of health and wholeness, we have to move beyond the germination phase into a different kind of intentionality or commitment or depth.
I eventually learned (or was perhaps told enough times by a wise mentor) that I needed to stick with an idea and deeply commit to it if I wanted to ever finish a piece of music. I needed to be willing to say no to the options that didn’t work and allow a musical idea to develop into maturity. I also needed to clarify what vision I was working toward before falling head over heels into the creative process.
So, I determined that I would compose a string quartet. I took a few ideas out of the drawer of abandoned inspirations, and I committed more deeply to them. I resolved to explore what was possible if I said yes to a specific vision and held onto it until I knew I had completed the piece.
Our congregation is at a threshold. We are being invited to set aside the germination phase and move into a deeper commitment to the future. Last year, we started from as blank a canvass as we could, exploring what we needed from our building and what our physical space needs from us. We had lots of conversations with an architect, who took all of our ideas and assimilated them into a range of possibilities. We weighed in again with our personal passions and preferences.
Over the past month, more than half of the congregation participated in capital campaign focus groups. More than half is amazing and exciting, by the way! Some people were just catching up with the work of the previous year. Some of us had energy about how to generate even more ideas. It’s exciting to bring people together and generate ideas. And also, that germination phase can’t go on forever.
Actually, that’s not true. The germination phase could go on forever. I suppose there are some congregations that wind up with the equivalent of a drawer full of half-engaged, abandoned creative ideas. But we are being invited into a different journey, where we shift from the high energy of germination to a deeper energy of development and commitment to build the future of our spiritual community. And I’m so grateful and honored to cross this threshold with you.