Thread by @TheRaDR

Finally saw @Emma4Change's masterful #MarchForOurLives speech. It was beautifully written and powerfully delivered, and I want to say a few words about why what she did with the silence was so major and instructive for clergy and other kinds of leaders. (thread)

She held space, y'all. Held it big. And you saw how people were kind of uncomfortable at first, yes? We're so used to input and stimulation and have expectations about what happens when a person gets up to a pulpit and etc.

So there were some WHOO! shouts and some people tried to get chants going and fill up the space and what did she do? She kept holding the space. And agonizingly more, and more--defying conventions about what should happen (those 'moments of silence' are rarely more than 60 sec)

And finally people gave in and embraced the silence, and held themselves in it, and had feelings and mourned and handed themselves over to whatever needed to happen there. They got to a place that they wouldn't have if she had gotten uncomfortable and broken it. She held it.

Ever lead a discussion, asked a q, & had silence? & as facilitator, been tempted to ask a follow-up question to get people talking rather than just letting people have their time to process and eventually respond? It's tempting to do that. (They always respond eventually)

It's even harder to hold that silence in the #MarchForOurLives kind of forum--it was ritual space, holy space, and @Emma4Change took people on a journey through their discomfort over to someplace else that they needed to be.

That's what leaders do. Well, a lot of leaders don't do that. But that's the work, right there. I'm grateful for all her work towards making this country safe, and (on a less urgent note) I also think that this speech should be taught in seminaries. Respect.

Also, NB: "Holding space" and "making people be quiet" are not synonymous. It's not that. It's about having a place you want to take people, or an experience you want them to have, and holding that tightly even through their discomfort with or resistance to it.

It could be ritual. It could be silence. Text study. Developing a plan for or engaging in activism. Holding the sanctuary open while people cry or scream or speak. Pastoral 1:1 space. My reference points are as clergy but there are lots of other ones as well.

She held space in silence. There are lots of other ways you can do that. The thing is that she opened the space, drew the boundary, and held it firmly through the experience. That was the work of holy leadership.