I (Richard Manley-Tannis aka me) began blogging with the United Church of Canada (UCCan) during the Emerging Spirit Programme in 2008. Though I approach the world through a Christian lens, I celebrate that all human truths fail to fully appreciate a universe & reality that cannot confine the Holy. In A Deacon’s Musing, I meander & ruminates, reflect & challenge. Hopefully some of it makes sense & I invite you to ask questions, push me to clarify & listen with intention!
I have journeyed journeyed with alternatives to the Canadian adjudicative judicial system & continues to endeavour to merge my practical conflict resolution & organisational development experience with appropriate theological & academic explorations. As well, I really appreciates the nuances of organisational & systems analysis. In such pursuits, I utilise such tools as Appreciative Inquiry & the Enneagram. In 2014, I began my PhD with The Taos Institute & Tilburg University. In this next journey of learning, which ended in 2020 with my graduation in the Netherlands, the completed project was an academic exploration of shifting the UCCan’s narrative from one of deficit and fear to one of abundance, mission and hope. The project ends with a practical application (i.e. workshops) to assist congregations live out the findings of the dissertation.
Since 2018, I have had honour to fill the role as Principal of St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon, SK, Canada. In this capacity I am excited to be part of a team that is engaged in nurturing and preparing leadership in the church through the explicit lens of justice!
Now I am wide-eyed-open to where Creator is next inviting me …
Vignette|Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin . . .
Stories … they’re funny things. This A Deacon’s Musing feature will share vignettes of voices that are (often) an amalgamation of experiences, contexts and people. They will frequently be monologues, which will be speaking
Vignette|The Story of Then
This particular Vignette arises as a way to use art – literature – to explore my PhD project with the Taos Institute and Tilburg University (Humanities), which I completed in 2020. Each one of these PhD vignettes uses autoethnography, through the art of story-telling, to better understand my connexion to the project, From Suspicion to Reparation through a Relational Practical Theology: Transforming The United Church of Canada.
#MicroPoetry|May ’21 Reflections
#ShineOn The #MicroPoetry of the blog began as a creative practice in 2012. Using the confines of twitter's 140 characters, this discipline has been a generative opportunity to use words to poetically
#MicroPoetry|May ’21 Memes
Too often it seems that words and images are placed against one another. The gift of a meme, when hopefully done well, is that the word and the visual serve to complement and enhance
#MicroPoetry|May ’21 Verses
Every month I tweet #MicroPoetry! In 140 characters, they are part prayer, thought, reflection, challenge or something in-between. I look forward to sharing them with you and hope that they may lead to reflection,
Change during a Pandemic Exile
This address was offered during the 20th Convocation ceremony of the Saskatoon Theological Union, which was held on May 7th, 2021. Saskatoon Theological Union Hello friends, alum and graduates. Welcome
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