•Why Proxxima: Storying Our Identity•

Captivated by questions of how we see (perspective)
and how we know things (epistemology)
—practices which are always challenging the paradigms we hold —
we have been drawn to viewing the sky.
This exercise reminds us of how small we are
in this infinite world that is God’s.
We have searched many night skies for identifiable constellations
and have often repeated this story:

Before going to bed one night, Teddy Roosevelt
joined the noted naturalist William Beebe for a bit of star-gazing.
‘That is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda,’ Roosevelt declared,
indicating a small patch of light near the constellation of Pegasus.
‘It is as large as our Milky Way.
It is one of a hundred million galaxies.
It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.’
The president then turned to Beebe.
’Now I think we are small enough,’ he declared.
‘Let's go to bed.’ *

Seven decades ago
Pamela’s grandfather, Will F. Jenkins,
wrote a science fiction novella called Proxima Centauri.
He spoke to his granddaughter about the Proxima Centauri star,
and its constellation Centaurus,
noting they cannot be seen from the little dot of our existence
in the continental United States.
The knowledge of these faraway lights
serve as a reminder of the limitations of human perspective
— of points not visible to us in this place and time.
Additionally, the link between generations,
and the idea of stellar and mortal bodies in synergy,
fit well with the faith-focused mission of Proxxima.

Also compelling is the word association to distance and closeness:
˚ proximity (nearness/closeness),
˚ proximate (central point),
˚ proxemics (social boundaries).
Thinking further about proximity,
we chose the unique spelling, two Xs in Proxxima,
to symbolize the dance of distance and closeness between individuals
(an important concept in family systems theory);
the two Xs also represent to us
the potential synergy in collaborative efforts.

Leading within chaos and conflict
can feel as if the stars are falling:
there is no spatial orientation
when one is in the midst.
By bumping up against each other
in the changing world,
we often find something new is formed.
And though our smallness is real
in relation to the uncharted universe,
each one of us has an effect
on the outcome of the world's story.

From this beginning,
the Proxxima mission seeks to illustrate and articulate
what can be observed and shared
along the journey of leadership within faith communities.
In so doing, leaders and their spouses, colleagues, and congregants
can be effectively sustained in the Leader/Hero's Quest.

-----
* "Teddy Roosevelt: Billions and Billions." http://www.anecdotage.com.
12 July 2004

— also can be found in a varied form: Boller, Jr., Paul F. Presidential Anecdotes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 210 - 211.