Backyard to the Universe
Welcoming Congregations
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SMALL
GROUP MINISTRY
Welcoming
as Spiritual Practice
Opening
Words (please read these aloud):
Who shall ascend into the hill of
the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? There is no one but
us. There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on
the face of the earth, nor in the earth, but only us, a generation
comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward
time, that our innocent fathers are all dead – as if innocence
had ever been – and our children busy and troubled, and we
ourselves unfit, not yet ready, having each of us chosen wrongly,
made a false start, failed, yielded to impulse and the tangled
comfort of pleasures, and grown exhausted, unable to seek the thread,
weak, and involved.
But there is no one but us.
There never has been.
– Annie Dillard, from Holy
the Firm
Check-in
(please take two minutes each):
You
are invited to share any cares or concerns or anything about you at
this moment. Please do not interrupt or respond to others. Please
affirm confidentiality in this group.
Topical
Questions (please consider and
discuss):
What
spiritualities feel “welcome” in your congregation?
(e.g. – Christianity, atheism, Humanism, Buddhism, earth-based,
etc.)
What
practices affirm these spiritualities? (e.g. – music,
readings, sermons, prayer or meditation, observance of holidays,
rituals)
How
might welcoming more BGLTQ people enrich your congregation’s
spiritual practices? What about your own spiritual life?
“There
is no one but us” – how does that affect in a spiritual
way your welcome of BGLTQ people? What about Republicans? What
about BGLTQ Republicans?
Closing
Words (please read these aloud):
We
clasp the hands of those that go before us, and the hands of those
who come after us.
We
enter the circle of each other’s arms and the larger circle of
lovers,
whose hands are joined in a
dance,
And
the larger circle of all creatures, passing in and out of life,
Who
move also in a dance, to a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears
it
Except in fragments.
– Wendell Berry, “The
Larger Circle”
Check-out
(please take two minutes each):
How
did this session go for you? Did it help you stretch your
understanding or better share your experiences and insights? Do you
feel more welcoming?
Rev.
David Chandler, Saco-Biddeford, for the Welcoming Congregation
Conference Nov.2007.
Welcoming Congregation, General
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