Friday Evening Covenant Group
DINNER 6:30-7:00 (30 minutes)
CHALICE LIGHTING AND OPENING WORDS (2 minutes to read, 1 in silence)
I know the world has a floating finish line that we can never reach because it keeps changing, and if we are not saved, usually by radically odd and uncooperative people, we can lose our lives in pursuit of winning.
I know that we are in hellish times, but that the world is rich in peace and mercy and beauty.
I know that there is one who has all power, and that it's not me, or George Bush.
I know that every time I call out for help, the phone rings, or the mail comes, or I get that noodgey Holy Spirit feeling inside, and enough of an answer to take the next right step.
I know that I need to let go, or I am going to get dragged.
Letting go is definitely not my strong suit. Neither is forgiveness. In fact, they're the two things I'm worst at.
Why couldn't God's answer be, "Why don't you obsess endlessly about this? Then try to control this situation into a fare-thee-well, and be sure not to breathe at all, and try to manipulate everyone into doing things your way; and then stomp away and brood for awhile and then eat a big bag of Hershey's Kisses?"
--Annie Lamott
CHECK-IN (15 minutes)
DISCUSSION (60 minutes)
ADDICTION--Questions to ponder if/as you like:
If you or someone you know or love are or have been "addicted" to a substance/behavior:
What feelings or sensations do you gain when you yield to the impulse?
What feelings or sensations do you avoid?
What insights would you share with a young person about addiction?
What do you believe about denial and addiction?
If you or someone you love has known addiction, how has that affected your relationship? How has it affected your relationship to yourself?
Is addiction a natural human drive? If so, what is that drive?
How do addictions serve it? What else could meet the same need?
Why are some addictions socially acceptable and others not?
What do you think of the expression "positive addiction"?
CHECK-OUT (15 minutes)
CLOSING WORDS (2 minutes)
"Bar Time"
In keeping with universal saloon practice,
the clock here is set fifteen minutes ahead
of all the clocks in the outside world.
This makes us a rather advanced group,
doing our drinking in the unknown future,
immune from the cares of the present,
safely harbored a quarter of an hour
beyond the woes of the contemporary scene.
No wonder such thoughtless pleasure derives
from tending the small fire of a cigarette,
from observing this glass of whiskey and ice,
the cold rust I am sipping,
or from having an eye on the street outside
when Ordinary Time slouches past in a topcoat,
rain running off the brim of his hat,
the late edition like a flag in his pocket.
--Billy Collins
HOUSEKEEPING [5 minutes]
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