-
Respect the Talking Stick-one person speaking
at a time, no interruptions, comments, questions etc. during check-in and first
round of sharing on topic
-
Make I statements whenever possible
-
Use Active Listening
-
Respect confidentiality of shared
information
-
Avoid giving advice
o
May ask clarifying questions during second
round
o
Speaker may ask for advice which will be
shared later
-
Share time so everyone who wishes to may
speak
-
Anyone may pass at any time
-
Encourage holding silences
Group Expectations
Opening Words/ Chalice Lighting:
The
central task of a religious community is to unveil the bonds that bind each to
all. There is a connectedness, a
relationship discovered amid the particulars of our own lives and the lives of
others.
Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed
Check-in Challenge: In
two minutes or less tell us what we need to know about you.
And you start giving me advice
You have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me
And you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that
way
You are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me
And you feel you have to do something to solve my
problem
You have failed me, strange as that may seem.
Listen!
All I asked was that you listen
Not to talk or do
Just hear me.
Advice is cheap-25 cents will get you both Dear Abby
and Billy Graham in the same
newspaper. And I can do for myself-I’m not helpless. Maybe discouraged and
faltering, but not helpless.
When you do something for me
That I can and need to do for myself
You contribute to my fear and weakness.
But, when you accept as a simple fact
That I do feel what I feel
Then I can quit trying to convince you
And can get about the business of understanding
And when that’s clear
The answers are obvious and I don’t need advice.
So please
Just listen and just hear me
And if you want to talk
Wait a minute for your turn
And I’ll listen to you.
Anonymous
Questions:
1. Describe
your previous experience(s) with covenant groups?
2. Why do you want to be a part of this covenant
group?
3. How
do we want to be in this group and how do we want others to be?
4. What do you hope to take home with you from
this covenant group?
Check-out
For about half the time we took at check-in, each of us can make a brief statement about how we feel about the meeting, and what are our hopes for future meetings
And now we take our leave.
Before we gather here
again—
may
each of us bring happiness into another’s life;
may
we each be surprised by the gifts that surround us;
may
we each be enlivened by constant curiosity;
and
may we remain together in spirit ‘til the hour we meet again.