Approximate Agenda for 01/17/03 Friday Evening Covenant Group

(Meeting #6)

 

 

 

DINNER  (6:30-7:00 PM)

 

 

LIGHTING OF THE CHALICE (7:00):

“No man is an island, entire of itself;  every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;  if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were;  any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind;  and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;  it tolls for thee.”

            ( - John Donne)

 

 

CHECK-IN (<2 minutes each à 7:00-7:20)

 

 

 

MAIN TOPIC (7:20 – 8:10)     

What does “Community” mean to me?  Has my sense of community changed over time?  What are my expectations of it?  What do I consider to be the obligations of a Community member?  What unites/bonds something into a “community”, what defines its limits?  How do I become part of a community?  For me, what does a community accomplish that a less-defined group of people cannot?  Are there different types (family/friends vs neighborhood vs TJMC vs regional vs US cultural vs world vs universal)?  Do I feel there is a community of all mankind?  Am I my brother’s/sister’s keeper?  Does my sense of community extend beyond human beings?

 

 

 

CHECK-OUT (<1 minute each à 8:10-8:20)

 

 

CLOSING WORDS (8:20)

“This we know.  The earth does not belong to us;  we belong to the earth.

This we know.  All things are connected like the blood which unites one family.

All things are connected.  Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.  We did not weave the web of life;  We are merely a strand in it.  Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”

                        (- Attributed to Chief Noah Sealth)