Thursday Evening Covenant Group, 4-11-02, SUMMIT HOUSE, TJMC
DINNER 6:30-7:00 (30 minutes)
CHECK-IN (15 minutes)
CHALICE LIGHTING AND OPENING WORDS (5 minutes)
There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.
-- George Bernard Shaw
[note: Assumptions in this selection include "soul" and "God"--feel free to replace!]
Although religion and spirituality are sometimes used interchangeably, they really indicate two different aspects of the human experience. You might say that spirituality is the mystical face of religion.
Spirituality is the wellspring of divinity that pulsates, dances, and flows as the source and essence of every soul. Spirituality relates more to your personal search, to finding greater meaning and purpose in your existence. Some elements of spirituality include:
Looking beyond outer appearances to the deeper significance and soul of everything
Love and respect for God
Love and respect for yourself
Love and respect for everybody
Religion is most often used to describe an organized group or culture that has generally been sparked by the fire of a spiritual or divine soul. Religions usually act with a mission and intention of presenting specific teachings and doctrines while nurturing and propagating a particular way of life.
--from Spirituality for Dummies, by Sharon Janis
DISCUSSION (45 minutes)
How do you define "spirituality" for yourself? (If that word doesn't suit, choose another.)
Can you describe a significant spiritual experience or moment in your life?
Questions to ponder if and as you like:
What is it about certain experiences that puts them in the spiritual or religious realm for you?
Is it something beyond reason?
Have you ever had an experience that felt mystical?
What feels transcendent to you?
If there were physiological explanations for these states of mind, would that make them less spiritual or meaningful?
What do you think about when you ponder nature, the universe, or existence?
Do you feel linked to something beyond your own life?
OUR COVENANTS—(15 minutes)
Where To Go From Here (with Sandy and Al as Co-Facilitators):
1) We "re-up" for another six months and keep going
2) We disband for the summer and reconvene in the fall, adding new members from the waiting list to fill emptied chairs
3) We disband entirely if a majority of us need to move on, and those who want to can join/merge with other CGs
4) Any other inspirations (Change meeting places for the summer, meet at houses?)
Thoughts/Ideas for Our Six-Month Celebration (4/25)
Little pieces of paper (something each member has given or taught you)
Champagne? (And/or fizzy water?)
Others?
CHECK-OUT (5 minutes)
CLOSING WORDS (3 minutes)
[from the poem] Pratitya Samutpada
Do you know this term, my friend?
which describes the co-arising & interconnectedness
of all living things?
If you do this to that, this happens
Or that to that, that happens
Or this to this to that to this to that to that
to this to this to that to that to that, this happens
The sun shines
The dreamer lies down in a suit of fresh clothes
The rain falls on her book of runes
The book gets wet
The seasons come round again
The weapon she dreams of turns back
on her in the hands of the person
she never considered in her plot to save the world
Ah, web-life, I bow to the book --
magical syllables waiting to be caught
I bow to the mind behind it, the tender grass
I bow to the weapon, to the person who wields it
so it dissolves in the hand….
--Anne Waldman, from Fast Speaking Woman