Alternate Activity 1: Sharing the Spirit of Life (30 minutes)
Materials for Activity
- Newsprint, markers, and tape
- Bell
- Clock, watch, or timer that shows seconds
Preparation for Activity
- Think about your willingness and ability to be involved in ongoing support for the participants in Spirit of Life. While you are not obligated to be involved in any way after leading this workshop, participants may ask you to be. What boundaries will you draw on your future involvement? Who else might you invite to become involved in providing support? Planning ahead will help you respond helpfully and honestly to participants' requests.
- Plan how many small groups you will form for this activity. Prepare several sheets of newsprint, markers, and tape for each small group.
Description of Activity
Introduce the activity with these or similar words:The word "spirit" comes from the Latin for "breath." The word "conspire" comes from the Latin for breathing together. I want to invite you into a time of conspiring, a time of shared inspiration.
You have heard people name the gifts they've received from this time together and you have heard people say what kind of support they want for their spiritual journeys. What are the gifts this gathered community can bring to the congregation?
Is there a ritualized, celebratory way to bring these gifts to the community?
Also please brainstorm ways the participants in our workshop can offer one another ongoing support.
Imagine ways this group can share the gifts they've received with the congregation.
Divide participants into groups of four or five in which they will consider these questions. Ask each group to appoint someone to take notes with a marker on newsprint.
Examples of what groups might come up with include leading Spirit of Life workshops again; leading a Sunday service on Spirit of Life; forming spiritual partnerships or triads for speaking, listening, (and holding the space); starting a spiritual journal writing group; creating a prayer circle; creating a monthly Circle of Support for participants; offering more adult programs from the UUA's Tapestry of Faith series, such as the Spirit in Practice workshop by Erik Walker Wikstrom, forthcoming in 2008.
After ten minutes of discussion, invite groups to return their focus to the large group and to present their ideas.
Each group shares their ideas with the large group, and posts their newsprint notes on the wall.
Ask for comments from the whole group after each small group shares. If there seems to be significant energy around any of the ideas in particular, discuss them further as a whole group. If the group wants to go forward with follow-up, be sure to delegate tasks. You can use these questions as guidelines:
- What other people in the congregation should be involved in the decision-making around this?
- Who will be the "point person" to follow up with those people and report back to the group?
- Who is willing to take responsibility for making this idea happen?
Including All Participants
If you notice some participants struggling to hear one another in their small groups, make an alternative space available for small group work.
Last updated on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
