Centering (5 minutes)
This is a time to make the transition from the busy world to the group experience. A member of the group may read these words which appear on the door of the Unitarian Church in Dublin, Ireland:
We bid you welcome to this house. It is a place we love and which we tend with care. We do not ask that you believe, or expect you to think the way we do, but only that you try to live a kindly, helpful life, with the dignity proper to a human being. Preachers here have the task of presenting religion fearlessly, freely, and faithfully. Hearers have the responsibility of testing what they hear, not only with the critical mind, but also in the living of everyday life. The members of this congregation welcome the support of all who believe that religion is wider than any sect and deeper than any set of opinions, and that all might find in their friendships strength and encouragement for daily living.
Check-in (10 to 25 minutes)
Each person in the group has the opportunity to share something about his or her life. What significant events have taken place recently in your life? Have you accomplished something meaningful to you? Have you experienced any losses or setbacks? Have you had any insights or new ideas?
Group Discussion (45 to 70 minutes)
Our spiritual theme for this month is Hospitality. Hospitality can mean welcoming, sheltering, introducing, encountering. Hospitality can mean building bridges. Hospitality can mean discovering the common human connections between people who might otherwise regard one another as mysterious, foreign, threatening, other, or alien. Hospitality can be a demanding yet rewarding spiritual practice. How might we develop and deepen our hospitality here at our congregation?
For group discussion, please consider the questions associated with one or more of the following numbered sections. You need not address all of these sections, and you need not address them in this order.
1.When you were a newcomer here, did you receive a warm welcome? Do you feel welcome now?
2.How easy is it for you to offer hospitality to newcomers?
3. In his book One Foot Planted in the Center and the Other Dangling Off the Edge, Gordon Dragt wrote, “Everybody uses the word welcome. It is the easiest word in the English language to say, write, print, and display on a bulletin board or banner, but the hardest word on the planet to do. And now, diversity, multiculturalism, and multiracialism are becoming similar ‘in’ phrases – easy to say and claim; hard to do and maintain.”
When we say “welcome” here at ourChurch, how well do our actions match our words? How important are diversity, multiculturalism, and multiracialism for you? How important are diversity, multiculturalism, and multiracialism here at ouur Church? What evidence do you have to support your opinion?
4. Karen Armstrong wrote, “A person who is impartial, fair, calm, gentle, serene, accepting, and openhearted is indeed a refuge.”
Have you known someone who has served as a refuge for you? That is, have you known someone in whose presence you experienced a sense of sanctuary or safety?
5. Someone has said: “The most radical thing we can to is to introduce people to one another.”
Is it good to create relationships that cross over social boundaries? Why? Does a congregation like ours, which often introduces people to one another who might not otherwise meet, strengthen the fabric of society? How?
Conclusion (5 to 10 minutes)
What will you take away from this discussion? What would have made this time together more meaningful or satisfying to you? What did you enjoy? A group member may share this poem entitled “A Lot of Kids” by Jeff Moss:
There are a lot of kids
Living in my apartment building
And a lot of apartment buildings on my street
And a lot of streets in this city
And a lot of cities in this country
And a lot of countries in the world.
So I wonder if somewhere there’s a kid I’ve never met
Living in some building on some street
In some city and country I’ll never know –
And I wonder if that kid and I might be best friends
If we ever met.