Welcoming and Entering
Part of A Place of Wholeness
Materials for Activity
- Journals for new participants
- Newsprint, markers and tape
Preparation for Activity
- Have journals available for participants who do not have one. Set out supplies for them to personalize the journals during the Welcoming and Entering time.
- Write the Welcome Words and questions on newsprint and post.
Description of Activity
The Welcome Words are meant to set the stage for the workshop and spark conversation before the workshop begins. The Welcome Words for today include a quote and two questions.
I was humbled, I was confounded, I saw clearly, that I had been all my life expecting good fruit from corrupt trees, grapes on thorns, and figs on thistles, I suspected myself, I had lost my standing, I was unsettled, perturbed and wretched. -John Murray (founder of American Universalism) on first listening to a sermon about universal salvation
Questions: When have you been humbled or confounded in your faith or belief system? When have you seen clearly in your faith or belief system?
As participants arrive, invite them to make a journal, review and/or add to their journal based on the Welcome Words posted, or informally discuss the Welcome Words. Spend some time with visitors and first-time participants orienting them to the program and getting a sense of what brought them today.