Session Plan
by Rev. Mark Christian, senior minister of the First Unitarian
Church of Oklahoma City
From Covenant Group News
An occasional newsletter about Covenant Group Ministry read by 830
forward-looking Unitarian Universalists.
Vol. 4, No. 9A September 10, 2002
(See also Readings and Discussion
Topics )
CHALICE LIGHTING
CHALICE READING -- We begin with words from Thomas Wolfe:
(See our hymnal, “Singing the Living Tradition,” Reading
# 555, entitled “Some Things Will Never Change”)
INITIAL CHECK-IN
How are you doing, today? How are you feeling, right now? What’s
going on in your life that you’d like to share right now?
INTRODUCTION
A year ago (today, tomorrow, yesterday, Tuesday) four jet aircraft
were commandeered and used in a plot that shook America to its very
core. Passengers and crew aboard three planes were killed as hijackers
flew fuel-laden airliners into the twin towers of New York City’s
World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington.
For a year we have been reeling. Some say it was a necessary loss of
innocence, some say it was a dagger to a nation’s heart. People
speak of “A return to normalcy” but no one seems to know how
to find the way to what it was that so many saw as so normal for so
long.
Part of our makeup as human beings causes us to gauge and affix value
to the passage of time. It has now been a year. People have died. People
have loved. Children have been born. Time has passed and now we mark
an anniversary.
GUIDED MEDITATION
As people of faith, as Unitarian Universalists, we have chosen to do
mark the passage of time in relationship, in covenant, with others of
like minds and
hearts. Let us allow to build in our presence a holy silence where we
may hear a still small voice within. May we let this whisper of truth
and justice and
hope nourish us, heal us, lead us. Then in the fullness of time let
us share our thoughts, our memories and our feelings. Let us share these
things with
each other in the hope that our sharing may unburden us, offer strength,
and solace to those in need.
When did you first learn of this tragedy? Where were you? How did you
find out? Who did you tell? What did you see that day that you can’t
forget? What did you hear or think or say that you will never forget?
Take a moment, collect your thoughts and memories and tell us your
unique story of that day—everyone, everyone, has a unique story
to tell. Take a moment and give your story voice. Those of us with you
here today will listen with our hearts as well as our ears. When you
have taken your share of the time we have together, say “Thank
you for listening. Now I am ready to listen.” Speak, be thankful,
and then prepare to listen until all who would do so have been heard.
We all have stories to tell. We all need to listen to the stories of
others.
Let us treasure a moment of silence together as we will treasure words
that each of us may speak.
SILENCE
(Share in a way that is appropriate to your group—if speaking
order is usually informal, or if it flows around the circle or if it
is usually prompted by a
marker or leader, do so with this exercise)
CLOSING WORDS
Our closing words are from the last passages of the reading we used
at the beginning of our session. Thomas Wolfe said that some things
never change, but he concluded by writing that:
Pain and death will always be the same. But under the pavements trembling
like a pulse, under the building trembling like a cry, under the waste
of time, under the hoof of the beast above the broken bones of cities,
there will be something growing like a flower—Something bursting
from the earth again, forever death less, faithful, coming into life
again like April.
CHECK-OUT -- Using “one breath or less” share your conclusion
to this sentence:
“Right now I feel…”
-- the Rev. Mark Christian, First Unitarian Church, Oklahoma City,
OK
