From the REACH-L mailing list

I just wanted to pass along an idea we've been trying this spring for adult RE at our church. We've called it "Life Stories Conversations." It involves having one person in the congregation speak for about 40 minutes about some aspect of his or her life's journey. (Some people use part of this time to show slides, present art work, read poems, do a meditation, etc.) Their presentation is followed by about 20 minutes of conversation with the people attending. (I've been rather firm about listening to the person speaking rather than jumping into a conversation early. My ulterior motive is to practice listening more deeply to one another -- and it seems to be working!)

We've been having the conversations before our regular Sunday morning service. The response has been very positive. Several people have told me that the conversations feel "like church" or "worship" to them because of the intimate, deep sharing community that has been taking place. Since our church is in a major transition, this experience has been all the more needed.

To get the series going, I asked people to volunteer themselves and/or nominate someone else (on a form in the newsletter). I intentionally selected a variety of people (old-timers and newcomers, women and men, etc.) Each conversation has been wonderfully unique and moving (e.g. a couple recited their wedding vows; a woman with a chronic illness read a series of poems; a physicist showed diagrams about building a cyclotron; a woman showed slides of her mother who survived the Titanic as a child, etc.)

Every person who has done a conversation has thanked me for the opportunity it has given them to reflect on their life's journey and to share it with people at church. Several mentioned how they had been looking for a long time for such a place to share something important to them (for example, one woman whose son witnessed the killing of another teen in our community had composed a powerful "sound poem" about the experience, but had never been invited to share it until she did so with us). Some of our most outgoing folks at church have told me in private that they are not sure they're "interesting" or "accomplished" enough but with encouragement from me have gone forward with the conversation and found it very rewarding and challenging. I try to convey that these conversations are about sharing ourselves, not listing our accomplishments or entertaining others. It has been amazing to me what I've learned about people who, too often, I just race by on Sunday morning. Now I can't see them without remembering more of who they are and, thus, feeling a deeper connection with each of them.

The series has been such a positive experience this spring that I plan to continue it next year, perhaps offering an adult RE course as well for those who want more support or time to ponder their life's stories and prepare for a conversation.