Gathering Together

Introduction: As we gather together to share our faith it is important to build community among ourselves. Gathering to reflect on our faith and how it shapes and challenges us is a way to forge bonds with one another and build friendships grounded in a belief in something greater than ourselves. Because this often requires us to enter into a space of vulnerability, revealing our deepest held values, beliefs, and feelings, building strong community and respect among one another is an essential component to this process.

Icebreaker:

“Group Machine”[1]: Everyone here has amazing potential and can accomplish amazing things if everyone works together for a common purpose. Select one of the machines listed below and join together to “become” that machine. Each person needs to become part of that machine: be sure to include sound effects and motions/movements. Try more than one if you want.

Old-time washing machine
Auto assembly line
Sausage making machine
Car engine
Car wash
Diaper changing machine
Steam train
Grandfather clock
Jukebox

Secular Reading:
Clarissa Pinkola Estes: “One Stick-Two Stick”
You may want to consider doing a dramatic reading such as the following:

Begin by calling all of the participants together have them gather close in a circle: In a whisper, forcing them to draw in, say: “Come my friends, gather close together and listen to the wisdom of the old African kings” and hand each of them a stick (it should be a stick which can be easily broken) and say: “Break the stick.” Allow a moment for them to do this. Then say: “This is how it is when a soul is alone without anyone. They can be easily broken.” Now distribute to them sticks gathered and tied into a bundle (it should be about four sticks to a bundle) and say: “This is how I would like you to live after I pass. No one can break the sticks when they are two or more in a bundle. We are strong when we stand with another soul. When we are with another, we cannot be broken.”

Sharing: Tell of a time when you felt ‘broken’ and someone comforted you: How did it feel when you had no one to discuss you problem with? How did it feel to have someone to share your feelings with? Or, tell of a time when someone else was ‘broken’ and you comforted them: How did the person you comforted react to your presence?

How did these experience affect you? What did you learn about the value of community?

Faith Reading: MTTW 18: 15-20

Discuss:

How does community function for Jesus? How can the advice of Jesus shape your faith sharing community?

Think back to the story One Stick-Two Stick and consider it along side Jesus’ words: “where ever two or three are gathered there I am in their midst.” How does this strike you, what does it mean/suggest to you about the role of community in the life of faith? How does community function in relationship to faith

Activity: Set some ground rules to guide and facilitate the building of community so that all feel welcome and comfortable. As you do this recall especially the words of Jesus: “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”

Prayer:

Prayer Leader: Take time to quiet yourself. Close your eyes, get comfortable, let the world around you fade away. Imagine yourself leaning against God. Are you comfortable there? What thoughts and feelings come to you as you rest in God’s arms? Allow yourself to be there in quiet surrender. Receive what God offers you.

Do you have any relationships which foster unhealthy dependency? If so, at what expense to yourself and others? How would your life be different if you were not in this dependent situation? What are your fears of leaving this dependency? Offer these concerns up to the God in whom your are resting.[2]

Open your eyes. Look at those who surround you. This is a community which will not be built upon dependency, rather it is one founded on mutuality—each one giving and receiving, each respecting and affirming the value of the other. Each leaning on one another, the whole leaning on God. Here you can begin to let go of those dependency, and never feel yourself abandoned. Let us pray:

(Pass around the following reading allowing each person to read a section, or select two people to alternate as readers)

Reader 1:
Some people lean against fence posts
When their bodies ache from toil.
Some people lean on Oak trees,
Seeking cool shade on hot humid days.

Reader 2:
Some people lean on crutches
When their limbs won’t work for them;
And some people lean on each other
When their hearts can’t stand alone.

Reader 3:
How long it takes to lean upon you,
God of shelter and strength;
Hoe long it takes to recognize the truth
Of where my inner power has its source.

Reader 4:
All my independence, with its arrogance,
Stands up and stretches within me,
Trying to convince my trembling soul
That I can conquer troubles on my own.

Reader 5:
But the day of truth always comes
When I finally yield to you, God,
Knowing you are a steady stronghold,
A refuge when times are tough.

Reader 6:
Thank you for offering me strength,
For being the oak tree of comfort;
Thank you being the sturdy support
When the limbs of my life are weak.

Reader 7:
Praise to you, Eternal Lean-to,
For always being there for me.
Continue to transform me
With the power of your love.
Amen.[3]
[1] Steve Sheely. Jumps Starts and Soft Landings: 101 More Ways to Kick off and End Meetings. Littleton: Serendipity, 1997, 90.
[2] Modified from: Joyce Rupp, May I Have This Dance. Notre Dame: Ave Maria, 1992, 48-9.
[3] Joyce Rupp, May I Have This Dance. Notre Dame: Ave Maria, 1992, 41-2.