First UU Church of Nashville Covenant Group Session Plan #138
Meghann Robern, Intern Minister and CG Facilitator
September Worship Theme: Vocation/Self-Awareness/Self-Reflection
All the readings and quotes for this session plan are from Becoming: A Spiritual Guide for Navigating Adulthood, edited by Kayla Parker.
Opening Words: “Labyrinth,” by Rev. Leslie Takahashi
Walk the maze
within your heart: guide your steps into its questioning curves.
This labyrinth is a puzzle leading you deeper into your own truths.
Listen in the twists and turns.
Listen in the openness within all searching.
Listen: a wisdom within you calls to a wisdom beyond you and in that dialogue lies peace.
Chalice Lighting and Covenant
Check-In and Sharing
Topic:
“I used to think that finding my purpose meant finding a tiny intersection point between my passion and the world’s need. Then I took faith that the world needed passionate people–as Howard Thurman says, ‘people who have come alive.’
“But the greatest learning has come from feeling my fears, my losses, my dreams, and even my quest to ‘find me,’ transformed through the experience of finding and feeling we. Discovering my identity as one who is loved and loves passionately–this has been to come alive.
“What do I want to do with my life? . . . Embrace it.” — David Ruffin
What do the people in your life love about you? Do you agree with how they see you? What do those things tell you about yourself?What are the people, places, things, ideas, that you love the most? Do you feel comfortable expressing those loves, passions, dreams in your life as you live it now? Why or why not? How do the relationships in your life enhance or hinder how you express yourself?
Do you feel that you have “come alive”?
Closing Check-Out and Chalice Extinguishing
Closing Words: “Living Waters,” by Stephen Shick
We float on a sea
hidden beneath dry surfaces
covered by stones.
Isn’t this why we drink and dive so deeply
go down to the sea in ships
risk drowning, again and again?
Isn’t this why Moses parted the waters
to begin his journey?
Why Jesus crossed the waters
to comfort and challenge us?
We were born in water.
We float free in water.
We are washed clean by water.
Isn’t this why we long to find our inward sea?
To help us wash clean the world?