I. Lesson Plan
This is a lesson plan for
Atlanta Friends Meeting’s Gathered Meeting Retreat, which will take place on
March 27-29, 2015. My goal for the
retreat is to introduce people in the meeting to some of the different ways
that Friends worship. I hope that by
talking about different forms of worship and spiritual practices, Friends in
the meeting will expand their understanding of worship, have a larger
vocabulary for talking about worship and spiritual experiences, and deepen our
communal experience of the unprogrammed worship that we practice at Atlanta
Friends Meeting.
Friday evening: Introductions (7:00-9:00pm)
·
Introduction: theme, take care of yourself, what
we will be doing
·
Opening circle questions (ask people to say
their name and stand while speaking):
·
What is one thing that you love about Friends?
·
What is one thing that you brought with
you? One thing you left behind?
·
Why are you here?
·
Names for the divine exercise
·
Introduction to worship sharing (handout)
·
Small groups
·
Introductions
·
Query: How is the Spirit with you?
Saturday morning: Prayer (9:00am-12:00pm)
·
Introduction to prayer – expansive, holding in
the Light, go where they haven’t gone
·
Anne Lamott’s prayer: help, thanks, wow
·
“Thanks,” by W. S. Merwin
·
Psalm 16
·
Embodied prayer
·
breathing prayer
·
body prayer
·
doodle prayer (show on a flip chart)
·
mandalas
·
labyrinths/walks
·
prayer postures (holding in the Light) – to your
ability
Break
·
Stations of the Lord’s Prayer – a
Christ-centered activity (useful, educational, optional!)
·
alternative: mandalas
·
debrief
·
close with singing prayer: Simple Gifts
·
Worships sharing
·
pray together
·
Query:
When you pray, how do you pray?
·
Small groups: pray for each other (be clear
about boundaries, participate to your comfort level)
Saturday afternoon: Experiences in Worship (3:00-5:30pm)
Worship
·
Small groups
·
Query: Was there a time when you felt the Spirit
moving in worship?
·
Fishbowl
·
People who often speak in meeting: What does it
feel like when you give vocal ministry?
·
People who speak less often: How do you
experience worship?
·
Conversation for the group
·
What is the strangest thing you or another
person has felt led to do during worship?
·
What is vocal ministry? Where does it come from?
Sunday morning: Worship (9:30am-12:00pm)
·
Semi-programmed worship: singing, gratitudes,
petitions
·
Bible reading in the manner of Ohio YM
Conservative Friends – introduce, can use other sacred texts
Break
·
Worship
In this retreat, a
lot of the activities are focused around queries. This is a typical Friends practice, but it
also reflects my understanding of religious education as not coming primarily
from the teacher. By responding to the
queries, the people at the retreat are drawing on their own inner wisdom and
bringing responses that are more diverse and profound than I could by
lecturing. Particularly in the section
on prayer, I offer many different practices, but I trust that people will
choose the practices that are best for them.
The activities in
this retreat also reflect my emphasis on the body. Wherever I can, I have people participate in
ways that get them moving and reflecting on their own bodies in worship. In addition, the majority of the sessions are
experiential. I do not just want people
to hear about worship, I want them to experience it themselves. I hope that in all of this, we will have the
experience of God teaching us, directly and through everyone in the room.
II. Reflection
A joy for me in
leading this retreat was how well integrated the children’s program was. Sometimes in retreats like this, the
children’s program can feel like childcare or an afterthought. I was not responsible for the children’s
program, but the woman who was leading the children called me to discuss what I
was planning to cover and we talked about how that could be adapted for the
children. For example, both adults and
children considered prayer practices on Saturday morning, and the children made
a mural entitled “How Do We Pray?” that we later put up in the main room. The program on Friday night and Sunday
morning had intergenerational aspects, and everyone came together for the
Variety Show on Saturday night.
The first
frustration that I experienced was with the schedule. I did not have much control over the
schedule; the planning committee just told me which blocks of time I had to
provide content. Unfortunately, meals
only lasted an hour and the committee scheduled the program to begin exactly
when the meals ended (i.e., breakfast was from 8:00 to 9:00 and the morning
program was scheduled to begin at 9:00).
This meant that I was rushed trying to get to the room where we were
meeting and that everyone else was late.
I spoke with a member of the committee about this and suggested that
next year, they schedule at least 15 minutes between the end of meals and
program.
Another
thing that was hard for me was that we had different people in nearly every
session. A few came to everything, but
many were unable to arrive until late on Friday, some left early because they
were sick, and some were taking this as a real retreat rather than coming to
the program. I expected some of this,
and made it explicit that the program elements were optional. Combined with people arriving late to
sessions, however, this made it challenging to know when to start or how many
people to expect, and it led to some lack of cohesion in the group.
My response to
both of these issues was to begin with 15 minutes of silent worship. This worked pretty well. Our practice in unprogrammed meetings is that
the meeting begins when the first person sits in worship, and others enter into
that silence. By being on time myself
and sitting in silence, I was able to invite others into worship and signal
that we had started the program.
I got some good
feedback over the weekend. One person
said that I had done a good job redirecting back to the topic at hand when
others tried to change the subject.
There were a few times when people brought up areas that could have
derailed the conversation and the program, but I was able to step in and remind
Friends to come back to the theme.
Another person commented that she had never seen a retreat leader leave
the room the way I did during small group discussions (and other times). This was intentional: I find that when I am
in the room, a lot of the focus is on me, and it is helpful for me to leave
when I want participants to talk to each other.
Even though it was a lot of work, I really had a
good time leading this retreat. It was
fun for me to share worship practices with my faith community, and it was a
different experience to do a retreat for people that I already know. We got to know each other better, and I know
that we will continue to be in relationship with each other. This also provided an opportunity for me to
reflect on how I have grown in ministry and leadership. I had led almost all of the activities
before, but I felt more relaxed and confident than I have in the past, and I
think that made it a better experience for everyone.
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