Meeting 3. - Manifestations of New Culture in Christian Life¶
Goal¶
Making participants aware of what New Culture really is, where it came from and what it is for. Conveying that it is worth being oneself and worth openly proclaiming the views one professes; providing a proposal on how to do it. Revealing the essence of New Culture - love of God and neighbor.
Introduction for the animator¶
Although “You too?” are not strictly Oasis retreats, “Re-creation” concerns New Culture and is based on the IX Signpost toward Christian Maturity. It is not necessary to read it to participants in full (although a fragment will be used during the meeting), but it is worth familiarizing yourself with it once again, reading it, reflecting on it:
NEW CULTURE consists in freeing man from everything that degrades his dignity and in developing the value of the person and community in all areas of life; it is today a very necessary form of witness and evangelization; my witness in this area will therefore be the offering of total abstinence from alcohol, tobacco and all drugs as well as spreading the culture of purity and modesty as an expression of respect for the person.
—IX Signpost toward Christian Maturity
This meeting will not make sense without the animator’s personal testimony, without how you yourselves experience your Christianity, how you witness, how you build the world around you. In the outline there is no special point: “HERE YOU SHOULD GIVE TESTIMONY”. You yourselves will know when to do it.
NEEDED AIDS:
some salt - to taste for all participants
cards with inscriptions “egoist”, “grumbler”, “joker”, etc…
sheet with definition of New Culture (last page)
Introduction¶
We already know that man’s vocation is to create and shape the world around him (conference), that this is our task given to us by God. We talked about our freedom and identity, it’s time to take a step further and put it into practice.
What does the life of a Christian in the 21st century look like? Positive and negative aspects.
The examples given below serve only as help for the animator - DO NOT READ!. The goal is not to say that the “average” Christian is bad or good, only to make aware that life doesn’t have to be “average”…)
engaging in various parish initiatives, festivals, fundraisers
life in community
treating others with love, kindness
admitting to professed faith…
shallow treatment of religion (grandma went to church, mom went, so I go too)
after all I believe, I pray, I read Holy Scripture, so that’s enough, really I need little for salvation
I try to witness, but often I lack courage or on the contrary during “defense of faith” I am aggressive, I don’t respect that someone may have a different opinion
I believe, but there are so many prohibitions, I’ll pick those that suit me
duplicity - I believe and profess faith only in some situations, where it’s convenient, and where it doesn’t suit me, I don’t admit to Christ…
Note
Where in this life is there room for creating a new world? How to do it? (ref. to conference)
Discovery and understanding¶
What does creating New Culture in everyday life consist of?
Note
We listen to participants’ answers, guiding them a bit and trying to have two elements appear especially: freeing from what degrades human dignity and developing the value of person and community - reference to two previous meetings
Text of the Signpost (first part). Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki defined New Culture as:
freeing man from everything that degrades his dignity and developing the value of person and community in all areas of life
A. Degradation of human dignity through sin
How to understand this? Let’s return for a moment to the fragment Jn 8:30-47 - “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (v.34)
What does this mean and how does it relate to New Culture?
Through sin man loses the ability to create culture according to God’s plan. When man lives in sin, separated from God, he cannot create things free from evil and suffering, even if it’s not visible at first glance. God in paradise commanded people to subdue the earth, but a moment later they committed sin, separated themselves from God, through which they were banished. Transforming surrounding reality became a curse and along with sin was marked with the stamp of suffering and death
Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.»
—Gen 3:17-19
What influence does this have on us?
In the fragment from John’s Gospel Jesus tells the Jews that they have the devil as father. Satan will do everything to hinder creating God’s world. There is no “neutral ground”. Everything that surrounds you, everything that constitutes you, will either serve God and His glory, or Satan will sooner or later take control of it. You cannot say that something is neither good nor bad, lukewarm, because you are a Christian and everything you do should be done for the Lord. Neither your time, nor your entertainment, nor friends, nor things you do, are indifferent to the Lord. Everything serves either the Lord or Satan, under the guise of neutrality he will creep into your heart and enslave you, lead to degradation of your dignity and value as a Child of God (meeting 2.).
How to counteract this? - Precisely through New Culture!
B. Positive aspect: building the value of person and community in all areas of life
We already know that New Culture is a call to creativity for us, that every, even the smallest action, should be for God’s glory.
What CONCRETE manifestations of New Culture can we put into practice?
Note
Conversation. We listen to participants’ answers, guide them using the points below (don’t get too detailed about this! and absolutely don’t read this to them - help for the animator):
culture of order – I am a Christian and in my life God is in first place, wherever I am, there is always room for Him
culture of purity – relating to others, dress, behavior, avoiding provocative texts, maintaining pure relationships with boyfriend/girlfriend
respect for the other person – regardless of who they are, how they relate to us, whether we like them, what views they have
home culture – how I care for atmosphere, relationships, celebrations of holidays and important occasions in my home
culture of meeting – how my meetings with others look – we meet to talk, actually spend time together, or just to get out of the house, drown everything out, go to a pub or disco (be careful – we don’t want to convey that parties are bad, only that it’s about good balance of proportions), do I have fun at someone’s expense? do I think that “without drinking there’s no fun”?
culture of word – vulgar vocabulary, provocative texts, slander, lies, backtalk, quarrels, “black humor”, mocking religion, gossip, jokes at another’s expense, BUT ALSO!: caring for the Polish language, proper accentuation of words, distance from newspeak and foreign words, grammatical correctness of speech
artistic culture – what do I read?, what do I listen to?, what culture do I propagate? is it consistent with Christian principles? does it not hurt others? (be careful, especially when discussing music, someone will certainly want to discuss metal, reggae, etc., don’t get carried away on this topic!), Catholic press, books, national classics, knowledge of culture (I know who Mozart is, what Pan Tadeusz is about and in what year the Battle of Grunwald was)
as a believing person I represent all of Christianity – what kind of calling card am I? the prism through which my religion is perceived?
Note
based on the text “Radiating New Culture” by Fr. Wojciech Danielski
What is all this for? What do we need New Culture for? Why should we strive for it?
Warning
We turn off the light in the room and ask them to imagine the nearest hour, week, month without light.
What would happen if there was no light in the whole world?
We give participants salt to taste. We ask how they feel – salt has a sharp, penetrating, even unpleasant taste.
But what would happen if suddenly there was no salt?
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
—Mt 5:13-16
Our light should shine before people, we should stand on a lampstand: New Culture is a very necessary form of witness and evangelization today, changing the world for the better. To be able to put New Culture into practice, it must first be in us, we must have a foundation. We must be 100% convinced of the “rightness of the cause”, that we are doing well, that this is proper and that we want to live this way, otherwise we will be inauthentic, and that doesn’t attract people, it repels them.
Putting on masks¶
Needed materials: cards with written roles: egoist, star, joker, know-it-all, grumbler, instigator, tormented, tough guy…
Each participant (and animator) draws a card, then the whole group or divided into 2-3 person teams (depends on size and predispositions of the group) acts out selected scenes (if time allows then 2, you can change team composition and roles for the second scene – CONTROL TIME!)
Scenario proposals:
together we try to organize a trip,
we visit a friend who is in the hospital,
conversation with parents about bad grades,
meeting about work;
we choose a place where we want to eat lunch together
we buy a gift for Paul
we want to go on vacation together and choose where
we choose a movie we want to watch together
we renovate a room together
After finishing scenes – sharing:
How did I feel when I was…?
How did others treat me?
Do I sometimes behave this way in life?
Question to the rest: how did you perceive this person?
What does wearing masks give us? Positives and negatives.
Why shouldn’t we wear masks?
How to give this up?
Uniting two parts of humanity:
Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
—Eph 2:12-22
Only Christ can internally “unite us into one”, but we must ourselves make a decision about it, give up the roles we play, the “double/triple/quadruple life”. He is the Truth that sets us free, and we can witness about Him and together with Him build the world around us.
What is the most important element of the world around us?
The most important element of the world around us are other people. We can change the world through DEVELOPING THE VALUE OF PERSON AND COMMUNITY, i.e. caring for mutual relationships. In every person there is a desire for closeness, love, friendship.
What should these relationships be like, to be developing for both sides? To be an expression of respect and honoring dignity?
God gives us the most perfect answer:
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
—Mt 22:34-40
How does Jesus define ideal love? What does He give as a model?
We are to love God above all, with all of ourselves, all elements of our identity. And man?
God as a model for loving other people gives self-love, love for oneself. Why?
To be able to develop relationships with other people, one must know and accept oneself, accept oneself with one’s limitations, good and bad sides. Otherwise we will constantly feel insecure, as if we were constantly being attacked and rejected. This works both ways – one should accept the other person as they are, distinguish sin from person. Deep relationships are only possible with mutual acceptance. That’s why it’s so important that we love and accept ourselves, then we will also be able to love others. The greatest witness of faith and the greatest contribution to culture that we can give is contained in these two sentences – to love God above all and entrust Him with our whole life and to accept ourselves and develop relationships with other people.
Application¶
Encouragement to entrust one’s life to God (maybe once again, maybe for the first time)
Reflection on one’s “masks” (still without introduction to LM!)
Introduction to evening prayer