Meeting 1 - “With one heart and one voice”¶

Tags: Community, Unity, Prayer, Text work, Art activity, Sharing questions, Integrative

Goal of the meeting¶

This is not only the first group meeting of this retreat, but for most, it will likely be the first online meeting of this type (both for animators and participants), and for some, it will be the first small group experience ever. For this reason, it is especially important to ensure a sense of safety by establishing appropriate rules. Through this, to a large extent, the meeting aims to bond the small group community. The outline does not contain complicated content to convey; it consists mainly of sharing questions and tips, includes an activation in the form of creating a signature for the unity letter and sending it by email, and at the end, there is time dedicated to very important common prayer.

Meeting goals:

presenting the rules of group meetings
getting to know the participants and bonding the small group community
creating signatures needed for the unity letter
common prayer - let’s ensure there is time for it!

Introduction of rules¶

After making sure that all participants have “arrived” at the meeting and technical conditions allow for conducting it, let’s proceed to present the necessary rules that will help us create a safe atmosphere and space for sharing and prayer:

We ensure confidentiality and anonymity of what other group members share about themselves
We do not take screenshots, we do not record meetings
We encourage turning on the camera, but we do not insist on it
Depending on the meeting conditions (noise) and type of equipment (feedback), we mute the microphone when we are not speaking (Ctrl + D)
We try not to interrupt each other - in online conditions this can be difficult, but it is important not to do it intentionally
We listen to each other, especially since the meetings are mainly of a sharing nature!
We do not comment unnecessarily, we do not judge others’ statements
We share our own feelings, experiences, we do not generalize or moralize
We respect each other and our time

We can ask if these rules are clear to everyone and if the participants agree to them, and if they have anything else to add. After the final agreement, we proceed to getting to know each other.

Unity Letters¶

When everyone has introduced themselves, we proceed to read the unity letter mentioned in the conference. Then we ask participants to sign their name on prepared white sheets of paper (important: only the first name), take a photo (preferably with flash) and send it to the email spotkajmysie@ponadmurami.pl (this is not mandatory, let’s encourage it, but let’s not put pressure that it must be done).

What do letters mean to us?¶

When everyone who wanted to has already sent their signatures, we want to reflect on the issue of writing letters in general:

Why are letters written? What is unique about this form of messaging?
What was the most important letter in my life?
What letter would I like to receive someday?

Prayer with the Word of God¶

Sometimes it is said that the Bible is one great letter written by God to man. Therefore, we want to lean over selected fragments of St. Paul’s letters to various communities and pray with the echo of the Word, which consists of reading aloud those verses that touch me the most and which I want to make my own prayer.

It is very possible that for many such prayer may be a novelty (and probably for almost everyone it will be a novelty to pray this way online). For this reason, at this first meeting, we want to get a little familiar with this prayer, giving it a slightly simplified form:

at the beginning, the animator reads all fragments aloud;
then we give ourselves a moment to look at them in silence; everyone chooses one fragment that speaks to them the most, and with which they would like to pray
at the end, everyone reads their chosen fragment aloud in turn, after which the animator ends with a short prayer (it can simply be “Glory be to the Father”) and we all end together with a common “Amen”.

Practical notes: It is worth inviting participants to adopt a comfortable but appropriate posture for prayer (they can still sit in front of the computer/phone, but let them e.g. straighten up). It can also be mentioned that if someone feels silly praying “to the screen”, they can place a cross or a holy picture next to it, or focus their eyes on the words of the Holy Scripture. The animator can initiate a few words of prayer from themselves at the beginning, e.g. to the Holy Spirit. Let’s not be discouraged if there is a prolonged silence, which in online form can be even more awkward. Let’s adjust the prayer time to the level of engagement of the participants.

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

—Phil 2:1-2

And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight.

—Phil 1:9

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him.

—Eph 1:17-18

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

—2 Cor 3:17-18

He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

—1 Cor 1:30

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

—Rom 15:5-6

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

—Rom 8:35

If God is for us, who is against us?

—Rom 8:31

And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

—Rom 5:5

Summary¶

Let’s ask:

How was it for me to pray with these words?
Which fragment touched me the most?
What value do I see in unity letters?