Small Group Ministry
This I Believe
December, 2007
UU Church at Washington Crossing, Titusville, NJ

Opening Words:
“I don’t know whether I believe in a future life. I believe that all that you go through here must have some value, therefore there must be some reason. And there must be some “going on.” How exactly that happens I’ve never been able to decide. There is a future—that I’m sure of. But how, that I don’t know. And I came to feel that it didn’t really matter very much because whatever the future held you’d have to face it when you came to it, just as whatever life holds you have to face it exactly the same way.”
	Eleanor Roosevelt

Check-in / Sharing

Topic / Activity
This I Believe is based on a 1950s radio program of the same name, hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow. In creating This I Believe, Murrow said the program sought "to point to the common meeting grounds of beliefs, which is the essence of brotherhood and the floor of our civilization."  Each day, millions of Americans gathered by their radios to hear compelling essays from the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller, and Harry Truman as well as corporate leaders, cab drivers, scientists, and secretaries— anyone able to distill into a few minutes the guiding principles by which they lived. Their words brought comfort and inspiration to a country worried about the Cold War, McCarthyism, and racial division.
•	What are your core, guiding principles and beliefs?
•	Do your beliefs have a “common meeting ground” with others as Murrow
•	Do you value traditional church practices such as prayer, meditation, sacrifice…..  ?
•	Do you have positions on the “mysteries of life” – “G” or other supreme being? After life? The origins of life?
•	Why church?
•	Where (or do you) find “the sacred”, the holy or spiritual

Likes & Wishes
•	What worked well, less well tonight?
•	Overall comments
Checkout

Closing Words:
“And the important thing was that you never let down doing the best that you were able to do—it might be poor because you might not have very much within you to give, or to help other people with, or to live your life with. But as long as you did the very best that you were able to do, then that was what you were put here to do and that was what you were accomplishing by being here.
And so I have tried to follow that out—and not to worry about the future or what was going to happen. I think I am pretty much of a fatalist. You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.”
		Eleanor Roosevelt

Covenant:
1.	Missing a meeting -  it is the individual’s responsibility to let the group know (a confirmed call or e-mail)
2.	Meeting Leader - We will rotate the leader role – Joe will represent the group and provide the meeting agenda
3.	Confidentiality – what is shared stays within the group unless otherwise stipulated by the “sharer”
4.	“Cross Talk” –  we will follow a practice of letting all speak on the topic of the evening before engaging in any conversation
•	it is important that everyone gets to speak and complete their thoughts without monopolizing the time
5.	Policing - we will “police” each other relative to conversation, confidentiality, etc.
6.	Meeting Time -  we will begin at 7:30 and end promptly by 9pm
7.	Covenant -  we will have this language on each meeting agenda for easy reference
8.	New Members -  we will take time to introduce and welcome new members, understanding this is infrequent but important
9.	Departing – if it becomes necessary to depart from the group, we will do so in person
10.	Hopes & Wishes -  personal intimacy/ connection, nurturing – present for each other