SESSION BEFORE SUMMER BREAK
Pilgrimage- having a sacred Summer
Rev. Amy Bowden Freedman
Date:___________________

Small Group Ministry 
Group Session Plan

Opening Words:
When I hear you- what you be
What lives most deeply in you
When your hearing speeds the beating life in me
Then our meeting is a song,
And harmony invades our silences,
And all language that we know is love.
In fact, loving is a language of the ear
Not so much the words you use,
		Not the thoughts I share,
		But how urgently we tune ourselves to the meaning of the other.
						-Janet Petersen

Check-in

Topic:
Phil Cousineau maintains that the power of pilgrimage is that although we travel outward to new lands, at the same time we travel inward coming in touch with our deepest selves and return home with a greater understanding of what it means to be alive.  Now that the summer season is upon us, we can invite the ways of soulful travel into our lives.  This can be done on any trips that you have planned or simply time spent on the beach or in the backyard.  

MEDITATION: (The Art of Pilgrimage, Phil Cousineau, p. 13)
Imagine your first memorable journey.
What images rise up in your soul?
What feelings are evoked by your travel memories?
Do they have any connection to your life today?
Have you ever made a vow to go someplace that is sacred to you, your family, your group?
Have you ever imagined yourself in a place that stirred your soul like the song of doves at dawn?
If not you, then who?  If not now, when?  If not here, where?
Uncover what you long for and you will discover who you are.

Sharing/ Deep Listening:
What did the meditation questions bring up for you?  
Share your plans and hopes for Summer.

Conversation
Likes, Wishes & Thanks:  responding to one another and our experience 

Closing Words: 

May we go now in peace, 
deeply regarding each other,
truly listening to each other,
speaking what each must speak.
May we be ready at any moment to disarm our own hearts.
And may we live to continue this love we have begun.
-Barbara Hamilton-Holway, UU