We have taken registrations for the overnight, and a few women will come and just spend the bulk of the day only missing the dinner and unfortunately the next morning's worship where I will talk about unity and our signature verse. We know who will participate and we have a diverse (as diverse a group as white, middle class women can be) group. Some that only socialize with each other and some 'outsiders', various ages and backgrounds.
As an aside, we have only shared the background verse with the women and no details about the topic other than that. We didn't want to scare anyone off before they get there. There is prayer and song interspersed throughout the sessions. We also have created several seating charts and will force the women to sit with and get to know different women during each session. This will take them out of their comfort zone, but they need to get to know the others they don't normally associate with. Then we are going to have them write a small note to each woman present sharing something positive about them (thus the need for different seating charts). These little bags will go home with the women to read after the retreat. We will do an ice breaker exercise to help them get comfortable with each seating change. Also each woman will create a quilt square to take home as a reminder of the retreat as well, each segment will include the addition of a piece of fabric to that quilt square. (I will leave these details out and give the discussion topics only below.)
Since we are basically working from scratch here, I am going to give you an overview. I'd love input if you read this at any time.
Session 1 - Fabric of our Lives
- How is it the same - universal characteristics - ways in which all of the fabric is the same
- How is this specific group of fabric the same - cultural aspects - ways in which this group is different from the other fabrics
- How is it different - personal difference - ways in which each one of the fabrics is different from the others
Session 2 - How are WE the same - universally? (the ice breaker for this session is a Venn Diagram of the similarities and differences of the women at each table)
Session 3 - How are WE different - culturally and personally? (we will watch a video titled "A Class Divided" - keep in mind that we are all white middle class women, I hope they think we have no differences to start with and that changes by the time the retreat is over) if you have time this video is well worth the 30 minutes it takes to watch the first two parts.
Session 4 - What is Culture?
Session 5 - Can't we all just get along? (Tolerance)
Dinner and then a devotional, at which we will gather up each woman's quilt square. After the devotional we will play games until all go to bed. During the night we will take all the quilt squares and pin them together to 'create' a quilt. Then we get back together for Worship after breakfast.
Session 6 - Worship - Unity - 1 Cor 12:12 - we will include a couple songs, a sermon on the topic using the quilt as the discussion focus. Each piece is very different made of many parts, having it's own gifts. When we put all the pieces together we have a beautiful and talented work of art - though its parts are many, they form one body. "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts, and though all its parts are many, they form one body, so it is with Christ."
There are many things I am hoping for from this retreat, I hope we build new friendships, I hope for more tolerance of some difficult individuals (that won't be present at the retreat), I hope for mixing of old and new members, I hope that the change/growth our church is experiencing will not be so traumatic and our women will take what they have learned and help bridge the existing with the new. These are just a few of the things I hope are outcomes.
God be with us as we forge new waters and new relationships. Amen!
