No. 26 Sacred Moments

Facilitator______________
Date___________________

Group Session Plan from FUSN (This session developed by Bob Zeeb)

Chalice/Candle Lighting

Opening Words:

One of the devotees in the temple was well known for his zealousness and effort. Day and night he would sit in meditation, not stopping to eat or sleep. As time passed he grew thinner and more exhausted. The master of the temple advised him to take more care of himself. But the devotee refused to heed his advice.
" Why are you rushing so, what is your hurry?" asked the master.
" I am after enlightenment," replied the devotee, " there is no time to waste."
" And how do you know," asked the master. " that enlightenment is running on before you, so that you have to rush after it? Perhaps it’s behind you, and all you need to encounter it is to stand still – but you are rushing away from it." - - Zen

Check-in/Sharing

Topic/Activity:
There are moments we consider "sacred" because of some meaning or awareness that descends upon us. These moments are like poems, richly textured, Janus faced (connecting past and future), pregnant with meaning, an uneasy combination of ambiguity and revelation. These moments come on us unexpectedly and disappear unaccountably, like a sudden burst of wind.

Tell a story of such a moment. Capture its spirit and evoke its essence. What made it sacred to you? What is its meaning and what is its portent? What might have made you open to this moment? What, in the way you live, encourages or inhibits your openness to these sacred moments.

Select the topic and location for the next meeting

Check-out / Likes and Wishes

Closing Words:

I saw Eternity the other night
Like a great ring of pure and endless light.
All Calm as it was bright;
And round beneath it, Time in hours, days, years,
Driv’n by the spheres
Like a vast shadow mov’d in which the world
And all her train were hurled.
Henry Vaughan from The World