No. 3 Living Through Loss

Facilitator______________
Date___________________

Group Session Plan from from UUCCA* - Rev. Calvin O. Dame

Chalice/Candle Lighting

Opening Words:

"Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all,
And round beneath me was the whole hoop of the world.
And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell
And I understood more than I saw.
For I was seeing in the sacred manner the shape of all things of the spirit
And the shapes as they must live together like one being.
And I saw that the sacred hoop of my people
was one of many hoops that make one circle, wide as daylight and starlight,
And in the center grew one mighty flowering tree
To shelter all the children of one mother and one father.
And I saw that it was holy."
Black Elk -- Singing the Living Tradition #614

Check-in/Sharing

Discussion:
Ask the members of your group to share an experience of loss that has been a significant part of their life journey. Introduce the sharing with this reading:

"I have journeyed to a place of great sorrow and there did I cry from the very depths of my soul. For days you thought I might never return, but I have come back to you: stronger, richer, with greater knowledge of myself. The crack in my heart will remain forever—its purpose no longer to let grief out, but to let greater love in."

Myrriah Osbourde (from Life Tapestry, UUA Curriculum- used there by permission of the author from Mourning 1989 copyright)

Some questions to ask:

Was your journey a meandering route or a straight line?
Where were the dark places?
Where were you lonely?
Where did you have a companion?
How has it shaped you? Your faith?
What strength has it given you?

Select the topic and location for the next meeting

Check-out / Likes and Wishes

Closing Words:

"Hold on to what is good, even if it is a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here.
Hold on to my hand even when I have gone away from you." - Nancy Wood

* Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Augusta, Maine