Our last small group was Oct. 28, attended by Moira, Gordon, Allison, Peter and Mark. Helen sent her regrets and Wayne was in the Middle East. Kurt, I think you might have been at rehearsal?
We discussed what “seeking wisdom,” our theme for November, meant to us.
We talked about how things are going for everyone:
Mark did a great job on only his second time out while service-leading the inter-gen, Oct. 26 service. Lots of moving parts and contingencies, but he handled it with confidence and grace.
Mark raised a concern about ensuring that the collection baskets are quickly removed from the altar following service and handed to someone responsible for collection. Moira will speak to Veronica Taylor about that.
Someone mentioned a recent incident in which the chalice snuffer had accidentally slid into the chalice near heat and flame. When the chalice lighter went to pick it up to extinguish the chalice, they were burned. It was agreed that service leaders should pay attention to where that instrument and matches are to ensure they are aware from the flames. Moira also mentioned the need to have a bucket of water nearby; we should also review fire safety and where the fire extinguisher is at a future small group.
Sandy Rafos was the only person to sign up at the volunteer fair. She wants to be a service leader. Those present agreed that she would make a good service leader. An invitation will be extended to her to join us.
Joys and Concerns: This was prompted by an incident just over a month ago in which a congregant made an announcement at joys and concerns. The congregant acknowledged that js and cs is not the place for announcements but was very concerned that this information had not been conveyed (it actually had been during announcements but the congregant was unaware). There was discussion about how to deal with these kinds of incidents. Suggestion was made to “role play” different things that come up during j’s and c’s at a future small group (lots of support for that). There was also discussion about possibly giving people an “out” so that if they are very attached to their announcement being made, and have missed the appropriate time for that at the beginning of service, perhaps it could be included just after service closing. Moira felt strongly that we should not advertise to people that doing this is a possibility, but could be used “in an emergency.” Peter strongly advocated that anything like this be done once the service has been ended but before people disperse.
There was also discussion about using physical cues to encourage people to end their j or c (e.g. gentle touch on the shoulder). Someone raised a concern that physical touch may not be well-received by some people; perhaps seen as a physical violation. Others said that the service leader can judge that on a case by case basis. Moira stressed that reminding people every week that joys and concerns is NOT a place for announcements or lengthy detail is a good way to reinforce the message.
Order of Service: We played the order of service game! Remembering the correct order of service and not leaving parts out has been an issue lately. We reviewed the list of parts to the order (there are 20!) and then played a game where teams got an envelope with bits of paper showing each part. The teams had to correctly line up all the bits of paper AND identify what was missing (one part had been removed from each team envelope). It is something we can do again if people like at a future meeting.
Technical training: Gordon said he is working on creating a document to help people handle the projector when needed. We continue to need a chief technical person who can coordinate and plan the technical elements of our services while recruiting others to serve as the tech team.
Closing: We closed by each offering our words of “wisdom.”