The Blog of Discernment: April 2009

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Third All-Meeting Retreat

TOOLS FOR CORPORATE DISCERNMENT
May 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In our third all-meeting retreat we will build on what we learned about individual discernment to focus on tools for corporate discernment. We will spend time listening together as we think about our hopes and dreams for UFM and how we can best use the resources that we have as a community. We hope this will bring us closer to answering the questions we have been considering since the beginning of the Year of Discernment: Who are we as a community? What are we called to do?

The retreat will start at 9 a.m. and the day will include worship, intergenerational activities, small groups, a children’s program, lunch, work parties, and tea time. Please sign up on the attendance sheet outside the office and start thinking about what you would like to bring for a potluck lunch. Spread the word about the retreat and bring a Friend! Even if you don’t sign up but find that you can come at the last minute, please come. We look forward to seeing you there.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Leadings, Concerns, and Readings

The theme for our third Year of Discernment retreat moves from individual to corporate discernment. If you must choose among the rich offerings on the reading list in the December Gleamings, you may begin with the section “Concerns and Liberating Concerned Friends” p.78 in NPYM Faith and Practice (1993). Or you could read Paul Lacey’s Pendle Hill pamphlet “On Leading and Being Led” – my favorite. Both are available in the Library. Check out the top shelf on the hall rack near the office for an array of free photocopied selections and Pendle Hill pamphlets for sale as well.

-- Asia B

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Report on March 15 Information and Discussion Session

As part of UFM’s Year of Discernment, an information meeting regarding the needs of our building and grounds was held on March 15th. Three Committees (UFM Year of Discernment, Building & Grounds, and Finance) prepared the presentation consisting of three parts. Discussed were “UFM Ministries”, the “Planning for both the Remodel Design and the Maintenance Program” of UFM’s buildings and grounds, and the “Financial Options” generated by those programs.

The information clearly demonstrated the need for decisions in regard to the use, maintenance and utility of the Meeting House. Over fifty people attended the information session. Written details of the presentation and the discussion that followed will be available on Sundays at the Meeting. Future information sessions will be scheduled following the next Discernment Retreat, May 16, 2009.

-- Ron T

A Year of Discernment for University Friends Meeting

What is it?
This will be a year to discern how we become a community:
o that people love and want to serve,
o that allows all members to feel that their work fits into the big picture of the meeting,
o that offers members a universal sense of both caring for and being cared for,
o and that efficiently identifies and recognizes the talents of each member so that we are all left with ample time to deepen our spirituality and community-building.

We hope to be joyful, intentional and corporate in our discernment, to listen to each other and to the Divine, and to listen and share our leadings with one another as we seek a deeper spirituality.

What it isn't
The year of discernment will not be a time to stop our work. We hope it will be a time of excitement and refreshment because work feels different from the usual. We will not be “laying down” committees or asking committees to stop doing certain things. We have also come to realize that work which may seem less essential is often work which people love, and that has led into some close community for the people doing it.

Rather, committees will be asked to examine their work and their mission with questions such as: how is the work connected to the big picture of UFM's work; how can the work be more enriching and fulfilling to committee members; how can (does) the committee build community?

Structural Aspects of the Discernment Year
The structural aspects of the year of discernment will have two parts: the creation of a steering committee to guide the process, and some modest reorganizing of committees to make better use of UFM's existing resources.

Steering Committee
Nominating Committee will nominate, and bring forward for the approval of meeting for business, a “Discernment Year Steering Committee.” This committee will oversee the preparation, implementation and analysis of the discernment process and prepare a proposal for the actions that will follow the year of discernment. Nominating Committee hopes that the steering committee would be approved by February and would immediately begin the preparation phase of their work.

Preparation - February through May 2008 (with some aspects carrying over into implementation). Engage the community in an analysis of what is the essential work and how it gets done and/or ask individual committees to consider the essential aspects of their work. Are there other ways to do it? Are there other committees with which they could be cooperating? Work with various committees (Oversight, W&M, Friends Center, Adult Religious Education) to organize the activities of discernment that will take place throughout the year.

Implementation - June 2008 through May 2009. See that spiritual nurturing and community building are taking place. Check in on the discernment processes; help with questions and queries. The Steering Committee could work with the various committees and groups within the meeting to be the guide for these processes, not the “doer.” Implementation could include the proposal of mid-course corrections, if needed.

Analysis - March through May 2009 (or some later period, if proposed by the steering committee). Engage the community in analysis of where we are and what we have discerned. Pull together proposals for the next steps.

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