BE USEFUL Virtual Anointing Ritual
December 22, 2024 at 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Join us for our new Sunday Be Love, Be Honest, Be Useful Offering where we bring Christ and the vision of the New Church explicitly into the circle. While our collaborative looks for the essence of faith beyond dogma, focusing on the call to a life of kindness, the rituals and practices of the church also can help us access this essence. This is what we will explore and make space for during our Sunday Gathering time.
We see deep meaning in the essential sacraments of the church, the Holy Supper and Baptism, as representative of the necessary rhythm of receiving and releasing inherent to health and growth. The Holy Supper resounds as a ritual of LOVE as we receive the bread and wine and remember our reliance on the higher Source that gives us life. Baptism reminds us of our need to be HONEST about that which gets in the way of love, so that we might be cleansed and renewed. We will also make space each month to gather around the ritual of Anointing as a way to honor our particular USE and call in the world.
This week’s theme is Anointing BE USEFUL “How are we called?”
We invite you to bring with you any reflections on how you are feeling called at the moment, the roles you are being called to fill, the love you are being called to express and live into the world. You are invited to share aloud in words or through art or music or some other form as you feel moved. You are also welcome to be with us in silence. Bring with you a small bit of oil if you’d like to participate in the closing Anointing ritual.
Our gathering follows the following format:
BE love.
We will begin with 12 minutes to Be Love together. I’ll offer a meditation to ground us and all attendees are welcome to offer something in the spirit of love related to the theme of the week. We will take this time to honor and rest in our inherent belovedness together, to breathe and to come into the present moment.
BE honest.
Then we will take time to Be Honest with each other. Each person will be given 7 minutes to share. This may be a time to share something related to our theme of USEFULNESS and calling. You are welcome to share with words or to screen share a visual image or piece of music. You are welcome to pose a question in this sharing time if you are looking for insights from others. You are also welcome to be in the circle in silence. This is a time to share something of our honest lived experience and to practice deep listening of one another.
BE useful.
We will Be Useful at the close of our Sunday gathering by participating in an anointing ritual. Rev. Sage will invite each one of us to anoint our hands or forehead with the oil that you may have brought with words of blessing and charge. We will then end our time together by making space for closing thoughts/benedictions/blessings/prayers around the circle.
