Chalice Circle Topic for June 2015

Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship

Chalice Circle topic for June, 2015

Creativity

Adapted from: Main Line Unitarian Church, Devon, PA November 2003

Note: See the Circle Ministry Session Sequence for process guidelines.

Gathering, Welcoming (2 minutes)

Business

There will not be any official session plan for July—your group should decide if you will be meeting in July or not—I recommend a social gathering, maybe a potluck or picnic….

Opening Words and Chalice Lighting

“Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go—purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything… whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.” – Tina Turner

Meditation

Offer a few minutes of silent reflection before checking in.

Check in/Personal Sharing (approximately 30 minutes)

(If needed, the facilitator should briefly remind the group of important elements of the group covenant… confidentiality/ anonymity, that this is not the time for cross conversation, etc.)

Focus Readings:  Creativity and Religion

All of us dwell on the brink of the infinite ocean of life’s creative power. We all carry it within us; supreme strength, the fullness of wisdom, unquenchable joy. It is never thwarted and cannot be destroyed. But it is hidden deep, which is what makes life a problem. The infinite is down in the darkest, profoundest vault of our being, in the forgotten well-house, the deep cistern. What if we could discover it again and draw from it unceasingly? (Huston Smith, from The Religions of the World)

Activity (Optional)

Cut up the quotes on the last page of this session plan into strips and place them in a basket before the session. At this point—before posing the focus questions—invite each participant to pull a quote out of the basket and go around and read them….

Focus Questions:  (45-60 minutes)

           

The desire to create is part of our human heritage and potential. Being creative is not just about painting, acting, gardening, or playing the piano. It can also be an approach to the way we live our lives.

·      What are the ways in which you think you are creative?

·      Share some things you are proud to have created.

·      What creative longings do you have? Can you name some ways you might try to nurture the creator in you.

·      Do you see ways spirituality and human creativity are connected, and how are they related for you?

·      Share a creative activity or moment that you experienced as religious or spiritual.

Checkout/Likes and Wishes

(This is the time for facilitators to ask participants what they liked about this meeting and what they might wish for future meetings.  This is also the time for any discussion of logistics.)

Closing Words & Extinguishing Chalice:

There is no use trying,” said Alice. “One can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” — Lewis Carroll

QUOTES ABOUT CREATIVITIY

“Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” -- Bill Moyers

“It is good taste, and good taste alone, that possesses the power to sterilize and is always the first handicap to any creative functioning”--  Salvador Dalí

“The highest prize we can receive for creative work is the joy of being creative. Creative effort spent for any other reason than the joy of being in that light filled space, love, god, whatever we want to call it, is lacking in integrity. . .” – Marianne Williamson

“Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion.” -- Martha Graham

            “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things.” -- Steve Jobs

“Creativity often consists of merely turning up what is already there. Did you know that right and left shoes were thought up only a little more than a century ago?” -- Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

“Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.” -- John Updike

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.” -- Albert Einstein

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” -- George Bernard Shaw

“Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things.”-- Ray Bradbury