{"id":65,"date":"2017-09-21T20:12:59","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T10:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitingfaithandfamilies.org\/?p=65"},"modified":"2021-02-04T17:00:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T06:00:59","slug":"winter-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitingfaithandfamilies.org\/?p=65","title":{"rendered":"Winter Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of our life together, we are committed to gathering for worship, celebration and connection in between our annual camp.  At the end of July was our Winter Gathering, hosted by the Sangster-Olsen family at Fairfield Uniting Church.<\/a><\/p>\n

8 families attended, sharing lunch then moving into some community singing – featuring camp favourites “The Canticle of the Turning”<\/a>, “Faith, Hope and Love”<\/a> and “Michael Row the Boat ashore” with improvised lyrics.<\/p>\n

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Moving quickly!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To “warm us up”, we did an activity called “Here I stand” – which involved moving around the space in various was – looking or not looking at each other, walking quickly or slowly etc. then stopping and stating “Here I stand in….” saying something literal or figurative, depending on how imaginative we were feeling!<\/p>\n

Alex then led us through a “Tree Narrative Therapy”<\/a> process, which invited us to draw and reflect on the people we come from, the things that give us strength in our lives, things that we are doing and becoming, things we have lost, and “bugs” that chew away at our attempts to live a good life.<\/p>\n

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Using messy pastels to draw our trees – because life is like that!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once we had drawn our trees, we set up an “exhibition” so that people could wander through the “forest” and learn about what other people’s trees were like.  We were invited to ask questions about  what people had drawn.  This was a sensitive and courageous opportunity for people to share more deeply about what was really happening in life, and it was fascinating to discover many things that children and adults had in common with each other, and to talk about them.  It was a wonderfully engaging process!<\/p>\n

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Wandering through the forest of trees – photo: Scott Findlay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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After our tree narratives, Robyn led the group through a kind of visioning activity, where we thought about our families and what kind of faith community we would like to be involved in.  Three questions were asked:<\/p>\n

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  1. What would a thriving faith community look like?<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. What would make your family want to be part of this faith community?<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. What are the obstacles to your family being part of a faith community?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    People wrote their ideas on post-it notes and placed them with each question.<\/p>\n