Small Christian Community Connection

 
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Resources > Sample Group Sessions

Group Materials

Reclaiming Sabbath:The Holiness of Play and Leisure

Steve Valenzuela
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Gather the Community, light a candle and pray: God of light and darkness you commanded your people Israel to keep the Sabbath, to rest after labor as you did in the Story of Creation. Be with us as we share the day and reflect on living Sabbath in our busy lives as disciples of your Son. ?-Amen

Read Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 ? “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens”

For Sharing:?1. What time of life is it for you? ?2. How do you rest and play?

From “Remembering Sabbath, Imagining Grace” by Donna Schaper.?Originally published in The Other Side, used with permission.

“Sabbath is a pause. It is the chair we sit in when we come home, the coffee we enjoy when we get to work, the candle lit at our prayer table, the festive addition to our dress to mark a special occasion, the ring we wear given us by our grandmother.

Sabbath connects one kind of time to another. It reminds us that time is for joy and weeping. By creating active separations between the times of our lives, it makes our lives spacious. Those who practice Sabbath are not afraid of weeping. They are intimate enough with time to know that weeping will last the night, but joy comes in the ?morning.

Scripture tell us that our lives and social structures cannot simple be built around work. They must also be build around Sabbath.

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The Environment: A Reproducible Resource for SCCs

Meri McCoy-Thompson
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Scripture Reading: Psalm 104

What one word or phrase resonates with you? You might want to share your thoughts with the other members of your group.

Reflection

I have been an environmentalist for a long time. A native Californian, I camped a lot as a child, and the beauty of God’s nature fed my soul. Through Scouts, school environmental clubs, and the earth-nurturing practices of my family, I learned about many actions we can all do to take care of our wonderful gift of the earth.

My SCC, on the other hand, has a wide variety of people in it—including those who feel global warming isn’t necessarily caused by human activity. Many groups have this kind of diversity.?So how does such a group have a community conversation about the environment?

We start with one of the Catholic Church’s seven principles of social justice: We are all called to care for God’s creation. By starting with God at the center, we remember what we have in common, why we come together. To make it concrete, group members can bring a picture of a favorite place in nature – where they see God. Then we can each talk about those aspects of creation for which we are especially grateful.

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