Holiness in our Midst: Session 105

SESSION CV: ON ‘HOME WORSHIP CENTERS’

Story Circle Prompt: Describe your Home Worship Center and its meaning to you. If you do not have such a center, imagine how you might create one.

My Home Worship Center has a perfect red maple leaf, two smooth stones and a copy of a letter to God written in red ink by Eileen Sambos, a fellow member of First Christian Church in Ames. They are artifacts from a Fall Women’s Retreat in September 2019 on Lake Koronis in Paynesville, MN. The event was sponsored by the Upper Midwest Region of the Disciples of Christ denomination. 

The letter has a story behind it. Eileen was scheduled to give the pray before Sunday breakfast at the retreat, but she was having trouble finding the right words. As she talked through what she wanted to say, I said, “It sounds like you’re writing a letter to God.” For her prayer that morning, she did present her thoughts as a letter God and later gave a copy to me. 

My worship center items remind me of a spectacular autumn get-away weekend, a time of innocence before COVID-19 complicated our lives. Collectively, they transport me to a time and space truly apart from my hectic daily life, immediately putting me in a worshipful frame of mind. My gift from Eileen reminds me to write my thoughts in a letter to God when I do not know what or how to pray. My small sacred space invites me to come closer to God, as I read my morning devotions and begin my day with prayer.

FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:

Read the above reflection. Describe your Home Worship Center. Why did you choose these elements? How does your center give meaning to your devotional life? If you do not have such a center, imagine on paper what yours might include.

FOR GROUP STUDY:

      1.   Read aloud Session CV.

      2.   Ask each person to answer the Story Circle Prompt. 

[View Past Sessions Here]

Note: Holiness in Our Midst: Sharing Our Stories to Encourage and Heal is a monthly on-line feature created by Janis Pyle to facilitate sharing of our personal experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual practices with one another, especially through stories. Barriers are broken down when we begin to see all persons, even those with whom we disagree ideologically, as sacred and constantly attended to by a loving Creator. Each column is accompanied by a “story circle” prompt and study guides for personal and group reflection. To share your stories, contact Hannah Button-Harrison at communications@nplains.org. Janis Pyle can be reached at janispyle@yahoo.com.