Minutes 28 August
Record of a meeting of OPEN/AGOR held on 28/08/24 at St Peter and Frances Church Hall Plas Avenue Prestatyn 6.30 - 8.00pm
Present
Charles R, Paul T, Sheila J, Mike & Claire, Carole B, Carole O’T
Reflection and Prayer
Charles opened the meeting with a reflection from some of the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer a German theologian and pacifist, and gave us some details of his life. He was imprisoned in Nazi Germany and hanged two weeks before the end of the war. His theology resonates with aspects of current theology, nearly hundred years after he was writing. Charles agreed to circulate the text of the reflection.
Minutes
Paul recapped on the main items of the last meeting as in the minutes.
All complimented Emily on her record of the meeting. It was agreed that it captured the essence of the various topics discussed very well indeed.
Following a discussion about how the meeting should be documented, it was decided that formal minutes weren’t really necessary, but rather a brief written record of the subjects and ideas discussed with, importantly, any decisions made, would be more appropriate. Carole O’T volunteered to be the scribe for the remainder of the meeting.
Decisions made [the reasons for some of the decision making will become clearer, hopefully, in the final section which records the discussion]
a] The next meeting of OPEN/AGOR will be held on Wednesday September 25th at 6.30pm in St Peter and Frances Church Hall Prestatyn.
b] For the foreseeable future meetings of the group will be held in St Peter and Frances Church Hall Prestatyn.
c] Charles suggested that we rotate who takes the Chair for each meeting. This was agreed. Carole B will chair the next meeting
d] Any member, or friends /contacts of members, who might like to be interviewed by Paul on the meaning of Spirituality to them, to get in touch with Paul.
e] It was decided that the Group is not ready yet to “go public” with a first Living Spirituality session. At least one more meeting of the core group is needed. We need to be clearer about our title for the sessions, and the Group’s mission, aims and strategy. All were invited to let Paul have their ideas about this. Paul will set a deadline for submissions, before the next meeting, which he will circulate to us. All submissions then to be sent to Paul by the deadline.
Record of Discussion
1. Most of the meeting was taken up with talking about how and when we run the first Living Spirituality session and trying to envisage who will attend, how we will attract people to make it an enjoyable, meaningful and enriching experience in a safe, welcoming environment. Charles was able to give quite clear guidelines here as he has already run these groups successfully– more on this below - but firstly Paul spoke about a talk he had listened to by Alastair Campbell which he felt was relevant in terms of bringing a project to fruition. Alistair Cameron is a British journalist, strategist, broadcaster and activist who held various senior positions in the Labour Party under Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband.
Cambell stressed the importance of and need for a clear direction when project planning and the need for clarity around objectives and tactics, a couple of lines would suffice by way almost of a mission statement. Paul felt that a consideration of this advice could help us in our deliberations.
What follows next is a list of the concepts, ideas, questions and suggestions raised concerning how we move forward to make our first Living Spirituality session a successful reality: -
What do we call the session? This is a challenge. Do we need to change the name from Living Spirituality?
The use of wine and cake is important. Charles advises a glass of wine when people first come in.
Also, advice from Charles session must not be too long. Two half hour periods of activity are enough.
How do we attract people? Whom do we “target”? Charles, Claire and Sheila have contacts who may be interested
What are we offering?
How important is the venue?
We must be clear and not dupe people into something they were not expecting.
The group is about aspects of spirituality - the depth of its meaning and how to make spirituality something that can lead to an exploration of the meaning of life.
What are the barriers leading to a full life?
We have to create a safe space where people can think about the mystery of life.
Charles added that in his experience, given the right environment, some people welcome the opportunity to talk about spirituality.
The battle between good and evil
The connection between love, truth, the good and beauty.
The role of relationship in spirituality.
The importance of art, music, crafts and nature in enabling us to harness some kind of spirituality.
We need to agree a statement of purpose, a title and whom the sessions will be for - ref. para. e in the decision-making section above. It was hoped that some of the above list might prompt titles and a statement of purpose.
2. Carole O’T asked about the interviews that had been taking place as she had missed the meeting when they had been discussed. Paul explained that they are a 10- or 15-minute conversation with him and the interviewee talking about what spirituality means to the interviewee and how they experience it in their lives. Eventually Paul hopes to make a recorded “collage “of the contents of the interviews.
END
Carole O’Toole 30/08/24