Creating a Life that Matters

I've been involved for a few weeks now in Creating a Life that Matters. I'm sure that there will be some posts on my blog about CLM. Here's an overview, taken from what will be a bulletin insert after Labor Day.

Creating a Life that Matters is a three-course program which explores ways to rediscover relationship with the Sacred, with your Self, and with your Passion. You will be challenged to broaden your understanding of all that is Sacred; integrate your self-awareness into being an authentic, aware leader; and live your passion intentionally through the life and work of the church. Creating a Life that Matters integrates art, scripture, music, film, journaling, and diverse spiritual resources to augment your exploration of the Christian path.

Rediscovering Relationship

with the Sacred

While relationship with the Sacred is the fundamental beginning of all faith paths, this transforming experience is often lost when you exchange your spiritual vitality for empty religious practices. In these six sessions, you will explore what it means to be transformed by an encounter with the Sacred, and rediscover loving God with heart, soul and mind. The titles of the six two-hour sessions which make up this Course are:

1.1 Bring Many Names: We will share and be exposed to a variety of images for the Mystery that can never be fully comprehended.

1.2 Beyond Belief: We will feel permission and encouragement to dismiss what insults our souls and affirm our experiences of the Sacred as true, transformational and soul building.

1.3 Church: The Body Eclectic: We will be able to imagine a church alive – so diverse that a God of many names is embodied by a people who live beyond belief.

1.4 Friends of God and Prophets: We will experience the sacred in the witness and lives of others.

1.5 Staying Alive: We will recognize and celebrate the diversity of spiritual practices, and will commit to keeping ourselves alive spiritually.

1.6 Celebrating the Sacred: We will share a ritual meal.

Rediscovering Relationship

with My Self

You expend time, effort and money seeking to understand who you are. In these six sessions you will explore some of the influences that have shaped you, and ways to create a self you will want to live with, others will want to relate to, and God will be able to use in the service of all that is Sacred. The titles of the six two-hour sessions which make up this Course are:

2.1 Brilliant, Gorgeous, Fabulous: We will realize that everything begins and ends with personal integrity, the complete and authentic integration of body, soul, and spirit.

2.2 Powerful Beyond Measure: We will begin to understand the giftedness our integrated, authentic selves bring into the service of the Sacred.

2.3 Under the Waterline: We will understand both the conscious and unconscious influences which directly inform our behaviors.

2.4 Keeping Body and Soul Together: We will be committed to the reconciliation of body and soul, sexuality and spirituality.

2.5 Good Vibrations: We will have experienced how others experience us: our giftedness. We will understand the manifestations of the Spirit in each of us, how our soul manifests itself in the world.

2.6 Celebrating My Sacred Self: We will share a ritual meal.

Rediscovering Relationship

with My Passion

Your passions make you most aware of your personal power, energy and joy. Many internal and external factors influence how successfully you manifest these passions in your life. In these six sessions you will explore ways to manage those factors, and discover what gives you power, energy, and joy as you serve the Sacred through the church. The titles of the six two-hour sessions which make up this Course are:

3.1 Did You Call Me?: We will understand that our personal calling will be in perfect harmony with our deepest interests, talents, and abilities.

3.2 Peaks and Valleys: We will begin to realize that both our deepest valleys and our highest peaks are gifts, and shape who we are today.

3.3 Shadows in the Valleys: We will realize that none of the “four basic fears” has the power to prevent us from following our passion.

3.4 Tapestry: We will be able to imagine our lives and our gifts as integral to a vast and interwoven tapestry, that fulfills the purposes of God, through human lives lived in harmony with their passions.

3.5 The Perfect Swing: We will be able to locate the intersection between our own deepest passion and the world’s deepest need.

3.6 Here We Are, Send Us!: We will share a ritual meal.

The Creating a Life that Matters course will be held at the church, 446 West 36^th Street, New York, NY 10018.

Rediscovering Relationship with the Sacred will be held on Tuesdays from October 14 to November 18.

Rediscovering Relationship with My Self will be held on Tuesdays from January 6 to February 8.

Rediscovering Relationship with My Passion will be held on Tuesdays from February 24 to March 31.