Chalice Lighting:
We light this chalice in the hope that we may find
ways to speak out courageously for that which is honorable and just.
Check-in:
Take a few minutes to share briefly who you are this
week.
Whatever course you decide upon, there is always
someone to tell you that you are wrong.
There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your
critics are right. To map out a course
of actions and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a
soldier needs. Peace has its victories,
but it takes brave men and women to win them.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their
fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral
courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential vital quality
for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.
Robert
F. Kennedy
Questions:
Do you feel a responsibility to be actively involved
in social, political, moral or religious issues? Explain.
Have you held a minority view on an important issue
but not expressed it? How did you
justify your silence to yourself?
Have you ever expressed a minority view but
regretted your decision? Why?
Have you ever taken a stand and gotten an unexpected
response? What did you learn from the experience?
Have you ever taken a stand and then been won over
to the opposing view? Explain. How did
it make you feel?
How can we encourage people including ourselves to
risk taking a stand?
Is there an issue that you would like to take a
stand on now and would like our moral support to do so?
Closing Words
It is not the critic who
counts… The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…who strives
valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great
enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at
best, knows achievements, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails
while daring greatly.
Theodore Roosevelt
Check-out
How do you
feel about tonight’s gathering?
Extinguishing the Chalice
Keep fresh before me the
moments of my high resolve, that in good times or in tempests, I may not forget
that to which my life is committed.
Keep fresh before me the moments of my high resolve.
Howard Thurman