Community Groups at Beacon
Resilience, Support and Growth: A New Year of Community Groups
PLEASE NOTE: The deadline to sign up for community groups is September 15, 2022.
Beacon Community Groups offer the gift of spiritual connection. Around us swirls a shallow, frantic and materialistic culture that leaves us cut off from our deepest selves, life’s gifts and needs greater than our own. Many of us come to Beacon hungry to mend these sacred connections that get frayed and torn. Community Groups exist to support this journey of reconnection to life, others and ourselves.
We do that by listening. Fundamentally, that’s what Community Groups offer: an invitation to listen more deeply and intentionally, in three distinct ways:
“In our community groups, through the years, we’ve had thoughtful, touching conversations about ideas, our lives, and our world, and a wonderful opportunity to know other people more deeply and to reflect on our values.”
Ken & Regina Carlson, Beacon members
First, we listen to each other. It’s a gift not often offered in our culture. Most of the time, we are “talked at” rather than listened to. We are bombarded with information and demands that drown out our own voice. Being listened to by trusted companions helps us hear our own voice again.
Second, we listen to our lives. This is not easy to do. Directly or indirectly, we are taught to see life as a challenge not a companion. The goal is to conquer it, not listen to it. Community Groups invite us to take another look and dance with life in a new way. Through readings and reflections focused on our daily living, we engage the world not as an obstacle course to get through, but as a host of holy voices calling us to greater loving and living.
Finally, we listen to our deepest selves. Introspection is most often understood as solitary work, but small group practice teaches us that going inward is largely a gift given to us by others. Ironically, we hear that “still, small voice inside” best when the voices of friends speak and offer their presence in a disciplined way. Quaker teacher Parker Palmer explains: “So what do we do in a circle of trust? We speak our own truth; we listen receptively to the truth of others; and we offer each other the healing and empowering gifts of silence and laughter... Our purpose is not to teach anyone anything but to give the inner teacher a chance to teach us.”
Together, these three sacred practices of listening – to each other, the world, and our deepest selves – add up to a more intentional and authentic life. It’s a journey back to connection, and ultimately a journey back home.