Balance is no harder, it's just that you've got farther to fall

[elirosalind]

How do you feel about going through books with your community group? Good or bad idea?

Comments

[lifeashouse]

I LOVE DAVID WILCOX. And by love, I mean he is probably number two mancruch behind Bono. He's responsible for me keeping with playing guitar. I've been thinking a lot about the song deeper still off "what you whispered" and i can't get the last line out of my head

[elirosalind]

david wilcox is also one of my three favorite artists among sara mclachlan and patty griffin. clint and i have seen him in concert twice this year, and i had seen him once before that. he is AMAZING. if you haven't seen him live, you really really must.

[lifeashouse]

Yeah, I think I've seen him three times. Once he was playing at the hoover library auditorium. I went an hour early and held a sign that said "Will do anything for tickets." I got four and called a couple friends. After the concert, wilcox asked for the sign, and he changed the words around to "Your will can do anything for you, ever provide tickets." He's the coolest.

[susancloud]

Sometimes, I think community group in general is a bad idea!
Seriously, Steve and Scott aren't really for it. I don't think it would be a BAD idea, but it would have to be a really good book! We tried to do that one time in our community group with a really good book and it kind of sucked. No one read ahead (English major peeve I guess!) and the discussion just kind of lagged. I also like community groups that allow people to share what is going on with them personally without fear of judgement. It is SO rare to find a group like that. The community group powers that be are moving toward offering more content outside of cg which should open up the doors for more frank discussion about personal stuff in cg. I think cg leaders should really be trained on how to be ok with hearing people's personal stuff. There was some of that at the last training session, so I hope I hope I hope it sticks. It sucks to come home from cg and feel like a crazy bad weird o person.

Su.

[kellysears]

basically, I agree with susan. I hate structure. But I have also been on some community groups that dont have open people sharing their lives so they were boring. They definately needed something whether it was a book, more alcohol, or some plyers to remove the sticks from their buttox. Ok, perhaps that was a little too graphic...but what I mean to say is that when people are open about their lives CG becomes a really cool.

Reading a book, in an ironic way, keeps you from having to think about life. You focus on the book and what you are getting in, and through it. If you just have to say what you're going through personally then everything turns deeper. and more real.

[dixiemedley]

I don't mind the book thing (although I wasn't in Susan's group when they did it) because I like structure. But I rather prefer the idea of structure being offered elsewhere in the church and using CG for just that -- COMMUNITY.

[susancloud]

Exactly. CG is for community. It isn't for making people feel like assholes. Although it works that way.

[elirosalind]

i agree with all of you. I felt like a total ass at community group this week. i was so down and all i really wanted was to be able to be real and talk about all the stuff that's going on, but it was awkward and no one else was talking. then, one of our leaders suggested that we go through this book (i'm sure the book is fantastic) but it made me feel really despondent because i feel like it's one more thing to fill up the awkward silence and keep us from really knowing each other. apparently steve spoke on this recently and now i'm really wishing i had been there.
all this to say, i think going through books in community group is a bad idea.

[susancloud]

It just kind of makes you want to say fuck it, doesn't it?
Maybe if you can just stick it out, it will get better. I'm really sorry that you didn't have a soft place to land there this week.

[briantmurphy]

I think CGs should be pretty free to do what they want, and constantly exploring new avenues to create ways for people to know eachother and develop relationships. This includes maybe sometimes talking about a book and sometimes praying together and sometimes reading the bible together. The important thing with me at my group is that it never feels like a formula, and all that stuff sort of happens naturally. I would really like to see my group get more involved with community service and crap like that, but we probably never will. We pretty much just get together and eat food and drink wine and laugh and then go home. And we're also we're pretty much always there for eachother which is really amazing. I don't think I answered the question at all. I love and hate CG all at once.

BTM