21.
Reinforcing & Rededicating
Our Purpose
1. Peace
Journal for your Peace Community
Just
as a peace journal can be a powerful tool in your
personal life, a Peace Community Journal can also
be an important part of your Peace Community.
It can be set up very much like a personal peace
journal, with an extra section first, for the
minutes of the meeting, if your group so desires.
Sometimes it's best to just record the events
that occur during the meeting, and then at the
next meeting, each member can have an opportunity
to decide which events should be placed in each
of the journal sections. Your group can decide
best how to keep a journal.
2. Begin
and end each meeting with purpose
Peace
Communities can be a wonderful way to refuel,
refresh and revitalize your dedication and desire
to work for peace. It's important that when you
meet, you focus together on your shared purpose
and goal. After a short period of socializing,
the meeting can officially begin with some form
of ceremony that joins your group together.
3. Silence,
Prayer, Poem or Song for unity and purpose
Some
groups may join in purpose through a moment of
silence, sitting together, hand-in-hand in a circle.
Your group may decide a special prayer will be
the uniting bond to focus on your purpose, or
sharing together the universal wish: May Peace
Prevail On Earth. A special poem,
or message of purpose that your group makes up
together might be the ceremonial joining in a
wish for peace. A song, such as Let There Be
Peace On Earth, might help lift your group's
hearts and make you ready to encourage and inspire
each other for peace.
4. Peace
community experiences should be positive and
fulfilling
Remember
that respecting each member's wishes is important.
It might be best to have each member be given
a turn to bring the group together with his or
her own choice of opening or closing ceremony.
It's important to close with a focus on peace
as well, for the way that the meeting is left
will often color the way we remember it. We want
our Peace Community meetings to be looked forward
to as times of growth and sharing for peace.
5. Reaffirming
the sense of community
Your
group can also spend time socializing as friends
might do, in smaller groups or pairs, talking
about your life and the events of your week. This
helps to reinforce the idea that you have gathered
to focus on peace, but you are a community of
friends, too.
6. Encouragement
and inspiration for peace
Each
member, if they want to participate, should be
allowed a turn to share a moment of victory for
peace in their lives. Remember that there are
NO SMALL VICTORIES for peace. Every victory is
important. Members can also share treasures of
peace that they have found -- a poem, a song,
something encouraging that happened in the world
that made them feel that peace on earth is coming!
These sharings can be placed directly into your
Peace Community Journal, if your group wishes.
7. Help
each other grow
Your
group may also wish to share and record some of
its concerns. These may be individual, community
or worldwide concerns. These can be added to the
concern list in your shared journal. Remember
to spend time exploring positive solutions to
every concern that you raise. Members of a group
may also have personal trials and needs that they
would like to share. The group might spend some
time searching for answers, inspiration, resources
or encouragement to help them work through the
problem. Remember that we can't solve everything.
Resolve to find solutions and leave an issue open
until it is resolved. And though it may be a problem
of great importance, the group can only do what
it can and must move on after an agreed upon amount
of time.
8. Choose
a tangible goal
In addition
to inspiring and encouraging each other to live
peaceful lives with our families, our friends
and our neighbors, a group will feel empowered
if it is involved with a tangible goal to work
for peace on earth. Your group may decide whether
it wishes to spread a message of peace, or to
do good works, or to pursue both avenues as
peaceworkers. It may decide to participate with
a local charity in a hands-on capacity, or it
may decide to donate money to a national organization
of your group's choice. It may decide to participate
in or plan a peace march or peace rally. One
of the most rewarding and far-reaching ways
your group can be involved in working for peace
is to sponsor, coordinate or participate in
a fair, festival or other community activity
that promotes peace on earth.
