My boundaries enclose a pleasant land; * indeed, I have a goodly heritage. Psalm 16:6

 

Just as [Jesus] was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  Mark 1:10-11

 

 

Dear Gifts Discernment Retreat participant:

 

I find these two passages of scripture powerful affirmations of who I am as a person and as a child of God.

 

“My boundaries,” who I am as a person, is “a pleasant land” filled with potential for growth, much of it a gift to me from my own heritage.

 

Jesus’ experience in his baptism is, I believe, one which we are invited to take as our own. Each of us, along with our brother Jesus, is a beloved child of God in whom our God delights.

 

These are realities which we claim in a common faith: that all people are the beloved of God and each person has been given gifts to develop, express, and share with the world.  As baptized Christians we call this sharing “ministry.”

 

One of the great challenges to each person in his or her life is to recognize, develop, and use the gifts enclosed in their “pleasant land.”

 

The preparation for and actual Gifts Discernment Retreat on September 11th are intended to assist you in responding to this challenge for the sake of your own daily life and ministry and as a member of St. John’s in its ministry in the community and world.

 

The preparation (guidelines/instructions enclosed) will greatly deepen and enrich your own experience of your gifts and provide the basis for the September 11th event.

 

I wish you all blessing as you engage in reflecting upon your gifts for life and ministry and experience more deeply your being “the beloved of God.”

 

Yours in common prayer and ministry,

 

 

(The Rev.) Michel Jupin

Common Ministry Consultant

The Diocese of Southern Ohio

 

 

 

 

 

Guidelines/Instructions

PREPARING FOR THE GIFTS DISCERNMENT RETREAT

 

Select a Journal and Reflection Time

Take time selecting a journal. It may be one you already have and use and with which you are very much “at home.” But if you go out and purchase one, do this in a prayerful and intentional way. Let it be a book that is pleasant to your eye in color, design, style; that feels good in your hand as you carry it; that is comfortable for you to write in it. Will its pages have lines or blank pages? Is there enough space between the lines?

 

Find a time and place when, each day, you can sit and prayerfully give thought to your gifts. Where and when are you most likely to have some silence and “space” from the rest of your life and the world? Turn off your phone! You might wash your hands as you start as a symbol of your baptism. Will you light a candle? Are there any small “mementos” of your life to place on a nearby table? Will you read some passage of scripture or some other spiritual reading (e.g. Parker Palmer’s Let your life speak)?  Do always offer a brief prayer to God before starting, asking God to assist you to be present and open for whatever God may have in store for you in this time apart.

 

Note: If journaling and setting aside time for reflection do not fit your personality or life style, try thinking about these questions during some of the other “times” of your life: walking from one place to another; waiting in the check-out line of the grocery or stopped at a red light; as you shave or apply make-up in the morning. Find as many creative ways as you can to be mindful of and attend to these questions on a daily basis.

 

In this Prayerful Time Reflect on . . .

The first area for reflection and writing in your journal is important accomplishments or activities in your life over the last five years. Here is the question:

 

“Reflecting over the last five years, what three accomplishments or activities have you found the most rewarding? What made them so? What personal skills or abilities did you use or draw on? Which of those gave you the most joy to use?”

 

After completing the above, move onto another area. The question here is:

 

“Over the same period, what is your most meaningful failure? What about it made it a failure to you? What from it did you learn about yourself?”

 

Do the On-Line “Finding your spiritual gifts” self-assessment

Two weeks before the retreat, take the on-line “Finding your spiritual gifts” self assessment (created by the ELCA - Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) at:

 

http://www2.elca.org/evangelizingchurch/assessments/spiritgifts.html

 

After taking the self-assessment and reflecting upon it, journal on these questions:

 

“What new or more does this self-assessment tell me about me and my gifts? What more have I discovered or learned? What are the pluses and minuses of these gifts? How do I relate to other people who have similar gifts? different gifts?”

 

Finally, as part of each day’s prayerful reflection time

Ask yourself and journal about the question:

 

“What have I learned today about myself, my abilities and skills?” In other words, let this question be present to you as part of your life during this time of preparation for the Gifts Discernment Retreat.