Theme Based Curriculum

What is “Soul Matters”?  Each month, our services and children’s Faith Development activities are devoted to a theme, like “Cultivating Relationship” or “Opening to Joy” or “Healing.”  We approach these general themes from several lenses and angles throughout the month. And we explore the themes in Sharing Circles, small groups of adults committed to deeper exploration with regular companions. These groups offer the gift of spiritual connection, where we listen to each other, to our lives, and to our deepest selves.  We are encouraged to experience the themes, not just analyze them, and to offer each other the gift of listening.  Although we are offered a range of questions to explore, we are encouraged to find one question that speaks to us and then dwell with it for a time—a week or more.

We hold Sharing Circles at the following times:

Mankato – 2nd Tuesdays at 4:00pm (Tony Filipovitch facilitating tonyfil@hickorytech.net )

St. Peter – 2nd Tuesdays at 6:00pm (Kelly Brancamp facilitating kbrancamp@gmail.com)

Online – 2nd Thursdays at 6:30pm (Deb Fitzloff facilitating debf826@gmail.com)

Contact one of the facilitators if you would like to join a group.

In brief, the process is that you will receive a packet by e-mail roughly a month before the next meeting. Skim through it, looking for one or two exercises that spark your interest.  Then explore that (those) exercise and bring your thoughts/experiences to the meeting.  Often, we will also find
something in the Companion Pieces that interests us, and bring that to the group (quotes, songs, videos/podcasts, articles, books, movies).  Sometimes none of the exercises particularly spark someone’s interest, and they go off on the theme in their own direction. When we meet, a common procedure is

• Check-in (where are you at today?)
• Round-robin (in no particular order) offering what interested you, and what you did with it
• Responses/reflections to what you heard from the others (although we are not so very
  formal, and sometimes #2 and #3 bleed into each other).
• Wrap-up (final thoughts)

The facilitator usually begins and ends with a quotation (sometimes from the packet, sometimes not).  For a more in-depth discussion, look at the Soul Matters Participation Guide. For more information about the Soul Matters curriculum, look at their website.

2023-24 themes: The Gift of…
September:  Welcome
October:  Heritage
November:  Generosity
December:  Mystery
January:  Liberating Love
February: Justice & Equity
March:  Transformation
April: Interdependence
May:  Pluralism
June:  Renewal