The Circle Hbg Gatherings
What to Expect
When & How Long
The Circle Hbg gathering begins at 5:30 PM on the first and third Sunday of the month lasting 60 to 90 minutes. Doors open at 5:00 PM. The doors are locked at 5:40 PM to ensure everyone’s safety.
Joy & Concern Cards
There are cards and pens on the center table. At any time during the gathering, participants are invited to write a joy or concern to be shared with the community during the harvest prayer.
Creating the Circle
Chime - Music is played at 5:25 PM, which invites those gathered to find their seat, end or continue their conversation quietly, and prepare themselves for the gathering. A singing bowl is rung at 5:30 PM to mark the beginning of the gathering.
Opening Ritual - After a brief welcome, the community is invited to breath and to center ourselves in our bodies. We are invited to check in with our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our spirits. How are we arriving? What are we carrying? There is no judgement, just an acceptance of who we are an how we are arriving in that moment. When ready, each person is invited to take a tea light, light it, and place it on the center table. In so we doing we visually represent our individual presence and the growing community.
Song - a song is shared or sung as the candles are placed on the center table.
Gathering the Circle
Call to Community - After the opening ritual, the center candle is lit on the marking the presence of the Spirit.
Explanation of The Circle Way - The Host offers an explanation of the process of the Circle Way, including the agreements we hold. The Circle Way ensures all voices are heard and honored. What is shared is held within the center, with compassion, curiosity, and in confidentiality.
Way of the Guardian - The Guardian is tasked with tending to the energy, time, pace of the circle gathering. The Guardian, or anyone else in the circle, may invite the community to pause and breath together at any time. This shared breathe honors what has been said, holds space for emotions, slows the pace of the conversation, and invitse a noticing of the presence of the Great Mystery.
Blessing & Sending the Circle
Check Out - The community is invited to reflect briefly on how they are leaving the space or on another question asked by the host. A person may pass and does not need to offer a reflection.
Harvest Prayer - The circle is closed with a prayer using the words offered by those gathered. The language of the harvest prayer comes from the check out and the joys and concerns written on cards on the center table. Our harvest prayers trusts our intentions, vulnerability, pains, joys, and practice are held by the Beloved One.
Announcements - While announcements are shared, the Children Circle (the young people & their teachers) joins the larger circle.
Song - The entire circle community joins in a closing song.
Benediction - We are sent out with peace and a blessing upon all those gathered and upon the world.
A Note On Language
As the visioning team worked to envision and create The Circle Hbg, the use and importance of language was a constant conversation. We recognize there are words from religious traditions that have been used to harm and have, therefore, caused trauma within queer communities. Because The Circle Hbg is intended to address the needs of the whole person, including one’s spiritual life, we have sought to use a wide variety of words to depict that which is mystery - God, Spirit, Universal Love, Great Mystery, the Beloved One, etc. All of these expressions, as well as no understanding of a divine connection, are welcome within The Circle Hbg.
The Circle Practice
Poem / Reading - A poem or other sacred reading is offered to center the gathering and articulate the theme.
Practice - There are two primary forms of the gathering - the practice circle and the wondering circle. In the practice circle, those gathered are invited to participate in a shared spiritual practice. These practices could include simple art activities, meditation, journaling, or even a moving meditation. The wondering circle invites those gathered to reflect on a question. An individual may pass if they do not want to share, however, all reflections are honored and held in confidentiality in the circle.
