About Session
Do you finish each day of ICCR conferences overwhelmed by the amount of information and burdened by what you have heard throughout the day? If so, consider attending our Council Meeting. Council is a communal contemplative practice which can help shift or attention from the knowledge from the head to the wisdom of the heart. Many who participate in Council report walking away with a renewed sense of clarity and peace.
In our Council Meeting, we sit in a circle in the Chapel. No notes or recordings are allowed. The Council convenor (something like a moderator) will open the meeting with a ceremonial lighting of a candle and some framing remarks. Participants will be encouraged to follow intentions that have been passed down over generations of holding this practice:
1. Listen from the heart
2. Speak from the heart
3. Be spontaneous and authentic
4. Be lean of expression
The Council convenor will then share a prompt. For example, “Share with us a time that you felt encouraged that the work we are doing is really making a difference.” The participants will pass around a talking stick and speak as they feel led and speak “into the Center” of the circle. Once all have had a chance to respond, and the circle has returned to silence, there is usually time for two or three more prompts and responses.
The Council tradition comes to us from many indigenous practices. The circle symbolizes collective wisdom that is greater than any one part. The stories that are shared in the convenings tap into spiritual truths that are critical to sustain the kind of work that ICCR sets out to do. The wisdom that is shared in this kind of space can help cut through much of the confusion in these times.
Additional resources see Beyond US & Them: What is council – Beyond Us & Them and The Way of Council by Jack Zimmerman and Virginia Coyle.
Host: Matthew Illian, Director of Responsible Investing, United Church Funds