A “Big Questions” circle saved my soul.

I was shattered, all of my beliefs gone, with no answers to anything. I began attending a “Big Questions” small group at my home congregation. “Maybe they’ll have the answers,” I thought to myself.

Each meeting, we’d check in with what was going on in our lives, listen to a short reading, then grapple with a single, simple question. We didn’t debate, we didn’t try to come to consensus. The purpose was for us to truly listen to each other, and find our own answers.

And we did. Time after time, after the meeting, we’d laugh – “I thought that question was so simple, we’d have nothing to talk about!” But every time, we did. We’d take the week’s topic deep, surprising ourselves as we found our way to new meanings and understandings.

I heard Bob Hill, who literally wrote the book on UU small groups, say that small groups, or “chalice circles,” are a conversion experience – that you really don’t know their power until you experience one. I’m a convert, because that group helped me to pick up the pieces of my shattered spirit and put them together, finding the answers I was hungering for. (I became a better listener, too.)

Now’s your chance. Starting next week, we’ll be beginning four chalice circles that will meet once a week for 6 weeks. Sign up now: http://louure.ch2v.com/content.asp?PageID=7