Example of An Email Reminder for an Upcoming Gathering
Friends:
We are truly blessed by one another’s presence and sharing. We offer the following statement of principles to guide our group:
We are a small community of individuals, guided by the Holy Spirit, who gather [online or in person] to learn together, to pray, to freely share and actively listen to one another, respectfully and without judgment or condemnation, of our joys, blessings, trials, concerns, thoughts, and questions about our respective faith and life journeys. We promote, empower, honor, and expect confidentiality within our community, which is motivated by our deep respect for the inherent dignity and sacredness of people, their stories, and their experiences. Any important decisions of the group are sought to be arrived at through consensus of the members of the community.
We also offer our continuing prayers for peace, justice, and healing for those in need, or who are suffering, sick or otherwise impaired or debilitated, and for the other special prayer intentions that were requested.
We look forward to our next gathering on [insert day, date, and from-and-to-time] at [insert location] [or on Zoom, with sign-on details to be provided by separate email to be sent the evening before the gathering].
Your presence, friendship, and mutual sharing of your experiences, reflections, impressions, thoughts, and other comments are what makes a group like ours so special and meaningful.
[Depending on the length of the gathering (one-hour or two-hours), if possible, provide any written resources, or links to online resources to be used during the gathering, such as the Opening Prayer, Lectio, Commentary for the Gospel reading for the coming Sunday, or any article, video, audio or other Pre-Session Materials that will be used to guide the sharing during the gathering].
We will continue using the same weekly format: [summarily describe the format, such as Welcome and Opening Prayer, 5 minutes of silent prayer, review of our past week, Lectio Divina, viewing of the video and sharing of our Pre-Session Materials, Announcements, Prayer Intentions, and Closing Prayer].
We invite you to continue with your daily meditation practice and journal writing of your thoughts, feelings, and other experiences, that we can share with one another when we next gather together.
Again, we to invite all to share any other videos, audios, articles, or prayers that you believe would be beneficial for our group. We would suggest that any videos or audio presentations be limited to thirty minutes or less.
We pray that you and your families to continue to remain safe and healthy.
Peace and blessings,
[Insert Name(s) of Facilitator(s)]