[Choir] UCM Choir Retreat invitation

[Richard Riley]

Note from Dick: the aspirations and structure of this Sunday's retreat is
the result of MaryJean and Donia's thoughtful consideration of how to
respond to your responses to the questionnaire distributed last Spring.
Here's their invitation to you:

Hello wonderful singers!

We are so looking forward to being together again this Sunday!

We understand that some people have expressed questions about how our
mini-retreat will be organized, as well as some concerns that there won't
be enough time to have a meaningful discussion, let alone come to anything
concrete moving forward.  These are certainly valid concerns!  So we
thought we'd send out this letter summarizing the agenda and how we see
this retreat as part of an ongoing process in defining and developing our
identity as a choir.

First off, we see this retreat as an extension of the choir surveys we all
completed last Spring. You all did a lot of the main work putting issues
out on the table then.  We went through all of the answers to try to
discern and distill the central and most important threads, and have used
these to hone questions which we will use for discussion and which are
designed to help us move forward.

We will be trying out a format for the discussion which we hope will
generate mutual understanding and creative thinking, as well as using time
effectively.   In the weeks after the retreat, the music committee will
meet to digest the results of our discussions and determine follow-up
action plans.   So even though it is a short time we will have together
Sunday, it is one very important step in a process which WILL be ongoing,
and we are confident that a lot of good ideas and solutions will be
generated.

The plan of the day is this:
We will begin with some brief group singing, and follow this with some
brief general remarks.

The bulk of the time will be spent in discussion.  We'll be breaking into 4
separate groups, which will each address these 3 questions:

1.  In what ways is church choir as *"community" *important to you?  In
what specific ways would you like to see this manifest?

2.  In what ways is the church choir as a *musical ensemble* important to
you?  In what ways would you like to see the choir encourage the craft of
singing?

3.  In what ways can we encompass and serve with integrity these differing
sets of needs?

The facilitators for the small groups will be Dave Grundy, Gail Falk, Donia
Prince, and Mary Jean McElvey.

We will then reconvene as the entire group and the facilitators will report
summaries of their group's discussion.

If there is still time and inclination, we will do some more singing.  Then
eat and just enjoy each other's company!!

A reminder that there will not be facilities for heating up food, so please
plan your potluck offerings accordingly.
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