Our Legacy
Expectations Talk and First Talk

II. Expectations Talk (8:45 PM)

Objectives:

• Share experiences in small group discussion
• Identify hopes, fears, and expectations about this retreat
• Break the ice
• Introduce the theme
  

This is a talk for each group to do individually. After the groups are divided they may be sent off immediately to complete the talk.

Leader Guide: Expectations Talk
Begin by stating your name again and something about yourself such as where you are from. Each participant should do the same.
Reinforce the importance of honesty, respect, and be willing to be open and to share and to listen. Give an example from your own experience of a time when you were faced with a new situation and had to be open with others.

Ask the following questions, giving each person, including yourself, a chance to respond out loud:

1. Why did you come to the retreat?
2. What do you hope to experience or learn at the retreat?
3. What do you think this retreat is about?

There are no "wrong answers" to these questions. If the answers given are very short, discuss them a little more to find out more about the group members. After discussing these questions, ask this last reflection question (then return to the main group):
The name of this retreat is “Our Legacy.” What do you think Our Legacies have to do with our lives and God?

Talk 1: Getting Some Perspective (9:00 PM)

Objectives:

• “The way we view things affects how we approach them”
  

Opening Song: The Circle of Life (The Lion King): Pass out and paste lyric sheets

The topic for this weekend is “Our Legacy”. The dictionary defines a legacy as something handed down by an ancestor or predecessor, or from the past”. All of us have received a lot of legacies: we live in a country where we have freedom to believe what we want and live how we choose; we are brought up by families where our parents may or may not be married; we’ve received specific genes that make us athletic, smart, strong, musical, or disabled. (List some of the things that have been passed down to you: family, married or divorced parents, specific talents/abilities, religion, hair/eye color, type of town you live in, etc). What are some of your legacies? (Encourage as many as possible to give examples).

Sometimes legacies are positive and sometimes we call them curses. Regardless, it’s something we receive, something we’re entrusted with, something we’re expected to do something with, something we will eventually pass down to someone else. Write this down:

• A LEGACY IS SOMETHING I HAVE RECEIVED FROM OTHERS, THAT I AM EXPECTED TO DO SOMETHING WITH, SO THAT I CAN PASS SOMETHING DOWN TO OTHERS.

A lot of people think that “legacies” trap us into thinking a certain way. They insist that they brainwash us and make it impossible to have a free will. They say we have no real choice in life. The Orthodox Church insists that all human beings have a free will. Regardless of whether we are brought up poor or wealthy, in America or in the Middle East, we have the ability to accept or deny the society we live in. We can choose which legacies we want to continue and which legacies we want to stop (name a legacy that you want to stop, i.e. pollution, war, the national debt, etc. and one you would like to pass down, i.e. racial understanding, better education, living as a Christian).

This means we really have the ability to choose what we believe. And that choice directly affects how we view different things. In the box exercise, where we stood and what we believed about life and people directly affected how we reacted to what we saw. From where we stood, we could sometimes see entirely different things. Write this down:

• MY BELIEFS, VALUES, AND BACKGROUND DIRECTLY INFLUENCE HOW I SEE THE WORLD AND THE PEOPLE IN IT.

(Give an example of how your legacies/background/beliefs influence how you see something. Try to keep it “non-religious” i.e. since I grew up in America, I believe that men and women should have the same chance for a job, etc.)

One of the major things that is affected by our beliefs is the way we view the world and the universe. The fact that, as Christians, we call it “Creation” is a strong statement in itself. We believe very strongly that the world we live in and the entire universe is something created by God; something that is at its core, holy. Psalm 24 says, “The earth and all that is in it is the Lord’s”. Write this down:

• EVERYTHING WE POSSESS, EVERYTHING WE COME IN CONTACT WITH – OUT TIME, TALENTS, AND OUR MOST TREASURED THINGS – ARE GIFTS FROM GOD.

• “WHAT DO YOU HAVE THAT YOU DID NOT RECEIVE? NOW IF YOU DID INDEED RECEIVE IT, WHY DO YOU BOAST AS IF YOU HAD NOT RECEIVED IT?” – I CORINTHIANS 4:7

The real question is, what do we do with it?

Closing Song: In the Name of Love (U2)

Small Group Activity #1: Take five minutes without writing to just think about what you believe. Then write an essay, poem, letter, etc. entitled “I Believe”. (15 minutes) Share with large group (15 minutes)

		Department of Youth, Young Adult, and Campus Ministry Orthodox Church in America PO Box 675 Syosset, NY 11791 http://yya.oca.org yyacm@oca.org The Hub | Back to top