CHRISTMAS GATHERING CELL PHONE PRACTICE

CHRISTMAS GATHERING CELL PHONE PRACTICE

Try this practice at your Christmas Gathering (or any family gathering!):

  

·      Have ready a beautiful basket or box, with a lid, and a candle that can burn for several hours.

·      When everyone has arrived, gather together for a few minutes, placing the box or basket in the center of you.  

·      Explain that you would like to shape a certain kind of space for connection and presence by experimenting with being together without your phones.  

·      There will likely be anxiety about this for some.  Have compassion for yourselves. Recognize how we’ve gotten so attached to our phones in today’s day and age, that it is hard to imagine spending time together without them. Name the discomfort.

·      When you are ready to proceed, designate one phone for photos – set it to airplane mode, and set it aside. You can share photos with each other afterwards.

·      Light a candle to signify your intention and presence here with each other.

·      Read the “releasing phones” part of the cell phone liturgy together (below)

·      Everyone turn off phones, or put in airplane mode, and place your phones in the basket. (Those with smart watches might want to put those in too!).

·      Enjoy your time together.

·      At the end, before the first person leaves, gather at the basket and read the “retrieving phones” part of the liturgy.  Blow out the candle.  Those leaving retrieve their phones from the basket.  Those staying longer can keep theirs in the basket until they are ready to leave, or take them and keep them in airplane mode until they leave.

Don’t forget to take your phone home with you!

How was that experience for you?

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LITURGY OF THE CELL PHONES 

RELEASING PHONES 

We surrender our phones                                                                                        

to acknowledge that we are not as essential 

as we would have ourselves believe.  

And to recognize how essential we are 

to this moment, this conversation, this process.

We put down our phones 

to put down the false belief 

that we can be more places than here, doing more things than this.

And to commit to being fully present, here and now.

We turn off our phones 

to turn to each other and to the moment at hand, 

with full attention, creativity and welcome.

May we receive the gifts of full presence and essential connection.

May God meet us in this moment.

Amen. 

(cell phones are shut down and surrendered)

RETRIEVING PHONES

 We return from this moment, taking with us the gift of being fully present.  

May we return with gratitude and perspective 

to the tasks before us and the noise around us, 

a little more willing to resist the urgency,

and a little more able to receive the quiet gifts of each moment

where God is present alongside us.

Amen.

(cell phones are retrieved)

Copyright Kara Root, Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church, 2015. May be used and shared with attribution.