Good stuff:
- friendly atmosphere - got the sense that it really is as inclusive as it claims to be, can't imagine anyone not getting a welcome
- amateur in the best sense of that word - low on glitz high on sincerity
- permission to say what you think and what you wonder - there really was an absence of any sense of oppressive orthodoxy
- seemed to be light on structure - people arrived when they could and left when they had to; the conversation was allowed to run on as long as it needed to and to end when it seemed right
- a natural, relaxed and unembarrassed bit of praying for needs that had been shared during the discussion
- the setting - a no nonsense Caribbean cafe called The Retreat on the A6 - really liked the view from the big glass sliding doors straight out onto the busy pavement, enjoyed people having a bit of a pike as they walked past, also liked the noise leakage from laughing teenagers to wailing sirens and the background rumble of traffic all of which made it feel like a real-life happening
- the food - well if you can call it that, midget gems, hula hoops, smokey bacon crisps and either mango juice or ginger beer, wierd is good, right?
- the Nooma vid - seemed to work as a discussion starter.
- would have been good to have had a Bible reading as part of the concluding meditation
- a few more blokes perhaps (three of us out of twelve) - although maybe not, I wonder if tipping the hormone balance away from estrogen in favour testosterone might have made it a bit more difficult for some of the women to share as freely as they did.
So a big thank you to Ian and Jean for making it happen. I look forward to the next one.