Story telling: Testimony: Witness

This is a group of community practices that link to other practices

Community Story telling: In your group, tell a story about a concern or issue that is going on for your group. One person will start with "Once upon a time" and then each person in the circle will continue with either "and then …" or "but before that …" or "meanwhile, back at the ranch." One member of the group should be a recorder. Go around the circle several times, depending on the number of people. People can choose to pass if they don't have anything to add at that moment. Each turn is just a sentence, although it can be a complex sentence.
This is a safe way to get the issues out on the table, and to have all voices heard. It is a creative process to cover the history and to build vision together. (from Charles Olsen's essay in The Hidden Spirit: Discovering the Spirituality of Institutions)

Testimony: Reflect on your own story, and then with a partner or two or three, for four uninterrupted minutes tell the story of a turning point in your life, or. Your partner group will ask clarifying questions for a minute. Sit together in silence for a few minutes, as the group absorbs your story. If you want, tell your story again, and feel and hear how it changes from the attention and reflection.
This is clearly a practice of reflection and also of attention, but of getting attention. But testimony is a spiritual practice that goes by other names, and each of our stories connects us to the greater whole. National Public Radio is collecting people's stories in a wonderful format in their Story Corps.
It can also be turned into a practice of discernment if the group were to become a modified clearness committee. (See the description of a full Clearness committee here.)

Witness: Think about someone you know (personally or through reading) who has challenges or obstacles or injustices in their life. Think about either what they have done to overcome those challenges that you find inspiring, or the ways they are hurt or stuck or put down, and tell a story of what they did and how you or we could respond, i.e., bear witness on their behalf.
Read aloud the poem "Ring-Worm Boy" by W. Dow Edgerton (Volume 45, Issue 2, July 1988 issue of Theology Today. (Browse to find the volume and poem). Reflect on this poem as spiritual reading and what you might do in such a case, and discuss what witness you can bear today and how.

Reflection and attention for activists

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Gandhi

From an essay by Carla Goldstein entitled "Spiritual Activism: Building The Empathy Superhighway"

Exercise for bringing more balanced attention to the means and the ends in our activism

"Recognizing that all of our actions have impact, we work to bring alignment between our dreams for peace and our actions for peace, our dreams for equality and our actions for equality, our dreams for compassion and our actions for compassion.

At the end of each day spend a few minutes reflecting (keeping a journal helps) on whether your means and ends have been in alignment on this day. Ask yourself the following questions, “Today, has my activism led me to be unkind, violent, dishonest, manipulative, unfair, or disempowering? Today, how could I have brought greater alignment between values of peace, justice, compassion, and love and my actions for peace, justice, compassion, and love? Did I do anything today that felt effective or satisfying because I brought more balance between the means and ends of my activism?

Over time, this practice of bringing awareness to the relationship between your means and ends should help you bring more compassion and love into your activism, thus bringing more compassion and love into the world."