Legacy Circle

If you haven’t heard the buzz in our senior community about legacy stories and legacy circles, here’s what people are excited about.

A legacy story is written by a senior to tell the story of that person’s life – their childhood and family background, their career, their challenges and successes, the personhood that they have gradually achieved – with a focus on their spiritual journey and the values that they have held most dear. They are usually four or five pages long. For seniors who do not wish to write the stories by themselves, there’s an option to have conversations with a sympathetic interviewer, who then writes successive drafts for the individual’s final approval.

The process of creating your legacy story is actually a pretty helpful spiritual exercise, prompting you to take stock of where you have come from and what you have learned. The stories are also very helpful to the ministers, as they eventually come to prepare for the person’s memorial service. So far, over one hundred of our seniors have written their legacy stories and have them on file with the ministers. The great majority of the legacy writers have also given permission for their stories to be read by other church members. Those stories are kept in a large binder in the church library, and you’re invited to read them as a great way to start thinking about what you might want to include in your own story.

A legacy circle is a group of eight to twelve seniors who have already written their legacy stories, or they intend to finish their story before the end of the circle. They meet by Zoom once every other week, using a simple format. Before each Zoom session, the facilitator sends the stories of two volunteers from the circle to all the other participants. The other participants come to the session ready to ask those two volunteers some open-ended questions about their life stories. Each volunteer is in the spotlight for about half an hour. The resulting discussions have been frank, deep, and humorous in turn. It appears that this format gives a unique opportunity to get to know the whole person, because you can see the development from childhood to the present, and the person is right there to answer your questions!

This is exactly what First Universalist needs to be doing: building the Beloved Community, and strengthening the senior community within our community of communities. If you are interested in writing your own legacy story or starting the interview process, you can contact Hal Schroer or Ray Dillon for some helpful materials and questions to get you started.

Our next Zoom legacy circle will be led by Dick Rueter and Ray Dillon on Tuesday mornings, 10-11:30 a.m., on February 7 and 21, March 7 and 21, and April 4 and 25. Enrollment is limited to twelve participants.

Register here