We recognize that God is calling each one of us, and the community of St. Charles as a whole, into significant change. A year from now, two years from now, we will each look different and we will each be different than we are today. As we move into the future, may we have the courage to respond wholeheartedly to God’s call for each one of us to align our work in the world with God’s work in the world.

Here's what we did!

1. Sing. We sang the GIFT song. Listen to it here.
2. Pray. We prayed the GIFT prayer. See it here.
3. Meet. We met new friends by sharing birthdates and talking about why each season of the year can be a good season to have a birthday.
4. Discuss personal change. Rene invited us to think about the most recent major change in your life. Was it a gift? Or a burden? Or both? Why? Discuss with a person next to you. 
5. Eat. We had a terrific lunch of vegetarian chili and cornbread.
6. GIFT Journals. Paul and Judy gave each of us a homemade journal that we use to reflect on the changes to which we are called. The cover pages are provocative and the journal includes a blue page with ten tips for navigating change. 
7. Lives Explored Videos. We then viewed three videos of persons who have experienced significant personal change, and how God called them to navigate that change: Gaye's story, Francois' story, and Jane's story. (See videos posted on this page). 
8. Reflect. After each video, we were to write down three tips/insights for navigating change that we learned from the person in this video? And then put a star next to the best tip/insight from this video.
9. Post. We were then asked to write our best tips/ideas on poster paper. (See newsprint images here.)
10. End by ​Singing. We ended by singing Turn, Turn, Turn.