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Ultreya
Speakers' Guidelines
Ultreya!
A cry of encouragement! We meet to encourage one another;
to inspire one another in our endeavor to bring the
world around us to Jesus Christ. You, the speaker, have
an important part in encouraging your brothers and sisters.
The
Witness Talk -
ten minutes long (may be shorter, but not longer!)is:
- about
Jesus Christ - the talk should relate how you
live with Christ and how you are trying to bring others
to know Him. The aim of the witness talk is not to
tell people what they should do, but rather how you
love Jesus and how in loving Him you try to bring
all those He loves closer to Him in the ordinary circumstances
of your life;
- about
a recent living experience - tell how, through
prayer, study and action, you are trying to bring
others with you to Jesus in the normal flow of your
own life. Make just one or two points and build your
talk around them. The experience should have been
within the six weeks prior to the talk;
- concrete
and practical - make your talk vivid by describing
who, how, where, why and when, as you tell of carrying
out your action, which you planned, to bring one of
your environments closer to Christ. Tell what happened
as a result, whether it seemed like a success or a
disappointment. Be concrete in your conclusions.
Do
not feel that you are unworthy of giving a talk. All
of us, in striving to be Christians, have many disappointments
in our lives. But we have some successes too. We all
have had moments and experiences in our lives that can
be lifted out to share with our friends. This is what
your talk should be.
Next
is what your talk should not be!
- sensational
- a big, flashy production number, a sermon or instruction
in Christianity, or a Bible teaching.
- too
emotional - others' emotions will be affected by a
simple, sincere talk about Christian action. The focus
is on Jesus Christ in your life.
Questions
you may ask yourself to help improve your talk:
- Does
this talk show that Christ is in my life?
- Will
it show how much I want to follow Him?
- Does
Jesus Himself hold the most important place in the
talk?
- Will
this experience I am sharing stimulate people to think
of things they might plan to do to transform their
homes, work, parishes, recreation or other environment
for Christ?
How
should the Witness Talk be given?
- Do
palanca. Pray all the way. Jesus reminds us, without
me you can do nothing.
- In
only ten minutes you cannot say too much. It is better
to make only one point and make it well and to tell
about one experience and tell it clearly than to make
more detail or examples. Do not over-prepare. The
simpler, the better.
- Speak
clearly, closely, but informally, as if talking with
friends - because you are!
- Give
the theme of your talk and any scriptural references
you might plan to incorporate to the spiritual advisor
and response speaker(s) to help in their preparation.
Try to do this a few days in advance of Ultreya.
Spiritual
Advisor -
five to ten minutes
Because
there is no experience that cannot be related to scripture,
one of your functions is to pull everything together
and link it to the Gospel. You are asked not to prepare
a formal written talk. The lay witness speaker has been
requested to let you now in advance about the theme
of his or her talk, together with any scripture to be
used, to help in your preparation. After listening to
the witness talk, your task is to draw on your background
in scripture and relate the talk to some part of the
Gospels. Like the witness talk, this Gospel summary
should be simple and informal. It is the important teaching
phase of Ultreya and is the means by which the Cursillistas
grow spiritually in
their attempt to interpret the Gospel in relationship
to their daily living.
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