tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14041973.post112238474973311814..comments2023-12-23T05:26:40.855-06:00Comments on Showers of Blessings: The core of QuakerismPaul Lhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483071863453025925noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14041973.post-1123251126129669162005-08-05T09:12:00.000-05:002005-08-05T09:12:00.000-05:00HiI read CF's piece, too, and similarto you and Li...Hi<BR/><BR/>I read CF's piece, too, and similar<BR/>to you and Liz, our meeting went<BR/>through a search for the core<BR/>during the mid 2003-mid 2004 year.<BR/>We did well, I think, and it<BR/>has an ongoing important impact<BR/>and gift. I do wonder, of course,<BR/>as time goes on, whether we will<BR/>find ourselves lucky enough<BR/>and blessed enough to fulfill<BR/>the promises of our core into<BR/>action, when there is so much <BR/>inaction and aging of our <BR/>population. But I do get the<BR/>sense that the exercise grounded<BR/>us more than we expected and also<BR/>in a way that revealed some<BR/>truths about our membership. All<BR/>of it, or nearly all, was a Good<BR/>Thing to have happened. A quarterly<BR/>meeting retreat that occurred in<BR/>March this year seemed to give us<BR/>continued hope that we are moving<BR/>somewhere. I do say that since<BR/>then I have felt a subtle pullback<BR/>but then usually the summer is a<BR/>bit of a frantic vacation time<BR/>around this region. Five of<BR/>six M/O members are continuing <BR/>from this July to the next, so<BR/>we are seeing some continued <BR/>continuity there, which I think<BR/>will be nothing but good. I also<BR/>know we are going to take up<BR/>one or two really really really<BR/>big and important <BR/>communal/corporate discernments<BR/>during the fall. It is likely<BR/>to brand who we are and what our<BR/>core is for a long time, and<BR/>our approach to that will be <BR/>the key, the process.<BR/><BR/>In this sense, I think LLW is<BR/>basically correct to point to<BR/>Order as the defining feature<BR/>that provides the core. The<BR/>language used in this blog, and<BR/>by both Brooklyn-Rich and Chuck F<BR/>differs only qualitatively when<BR/>pointing in a similar vein.<BR/><BR/>The hardest part, I find, of<BR/>doing good things As A Quaker<BR/>is the burden of continual <BR/>intentionality. It is a tension<BR/>unresolved, for most of us,<BR/>to live within Order and Intention<BR/>and also be in the moment of God<BR/>and be able to flow with one's<BR/>Call without rather burdensome<BR/>over-processing. Nonetheless,<BR/>your meeting will benefit and have<BR/>a good time going through the<BR/>soul searching for the core,<BR/>and it will be far far better in<BR/>that exercise to over-process than<BR/>to underprocess. Good luck<BR/><BR/>DAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14041973.post-1122941732242121672005-08-01T19:15:00.000-05:002005-08-01T19:15:00.000-05:00Friend Elizabeth speaks my mind and heart. I some...Friend Elizabeth speaks my mind and heart. I sometimes struggle with checking my ego at the door and keeping God at the center. <BR/><BR/>But I wonder, Paul, if you have also touched on the difficulty of your own or, more likely, the meeting's desire to capture into words an experience that is beyond language. We must listen for the Spirit beyond the words, the place "where the words come from..."<BR/><BR/>I should also say, that I happened to have peeked (!) at a number of replies that were written and dropped into the envelope where the query, "What is the core of the meeting to you?" was hanging. Many of the replies simply had the answer <I>"Meeting for Worship"</I> written out, which concerned me.<BR/><BR/>Is that all we can say? Why do we not go further to consider the query, then, <I>What is the core of <B>Meeting for Worship</B> for you?</I> Perhaps answers to this follow-up query would illuminate the spiritual condition (fragmentation?) of the meeting. <BR/><BR/>(I have to ask: If Meeting for Worship were no longer held due to some horrific tragedy, would people stop being Quakers? Would Quakerism simply vanish?)<BR/><BR/>But again, these are all just words we are using, being the humans that we are...<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the link to Chuck Fager's (not Faber) article--it fits right in with the other parts about Quaker identity that I've been exploring!<BR/><BR/>Blessings,<BR/>Liz, <A HREF="http://thegoodraisedup.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow">The Good Raised Up</A>Liz Opphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09802348848085930901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14041973.post-1122494582393510632005-07-27T15:03:00.000-05:002005-07-27T15:03:00.000-05:00This is more of a comment on this blog as a whole ...This is more of a comment on this blog as a whole than on this specific post: What a great blog! Thanks for producing it. I expect to become a regular visitor.<BR/><BR/>I've posted a mention of it on my own blog <A HTTP://BROOKLYNQUAKER.BLOGSPOT.COM><STRONG>Brooklyn Quaker</STRONG></A>, and will soon be adding a permanent link to my sidebar.<BR/><BR/>- - Rich Accetta-EvansRich in Brooklynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589780733691616974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14041973.post-1122472808250253582005-07-27T09:00:00.000-05:002005-07-27T09:00:00.000-05:00For me, the core of Quakerism is being faithful to...For me, the core of Quakerism is being faithful to God. Everything else follows from there. I feel that this was the core of the religion for 300 years. It grieves me that this focus is not currently shared by the coroporate body.<BR/><BR/>In my everyday life, it makes a huge difference whether or not being faithful to God is at the core of everything I'm doing, and I can't imagine that phenomenon being different for us as a corporate body. <BR/><BR/>I need all the help I can get to keep up with the struggle of keeping God in the center. For quite a while now, it has felt like wrestling too much with the folks in my faith tradition about what we're doing together is usually a distraction from that work, for me at least.<BR/><BR/>Elizabeth O'SullivanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com