“How has it been for you to be in this network of the Gathering? What new connections have you made? What old ones have been deepened?”
“How have you experienced being connected to the Light durning these days? What new Light has come to you? What old understanding have you needed to re-evaluate?”
Quotes from Julia Ryberg’s address.
A post ‘live’ from YMG, straight from the exhibition centre. Just to put down a few of my reflections so far, both serious and some not so.
Co-facilitating a home group isn’t as scary as it sounds! First session went excellently, and I’m even able to still remember a few names, quite good for me. What worried me most was my co-facilitators identity, not because I didn’t know them, but due to knowing them very well.
The opening worship was really good, though to start with it seemed so slow to settle I wondered if it ever would.
Well, I didn’t have to dive into the scrum yesterday for tickets as I’d managed to have my whole afternoon booked to provide technical support. As it happened, I really enjoyed the workshop/talk I was in, ‘Create your own Skyspace’ which I knew a little about, but really hadn’t appealed to me from the initial listings. I though, I know all that, I don’t need to hear a talk, I’ve seen the DVD. However I learnt so much about the feeling of the Skyspace and so much background, such as there being more than one, actually about 40 exist. I also had an interesting discussion of what makes a space ‘Quaker’. If it had been called ‘Quaker buildings and spaces’ or even ‘Quaker Spaces’ I would have been the first to sign up.
Hopefully (technical issues aside) I should be watching ‘Age of Stupid’, the showings of which I have been repeatedly prevented from attending. Sadly there seems to be no wireless in the room, so can’t actually post this from here.
Food seems to be OK, being half-board I only get huge breakfasts and suppers. It is clear to see friends eating habits. The moussaka was emtpying fast, but the chicken with corn-fritters and the shepherd pie was almost untouched.
Sleep is varied, I have a lumpy mattress which is rather more springy than I normally have, so had a bad night, especially with the security lights at night, and thin curtains letting the light in really quite early.
The sound of the swish of surf on the shore
The song of the wash on shingle once more.
The seamless stretch of a soft sandy beach
Sun sparkling blessings on all she can reach.
A sad stranded starfish pleads up at me
I save it, spin it, back where it should be.
Some simple shells, superb colours and shapes
Bleached silver branches, scoured and raked.
Shiny stone spheres for soothing the senses
Massages my sole, my body untenses.
These secret treasures secure in my hand
By the hush and sigh of sea on the sand.
Such seductive sounds, swish, wish, bliss,
Shield deep sad stories of lives gone amiss
So much space and peace, such serenity
Listen to the sound of eternity.
CJP 2009
I’m just off to Woodbrooke for a course on Quaker Quest, which we are doing at Watford as part of our outreach. We have formed an official outreach committee, and are instituting a mid-week meeting (which, as it sat in a circle rather than a square, felt really inspirational to me – or perhaps it was because there was a particularly good astrological juxtaposition of planets at the time.) A new person had looked at our website and seen it was on, and came. We are also doing an informal history of the meeting, based on interviews with the members, having a Woodbrooke-on-the-Road and the Quest. So I am feeling excited about being a Quaker. Somebody said to Sally, hearing our numbers, ‘You do punch above your weight, don’t you?’ YES WE CAN!
Lindsey March
Heaven is not in the hereafter.
Heaven is in the here and now.
Right Here. Right Now.
if i walk mindfully, i can glimpse Heaven.
if i peel the potatoes knowing the Presence of God, i can glimpse Heaven.
if i wash up, just wash up, i can touch Heaven.
when i sit with my friend and we truly listen to one another, together we take a small step into the Kingdom of God.
if i can sit with my enemy and we can truly listen to one another, together we can take a great leap into Heaven.
Heaven is a place of inward stillness, where the Presence of God is known, where all are aware of the Love of God.
It is not a quiet place, It is not an empty place, and It is definitely not a lonely place. Everyone is there, even if many of them don’t know it yet.
if i can reach out to anyone and everyone i meet and show God’s Love for them, together we can take a small step towards Heaven.
Stephanie Grant, June 2009
