Companions on the Journey
This morning, I felt blessed to sit in worship with both my sons at their school. Along with a few hundred other people, some of whom are also good Friends of mine. But to be able to look across the gymnasium and share a smile with my “baby” and to feel the presence of God in the room – this is a joy I have never known before.
Last week, I had lunch with Karen Sloan. Presbymergent party coordinator is perhaps her unofficial title. We first met in June at the Spiritual Ecology conference organized by the Re-Imagine folks and it took us this long to arrange another meeting. We connected pretty quickly in June and last week’s three hour lunch date confirmed the grace of this beginning friendship. Our spiritual connections and personal connections complement and reinforce each other. Including our mutual leading to bring people together around the emerging motion in our traditional denominations.
AND she gave me a book: An Emergent Manifesto of Hope, edited by Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones, featuring essays by Karen, Mark Scandrette, Carla Barnhill, Adam Walker Cleaveland, Ryan Bolger, Brian McLaren and a host of other people I hadn’t heard of. Now, I didn’t really need another must-read book right now, but it’s been good to interweave this consciously postmodern text with Hannah Whitall Smith’s 1870 text.
The weekend before, we were graced with a visit from Jeff Hipp of NEYM. We made arrangements via Facebook and met up at SFMM. Meeting for worship was relatively quiet, maybe one or two brief messages. Jeff said he didn’t know a large urban meeting could be that silent, and he meant it in a good way.
We went out to lunch at the SFPL cafe with my Friend Stephen and my family. It’s not every tour of SF that includes a visit to the children’s collection at the Main Library. Then we gave Jeff a ride out to Golden Gate Park where we attended a kindergarten soccer game and Jeff went exploring in the park and back toward the center of town.
I first met Jeff at the FWCC Annual Meeting last March in Providence, RI. He gave me a ride up to Boston for the convergent Friends dinner at Will T’s house. It was lovely to have the chance to chat and connect again. Intervisitation in its simplest form.
Thank you, Karen, Jeff, Henry and Silas, for being my friends, for sharing your spiritual journeys with me.
Last week, I had lunch with Karen Sloan. Presbymergent party coordinator is perhaps her unofficial title. We first met in June at the Spiritual Ecology conference organized by the Re-Imagine folks and it took us this long to arrange another meeting. We connected pretty quickly in June and last week’s three hour lunch date confirmed the grace of this beginning friendship. Our spiritual connections and personal connections complement and reinforce each other. Including our mutual leading to bring people together around the emerging motion in our traditional denominations.
AND she gave me a book: An Emergent Manifesto of Hope, edited by Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones, featuring essays by Karen, Mark Scandrette, Carla Barnhill, Adam Walker Cleaveland, Ryan Bolger, Brian McLaren and a host of other people I hadn’t heard of. Now, I didn’t really need another must-read book right now, but it’s been good to interweave this consciously postmodern text with Hannah Whitall Smith’s 1870 text.
The weekend before, we were graced with a visit from Jeff Hipp of NEYM. We made arrangements via Facebook and met up at SFMM. Meeting for worship was relatively quiet, maybe one or two brief messages. Jeff said he didn’t know a large urban meeting could be that silent, and he meant it in a good way.We went out to lunch at the SFPL cafe with my Friend Stephen and my family. It’s not every tour of SF that includes a visit to the children’s collection at the Main Library. Then we gave Jeff a ride out to Golden Gate Park where we attended a kindergarten soccer game and Jeff went exploring in the park and back toward the center of town.
I first met Jeff at the FWCC Annual Meeting last March in Providence, RI. He gave me a ride up to Boston for the convergent Friends dinner at Will T’s house. It was lovely to have the chance to chat and connect again. Intervisitation in its simplest form.
Thank you, Karen, Jeff, Henry and Silas, for being my friends, for sharing your spiritual journeys with me.
posted by Robin M. at 4:37 PM
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5 Comments:
I'm so glad these connections continue to bear fruit, Robin.
One day, I hope that I too will be with you and other San Francisco and/or Pacific Yearly Meeting Friends for a visit.
Blessings,
Liz Opp, The Good Raised Up
Liz, I hope so too!
Robin
The two messages in that meeting were indeed very brief, but also rich in the fruits of the Spirit. It was a special meeting for me, and I hope to worship with SF Friends again. You guys rock.
Again, it was great to see you, to gain some glimpses of your day-to-day life, and to witness how intertwined your abundant family life is with the life of the Meeting. Send Chris and the fam my love!
-Jeff
Friends Meeting at Cambridge, NEYM
Jeff, it was a blessing to have you with us. Come again, anytime!
Robin, sounds like a lot of fun. I like Ryan's article in there a lot, but my view may be tainted.
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