I am not in charge

That has been the number one lesson of the last few months. It's been an exciting time, full of new possibilities and new challenges. It has also been a time of very intense and fretful waiting. A lot of decisions have been made, some of which I agreed with and some of which I didn't, and many of which were not mine to make. Oh, right. I am not in charge.

I am going to have a new job. I am excited to inform anyone who hasn't heard that the Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas, has chosen me to be their next Executive Secretary. I will attend some meetings at the end of April and then start full time in June.

Yes, my family is moving to Philadelphia. We are all very sad to leave San Francisco Monthly Meeting, the San Francisco Friends School, College Park Quarterly Meeting and Pacific Yearly Meeting. All of these groups of people have been important in my spiritual journey and my every day life. If I could somehow close the gap between San Francisco and Philadelphia, I would. But I am not in charge of geographical miracles.

I especially would have liked the announcement of this new appointment to have been more orderly. I would have liked to tell a few more people, including my mother, before they heard about it on Facebook. But I was not in charge of the communications plan.

There are huge changes taking place in the wider Quaker world. Lots of turnover in the executive roles in major Quaker institutions and many smaller ones. Huge generational shifts in leadership and communications and expectations and membership at all levels. The sheer volume of change is both an enormous window of opportunity and, honestly, frightening to anyone who's really paying attention. I will soon have a lot more responsibility for leading Friends through these changes but I know I am not in charge of anyone else's response, whether fear or fascination.

There are far-reaching changes going on in our society and all of Planet Earth. I highly recommend Joanna Macy's work on the Great Turning and Phyllis Tickle's book, The Great Emergence, to help us all to understand how we are part of a larger changing whole. FWCC has some helpful queries for examining our own response to the economic, ecological, social, political and spiritual changes in our world. Here especially, I am not in charge of anything but my own response and my children's education. I hope that, with Divine assistance, modeling awareness instead of avoidance, and integrity/consistency between my beliefs and my actions in my own life will be helpful to others, but I am not in charge.

So who is in charge of all this? I don't think God planned it all this way. I believe we do have free will and we have to live with the consequences of our decisions. And we have to live with the consequences of thousands of years of other people's decisions, for good and bad. I believe that the will of God is for us to do and be better. I believe that God sends us strength and encouragement and understanding. God gives us the ability to find meaning in what is and what happens, hope for a better future, and love. Love for ourselves, for the people we know, and for the people, plants, rocks, animals, etc. that we don't really know. Love is that of God. Hope is that of God. And this love and hope give me faith and courage. I think my theme song for this year is Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. I recommend the Iris DeMent version from Lifeline, but the words are in the public domain:

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
O how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

I am so grateful to the FWCC Search Committee and the Executive Committee for putting their faith in me. I am indebted to many, many Friends for sharing their spiritual journeys with me, in the Quaker blogosphere, in their homes, in small and large gatherings and through FWCC. Thank you. I trust that we will continue to learn how to be the Quakers together. I will write more about my hopes and dreams for FWCC in the coming months. If you have suggestions, advice or questions about FWCC, please send them to me in a comment here, to my email address in the sidebar profile, on Facebook or Twitter, or in a letter or phonecall or whenever I see you.

I believe that Quakers need the Friends World Committee on Consultation and FWCC needs you.