tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post113073413722461755..comments2024-01-07T09:34:44.086-05:00Comments on What Canst Thou Say?: Nurturing Our Worship CommunityRobin M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-1131380387405365632005-11-07T11:19:00.000-05:002005-11-07T11:19:00.000-05:00Well, I for one am very grateful that we liberal F...Well, I for one am very grateful that we liberal Friends don't engage in any sort of hireline ministry!!!<BR/><BR/>(Not) Sincerely,<BR/>Martin the <A HREF="http://www.nonviolence.org/martink" REL="nofollow">Quaker Ranter</A> commenting from his Friends General Conference-purchased laptop, dawdling a moment before being paid to edit a flyer about how Quakers can use the internet to find one another...<BR/><BR/>PS: Yes, it becomes complicated.Martin Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06999620933648327663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-1131211670305220482005-11-05T12:27:00.000-05:002005-11-05T12:27:00.000-05:00Well, I have plenty of administrivia in my job - h...Well, I have plenty of administrivia in my job - however I'd rather have it further the Quaker cause than the Roman Catholic cause.Robin M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-1131171898974985512005-11-05T01:24:00.000-05:002005-11-05T01:24:00.000-05:00Your last comment here is quite intriguing! (If yo...Your last comment here is quite intriguing! (If you knew what I did today, you wouldn't be envious.) :(Gregg Koskelahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02413312070226184054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-1131070854791992812005-11-03T21:20:00.000-05:002005-11-03T21:20:00.000-05:00Ok, let's face it, I'm just envious. I want it to ...Ok, let's face it, I'm just envious. I want it to be my regular job to work at ministering to my Meeting.Robin M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-1130959144666021562005-11-02T14:19:00.000-05:002005-11-02T14:19:00.000-05:00Gregg, I'm so glad the article speaks to you. I wa...Gregg, <BR/>I'm so glad the article speaks to you. I want to be clear that I didn't write the essay - Rich Accetta-Evans of the <A HREF="http//brooklynquaker.blogspt.com/" REL="nofollow">Brooklyn Quaker</A> wrote it, quite a while ago, I think. The essay is also available through his blog links. I read it and immediately wanted to use it for an adult religious education session. Months later, it is finally going to happen. I think what he wrote is valuable for all of us who speak in meeting for worship, and for all of us who listen. <BR/><BR/>Tangentially, Rich also gave the introduction to Quaker worship at my wedding.<BR/><BR/>I have mixed feelings about the existence of paid pastors in Quaker Meetings. On the one hand, my Meeting has found it necessary and important to pay people to do the things like bookkeeping, building management, and childcare. But pastoral care and vocal ministry are done on a volunteer basis.<BR/><BR/>Does that mean that we value building management more than pastoral care? Or do we consider it a less skilled job so we can just hire someone to do it instead of making the time to do it ourselves?<BR/><BR/>This is a long term discussion.Robin M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-1130947913218733492005-11-02T11:11:00.000-05:002005-11-02T11:11:00.000-05:00Your essay is very helpful and thoughtful, and cha...Your essay is very helpful and thoughtful, and challenging to a pastor of a programmed meeting.<BR/><BR/>I'm very often conscious of the audacity of claiming to speak for God most weeks, and yet, like you, want to hold up the possibility that in our falleness and feebleness we each have the possibility of being used by God in vocal ministry. <BR/><BR/>Sometimes I feel guilty (and I'm going to blog about this soon) for loving Quakers and being a pastor. It seems so...antithetical. I'm trying to let go of that guilt for a few reasons. One, God's Spirit led me out of more fundamentalist evangelicalism to programmed Friends. They've been my community. Two, because I so embrace Quaker thinking like you've articulated (that God is constantly present and speaking, and frail and foolhardy as we are, we can and do respond imperfectly to God). And three, because as a pastor, I've been able to move our meeting more toward engaging in waiting upon God, faithfully taking their responsibility to listen and respond to our Creator.<BR/><BR/>What you've written in your essay would be good reading for any pastor in a programmed meeting. I don't preach to say what I want, but to speak what the Spirit speaks within me. And I am fallible, and vulnerable, and susceptible to meglomania, and need to be reminded of it. Thanks.Gregg Koskelahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02413312070226184054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-1130912868978049992005-11-02T01:27:00.000-05:002005-11-02T01:27:00.000-05:00Tonight's first meeting was wonderful. I hope to s...Tonight's first meeting was wonderful. I hope to see more of the anonymous local readers there next week.Robin M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.com