The Conservative Friend
An Outreach of Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends
What I Did on my Summer Vacation
Shawna Roberts lives in eastern Ohio,
USA, where the leaves turn to gold in the autumn, and her elderly
vehicles regularly crater at critical moments. She has a concern
for the dissemination of a thought called "convergent Friends," and
describes a journey to the FWCC Gathering in Indiana, USA in September
2007.
Click to go back to Viewpoints
The 2007 FWCC Midwest Regional Gathering was September 28-30 in
Richmond, Indiana, USA. One of the scheduled events for the Gathering was a
convergent Friends workshop, led by Rachel Dean. I felt strongly
that I needed to be there, partly because I met Rachel Dean in Rhode
Island earlier this year and liked her and I wanted to see her again,
and partly because I feel that convergent conversations benefit from
the presence of as wide a variety of Friends as possible... and,
although I knew there might be other attenders from conservative
meetings, I also knew it was unlikely. I knew I couldn’t attend
for the whole weekend, but I made plans to participate for the day on
Saturday.
Saturday morning rolled around, and Kevin and I and the kids set out in the van at 5:07 am for a 200-mile drive, headed west. We made it about 15 miles. Then that annoying noise that the rear axle had been making intermittently for a couple weeks came back. And it didn’t go away. And it got louder. After 20 miles, we turned around, and drove home slowly, hoping to keep the axle working under the van long enough to pull into our driveway.
Oh, I was so disappointed. I would miss seeing Rachel Dean and Diann Herzog. I wouldn’t be able to give the rough draft of the Inquirer’s Guide to Susan Lee Barton. I wouldn’t be able to sit in on the convergent Friends workshop. Oh God, I prayed, What is this? Another exercise in learning to give things up? You know I hate learning to give things up, Lord.... And I sat and I tried to learn how to give up. And then I got this little inkling in the back of my head. You Don’t Have to give This up. How Important Is It?
There are rental cars. I’ve just been paid. I set aside money from my paycheck for the dentist, but no one actually has any active tooth pains.... I can use that money to rent a car. I can go to Indiana if I choose to go, even though I may be a little later than I had originally planned to be. Well. This perked me up a bit.
As soon as we limped back into our driveway, I called the rental car agency in St. Clairsville. I got a recording.... Monday through Friday, they opened at 7:30 am. On Saturdays, they didn’t open until 9:00 am. I looked at the clock: 7:00 am. *Deep Sigh* OK, so should I still drive to Indiana? How important is it? The convergent Friends workshop starts at 2:00 pm. I could make that easy. Maybe I could get there for some of the small group stuff too. It still felt important for me to be there. So, OK.
I asked Kevin to drive me to St. Clairsville (a 40-minute trip) so that I would arrive at the rental car agency at 9:00 am. Kevin said, “Don’t you want to call them first to see if they have a car available?” No... I don’t have the time to waste. If I wait until after they open to call them, and then drive there, I won’t be on the road until after 10:00 am. They’ll have a car available. They’re a rental car agency; it’s what they do. Kevin raised his eyebrows, but he was willing.
So... at 8:55 am, Kevin and I pushed open the door of Enterprise and I sat down next to the nice lady’s desk. “Can I help you?” she smiled. “Yes, I need to rent a car.” “Do you have a reservation?” She was still smiling. “No. And I need it now. Do you have one available?” She stopped smiling. Well, Yes, they did have one available.... they needed certain paperwork....
OK. Here’s my driver’s license. Here’s my proof of insurance. Here’s my MasterCard debit card. Oh.... well, they couldn’t accept a debit card without some sort of qualifying proof of residency like a utility bill. (Deep Sigh) I look at the clock. 9:05 am. “If I go home to get a utility bill, and come back, I will miss the conference. I don’t have time. What will it take to get this car?” And I start hauling stuff out of my purse: a postmarked letter from John Benson, a health insurance card, my social security card, my check book, a pay stub.... “You have a pay stub?” the nice lady says, smiling again....
So, the paperwork gets done, and the nice lady smiles and says, “The car just needs to be vacuumed out, and then it will be ready.... 9:22 am. No. I don’t need it vacuumed. “Oh! You don’t want it vaccuumed?” No. I gotta go. That scandalized her a bit, but I got the keys. Kissed my husband. And I was on the freeway at 9:32 am.
232 miles to go, and 3/4 of a tank of gas. And a car that went like stink. Cruising at 80 mph was effortless. At one point on an empty straight stretch of I-70, I looked down and found I was going 91 mph. Oooops. Well, I picked my foot up a bit. Lost my nerve through Dayton.... construction all the way through, with those nasty big moveable concrete walls channeling traffic.... I hate those. 50 mph through Dayton. (Deep Sigh)
Ah, Richmond at last. 1:03 pm. I stopped at the McDonald’s (my home away from home) for directions and french fries. Then I failed to follow the directions, and I had to retrace my steps 3 times. Oh, Lord, (I prayed) how could you have created such an idiot? Help me get it right this time!
Richmond First Friends Meeting. The parking lot. 1:45 pm. Everyone would be in their small groups right now, discussing the theme of the weekend: “Finding the Prophetic Voice for our Time.” I would have liked to participate in that. Oh well. I wandered into the community room, looking at tracts, and flyers, and booklets of all sorts.... Found the queries for the small groups:
1. Does prophecy still have a place in the Religious Society of Friends and in our own spiritual lives? In what way?
2. Where do you hear the prophetic voice in your life? Are you willing to heed its call?
3. How can you share your own spiritual experience in a way that can enrich and inform the lives of others?
4. 1 Corinthians 14:1 links love with the gift of prophecy. Do you see the two as being related? In what way?
Oh, such good queries. Oh, gosh, it would have been fun to discuss those. S’Alright. I’m glad I’m here at all. Oooh, and look, Micah Bales is going to be co-facilitator with Rachel Dean for the convergent Friends workshop. I’ve heard of him, but I haven’t had a chance to meet him yet. This’ll be fun.
And then, the small group sessions ended and people began coming into the community room. “Shawna! “Half a dozen people said (only half of whom I knew that I knew), “You made it! We were worried that something had happened!” Well, something did, actually. And there was animated chattering, and smiling, and snacks. I asked if Diann Herzog had been able to make it, and no... she hadn’t been able to be there. Heck. I had been looking forward to visiting with her. That was a shame, but there were lots of other people I was glad to see again and visit with, too......
And then we went into the meeting room for the convergent Friends workshop. Rachel Dean was smiling, but she leaned over and said, “I’m a little nervous; this is more people than I expected.” And she and Micah did beautifully.
First, Rachel talked about how she had first heard about convergent Friends at the 2007 FWCC annual meeting in Rhode Island, and how she had been so excited that she had decided to do a workshop at this regional gathering. And Micah talked about discovering convergent Friends through blogging and the internet. And they passed around a handout with some queries and some key terms for everyone to look at.
They talked about how the term “convergent Friends” came about, and about what being convergent Friends means for them. They are looking for something more for their Quakerism; they feel called to a deeper, more radical faith.... They said that convergent Friends is about teaching each other what it means to be a Quaker.... the exploration and the conversation are the most important part right now; there is no creed, no checklist of beliefs that one must subscribe to in order to be a convergent Friend. Rachel said, “We aren’t worried about defining what the ‘neo-orthodoxy’ might be.”
People were curious about the connection between convergent Friends and the internet. Is this just an internet thing? And the answer is: No, but the internet has proved to be very useful for getting/keeping in touch with people over long distances, and for the sharing of ideas and inspiration among folks. It’s even proved useful for arranging face-to-face meetings! There was some sharing about older forms of keeping in touch, going all the way back 350 years to the epistles and broadsheets that were sent out to folks with the help of the printing press.
An attender pointed out that networking has always been crucial for Quakers, right from the very beginning. Information, ideas, inspiration... if it was important, it was shared. Although there were charismatic leaders, the networking meant that the movement didn’t crumble if someone was put in jail. Networking allowed the work to continue.... And he said that he was excited to see that convergent Friends were creating a matrix of support for each other.....
Someone else shared about her sense that the existing structures of Quakerism didn’t seem to be working as well anymore for allowing the Spirit to move. She said she had sensed frustrations among the people (particularly the young people) at her meeting as they tried to obey the promptings of the Spirit, and didn’t feel well served by their meeting’s structures.
Another attender asked how convergent Friends was any different from the way Quakerism has always been, and there was some sharing about how one could see cycles of renewal/revival/re-awakening throughout Quaker history, and how convergent Friends fit into those continuing cycles. Convergent Friends are not an isolated event, but a response of renewal within the context of this moment in time.
We talked about convergence being a movement of the Spirit. About how the term “convergent” is descriptive of this sense of movement, not prescriptive of having to hold a certain set of beliefs.
An attender asked about non-theistic Friends. He wondered if it was possible to be a non-theist Friend and still be convergent. He felt concerned that non-theist Friends were being somehow shut out of the conversation. Micah and Rachel were both of the opinion that a person ought to at least lean in a friendly way towards Jesus. And then I found out why I was supposed to be at the gathering, because for me, convergence has always been about being willing to listen to each other with the expectation that we had things to learn from each other, no matter what we each believed. And so I was able to share my idea that convergence is an attitude that does not require a certain set of beliefs (after all, I pointed out, I disagree with Micah and Rachel on this point....). It is a conversation, in which I share what is important to me, and I listen to what is important to you. And I need to be willing to discard my old assumptions sometimes, but in exchange you need to be willing to discard your old assumptions too. And I felt well used and satisfied that the rental car fee had been well spent.
There was some additional sharing about what might be going on in Quakerism away from the internet as a result of convergence. There were some people who had begun meeting regularly for worship and discussion; there was some talk about intervisitation and traveling ministry; various retreats, presentations, and dinners in the past and future....
And Rachel and Micah wrapped up the session by reading some convergent queries, and we broke for worship.
Our worship session was in a beautiful room with tall tall windows that looked out into trees, so the worship was green and speckled and sunbeamed and gently swaying..... messages were given: about listening for the prophetic voice around us, about being given the power to change and be changed by the Light of Christ, about love and how the fountain is not stingy, about worshipping the Mother and feeling loved and cared for and nurtured. It was good. We were all headed for the same harbor.
Afterwards, I said my good-byes and gathered some FWCC brochures to bring to the Universal Light Expo in October. I had a nice long talk with Micah Bales about several topics, including homosexuality and sexuality outside of marriage, and seeking God’s will for us, and using the Bible as an objective outward guide and test for the body of believers. He is as intense and engaging as I thought he would be......
Margaret Fraser (she’s chief bigwig of FWCC-section of the americas... I forget her real title) wanted to know if I would be at the 2008 annual meeting, and I told her that I would have to be there, since Robin Mohr would be at the FWCC 2008 annual meeting as a representative of Pacific Yearly Meeting... Margaret was very excited. And also laughing--”When do you suppose they’ll tell us?” she asked.
I decided not to stay for supper, since I had a long way to drive home. It was the right choice, since I dozed off twice on the way home anyway, and had my goose uncooked both times by those noisy grooves on the edge of the freeway. 11:21 pm. Home at last. Pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine. 11:32 pm. Woke up, and got out of the car. And, at last, to bed. Tired but happy, as they say.
Click to go back to Viewpoints
The 2007 FWCC Midwest Regional Gathering was September 28-30 in
Richmond, Indiana, USA. One of the scheduled events for the Gathering was a
convergent Friends workshop, led by Rachel Dean. I felt strongly
that I needed to be there, partly because I met Rachel Dean in Rhode
Island earlier this year and liked her and I wanted to see her again,
and partly because I feel that convergent conversations benefit from
the presence of as wide a variety of Friends as possible... and,
although I knew there might be other attenders from conservative
meetings, I also knew it was unlikely. I knew I couldn’t attend
for the whole weekend, but I made plans to participate for the day on
Saturday.Saturday morning rolled around, and Kevin and I and the kids set out in the van at 5:07 am for a 200-mile drive, headed west. We made it about 15 miles. Then that annoying noise that the rear axle had been making intermittently for a couple weeks came back. And it didn’t go away. And it got louder. After 20 miles, we turned around, and drove home slowly, hoping to keep the axle working under the van long enough to pull into our driveway.
Oh, I was so disappointed. I would miss seeing Rachel Dean and Diann Herzog. I wouldn’t be able to give the rough draft of the Inquirer’s Guide to Susan Lee Barton. I wouldn’t be able to sit in on the convergent Friends workshop. Oh God, I prayed, What is this? Another exercise in learning to give things up? You know I hate learning to give things up, Lord.... And I sat and I tried to learn how to give up. And then I got this little inkling in the back of my head. You Don’t Have to give This up. How Important Is It?
There are rental cars. I’ve just been paid. I set aside money from my paycheck for the dentist, but no one actually has any active tooth pains.... I can use that money to rent a car. I can go to Indiana if I choose to go, even though I may be a little later than I had originally planned to be. Well. This perked me up a bit.
As soon as we limped back into our driveway, I called the rental car agency in St. Clairsville. I got a recording.... Monday through Friday, they opened at 7:30 am. On Saturdays, they didn’t open until 9:00 am. I looked at the clock: 7:00 am. *Deep Sigh* OK, so should I still drive to Indiana? How important is it? The convergent Friends workshop starts at 2:00 pm. I could make that easy. Maybe I could get there for some of the small group stuff too. It still felt important for me to be there. So, OK.
I asked Kevin to drive me to St. Clairsville (a 40-minute trip) so that I would arrive at the rental car agency at 9:00 am. Kevin said, “Don’t you want to call them first to see if they have a car available?” No... I don’t have the time to waste. If I wait until after they open to call them, and then drive there, I won’t be on the road until after 10:00 am. They’ll have a car available. They’re a rental car agency; it’s what they do. Kevin raised his eyebrows, but he was willing.
So... at 8:55 am, Kevin and I pushed open the door of Enterprise and I sat down next to the nice lady’s desk. “Can I help you?” she smiled. “Yes, I need to rent a car.” “Do you have a reservation?” She was still smiling. “No. And I need it now. Do you have one available?” She stopped smiling. Well, Yes, they did have one available.... they needed certain paperwork....
OK. Here’s my driver’s license. Here’s my proof of insurance. Here’s my MasterCard debit card. Oh.... well, they couldn’t accept a debit card without some sort of qualifying proof of residency like a utility bill. (Deep Sigh) I look at the clock. 9:05 am. “If I go home to get a utility bill, and come back, I will miss the conference. I don’t have time. What will it take to get this car?” And I start hauling stuff out of my purse: a postmarked letter from John Benson, a health insurance card, my social security card, my check book, a pay stub.... “You have a pay stub?” the nice lady says, smiling again....
So, the paperwork gets done, and the nice lady smiles and says, “The car just needs to be vacuumed out, and then it will be ready.... 9:22 am. No. I don’t need it vacuumed. “Oh! You don’t want it vaccuumed?” No. I gotta go. That scandalized her a bit, but I got the keys. Kissed my husband. And I was on the freeway at 9:32 am.
232 miles to go, and 3/4 of a tank of gas. And a car that went like stink. Cruising at 80 mph was effortless. At one point on an empty straight stretch of I-70, I looked down and found I was going 91 mph. Oooops. Well, I picked my foot up a bit. Lost my nerve through Dayton.... construction all the way through, with those nasty big moveable concrete walls channeling traffic.... I hate those. 50 mph through Dayton. (Deep Sigh)
Ah, Richmond at last. 1:03 pm. I stopped at the McDonald’s (my home away from home) for directions and french fries. Then I failed to follow the directions, and I had to retrace my steps 3 times. Oh, Lord, (I prayed) how could you have created such an idiot? Help me get it right this time!
Richmond First Friends Meeting. The parking lot. 1:45 pm. Everyone would be in their small groups right now, discussing the theme of the weekend: “Finding the Prophetic Voice for our Time.” I would have liked to participate in that. Oh well. I wandered into the community room, looking at tracts, and flyers, and booklets of all sorts.... Found the queries for the small groups:
1. Does prophecy still have a place in the Religious Society of Friends and in our own spiritual lives? In what way?
2. Where do you hear the prophetic voice in your life? Are you willing to heed its call?
3. How can you share your own spiritual experience in a way that can enrich and inform the lives of others?
4. 1 Corinthians 14:1 links love with the gift of prophecy. Do you see the two as being related? In what way?
Oh, such good queries. Oh, gosh, it would have been fun to discuss those. S’Alright. I’m glad I’m here at all. Oooh, and look, Micah Bales is going to be co-facilitator with Rachel Dean for the convergent Friends workshop. I’ve heard of him, but I haven’t had a chance to meet him yet. This’ll be fun.
And then, the small group sessions ended and people began coming into the community room. “Shawna! “Half a dozen people said (only half of whom I knew that I knew), “You made it! We were worried that something had happened!” Well, something did, actually. And there was animated chattering, and smiling, and snacks. I asked if Diann Herzog had been able to make it, and no... she hadn’t been able to be there. Heck. I had been looking forward to visiting with her. That was a shame, but there were lots of other people I was glad to see again and visit with, too......
And then we went into the meeting room for the convergent Friends workshop. Rachel Dean was smiling, but she leaned over and said, “I’m a little nervous; this is more people than I expected.” And she and Micah did beautifully.
First, Rachel talked about how she had first heard about convergent Friends at the 2007 FWCC annual meeting in Rhode Island, and how she had been so excited that she had decided to do a workshop at this regional gathering. And Micah talked about discovering convergent Friends through blogging and the internet. And they passed around a handout with some queries and some key terms for everyone to look at.
They talked about how the term “convergent Friends” came about, and about what being convergent Friends means for them. They are looking for something more for their Quakerism; they feel called to a deeper, more radical faith.... They said that convergent Friends is about teaching each other what it means to be a Quaker.... the exploration and the conversation are the most important part right now; there is no creed, no checklist of beliefs that one must subscribe to in order to be a convergent Friend. Rachel said, “We aren’t worried about defining what the ‘neo-orthodoxy’ might be.”
People were curious about the connection between convergent Friends and the internet. Is this just an internet thing? And the answer is: No, but the internet has proved to be very useful for getting/keeping in touch with people over long distances, and for the sharing of ideas and inspiration among folks. It’s even proved useful for arranging face-to-face meetings! There was some sharing about older forms of keeping in touch, going all the way back 350 years to the epistles and broadsheets that were sent out to folks with the help of the printing press.
An attender pointed out that networking has always been crucial for Quakers, right from the very beginning. Information, ideas, inspiration... if it was important, it was shared. Although there were charismatic leaders, the networking meant that the movement didn’t crumble if someone was put in jail. Networking allowed the work to continue.... And he said that he was excited to see that convergent Friends were creating a matrix of support for each other.....
Someone else shared about her sense that the existing structures of Quakerism didn’t seem to be working as well anymore for allowing the Spirit to move. She said she had sensed frustrations among the people (particularly the young people) at her meeting as they tried to obey the promptings of the Spirit, and didn’t feel well served by their meeting’s structures.
Another attender asked how convergent Friends was any different from the way Quakerism has always been, and there was some sharing about how one could see cycles of renewal/revival/re-awakening throughout Quaker history, and how convergent Friends fit into those continuing cycles. Convergent Friends are not an isolated event, but a response of renewal within the context of this moment in time.
We talked about convergence being a movement of the Spirit. About how the term “convergent” is descriptive of this sense of movement, not prescriptive of having to hold a certain set of beliefs.
An attender asked about non-theistic Friends. He wondered if it was possible to be a non-theist Friend and still be convergent. He felt concerned that non-theist Friends were being somehow shut out of the conversation. Micah and Rachel were both of the opinion that a person ought to at least lean in a friendly way towards Jesus. And then I found out why I was supposed to be at the gathering, because for me, convergence has always been about being willing to listen to each other with the expectation that we had things to learn from each other, no matter what we each believed. And so I was able to share my idea that convergence is an attitude that does not require a certain set of beliefs (after all, I pointed out, I disagree with Micah and Rachel on this point....). It is a conversation, in which I share what is important to me, and I listen to what is important to you. And I need to be willing to discard my old assumptions sometimes, but in exchange you need to be willing to discard your old assumptions too. And I felt well used and satisfied that the rental car fee had been well spent.
There was some additional sharing about what might be going on in Quakerism away from the internet as a result of convergence. There were some people who had begun meeting regularly for worship and discussion; there was some talk about intervisitation and traveling ministry; various retreats, presentations, and dinners in the past and future....
And Rachel and Micah wrapped up the session by reading some convergent queries, and we broke for worship.
Our worship session was in a beautiful room with tall tall windows that looked out into trees, so the worship was green and speckled and sunbeamed and gently swaying..... messages were given: about listening for the prophetic voice around us, about being given the power to change and be changed by the Light of Christ, about love and how the fountain is not stingy, about worshipping the Mother and feeling loved and cared for and nurtured. It was good. We were all headed for the same harbor.
Afterwards, I said my good-byes and gathered some FWCC brochures to bring to the Universal Light Expo in October. I had a nice long talk with Micah Bales about several topics, including homosexuality and sexuality outside of marriage, and seeking God’s will for us, and using the Bible as an objective outward guide and test for the body of believers. He is as intense and engaging as I thought he would be......
Margaret Fraser (she’s chief bigwig of FWCC-section of the americas... I forget her real title) wanted to know if I would be at the 2008 annual meeting, and I told her that I would have to be there, since Robin Mohr would be at the FWCC 2008 annual meeting as a representative of Pacific Yearly Meeting... Margaret was very excited. And also laughing--”When do you suppose they’ll tell us?” she asked.
I decided not to stay for supper, since I had a long way to drive home. It was the right choice, since I dozed off twice on the way home anyway, and had my goose uncooked both times by those noisy grooves on the edge of the freeway. 11:21 pm. Home at last. Pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine. 11:32 pm. Woke up, and got out of the car. And, at last, to bed. Tired but happy, as they say.
