Week in Virginia

My week in Virginia was very different from my sweetie's. In part, this was because I was a "Ministry and Counsel Widow", as our community calls the partners of those in his role... He needed me to support him, so I did that for the week. This meant I consciously left a lot of time un-committed, and that I wasn't going to get involved with some really challenging work that would interfere with my ability to be supportive of d. And let me say, it was tough to consciously avoid some other service work that I felt was important, but I had to let go and trust that somebody else would do it.

The majority of people at FGC Gathering take workshops in the morning. I signed up for a wonderful-sounding workshop on Rufus Jones, one of the shining lights of early 20th-century Quakerism. He was a co-founder of American Friends Service Committee and wrote a number of books on theology, mysticism, and activism. I wasn't convinced I wanted to do a workshop this year, but I gave it a shot. And on the first day of workshops, Sunday, the leader handed out 200 pages of readings that we were expected to read over the week. This made my decision much easier. I took the readings and didn't go back to the workshop. They are fascinating; I spent Monday morning reading from Jones' The Church's Debt To Heretics, which I enjoyed quite a bit. In it he defended those opposing orthodoxy within the Christian church. As it turned out, this dovetailed nicely with Thursday's planery, when John Spong made a similar defence of a living faith (rather than a rule-based one). I look forward to reading the rest of the Jones handouts- just, over the next months, rather than in the evenings of one week.

( High points of the week for me )

...And that brings me to mid-Tuesday of Gathering. I want to continue this, but later, because I need to get some work done now.