The Path to Spiritual Perfection

RantWoman is trying to decide whether she has been doing a poor job of communicating the depth of her interest in talking more about matters spiritual or doing too good a job of seeming to function in roles where the spiritual content is less explicit or whether her Meeting has done only a so-so job of involving new talent in certain roles.


For example, RantWoman realized in (mumblety-mublety) years around her Meeting she has never done / never been asked to do things like lead a spiritual sharing group in her Meeting or at a gathering. Rantwoman has had many other roles and much else to do and has frequently felt well-used. However, numbers of recent events have forced RantWoman to reflect on how important good conversations and deep connections to others are to her spiritual life. Reflection about this point is no guarantee that RantWoman is automatically going to be any good at conversations, but there is always that concept "growing edge" or else finding one's own what to what needs to be done.

In other news on this theme, RantWoman notes that she just finished a blog post about how wonderfully good guidelines and queries and careful tending of mundane scheduling details have served her very self-manage Spiritual Sharing group in her Meeting. RantWoman has finished that post just in time for reflection about numerous rather different dynamics in a gathering where there are actual worship sharing group leaders--even though the groups are called Home Groups.


First, despite total lack of experience, RantWoman was part of an initial request for Home Group leaders. RantWoman initially demurred: "that name would not have occurred to me." Sometimes this is Quakerese for "are you out of your mind?" RantWoman actually found her way clear to try it, but demurred because of another role and the winds of home group leading shifted anyway.


Next, a confession: RantWoman penned one of the sob story requests that is probably behind the following email. RantWoman supposes from the tone that there must have been others. RantWoman is seasoning whether she needs to try again about one point she really, really, really means or whether it is possible to finesse her point another way.


Subject: Important Choice - Time Limited Offer - PNWQWTC
Hello Friends,
This is coming from (your Home Group Coordinators.) We are putting together the homegroups for the women's Theology conference.
Homegroups are a special part of the Conference. They meet four times over the weekend. They are a place to get to know some women on a deep level, to worship together, and to process the work of the Spirit as you participate in the conference. They will be lead by experienced teams of two women, one each from the programmed and unprogrammed traditions. All homegroups will be sharing the same queries which builds a commonality into the experience. Many women find their homegroup to be the best part of the weekend.

This year we are offering you a choice.
Home groups will have two flavors:Worship Sharing and Worship Discussion. Worship Sharing is a quieter response to the queries without cross-talk, questions or discussion.Worship Discussion is more interactive with feedback and discussion built in.


We have found that women have preferences in this matter.
SOOO. We are offering you the chance to have input into which kind of group we assign you. Reply to this e-mail with your name and your preference, either Worship Sharing or Worship Discussion and NOTHING ELSE.


Please read the following fine print:


This is a time limited Offer. On (our deadline) we will assign groups and we will not make changes after that.If you do not reply to this e-mail we will randomly assign you to a group.We have to make the groups of even numbers and we will try to balance them according to traditions and trying to not put too many people from the same church or meeting together.WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL GET YOUR PREFERENCE.We DO guarantee that you will get at least your second choice :)


Do not ask for other flavors, this is not Baskin-Robbins.
Do not write to us about people you like or dislike and why you think you should or should not be in a group with them. Do not do this and try and wrap it in spiritual or psychological terms. We are not sorting by personality or any other characteristic or preference. Interacting with people who challenge you is part of the process of spiritual perfection and we presume that it is a major reason you are attending this conference. We guarantee that you will get the chance at being moved along the path of perfection at this conference! Isn't that great?
(... and ...) Home Group Coordinators



To which RantWoman responded:

Subject: Reasonable Accommodations Re: Important Choice - Time Limited Offer - PNWQWTC

(RantWoman's) life is already far too rich in opportunities to be moved along the path to spiritual perfection to make a choice.I do not have any preference as to type of group. Probably I will decide I want the opposite of what I am assigned but I am a grownup and will just have to have my very own grownup snit fit if that happens.



I do have a big fat chicken-cliucking REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS REQUEST: please either email me the queries before the conference or print them out in AT LEAST 16-point type so I can enjoy something closer to the same access as the people who can read tiny print do. I am especially prone to meltdowns and unseemly tirades when queries are printed in 3-point type on 3 lines at the top of a sheet with HALF THE PAGE BLANK. If we are going to kill the blankety blank trees anyway, let's at least use the space!!!!!!! PS I wonder whether I am not the only one who might appreciate receiving the queries in advance by email.



And in case the person who wrote on her "special needs" line that she does not feel safe around whiners and complainers needs any additional opportunities to lurch along her spiritual perfection quest, I personally cannot function without my minimum daily requirement of whining and complaining!



Apparently this all means RantWoman really needs a good dose of conference!