Epistle of the
2012
Pacific
Northwest Quaker Women’s Theology Conference
June 13-17,
2012
Corbett,
Oregon
Greetings to Friends
everywhere.
Grace permeated our days and wove the variegated fibers of our lives together into a
tapestry of
light and
love much like the
quilts that surrounded us in our meeting space at the 2012 Pacific Northwest
Quaker Women’s Theology Conference. We gathered on June 13, 2012, at the Menucha
Conference Center above the Columbia River near Corbett, Oregon, around the
theme of Inviting,
Contemplating, and Enacting
Grace. Prior to the conference each
participant wrote a short essay in response to the theme. The conversation among
us began as we read each other’s papers online and throughout our time together.
We came with differing experiences among
Friends and other
faith traditions,
some excited, others tentative about what we would hear, and
feel, and do together. We came yearning for community,
a place to feel at home. We came knowing we would be challenged to listen deeply,
to learn to open and stretch, hoping the effort would yield deeper understanding and add new patterns and textures to
our
tapestry of grace as
we were woven together.
Thursday morning we received a
message from Ashley Wilcox on Inviting
Grace.
Ashley opened with
her admission of love for the Apostle Paul. Drawing from Acts 9 she
showed us that
sometimes we invite grace through doing the completely wrong thing. We can also invite grace into our lives by
accepting and giving
loving acts and living words. Darla Samuelson taught us how to
use specific
disciplines to
create a space for
grace to touch the pain of shame that is common in human experience.
Friday morning Cherice Bock led us through a contemplation of grace
through a word study. She asked the
provocative question,
“Do we have to feel guilty to receive grace?” In answer to her own question,
she proposed that grace is an undeserved gift with no strings attached. Cherice
concluded that grace is active, social, and enduring.
As stewards of grace when we
extend grace to others we receive grace into our own lives and are further
called to extend grace in this world. Christine Hall continued by
saying that
in contemplating
grace we are swept up
in a love that connects us to God, one another, creation, and divine mystery. She finished with a quote from
Thomas Merton stating that through contemplation we “see through the
illusion of our
separateness.”
Saturday, responding to the theme
Enacting
Grace, Carol Urner
challenged us to say “yes” to leadings even when we do not know where
our “yes” will
lead us. In that “yes” there is a river of
light that will
flow through us and
sustain us. Elenita Bales followed and reminded us that that the word “enact”
contains “act.” She encouraged us to develop a
rhythm of faithfulness in speaking the truths that emerge from our
souls, and to risk vulnerability that we
may become a channel of change. Quoting historic Quaker Ann
Wilson, Elenita asked, “What wilt thou do
in the end?”
Afternoon workshops presented a variety of ways we can nourish our lives and create
an opening for
grace. In
Writing as
Spiritual Practice
we explored several
ways to begin
and be faithful to
our own spiritual writing. A workshop on the Bible
revealed that in
spite of feelings about Scripture, ranging
from anger through love, the group had an interesting and respectful
discussion. In a
session entitled Speaking Holy
Boldness participants
considered viewpoints and experiences that made clear that prophetic witness is alive and well
in our yearly meetings. Another group shared the different practices, such as movement, meditation, prayer, and visualization they
use to
hold
others in the Light. In a session entitled The Hard
Stuff women from different yearly meetings
responded to
questions that had
been submitted in
writing earlier. Participants engaged in respectful
discussion that acknowledged our differences while encouraging understanding
and acceptance. One workshop focused on listening and care committees and offered guidelines and tools on how to support others through suffering. Judy Maurer shared her experiences and
reflections on teaching, listening, worshipping, and working on social justice issues in
Russia. Christine
Hall introduced Way of the
Spirit, an
opportunity to engage in contemplative study through a new program in the
Pacific Northwest.
Evening activities provided
opportunities to further be woven together in our tapestry of
community.
Thursday evening
Roena Oesting, dressed and speaking
as Elizabeth Fry,
recounted major events from “Betsy’s” life as written in her journals.
We expressed
gratitude for the way Elizabeth Fry’s work in prisons started
a pattern of prison
reform work among
Friends that continues today. On Early Friday evening we listened to the experiences of those
who attended
the FWCC Sixth
World Conference of Friends in Kenya. Their
exchanges were fruitful, rich and full, though sometimes difficult. As we heard
their stories we could sense that there, too, they were held by
grace. Later, we
danced, sang, played
Hearts fiercely, worked on a HUGE puzzle, and created art. All these allowed for new openings into one
another’s hearts and connections through joyful exchanges.
Throughout the conference threads of conversations at meals, home groups, over the puzzle,
or on hikes further wove us
together in beauty
and grace. It was an amazing gift to sit at a meal
and turn to a stranger and feel no awkwardness. On Sunday morning we were gathered
together for a final hour of worship in which Nancy Thomas brought us the
challenge to carry gratitude with us in response to God’s grace. We came here to be ourselves and left affirmed in our
appreciation for and joy in the deepening cross-yearly meeting friendship; that is grace. Borrowing a sentiment
from Carol
Urner, we have to
finish, but we have
not yet begun.
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