Our Beloved Dead, Belonging

RantWoman is still basking in her rich Worship sharing experience recently at Quarterly Meeting. The theme was belonging, and the opening plenary featured many Friends' reflection on whether they hold membership, where they hold membership, where they feel strongest sense of Quaker community. The topic probably needs its own blog entry, but RantWoman is stuck on her beloved dead theme.
One time membership matters is marrying; another is burying. People can get married in the manner of Friends even if neither partner is a member of a Meeting. If a couple wants their marriage taken under care of Meeting, at least one person must be a member of Meeting and there is a clearness process. And, and.

DIGRESSION ALERT
RantWoman would find it frighteningly easy here to digress to her continuing implacable twitchiness about her Meeting's State of the Society report as perpetrated during last month's Meeting for Business.
Marriage Equality? What's that you said?

Our Meeting has only been talking about and in various ways on record in support of marriage equality for a couple decades. Our Meeting and our Yearly Meeting have been on record specifically in support of full civil marriage rights for 15 years so it's KIND OF big news that WA voters approved Referendum 74, becoming the next of several states to enact marriage equality.
WHO CARES whether Friends from our Meeting did much in support of this campaign this year? WHO CARES what choices individual couples make as far as legal paperwork? One of RantWoman's twitches is just that RantWoman has heard one half of  the couple who wrote this year's State of Society report more or less assume that all is fine and easy in spite of, to RantWoman's ear, very many struggles still.
END OF DIGRESSION

Oh wait, not end of digression. RantWoman remembers a recent membership transfer for a weighty Friend whose name is attached to the digression at a Quarterly Meeting; RantWoman remembers the same Quarterly bumped against the memorial for a weighty Friend from RantWoman's Meeting. RantWoman remembers the departed as a bit of a blowhard, a nice blowhard, but... RantWoman also remembers that that Friend found RantWoman oh, a bit much. He has lots of company.

Burying works a little the same way: Meeting might or might not hold a memorial for an attender but definitely will not write a memorial minute, even if the attender has been a member of a community for decades. Burying a loved one can also be a time that draws someone to become a seeker among Friends. Finally, RantWoman notes that a community might involve many people grieving loved ones.  RantWoman has found herself clearly and repeatedly called to draw Friends' attention to thess poinst recently. Perhaps that is enough said about this flavor of RantWoman needing to be true to her Light and true to her experience.

But, back to Quarterly Meeting, and beloved dead who show up as RantWoman comes BACK from Quarterly Meeting. There is a time warp. as whatever vehicle RantWoman is riding in drives back into cellphone range after Quarterly Meeting.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2011/05/shame-vulnerability-courage-fertilizer.html