"Wear the purple argyle socks You are having dinner at RantMom's. Wear the purple socks"
And lo, RantWoman fussed about a couple other options and lo, the wardrobe elements aligned and verily this is a GOOD thing. The purple argyle socks are a birthday present from RantMom. They are 100% cotton and RantMom does not even have to lie about the fabric content! So RantWoman needs to be esxtravagantly grateful and to TRY to impress upon RantMom that sometimes having ONE VERY NICE THING even if a little spendy is MUCH preferable to 3 perfectly hideous inadequate and much cheaper things.
And the Lord spake unto RantWoman after the weekly holy bus ride and the Lord said "Go to Starbucks. You are undercaffeinated and you know yourself well enough to know you should not attempt civilized discourse in this state. And plus I have equipped you with gift cards with various mysteries attached: the one with a surprising sum left over and the one, was it perhaps from the #ada25 goodie bag with braille but no money."
RantWoman had budget reasons just to aim for the caffeine options at Meeting, but, obligatory Quaker mystical experience alert, God was pretty firmly saying "Starbucks. Starbucks." (Really!)
While RantWoman was completing her coffee buying in came...a Return Phone Call, a return call from someone RantWoman was just going to try again about. RantWoman had a GREAT conversation related to an ongoing discussion involving the phrase
training the next generation of Quaker leaders which RantWoman would really like to rephrase as one of several ways to invest in the future of the Religious Society of Friends. RantWoman will elaborate on this thought in another post.
One small addendum here though: one way to train future Quaker leaders is to uphold people both finding their voice and listening in shared discernment during Meeting for Business. As with RantWoman's Frequent Flyer list of people offering vocal ministry in worship (Yep, RantWoman herself is on this list, but..) RantWoman is seasoning a mental list of people including VERY weighty Friends, who RantWoman wishes would only present ONE item each Meeting for Business. This is partly RantWoman's recurrent twitch about people just wearing too many hats and partly really this sense of growing new voices. Please hold the leading to raise this concern in the Light.
Okay, and RantWoman, if new voices come, are you going to have endless snitfits and wals of implacable hostility?
Look, um, I am to be true to the Light I am given. I cannot promise anything one way or another. I AIM to do the best I can about delivery at least, but perhaps if we all discern together...
But back to the returned phone call, RantWoman was also THRILLED to know that questions of spiritual nurture are on many people's minds. Again, RantWoman will meditate further on her conceptions of this in another post. Here RantWoman will reflect simply on what does or does not seem like shared discernment. If everything goes into a black box or a closed email group RantWoman has no idea whether others resonate with her concerns. If only one person from the involved subcommittee comes to Meeting for Business, how is RantWoman going to have any sense of multiple sets of ears?
RantWoman knows from careful listening that people hearing the same discussion pick up different elements and RantWoman would always rather people hear directly than filtered. RantWoman says this with great humility knowing many people's time constraints. RantWoman is unsure whether anyone besides herself would weigh in online with comments options, but an advantage of an online forum is that the discussion is visible to other people besides those present in a room. Consider this an invitation to offer comments even though RantWoman is humble about the time involved in reading and responding to comments.
And lo, RantWoman walked the rest of the way to Meeting, and the Lord spake unto RantWoman and said "No today is not the day you get to be soothed in early worship silence. Go to Adult Ed. Go late but definitely do not just go hide out in the library with the wi-fi and listen to Lloyd Lee Wilson on community.. And lo, between the 10th anniversary of Katrina and the massive wildfires of the summer, disaster preparedness was on many Friends' minds. A very rich discussion occurred and the results get their own post(s).
And lo the Lord intervened in RantWoman's inner monologue about getting all hopped up in Meeting for worship and going out to kick some infidel butt. Um, yeah, the thought needs other words AND at least it did not make it out of RantWoman's mouth until AFTER worship.
And NO, RantWoman was still not done: the Lord has blessed RantWoman with a truly astounding array of "Customer Services EXPERIENCES" this week. For instance, Fire not wildfires reviewed
Bless us oh Lord and all of our ABUNDANT life.
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