Last week snapshot

Adult Religious Education: On your marks, Get Set Share

Most memorable moment from Adult Religious Education: a mother, probably one of the younger people there, talked about how she and her daughter were out somewhere and decided to give some money to a homeless person. The daughter handed over the money.  In return the homeless person wanted to hug the daughter, but the mother saw that the daughter did not want to hug the homeless person. So the mother offered to share a hug instead. The mother wept reporting what the homeless man said about how much the hug meant.

 

Other memorable moments from Adult Religious Ed:

“When have you felt listened to?”

 

“After asking a different speaker to hold the mic closer and speak up.”

 

[RW to herself: RantWoman would not have minded a little more detail from the Pendle Hill pamphlet about the brain cancer patient and his doctor and their path to shared vulnerability. RantWoman probably is not going to download the pamphlet to read further. Nor is RantWoman going to indulge in the temptation to comment about the gender of those—besides RantWoman--most called to go on at length. RantWoman does note a sense of stiffness as people shared. Hold problem in the Light.]

 

Voice of God in RantWoman’s head: Um, RantWoman, if you are going to complain should you maybe consider offering your time and Light?

 

RW: Um, God, REALLY? Are you crazy?

 

Insulted?

Beloved Elder who deals with the paratransit service known in some quarters as ABCESS: RantWoman, how are you?

 

RW: Cranky Irascible and blessed.

 

Beloved Elder: You always say that but to me you never seem to deliver on the cranky but, do you insult people?”

 

RW: THANK YOU so much for talking directly to RantWoman. RantWoman is aware that some people feel insulted by RantWoman’s email. RantWoman is concerned but has no idea what to do about this if she does not have specific items to work with, if everyone just ignores her email. Also, the Care and Accountability Committee has proven almost completely incapable of honoring RantWoman’s requests for prayerful accompaniment and direct communication. We are Quakers, right? Is clearness committee the concept needed? If it is, of course, there is the matter of accessible study materials, but…

 

Voice of God in RantWoman’s head: Um, Earth to RantWoman!!!!

 

Okay, okay, RantWoman in say the last 24 hours just penned:

--Blunt email about one Friend’s to RantWoman’s view limited grasp of trauma recovery issues and the numerous times that Friend and another Friend have both caused RantWoman to realize she needs to be true to her Light.

 

--blunt commentary after #snowpocalypse2019 about a car-dependent person in a key role thinking, it seems to RantWoman, that it was more important to shovel snow out of the Meeting parking lot than to fulfil our legal responsibility to clear snow from public right of way and maintain safe access for the 40 homeless men who sleep downstairs. The staff who live onsite cleared the parking lot. A volunteer who was able to walk from her home shoveled the sidewalk.  RantWoman has also previously written of people who believe in magical government snow-clearing fairies: the internet reports that some jurisdictions do assess fees and then do this but not Seattle and not now. RantWoman is pointedly not attaching roles to the Friends spoken of in fierce light even though she also has great respect for all of them.

            RantWoman in disaster preparedness geek mode would be interested to try to have a polite conversation about the above points, but this is RantWoman and polite may be hard. RantWoman also favors the community building aspects of just talking about how things went.

 

Voice of God in RantWoman’s head: Um, RantWoman, you are stuck. Chill. Be realistic. Write a post in your other blog. Look at things through the lens of an old minute.

 

-blunt email about the Care and Accountability Committee’s frequent practice of scheduling meetings where RantWoman’s presence was desired and THEN consulting RantWoman about her schedule.

 

--Blunt  email about repeated incidents of ableism creeping beyond the Care and Accountability Committee to Worship and Ministry: which part of physical inaccessability do you not understand? RantWoman is clear that she is not called to disappear. RantWoman is further clear that, considering all the fiascoes that have ensued when RantWoman has tried to speak of physical accessibility or to make reasonable accommodations requests previously, RantWoman will no longer be sent off to locations that are physically inaccessible to people she may wish to sit with. RantWoman SUPPOSES she is supposed to be grateful to be addressed directly rather than having to tell someone this after hearing second hand because the Friend did not choose to talk to RantWoman. However, the “well if you do not like the building with 6 stairs, how about the basement to which there is no elevator?”  is getting a little repetitive and RantWoman has not come up with better Quakerese that “Which part of physical inaccessibility do you not understand?”

[RantWoman in mode of twitchiness about drawing in Friends younger than 60 point out that this entire paragraph rates a serious Blechhh.]

 

Minutes:

Different Beloved Elder who feels safe enough around RantWoman sometimes to share family concerns, and whose sense of humor frequently makes RantWoman smile

RantWoman, about the minutes: sometimes it seems like you try to rewrite the minutes during revision.

 

RW: RantWoman is aware that sometimes what is on her mind does not make it out of her mouth very clearly. RantWoman continually seasons this problem by seeing what Recording Clerks report back and strongly recommends an AdHoc committee on disability spend some time specifically looking at old minutes for information related to disability. RantWoman has memories of trying many times to say something about disability and it not making it into the minutes [More blech?]. RantWoman is separately laboring with a different Friend about when there may be important concepts in what sounds to one person just like ramble.

 

Beloved Elder: I looked at the 300-year-old handwritten minutes in a PA Meeting’s minute book. Some of them were large handwriting and only brief notes such as “We decided…”

 

RW: Yes, except for lengthy minutes for example decrying slavery.  I have heard another Friend speak of recording only minutes that will be of interest in 100 years.  RantWoman thinks, based on experience, minutes are important measures of progress and documentation of efforts to work with important concepts, work out community thinking, comply with applicable laws. So RanrtWoman favors more detail.

Beloved Elder once more: how can I help?

 

RW: If you think RantWoman should be present while minutes are edited about her, say so.

 

Messages RantWoman remembers from Meeting for worship.

 

--a LONG one about art, the Trinity, the nature of God, and derision as a barrier to lasting relationships. By long, Rantwoman means 7 minutes from well into the message when RantWoman first looked at her phone to the end.

 

Another message:

Two death notices and how God was for one of them, like trying on shoes that do not fit RantWoman; the second was one of RantWoman’s paths to Quakerism, a very skilled presence who could comb process sense out of all kinds of passion and trauma recovery and political urgency.

The suspension of military exercises on the Korean peninsula which RantWoman sees as a small sign of hope even though realists might not think it’s such a good idea.

 

--More than one message about a hummingbird, window, and reflections inside and outside the glass.

[Blindness tourism moment: RantWoman ? RW: the description is fine. RantWoman knows the sun is shining. RantWoman does not need to see.]