Worship off site?

Dear Beloved Community

This post comes with a prayer: the right wordsare not going to make it out of RantWoman's mouth in conversation, especially in multiple conversations and progress needs to happen, so please read and hold in the Light as you are able and consider whether responses rise.

News Flash! RantWoman is VERY clear in a call to continue worshipping among you and to respond to a call from God about how this might occur. Please understand, RantWoman believes God sometimes asks people to do things they would rather not do but wind up better for.  RantWoman has become clearer about this listening to some voices who clearly just want RantWoman gone, gone, gone; RantWoman is particularly annoyed by voices that do not realize that rantWoman wears multiple hats and is unable to turn off interest in a number of topics just because someone at meeting suggests it.

Furthermore RantWoman has not spent multiple decades of her life tending to this Meeting just to disappear when someone says it is "not good for the community" for someone to deal with midlife vision loss and to have to challenge many people's assumptions about many things. Talk about othering! RantWoman admits, she has no patience with "It's too hard so RantWoman should just go away," a thread now evident for several years. There would also be the process of interacting with an offer for separate and very unequal worship away from Meeting. But RantWoman is getting ahead of herself.

RantWoman thinks she is supposed to be grateful for Friends who have offered to come worshipwith RantWoman in separate and very unequal circumstances and without reference to a number of people very dear to RantWoman,. At Meeting RantWoman can see all these dear people at once on First days and not have to spend huge chunks of time travelling around by bus to visit these Friends individually. RantWoman really cannot see how it can be called "community building" simply to shred these connections.

At first, RantWoman attempted to think through logistics of Business Meeting's request basically that RantWoman stay away for awhile.

FULL STOP. We interrupt this post to hold in the Light a Friend who works for a local transportation agency. Local transportation agency does not get to, say, tell all the deaf people to go meet somewhere else because other people are uncomfortable with interpreters. If the deaf peoplle forget to request interpreters, in advance they can show up and cope, something LOTS of people with disabilities have plenty of practice about though.  Nor does the agency get to tell wheelchair users just to forget about peeing when they come to meetings. Nor does the agency get to say, okay come back in six months or a year when we have figured something out. Why should RantWoman deprive that Friend of the opportunity for a life of integrity and a single standard of truth as far as Meeting and work?

RantWoman is clear there are things to figure out. Despite assertions to the contrary, RantWoman IS willing to try to figure things out and is NOT willing to promise to do things she really canot do. Plus, RantWoman would happily ask Friends about a number of behaviors, do you REALLY think RantWoman needs to change that behavior?

Back to the matter of worship. RantWoman discovered that, based partly on a previous moment where she felt completely bullied, RantWoman has ZERO leading to invite Friends to come worship where she lives. RantWoman further does not want to promise travel any further than one transit segment for herself, comparable to her journey on First days. Nor does RantWoman want to ask Friends to travel any furhter than they do on First Days. RantWoman also requires a space that is free and wheelchair accessible.

Hence, two options for  Reasonable Accommodations requests::

--RantWoman would be happy to discuss a schedule alternating between 9:30 and 11:00 worship along with business meeting every other month. RantWoman is happy to discuss with  Worship and Ministry some options to address concerns; RantWoman however will NOT promise to do things she cannot do.

--RantWoman respectfully requests that the Friends willing to worship with RantWoman outside the rgular First day schedule be allowed to meet at Meeting on the schedule selected by the group.

Here one Friend ever so helpfully suggested public libraries, of which there are several that meet RantWoman's one transit segment constraint. RantWoman thought there might be some restriction on explicitly religious activity and RantWoman finds it inconsistent with the testimony on integrity to soft-pedalm, prevariacte, lie. Helpful Friend has checked:  there is no restriction on religious activity, but no word on availability in the time windows Friends want to meet.. Events simply must be open to the public. RantWoman finds herself intrigued by the location point and open to the public issue in an "I didn't know Quakers were still around" Light. However, RantWoman will be unable to be less than faithful to her Light about, um, a number of difficult topics.

But RantWoman needs to know, would the open to the public issue bother anyone?

In Light and faithfulness.

RantWoman.

PS Helpful friend is also eager to have RantWoman talk of her, RantWoman's mistakes. RantWoman would be happy to talk of her own mistakes provided others are also willing to talk of their mistakesas well.