Reformation Sunday

Weekly Friday afternoon Tactile graphics fest did not happen because RantWoman was learning about tandem biking and at a fashion show. But today RantWoman decided she needs to honor Reformation Sunday.RantWoman asked the Google for some images and did not inquire as to what this one represents. It turns into a line drawing and a tactile image quite nicely.

Unfortunately when RantWoman tried to embossa second copy, the embosser somehoe decided to eat sevearl sheets of braille paper at once and got seriously constipated. Thinking of martin Luther's troubled bowels, even though there is no Martin Luther image, RantWoman finds the problem somehow evocative.

PS Readers dying to know what else rantWoman did for Reformation Sunday and how it went, RantWoman is doing iterative editing and hoping that what makes it to blog will have passed through a sarcasm filter several times.

Grace-filled Speech

This comes via one of the Prayer Warriors*
*Prayer warriors? Some of them call themselves that.
--Saves having to duck a deisire not to entangle another entity.
**In the God can handle the questions, why does glorification of Christ have to be involved? RantWoman finds the language helpful actually but does acknowledge the question.


From Dr. Charles Stanley
October 21, 2019

Grace-Filled Speech

Titus 2:7-8    

Words are powerful. Harsh remarks can cause a destructive chain reaction, like a match in the forest during a drought. Kind comments, on the other hand, feel like a light summer rain that brings relief from the heat of day.

We can know our words are refreshing and seasoned with grace when ...

Our tone and manner reflect the way we want others to speak to us. The behavior of others shouldn’t determine whether we speak kindly to them.  If we want people to talk to us gently, we should consistently present positive body language and speak with a gentle voice.

What we say about others is similar to what we would want said of us. We all need to have our strengths emphasized by friends and family so we can be confident of the gifts God has given us.

We speak only words we know to be true. Gossip and lies have no place in a Christian’s conversation. The Lord opposes lying tongues and false witnesses (Prov. 6:16-19 ). 

Our speech is edifying. Speaking fairly and positively about others is part of godly speech.

Transforming our conversation begins with the right heart attitude. When we spend time in the Word of God, our hearts will soften and we’ll begin to respond differently. The Holy Spirit will convict us when our speech is inappropriate. He’ll also teach us to be aware of which words we use and when to stop talking. God will be glorified and others will be blessed when we practice grace-filled speech.

Bible in One Year: Luke 2-3   

Hark:Online F&P now in HTML--21st Century Quaker Alphabet soup

Update on the newest version of NPYM Faith and Practice: the version at npym.org is now instead
of a big ugly pdf with minimal navigation is a series of HTML files.That is MUCH easier for for RantWoman who will now finally go read the section of Faith and Practice on membership and releasing people from membership. Yes, you read that right: RantWoman did not think to ask anyone to do waht RantWoman would know how to do to get the requested info to RantWoman and no one thought to see that the info came to RantWoman.

Self-congratulatory digression: the NPYM webkeeper has been doing a great job of many things. RantWoman is proud: a few Annual Sessions ago in connection with another NPYM job transition,, RantWoman realized that webkeeper tasks were needed, realized that other staff were not going to do them, and realized there was room in the budget to do something. RantWoman has taken note of many important somethings that have occurred because of the decision to pay someone to be webkeeper.

Now back to the success of a more accessible online faith and Practice: The NPYM webkeeper, hired because RantWoman detected that the role of webkeeper is important and that important things were not going to happen without budget said he also put in a widget that RantWoman thinks is supposed to read the text aloud. RantWoman tried it the other night on the fly and something did not work; RantWoman has not gotten around to trying it again.

RantWoman will be curious to hear whether others find this mechanical reading helpful. RantWOman predicts not as helpful as a human voice but definitely invites readers to try it out and to opine.

In Light and Faithfulness

RantWoman.

A good Day to Pray

RantWoman this is God. Good day for praying. Faithful to your Light. Not too much rain. Trees still that half-dressed fall-color mix. Meetinghouse and environs showing much care.

Tell them no matter what your Light looks like next week, there will be the small matter of logistics: elevators, stop relocations, whatever is happening with the tunnel and Link.. YOu will be hanging with some of the prayer warriors and will be around in time for the memorial.

Also tell them, there are some paths of public right of way enroute to nearby bus stops.where RantWoman will choose the safest routes for her with respect to other locations she visits in the area and will not expect arguments!

RantWoman, this is STILL God. They are telling you they can't worship with you. That may or may not be true but they are not feeling heard. And they apparently cannot hear how much what they ARE doing matters. So making your point with drama and flair, not matter how many peope --including you--have been on both sides of such situations--is a leading to sit with CAREFULLY. Today, beside pain from not seeing people dear to you who are hard to connect wiht otherwise, weird anniversaries, RantBrother's birthday, the adrenaline rush momento clothing ... But, let's try not to overdo it

RantWoman, this is still God. It is okay to be creeped out by the we only want to talk to RantWoman at memorials about Dead people reaction. It is YOUR reaction. Who cares what others think? So you do not think going to memorials is the magnaimous gesture others think it is?  Can anyone see, why the only memorials rule CREEPS RantWoman out?


RantWoman's confessor:

--Praying a problem in the Religious Society of Friends? who knew.

--Umm well, there would be the RantWoman factor....

--But seriously, you haven't been pushing anyone down stairs and laughing maniacally have you?

--No pushing down stairs. And Ambassador Thwack has not gone all percussive pedagogy on any errant vehicles in crosswalks lately. LOTS of email though. (urk!) Lots of poorly worded email. Needing to take up space but not needing to hurt people in the process.  I have learned at least sometimes to let email sit overnight. and I would rather paths to conflict resolution then endless data on need for...

RantWoman, this is god. I'm still here.You are being faithful to your Light. That is as much as you can do. Keep doing it.

In Light and faithfulness

Worship Review: North Seattle friends Church

Oh Dear. RantWoman visits someone else's worship and writes a review. Ummm?

Topics:
quality of worship  / sense of community
accessibility issues broadly defined


Part of Faithful to one's light was worship with North Seattle Friends, with appreciation for more and more frequent bus service enroute than when RantWoman first connected with that church many moons ago.

RantWoman arrived and immediately ran into someone she knows who worships there regularly. RantWoman,  urk, sat in someone else's usual seat, but the someone else turned out to be a joyhous great great grandmother who grew up Quaker in IA.She was also very gracious about sharing the bench with RantWoman

North Seattle Friends is more programmed with less expectant waiting than UFM. Today's worship opened with a presentation from a 16-year-old exchange student from Rafah in the West bank. The presentation was about what one would expect, but good to be reminded and powerpoint slides about food never hurt, even if one cannot see the pictures.

Then there was a scripture reading from John 10 about sheep.

RantWoman loves North Seattle friends Church worshippers. There are MANY under 50, a larger percentage than at RantWoman's home meeting. There is such a feeling of spiritual accompaniment. This is partly because there were two different sections that sound to RantWoman's slightly inattentive ear as if the whole worship were devoted to Joys and Concerns, and joys and concerns that sounded closer to the ground: housing, health, jobs, and a message or two about the state of the world or a professional achievement. To RantWoman's ear this added up to A LOT of talking, but it also meant may voices heard from and held.

One Friend offered sung ministry, In the Sweet Bye and Bye with piano accompaniment and in memory of his recently deceased mother.. The singing held together.

People are not shy about using the words prayer and Jesus. RantWoman offered prayers for RantBrother because it is his  birthday and then a what annoys RantWoman most about her situation short hand with oblique acknowledgment of a part for her and asked the whole situation be held in the Light. / pprayed about.

The pastor, yes, there is a pastor offered words at several points. There was closing silence and the pastor asked "Are all Hearts Clear" and worship broke.

RantWoman was VERY grateful to be among such Friends even though she was also cranky, not overly sociable, and at times distracted. RantWoman will probably be back.

Probably some more high points of worship will come to RantWoman.

It was fun to see a young Friend who also brought a frined as they check out various Quaker meetings.

Now we get to accessibility.
--A wheelchair user can get around, bit a few drive / roll arounds.

--There is a Mic in worship!!!! And people USE IT and use it well. RantWoman could not figure out the request protocol so she just stood, said she is from UFM and basically how does the mic thing work. A Friend brought the mic.

--The building has mold. It is the northwest so lots of buildings have mold., but... The church is set to move to another location because an expanding prep school bought their current location and the church made a good deal. RantWoman has no idea of the schedule for the move. RantWoman will pray that the construction manages to avoid mold.

All in all a blessing to worship there.

Kindly?

First, for a joyous and definitely not theologically insipid if also challenging statement of Quaker faith and Practice, check out
http://northseattlefriends.org/

Now for the Adult Religious Education program postponed from last weeik
Selling out to Niceness?
https://www.friendsjournal.org/selling-out-to-niceness/

This is to be the theme of Adult Religious Education on Sunday at RantWoman's Meeting.
Please be advised, RantWoman tends to be about the third youngest of regulars at ARE. RantWoman is pushing 60. RantWoman will be interested to hear whether the age distribution varies for this presenter.

Please be advised,, among regulars, there is one voice of great weight who speaks little in groups and frequently wonders to RantWoman where the word "Religious" is in various of the weekly offerings. Rantwoman loves this Friend partly BECAUSE she clearly articulates views and standards that RantWoman considers a touch archaic and that other younger Friends have even stronger opinions about. The other point about this Friend: she is among the peoople RantWoman is terribly grateful to see on Sundays and for whom it would be very difficult to travel to meet on other days. So RantWoman REALLY hopes that whoever is too afraid of being around RantWoman can also take into account other people who are very glad to see each other.

RantWoman has in mind another Friend who she usually sees after 9:30 worship who falls into a similar category..

ANyway, RantWoman read the article. Even though it is stirring, there is not as much "religious" as RantWoman might appreciate. But "theologically insipid...?" Uhhhh

Okay, out with it. Just go all Biblical on a testimony or two, even if the Biblical references are a littleoff.
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me!"
What does God require of us except to love justice, do mercy, and walk humbly with....?"
Now go find the part about that of God in everyone and then add up to the Testimony on Equality. And will this automatically be comfortable for people of privilege????

RantWoman has unexpectedly run short of biblical references related to teh Testimony on Integrity. So instead, RantWoman will simply point out the irony (?) of inviting Friends to engage deeply with each other a week after ... well read the blog posts.

Please be further advised: RantWoman is working on a kind way to address Friends who talk much, amy times and appear to listen poorly. Is it kind not to identify the most likely gender of said Friends?

Readers of this blog are invited to meditate about kindness, telling too much of the truth, and questioning the established order as reflected in this blog and particularly by recent entries.

RantWoman would very much like to hear the presentation. RantWoman would very much like to hear what rises for others from the presentation, particularly since Madame Clerk sent RantWoman a  eamil blatantly tryingto definie RantWoman out of the community. Not so fast! RantWoman has not dedicated multiple decades of her life to this Meeting to let anyone get away with that.  RantWoman kindly and regularly promises to be faithful to her Light and refuses to promise what that will look like. This week one version is just a schedule conflict. And RantWoman actually is willing to see  what can be done to nourish Quaker process among Friends younger than herself.

BUT right now Business Meeting has decreed that life is "safer" without RantWoman.
 RantWoman is not necessarily ill-disposed toward "safe," but for RantWoman safe and the presence of god are partners, particularly moments of difficulty.  RantWoman keeps reminding Friends that God keeps sending people with disabilities to live among us, that COPING has much to recommend it, and that people with disabilities are too regularly called to be places where they are implicitly or explicitly not wanted, up to the point of even ardent prison abolitionists with meditations on kindly calling the cops,

So RantWoman is wondering, seeking Light about what faithful to her Light will look like on Sunday.

Aside from kindly calling the cops though, RantWoman is meditating on the kindness of publicly eldering the presenter just as she is about to facilitate a discussion as above. Perhaps RantWoman can put the eldering in a separate blog post at least....

In light and Faithfulness

RantWoman

A fit of eldering and gratitudes.

RantWoman feels a fit of eldering and gratitudes coming on with respect to this week's ARE Friend presenter. While full-blown attention to equality might indicate months long cycles of testimony in Meeting for Business about Friend Presenter but from which Friend Presenter is excluded, RantWoman is going to strive to restrain herself. And this is RantWoman, attempting kindness despite uneven skill level in this area and possibly awkward timing. [Holy....! After these thoughts hit the screen, RantWoman was led to write a really long reflection. Please hold Adult Religious Education ijn the Light And stay tuned for what is bloggable from the flood which poured out.]

Luckily for all, RantWoman's Friday afternoon custom of messing around making tactile graphics has delivered....ghosts. They seem fitting somehow.. For Friends inexperienced in the world of tactile graphics, the task as RantWoman practices it: think of a theme. Find an image on Google that looks like it can easily be turned into an image that can be identified by feel. RatnWoman uses only about three functions of the tactile graphics software. Today RantWoman did not even feel like figuring out why the braille label was coming out  in contracted braille instead of Grade I uncontracted.

RantWoman is humble about Friend presenter's preferences not to be called directly or emailed by RantWoman. Consider items below. How is that working out for you?

Is RantWoman supposed to thank Friend Presenter for, a couple years ago, hanging up on RantWoman before RantWoman could articulate some concerns about sound at a retreat? For RantWoman's trouble she spent the whole retreat grouchy about not being able to hear timid newcomer voices from across the room. Recently RantWoman learned that she also missed one speaker's terribly intriguing theme RantWoman would have been interested to explore further. Luckily? for Friend Presenter communications problems about sound system issues afflict more than one person and RantWoman is triving to be kind and not jump all over any single person. But if anyone WANTS to be jumped all over, RantWoman could probably oblige.

Thank you for being among a posse of elders who visited RantWoman off hours in her place of work and did not ask RantWoman a single thing about what goes on there.

Thank you truly for doing the best you could with a request for a document in accessible format. RantWoman forgot to request such in advance and the presenter bringing the document clearly does not think in realms electronic as well as RantWoman. But teamwork got RantWoman access to the content, an improvement over uneven responsiveness to requests in other fora for documents in alternate formats.

Thank you for the phrase "couple's counseling in a moment where the word "mediation" or the terminology free practice at the Boys and Girls club would have suited RantWoman's sense of terminological integrity better, and RantWoman could not care less if Friends consider this perspective overreacting. RantWoman honored a sense of Friend Presenter not wanting to be called ahead of the attempted mediation but RantWoman now definitely regrets that. Is that an example of treating RantWoman differently from everyone else? Is this just one of those times where RantWoman, a blind person with limited capacity to go research something herself, is just expected to put up with whatever....?  Is RantWoman being unrealistic in thinking, as long as you have been among Friends, have you never thought about other terminology?And thank you because even though in the moment RantWoman's brain melted down over the sloppy terminology, RantWoman has been sitting with one nugget that she really would like to try again about communicating.

Thank you also for the pizza message. The message and its aftermath offered interesting opportunities for data collection. May Friends please hold in the Light a wish that maybe there should be different data to collect?

Speaking of collecting data, RantWoman is collecting data about multiple instance of "don't want to talk to..." RantWoman counts some instances in her own spiritual compost heap, but we ain't none of us going to figure out this community thing if we cannot both talk and LISTEN.

PS thank you for the newsletter article about your lifestyle choices to fight climate change. RantWoman has different choices to make but definitely says .share your insights with your peers.