I didn't have internet access at Friends General Conference, and didn't have time to blog while in Newberg, Ore. (Thanks, Gregg!) There's a lot of stuff stored up in a lot of us bloggers who were at FGC. I predict it's going to come streaming out over the next few weeks as people have a chance to reflect and process the experiences.
Fortunately, I did have a chance to type up some reflections while at FGC (which they call "the Gathering," but I think of it as a conference). I'm posting it here pretty much as it first came out.
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So I’m at my first Friends General Conference Gathering, here at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. I’m sitting on the porch of the University Center, where Friends are singing shape-note songs from the Sacred Harp. Singers include Quaker bloggers Linda (Boundless Stores of Grace) and Paul L. (Showers of Blessings). [Note: I joined in after finishing this post, and sang for three afternoons straight! Woo-hoo!]
Last night, Martin Kelley (Quaker Ranter), Liz Opp (The Good Raised Up), and my own dear Robin M. (What Canst Thou Say?) provided a wonderful opportunity for discussion and worship during their interest group, “On Fire! Renewing Quakerism through a Convergence of Friends.”
It was inspired. And inspiring.
Afterwards, I couldn’t get to sleep. I had picked up the boys at their programs and put them to bed in our room so Robin could hang out with her co-organizers and others who had gone to the World Gathering of Young Friends or the Young Friends Connections interest groups. After the boys were finally asleep around 9:45 pm, I took out the laptop and, with a flashlight on my four pages of handwritten notes, turned them into 3.5 pages of typed notes!
Martin has posted about this HERE and shared some photos HERE.
2 comments:
I enjoyed meeting you and singing with you, Chris. While a reasonable case could be made that e-mail correspondence or blogging is functionally equivalent to face-to-face conversation, or nearly so, singing has to be in person (or alone. . .).
I hope you get more opportunities to sing at home, and again next summer in River Falls.
I, too, have pages of notes from the Gathering that have to be boiled down somehow, but I'm glad to have the original material to work from; memories fade so quickly, at least at my age.
Hi Chris. I'm delighted you enjoyed singing from the Sacred Harp. I'm just getting back from Alaska, haven't had time to blog yet. Love the QUIB idea!
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