Tag: Quaker

Setting up Shop

I’m several days into setting up this blog and still learning how it all works. Not yet fully satisfied with much of what you see here, but that will improve with time.

I would like to give proper credit to the influences and supporters I have to thank for this journey I am taking. My delegation with the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is supported largely through a grant from the Lyman Fund. (More about them through Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s website http://www.pym.org/pm/more.php?id=1710_0_196_30_M ) The Fund supports individuals pursuing their spiritual leading and I am very grateful to them for helping make this trip possible.

For those readers who are unfamiliar and curious about Quakers online presence, I must give Martin Kelley (http://www.quakerranter.org/quaker/) credit for planting the blogger’s seed in me when I met him years ago on my motorcycle pilgrimage (made possible by the Pickett Fund for Quaker Leadership). It’s taken a while for me to pull together one of my own but I really appreciate the space and encouragement he and others have given me. (whether they were aware of it or not)

I just wanted to share these couple other links to people and resources related to aspects of this trip:

Joy Ellison is the daughter of Friends of Friends on my support committee for this trip. Her “I saw it in Palestine” blog (http://inpalestine.blogspot.com/) talks about her experience as a full time Christian Peacemaker Teams member in the South Hebron Hills. I’ve recently learned that CPT is
closing its Hebron office so I speculate wildly that our delegation will focus more closely on the work Joy and others are doing in the villages surrounding Hebron.

QuakerQuaker.org gives lots of links to Friend’s online contributions.

by Categories: CPT delegation, Israel Palestine, PEACE, QuakerTags: , , , , 2 Comments

Revisiting

I worshiped at Yardley Friends Meeting in Bucks county yesterday, the last stop on my Quaker motorcycle pilgrimage 3 years ago. I’ve been staying with my aunt Nina across the border in New Jersey for the last little stretch here, revitalizing myself and taking it easy. When she suggested we return to Yardley, (she inspired our first visit 3 years ago) I was eager to go.

Walking back into that meetinghouse I was reminded how far I feel like I’ve come since I was last there. At that time I remember feeling disappointed and tired at the tail end of my journey, somehow wishing I could have done more or that the petty struggles of Quakerism would melt away to offer me greater solace. Now I feel comforted by a deeper personal connection with God, a fledgling relationship that wells up in me when I am open to it and holds me when I’m not. Sitting in worship yesterday I did not feel as if all my struggles have been resolved or that life is somehow easier now, but I trust now that things are as they should be. I am trusting that I will grow and that makes all the difference.

by Categories: CPT delegation, QuakerTags: 2 Comments