Quarterly

So, we're back from another great weekend at Quarterly Meeting, with nary a picture to show for it.
Sometimes I like to just relish being unplugged, and this weekend was a great time for it. The kids hang out in packs, mostly by age, and bake bread and build boats to sail in the creek and sing by the campfire.

The teens are responsible for organizing themselves. They have an adult mentor but they manage their own time and activities and rules, and they have a big sleepover in the barn together (with the adult mentor too.) This weekend there were a lot of teens, and it's great to see them hanging out and bonding and sharing that goofy joy of just loving being in each others' company. We start to imagine ten years down the road when it's  our own kids continuing those strong bonds and connections. I pray that it will be so.

The adults go to the discussion groups and worship groups but also find time to walk in the woods or just sit in the sun and read. We get to hang out with Quakers from across the state and parts of Idaho, and hear about the strengths and challenges of their different Meetings, and talk about what connects us.

I am thankful for this time, of rest and connection and good conversations. I am always thankful for Quarterly.

Weekending- Quarterly Meeting

We spent the weekend at Quarterly Meeting. And now I have to explain that, despite the title, Quarterly only happens twice a year. It's a unit of people, not of time. Basically Quakers have their local Monthly Meeting where they worship every week. A regional collection of Monthly Meetings forms a Quarterly. Ours is all of Washington and a bit of Northern Idaho. A collection of Quarterlies forms a Yearly Meeting. Our Yearly is composed of Friends from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and the northern part of Wyoming. And our Yearly Meeting belongs to the larger association of Friends General Conference. FGC is a collection of 14 Yearly Meetings and various other groups. Our connection to FGC describes our type of worship (liberal, silent). There are other kinds of Quakers that have different styles but this is ours. It's a little like a chain of command, except of course the Spirit is in charge, not a person.

I guess for some people all this structure might seem...confusing? Superfluous? I love it. I do. I love the idea that a group of people from difference places can gather together and explore this identity that we share. I love watching our kids playing and building friendships and the way that the adults take turns caring for them. I love hearing about the different ways we worship and seeing them come together. Even these odd words that don't quite make sense in a contemporary context. I love this sense that this our culture, this is what keeps us a little out of step with the wider culture and gives us something back, something rich and joyful.

This weekend I volunteered to teach the preschool kids. I know the kids program is a service and a blessing to all the families and since the preschool group would include Unity, I felt pretty comfortable with that. Whew. I tell you, I am exhausted. It was only two days, and I had a co-teacher and several adult volunteers but man, it's all a blur. Whatever preschool teachers get paid, it isn't enough. We had ten kids between the ages of 3 and 5. Which I'm learning is a biiiig range, in terms of interests and personality. It actually went really well but I don't have any pictures.

I was too busy making boats out of plastic trays and floating them in the stream and drying off the kids who ventured in, and reading books and building towers and playing with a parachute and making hats with paper plates and crepe paper and parading around with tamborines singing Jingle Bells and sculpting with shaving creme and and and.....

In the car on the way home I realized in addition to the grass stains on my clothes, I also have a cold. No surprise really. But I do have a deeper admiration for all the preschool teachers out there who do this every single day. And while  I loved spending time with the kids of our community and getting to know them better, next Quarterly Meeting I'm looking forward to having a bit more silent worship.
When I see those preschool teachers though, I'm going to give them such gratitude.

Linking with Weekending.

Quarterly

This weekend we attended the Northwest Quarterly Meeting  for the first time. A Quarterly is a regional gathering of Friends (Quakers.) We spent the weekend talking, singing, eating, reading, exploring, playing and worshiping with folks both familiar and new, in a beautiful retreat center in eastern Washington. It was a very powerful, moving, and relaxing experience and I'm still pondering many of the things I heard and discussed there.