July 2009 Archives

Of course, the fact that one of our daughters has one of our cars in North Carolina for the summer and the other was stolen, badly damaged and in the shop for a while, helped move me a little more quickly in this direction, rather than at the snails pace I had previously maintained. I have the hardest time when it comes to my children, two of them are still living at home- though not for long.  We will be experiencing the proverbial empty nest in less than a year. 

My seventeen year old takes public transportation to and from school everyday, but gets a ride with neighbors to the trolley tunnel about 10 blocks away, a good half hour earlier than she needs to, so that she can ride in with her friends.  On days when that doesn't work out, I drive her the 10 blocks.  Although this goes against, my principles, since she could catch the trolley just 2 blocks from our house, this is both what she is accustomed to and an opportunity to spend a few minutes with her alone which I almost never get otherwise.  Occaisionally I will even drive her all the way to school, just to get to be with her and talk a bit. These times have been precious, often allowing her to open up and share a troubling concern and even tears. So I put up with the incongruency- knowing she wil be gone all too soon. 

On the days that she does require a lift from me, she is often running late and comes bounding down the stairs calling out, "Mom, can ou give me a ride to the trolley?"  School was still in session  for the 2 weeks when we had no car at all.  One morning she came bounding down the satirs and started in on her usual, Mom, can you.." then there was a 2 second pause, then "quickly borrow a car and drive me to the trolley?" I laughed in estonishment. Told her to call our neighbors to see if theirs was avialable.  No go.  I then called some other neighbors about a block away.  There college-age son was home and his jalopy was available.  So we high-tailed it over there and I drove her-all the way to school!

Not only does remembering and retelling this incident make me laugh, or smile to myself- it has taught me a valuable lesson. There are enough cars in our neighborhood among our friends that we could probably get along without any car at all and certainly don't need two! My husband and I don't see eye-to-eye on this yet, but I can tell a change is coming; one that involves, at least one fewer car and more walking!

In some ways using the word spontaneous is not quite right, for like all good sermons, much goes into its preparation. In the British little red book of Advices and Queries, we are asked if we come to worship with hearts and minds prepared, and it is worth noting what we do to accomplish this individually.The quality of the sermon deepends equally on this preparation and on genuine openess to the Holy Spirit during the appointed hour. It is my experience that much of the preparation we do is unconscious, such as a walk in a park or a talk with a particular friend, or listening to music that speaks especially to us. There are other more conscious practices, regular times of prayer or meditation, mid-week worship, and week-day morning worship also. There are as many ways to prepare as there are members and attenders!

This morning the sermon that we heard and became a part of included the humming of the mystery machine, baby Alma's raspberries, the sirens and the creak of the floorboards as well as the vocal ministry and the deep silence.  For me, this morning and increasingly, every Sunday, it included the joys and sorrows and introductions, too.

Not long ago, I listened to a CD of the book The Great Awakening, read by the author, Rev. Jim Wallace. In the beginning, it may have even been in the introduction, he tells of an early preaching experience.  He had been invited to preach at ML King, Jr.'s church and felt not quite up tot he task. He started out weakly, and his voice faltered, and he grew faint-hearted. Suddenly a voice from the front row called out, "Help him Jesus!" And another joined in, "Yes, Lord, help this young man preach!" Jim describes a sense of love and encouragement reaching him and giving him strength, and when he took a breath a few sentences later, heard a loud, "Amen!" At that, a sense of power flowed into him, and the congregation continued to respond appropriately and effusively throughout the rest of the sermon. It was a unique experience for a young white preacher and one that has stayed with him, even when subsequent congregations were not so vocal.

What is our Quaker version of this? How can we encourage, support and help those who receive the call to speak on a Sunday? There may well be as many answers  as there are members and atttenders to this querie. Here are a few that occur to me.  When someone rises to speak, say a prayer in your heart that the speaker will faithfully relay the message.  Beam love in his or her direction.  Say a prayer that you will hear the message with Divine ears. Deepen your stillness, your listening, your connection to that which we call God at one and the same time as you focus on the words being said. And last but not least, leave a goodly amount of space before rising to speak, after someone else has, should you receive the call yourself.

As I write an awareness is dawning that the above attitudes can also be used when listening to each contribution, the sighs and cries of our little ones, the rustling of leaves in the wind, yes even the sirens and perhaps the humming of machines as well.  Listen for what is being spoken, in words or otherwise. Listen to what Spirit is saying to us in Meeting for Worship.  Try to hear the sermon that is being born.  Each one of us in attendance has a vital role to play.  We are  both congrgation and priest, we are both mother and midwife to the sermon-song that God longs for us to hear, and together, we can hear with more depth and clarity if only we have ears to hear.