Spirit Moving Through Me When Not at School

Lots has been bubbling while I have been at school. I am off for five weeks now.

I was invited to the Traveling Ministries Consultation on Emerging Gifts of Gospel Ministry. I was excited to be invited to something for being myself. At one point I remarked to someone that it was weird not to have my parents with me. I am so used to being places with them but this is part of growing up, traveling by myself. It was so nice to have seasoned ministers and elders meeting with those of us coming into the work.

The hardest thing I worked with was trying to figure out how to get the support I need while I am not living near my meeting of membership, Santa Cruz. When given the chance to ask questions in the large group I put a question in about how to get support when away from our homes meeting. When we introduced ourselves the first night a lot of us said we were from one meeting but worshiping somewhere else. As a group we had a hard time figuring out how to get support that was face to face. People recommended email and phone conversations on a regular basis, but this does not generate the personal connection that I am longing for with the people I am living with. I was glad to hear that people said approved of phone conversations because I feel like I am always on my phone talking to someone who is not at school. I am going to start having regular phone conversations with some of my closest friends.

I realized early in the weekend that I need to get a support committee at Guilford who will hold me accountable and help me figure out what I want to be doing in my life, in particularly while I am at school. I am not getting a lot of the spiritual support I am looking for so hopefully this committee will help me be grounded while I am at school. We have not met yet but I hope that we will start meeting on a regular basis once we get back from winter break. The committee is made up of two Quaker Leadership staff members and one of my peers on the committee.

On Saturday night a Friend gave ministry on remembering to love our meetings, not only the ones we are members of but also the ones we are worshipping in. I am so glad for this reminder because it is not easy to remember to love people while we are traveling. I have been struggling with the idea that I am not in Santa Cruz anymore but want to be connected. I have asked for a minute of sojourn for Friendship Meeting in Greensboro, which has been approved and I can see sometime in the next year or two joining that meeting. How do we be part of a meeting when we now we will be there for a few years, but will not be going home to our home meetings?

Another thing that I learned from this weekend is that I need to debrief with someone when coming back to school from a spiritual retreat. It happened that the first leg of my trip was with some friends so we got to hang out after the workshop and that made it easier to come back to school, even if it was only for a week.

I am excited to say I have been traveling and see spirit working in me while I am traveling. Hope spirit is working through you as well.