This week, Faith and I are attending
New York Yearly Meeting's annual
retreat at Silver Bay - a beautiful, rustic camp located a couple of
hours northeast of Albany. I will confess: The beauty and isolation
of the site made me nervous at first. When we arrived at Silver Bay,
I wondered whether we were just in for a week of Quaker-themed summer
camp. Were Friends gathered here to listen to the inward voice of
Christ and to be changed by what they encountered within?
Fortunately, we got here just in time
for an afternoon plenary session led by Jon
Watts and Maggie Harrison. Jon and Maggie have been traveling
together in the ministry for the last year or so, delivering a
message of transformation by the inward light of Christ. Using the
image of nakedness
as a spiritual sign, they are calling us to open ourselves to how
God wants to reveal our fear, brokenness and darkness, placing our
trust in the healing light of the Truth.
Jon and Maggie pushed really hard
yesterday. They challenged New York Yearly Meeting to set aside the
comfort of their false selves, to dive boldly into God's love. In one
particularly intense moment, Maggie asked Friends why the reports
from New York Yearly Meeting's local congregations rarely mentioned
God. Isn't that what this is all about? You
could have heard a pin drop as Friends took in what Maggie was
saying. And then, someone yelled Amen!
Something is happening here. The ground
is churned up, ready for planting. There is an openness here, a
tenderness that cries out for the Seed to be lifted up. It feels like
Friends here are sensing a call from deep within, inviting them into
a new baptism of God's Spirit. Faith and I learned later that New
York Yearly Meeting had already done some real wrestling before we
arrived. In their business meeting, they openly and explicitly
examined themselves as to whether they were indeed the spiritually
grounded, inclusive community that they sought to be. As Friends here
began to recognize the ways in which they fall short, they have also
encountered a hope that urges them forward in faith.
God's word and life and power are
filling the world, and we are being invited to participate in this
story of transformation. We still catch only glimpses of this new
life in Christ, and we often struggle to name it. But sometimes the
truth is more complicated to describe than it is to live
out. Do we have the courage to live into the hope that God has
placed within us? This hope that God has set before us is real and true; indeed, it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. Are we ready to be pruned so that we may
grow into our full stature in the Truth? Are we willing to do the
hard work that comes before the harvest?
2 comments:
Amen!
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3
One’s knowledge of God is very intimate and surrounded with intense emotions. That makes it difficult to examine and talk about. However, if we are to grow and mature in our knowledge of God, it seems doing just that is the most important thing we can do.
In this beautiful universe it is only the will and pride of humans that keep OUR ears and hearts from hearing God's voice in every moment and the most mystical remote corners of creation.
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