Dear Friends,
We are all frayed and fatigued by the losses and uncertainties of the pandemic and the increased isolation it has engendered. We may be less resilient as individuals and as a community. This summer, maybe as a consequence, the FMC community has experienced conflict and hurt feelings. There is perhaps some discouragement and distancing.
We need to restore our patience and our connection, to see each other with tenderness and love. This has been harder than it might have been in the past. We all simply have to trust less in our views and trust more in God/Spirit leading us to unity. We should live out George Fox’s words that there is that of God in all of us. It is only by listening to Spirit’s wisdom as it comes through all of us collectively that we can seek to rebuild and strengthen our precious community and find unity.
As many of us sit in our individual corners with our hurts, we lose our sense of belonging to a community. Sustaining this community becomes harder when we do not have the opportunities to share casual conversation or simple lunch, or exchange a smile across a room.
As we move into the fall, Ministry and Counsel’s first focus will be on ways we can be more tender with each other, listen more, heal our hurts, and rediscover our loving community. We invite our community, wherever we are, to sit together in the shared mystery of meeting for worship and be open to the loving spirit which holds us all. We look forward to creating space to rebuild our far-flung community together.
Ministry and Counsel
ministry@fmcquaker.org
