Europe 2011 Video - Part 6

Part 6 of my Europe videos. Seven is almost done as well!

Europe Video- Part 3

Apparently, this made it onto youtube but never my blog. This is from my time at the FWCC conference in Switzerland.

An Interview with God

The foothills of the Swiss Alps, Paris streets, and a German café – it has been a whirlwind adventure thus far for our traveling minister. Now at the half-way mark of her European speaking tour, this roving Walking the Sea guest reporter managed to sit down with Sarah on the Eurostar train while heading back to England. While asking the questions you all want to know (I already know), Sarah candidly shared her experiences with me (as she usually does) and the lessons learned while trekking across the European continent.

“Good morning Sarah. How are you doing today?"

“Pretty good. A little tired but I am on the train back to London so I can sit back and relax for awhile while talking to you.”

“Good. We’ll make sure you get to bed at a decent hour after you speak on the poetry panel tonight. But for now, let’s talk. You have been on the road for nearly three weeks. Overall, how has the trip been going for you?”

“The trip has been going well. It has been stressful at times and breathtaking at others. I’ve seen so much that it is going to take me a long time to digest it all.”

“What are some of your favorite things you’ve seen?”

“Many cathedrals and churches including St. Paul’s, Cologne, Sacre-Coeur, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapell, and one in Brussels. I’ve also explored many museums such as the Louvre, Rodin Museum, Dutch Resistance Museum, and the one on the history of London. I also loved seeing the original works at the British Library and a German poet’s museum in Germany. Two that really moved me deeply though and meant a lot to me were the Anne Frank House and the Corrie Ten Boom Museum.”

“What was so inspiring about those?”

“Anne Frank and Corrie Ten Boom are household names in America and were part of my education. They were stories I knew well but hearing a story and then visiting the houses where the events took place are entirely different experiences. I can read about the hiding place in Corrie’s bedroom all I want, but to stand inside it with five other people, the amount in hiding when the family was arrested, the truth becomes known in your body and what they did reaches way down deep inside me.”

“You also had some interesting thoughts in Europe about World War II you haven’t shared. What are those?”

“Being in Europe itself was also life changing. You hear a story but then when you visit the place, it becomes so much more real to you. Going to the beach, Marielke and Fritz told me as we sat in the dunes that they are still finding buried bodies from World War II when the Nazis would take their Jewish and political prisoners and make them dig their own graves there before shooting them. I am born a Jew and though it is above my grandmother’s generation (usually the cut-off for the Nazi’s), I am still racially Jewish and involved at Temple so I don’t think they would have had a problem killing me too. Besides being in places I would have been killed, not that I wouldn’t be killed for being a woman or Christian at other times and places, seeing the repercussions and hearing people’s stories of their families, I realized it is not something that happened 70 years ago, but is part of the fabric of life today. Temples still have tight security in Europe as anti-Semitism in still around.”

“You have spent a lot of time with people from other cultures. What has that been like?”

“For most of my time thus far, I have been the only person from my country. At the conference in Switzerland of 80-90 people, there were people from 26 different countries including a few Americans. Among the young adults there were 10 countries represented, I was the only American, and seven countries in my small group. I have really enjoyed these times of getting to know people from all over the world. It helps me gain a wider perspective on life, to not be so boxed in within my own culture, to be able to see past it and that there are many ways of speaking and living. By knowing and appreciating other people’s cultures, it has helped me see the light and dark sides of my own.”

“What are one of the major differences between European and Western American culture?”

“Most people in European cities take public transportation whereas in Oregon, we drive most places. This affects so many things! For instance, there are no car parks. The whole time I’ve been in Europe, I have only seen one car park and that was a small one outside Versailles. Most people who do drive park on the street and those cars are really small. Since people have to carry the food they buy, there are many small markets and food comes in smaller packages for easier carrying. I have not seen a single supermarket the whole time.

The houses and flats are also a lot smaller than in America, much more compact. They don’t have the drive to accumulate stuff like many people in my country do, there is no place to put it, and they are much more conscious of how their choices affect the earth.”

“You don’t speak Flemish, German, Swiss, or French. How have you got along language wise?”

“It has been really hard. I liken it to a cat having tape put on its paws. Cats sense a lot through their paws and having that sense taken away is very limiting. It feels like your hands and feet have been tied up as well as a gag over your mouth for you don’t understand the signs either in addition to conversations. Being a speaker and writer, having my career and this ministry based on the English language, this has been particularly difficult. I learned to tune most everything out, all the conversations and all the signs. In Germany I was in a huge bookstore and was not tempted to pick up even one book. This is huge for me as I love reading but all the books were in German so I just tuned them out. Most of my world has been tuned out. I have managed to learn to figure things out and get the gist of what some of the signs say and that has helped. I have also learned to search for someone who speaks English who can help me find my way. This has not been easy to do at times when each of us speaks very little of the other’s language but we usually get the gist across. One word I did learn pretty quickly is the French word for exit, sortie. That was a helpful one to know. Still, I have spent so much time conversing and spending time with people from other countries that it has become a huge treat to talk to someone who speaks English with an accent similar to my own. This gives my ears and brain a break from trying to understand all the different accents! It has been funny standing in lines for the various sights when I find myself next to someone from America or Canada (this does not happen often) who has something near my accent. We are so happy to talk for a few minutes together!”

“Traveling alone cannot be easy while dealing with these challenges. What has that been like for you?”

“Well, first, I am not alone. You are with me everywhere I go. But you’re right, it is hard not having any other human with me on a continual basis for such a long trip. Some people I am seeing in more than one place and that helps but it is a lot of saying hello and goodbye again and again and when there is a problem while traveling from place to place, I have had to find ways to deal with it on my own. I have loved spending time with my European friends and getting to know new ones. At the same time, it can be lonely when you do so much traveling by yourself. It is probably one of the hardest things about this trip.”

“How have you dealt with the loneliness?”

“Blogging on here has helped ease the stress of traveling by myself and hearing comments back on here and facebook helps immensely. If people wanted to support me while on this journey, that is something they could do that only takes a bit of time but gives me great joy. Not being able to communicate much in the countries I’ve been in, I know I can talk and lift my voice up on the internet and it is nice to know I have been heard and to hear back from friends.”

“Do you have any advice for someone traveling in the ministry on their own?”

“Oh yes! Have a few people back home who you can really talk to, be deeply honest with and trust and who are encouraging and loving. Make sure they are people who will respond back to you when you contact them through e-mail or Facebook and that they will be with you when you need to vent or share your frustrations and joys, people who will let you know you are heard and loved. This is what has helped me the most, these friends who help ground me and let me know someone is listening.

Also, if possible, spend time with people you already know from other places. While here, I have had the delight of getting to know better people I have traveled with in Kenya and spoken to in America. Some of these people I am seeing more than once and that helps as well. They have been those I ask for feedback on the talks and they who I rely on for help and companionship while here. In fact, there are not many times on this trip when I am not with someone I have already known or at least met.”

“How about any other advice for people traveling in the ministry in general?”

“Keep investing their time in a relationship with you. Nearly every morning, I read a portion of the Bible and think about what sticks out to me from what I’ve read. We also talk throughout the day and it is your strength I rely on when I don’t think I can go any further. There have been times I have been exhausted with aching legs and back, simply concentrating on putting one foot in front of another, and I feel you pick me up into your arms and carry me where I need to go. Having additional reading to feed me has been very helpful in learning about you. My pastor gave me a book to deliver to someone she knows in England and suggested I read it myself before I meet up with him and my spiritual director gave me the Sunday Missal with reading and reflections from the mass while I’m gone. Spending all this time with unprogrammed Quakers when I am used to a more structured style of church, these tools have been important. I also have been keeping a journal, not even necessarily about the trip, just things I need to talk out with you.”

“What have you been learning spiritually?”

“A huge lesson came yesterday as I was standing in line for the Louvre Museum. This is usually a line people try to avoid but it turned out to be one of my favorite moments in the whole day. On my ipod was a song I used to sing in youth group when I was in high school, a song I love, and I was reading the book Peggy gave me to deliver. What the author says has given me a lot to think about, and really, would be a whole blog post in itself, but in this interview, I’ll say it has taught me a new level of freedom living in your world, in your love. Instead of trying to learn how to do things better, I’ve been learning to live and love and BE and things another spiritual director once told me I see in greater clarity. I also learned that the sight seeing, the exploration and expanding of my mind and perspectives is also part of my work as a traveling minister. Realizing that made my time looking around a lot less stressful, more joy-filled and more relaxed. I also learned if you are standing in line trying not to cry for the truth of it all, people are too busy taking pictures of the building to notice.”

“What are you really glad you brought with you?”

"There are a few things I usually bring with me when I travel such as my watch, alarm clock, and Rick Steves backpack. However, there are a few things that have come with me for the first time that have made a world of difference. One of these is my ipod. I usually only listen to it on the long distance trains, when I’m alone, or waiting in a line, so at other times I can be aware of my surroundings and with the people I came to see but it is my comfort object. It is what gives me familiar sounds and feelings in a foreign land. I also bought the inside bags for the Rick Steves backpack and I am never traveling without them again! These three bags, one large, two smaller, make living out of a backpack so much easier, I cannot tell you just how much. Things stay organized and I am so glad I bought them. My daypack is another bag that is exactly what I needed. My cousin’s friend makes these and we made a barter deal for this one. Inside are many pockets, large and small, and as the trip has gone on, each thing in the bag has found the place it goes back to. I love this bag! It is my nearly constant companion wherever I go. The last item I cannot even imagine I was going to travel without is my netbook. A netbook is a small laptop with a ten inch screen and limited capabilities, light and compact. Realizing how much writing I had to do while on the trip, I wrestled with the decision of purchasing one to bring along and I have used it every day. It has not hindered me experiencing where I am at but has helped me stay organized, in touch with people, and has helped expand my writing time to you all ten-fold. Yay for netbooks!

There is also a whole other category of things I have that mean a great deal to me. In the last few days as I was preparing to leave, a few of my friends gave me small gifts to take along. My spiritual director gave me the Sunday Missal, as I’ve already said, another friend knitted me hand warmers and yet another gave me a pair of gloves. One friend gave me a pair of earrings I never have to take out and one gave me a blank journal. Two of the necklaces I brought are also gifts I’ve been given in the past along with a fuzzy pair of purple socks for comfort. One friend gave me a massage the day before I left and that has stayed with me too. With these items as constant reminders, I feel the love of my friends all around me, buoying me up as I’ve walked this journey. They are like warm hands placed on my heart.”

“Tell us about the talks you have been giving.”

“So far, I have spoken about Spirit Rising at Watford Friends Meeting, Der Haague Friends Meeting, and at the Friends House in Paris. In Watford I also spoke to the youth about Freedom Friends Church and evangelical Quakerism in my area and in Switzerland, I spoke about my passion for writing and about being honest with your readers. My next talk is speaking on a poetry panel tonight at the Quakers Uniting in Publications Conference in Birmingham, England. All these talks have gone well and people really enjoy hearing about Spirit Rising and my experiences as a writer. Giving these talks have been my favorite part of the whole trip! I usually start out by telling people about the book, how it came about and our process of putting it together. I then read a few pieces aloud, always including the poem describing the process of our editorial board working together cross-culturally, The Journey Worth Taking, and the story, Phish Food. I read Phish Food because I can always make an audience laugh whenever I read that story and I love to make people laugh.”

“You’ve been very busy. When do you breathe?”

"On the trains. I breathe and relax on the trains and they have quickly become hours I look forward to because I know that for a while, I can get lost in my own world. I work on my writing, look out the window, read a book, or just listen to my ipod. I also have the sense when I am on a train that you are bringing me to the next place you want me to be, that this is your itinerary and you know whose lives need to be blessed as I go along. Like a sower of seed, I walk through fields scattering your love and the deepest truth of you and when I am done, you take me to the next field. I know I won’t see what happens to the seed, but I don’t need to. I’m quite happy to be the one scattering them about and then stepping onto the train to head to the next field. I am hoping there will be a trail of flowers and life I leave behind.”

“Do you miss home?”

“No. I miss that face-to-face time with people I love to talk to instead of having to use e-mail or Facebook and I miss meaningful touch but that is it. I am in Europe and my mind is here, my thoughts are here. I am living in this moment, this time and place. This is the work I am given to do. For now, this is my life and I am happy in that.”

“Are we going to be seeing more blog posts from you?”

“Most definitely and far more often! The first half of the trip has been very different from the second. The first half had many days when I was out and about from morning to night and the second half I am free for many of the evenings and on trains much more often. This gives me a lot more time to write which is great because I have several good blog posts on the way.”

“Where are you going next?”

“I am heading to London for a few hours to tour Friends House and see friends who work there and then I’m taking a train north to Birmingham for the Quakers Uniting in Publications Conference. I’m looking forward to the writing workshops and specified writing time. I also hear the grounds are beautiful. It should be a rich time.”

“Thank you for the gift of your time. It’s been interesting to talk with you as it always is. I love hearing what is on your mind and I’m sure our readers will as well.”

“Thanks for the great talk God. I always love confiding in you, you really listen and ask good questions. And I’m really glad you’re on this journey with me. You absolutely fascinate me with all you’re teaching me. If I could ask one thing, please use me to bless those around me. Let them feel you inside of me. That would be to me great joy.”

And so our traveling minister continues to walk the world, praying the message I have given her is somehow communicated to wherever she is being sent. I know for a fact she would appreciate your continued prayers and occasional messages as she begins the second half of her journey. I am with you all.

How the Lion Learned to Roar

I was sitting tonight in business meeting as the Europe and Middle East Section of FWCC made nominations for the needed committees while we’re here in Herzberg, Switzerland. It’s often interesting to see how other Quakers besides my own meeting do business as my meeting is, admittedly, of a different variety, particularly as it relates to time and business conducted. Our meetings tend to be very simple, straightforward and as many of us were not brought up Quaker, they are pretty quick as well. One day, our pastor hopes we will have something truly controversial to discuss to see how we handle it, controversial being a deeply relative term for our church, but as of yet, this has not come to be. So I sit in the business meetings of other groups of Friends, observing the differences and the similarities in relation to what I know.

As an example, here in Europe, when agreeing on an item of business, they say, “hope so” whereas at home we would say, “affirmed”. Not understanding what everyone was saying, I asked my neighbor and she later inquired if I was a new Quaker. I told her I wasn’t but explained that different groups of Friends in America reply in business meetings in different ways. It’s a truth important for us all to remember: the ways we know are not everyone’s ways. We are all different. This has been very apparent this trip.

After business meeting, the clerk ran though the schedule for the next morning. This year, the Europe and Middle East Section of FWCC, the Europe and Middle East Young Adult Friends, and the Executive Committee are all meeting together. I’m not sure of the exact number, but there are over 80 Friends from all over the world here in Herzberg. Some things on our schedules are all together and some are separate. Since I had only seen the Young Adult schedule, I had assumed that the morning session where I will be speaking with four other people from around the world reflecting on four questions was only going to be with the young adults. Apparently not. It’s one of the times when we are all together.

It’s probably a good thing we had a bit of quiet after that announcement because what was going through my head was something along the lines of, “All eighty? All these weighty Friends whom I respect from so many countries? (Breathing.) Okay...” My reaction reminded me, on a somewhat smaller scale, of what I felt in Kenya when I was told I would be speaking first thing in the morning to 1,200 people. With this history, it wouldn’t surprise me if I was first up. Although that can be good when they have no one to compare you to yet! But right on the heels of this first thought came the second. I’ve already spoken to 1,200 people and as Ruth so beautifully whispered to me before I went up that day, “If you can talk in front of them, you can talk in front of anybody!” But more than this encouragement, that morning had already given me strength that changed me forever. Strength I know will be flowing through me tomorrow.

What happened that morning on the drive to the Kenya youth conference, something I have never written publicly about, is a conversation between God and I in the front seat of the van. I was praying for wisdom and that God would supply me with the right words to say and the ability to say them without a translator to such a large audience. I wasn’t nervous about the speaking or even the number of people in the audience, I was quivering a bit inside because of God’s trust in me to speak to so many. But what God told me are words I will forever treasure, words that still bring me to my knees in tears: “You were right.” I knew exactly what was meant. All those times people told me they didn’t see me in ministry, that they wouldn’t put me up in front of an audience, or didn’t believe in my abilities as a speaker, though I knew without a doubt that is what I was born to do, I was indeed right the whole time. God then told me, “Go and take your rightful place,” which filled me with visions of Simba walking up Pride Rock to take his rightful place at the end of The Lion King. I took that microphone that morning with a steady hand, an iron rod of steel strength up my back which has never left. Around my neck was a lion’s tooth hanging on a beaded necklace, a necklace that will also be around my neck tomorrow. A lion is a special image between God and I and I sometimes wear this necklace to remind myself of the truths I’ve been taught.

So tomorrow morning I am going to walk up there to the front of the room and share with them what I have to say. I am going to be strong and courageous for the Lord my God is with me wherever I go, the Mighty Lion who taught this lion how to roar.

Speaking in Kenya at the youth conference

You Know this Painting?

 

"What did you say about that painting, Simon?" I ask from across the small wooden gallery.
"It was painted here."
"REALLY?"
"You know this painting?" he asks in surprise.

"Of course!" Hugh and I exclaim together.

I join them over by the stairs for a closer look.  I know the painting well but I have never stopped to look closely at the architectual details but when I do, my jaw drops to the floor.  It WAS painted here.  Oh my gosh.  Are you kidding me? How amazing is that?  All the details are there, down to the spindles on the back of the bench.  Simon suggests going downstairs for a picture and that perhaps, when we develop the film, Christ will be seen standing beside us.

Hugh, who is from Ireland, Emily, who is from London, and I take our places on the facing bench looking out into the room just like in the painting, trying to look worshipful while grinning inside.  After taking the photos, we actually do sit there for a while in quiet before heading outside, to take in and try to hear the voices of all those who had worshiped there throughout several centuries including many of George Fox's original followers. It felt rather like stepping through some magical doorway into a world you have only dreamed about but is now very real.

Being one of the oldest meeting houses, just think of all the words those walls have heard.  At the time we were there, there was a talk going on in another room about how a building is infused with what has gone on within it, that there is an unseen memory.  What kind of memory does Jordans Friends Meeting have?  To me, it felt sacred, hallowed, as if I was entering into a larger circle of living fellowship beyond what my hands could grasp.  The Friends there must feel the same way because that belief is illustrated in how they laid out their graveyard.  The gravestones may be very simple, but the truth they stand for is simpler still,  yet it reaches down to the depths of living testimoney.

The gravestones are set up as in meeting, the people burried there are still listening to the voice of God.  Alive in a deeper sense than we are, we sat with them in meeting, hoping to catch a bit of what they were hearing, the words that were transforming them so they might transform us too.  Can you imagine the reality they live in?  They are listening to God far better than we.  Seeing the gravestones like that tells me that death doesn't stop us from being in God's presence.  It doesn't stop their community nor the holding of their light together.   They may not be present in the meeting house as they are pictured in the painting, gone from the building and moved outside, but they left behind truth and love that will never leave, that you can almost sense around you when you sit where they have been. 

They may be there in the graveyard, but the truths of their lives rise far above the grass that covers them, it goes on sharing with us that we are all in a cirlce, a community going far beyond denomination, beyond being Quakers, reminding us of a deeper commonality of all being in relationship with God and thus in relationship with each other, smaller circles inside larger circles.  Maybe if someone painted us in the graveyard, they could paint all the people sitting in the circle with Christ in the center, smiling at this wide community of friends.

Traveling Minute

This is my traveling minute from Freedom Friends Church for the upcoming trip. Among Quakers/Friends, a traveling minute serves as a way of introduction and authentication for someone in ministry as they travel to places in which they may not be known.  I am grateful to Freedom Friends for writing this one on my behalf.

March 28, 2011


To Friends gathered in Europe and everywhere,

This letter is a traveling minute on behalf of Sarah Katreen Hoggatt. Sarah is a member of Freedom Friends Church in good standing and we support her in her public ministry. She is a beloved member of our community and is a bright, creative, f/Friend who carries concerns for writing about one’s spiritual journey, supporting a diverse array of voices, and living in a loving relationship with God.

Sarah is traveling to Europe as a member of the editorial board for Spirit Rising: Young Quaker Voices, to speak about the book and writing in general at the annual Quakers Uniting in Publications conference in Birmingham, England, the Europe and Middle East Young Adult Friends Annual Spring Gathering in Herzberg, Switzerland, and Friends meetings throughout Europe in April and May of 2011.

We commend Sarah to you, knowing you may trust the testimony she brings you, and entrust that she will encourage and inspire the people with whom she interacts. Please care for her tenderly and encourage her heart. We request you receive this traveling minute on her behalf and document her service among you under this concern. She will hand carry this minute back to us and report on her experiences. Thank you!

Blessings of peace, love, and joy to you all in Christ Jesus,
Ashley Wilcox
Presiding Clerk, Freedom Friends Church

European Speaking Adventure - Answering Your Questions

Nine days. 216 hours until I step onto a flight bound for London. This blog is about to get a lot more interesting.

Many have asked if I’m excited to go. I am excited. I am excited to see my friends who are from Europe, excited to get to know them better, and excited to get to know many new friends who are Friends. But right now, I am still swimming in the planning stages, trying to take care of those little details that I’ll need in place before I go and taking care of all the things needing to be done here at home before I am able to leave. Needless to say, my nights have been late and my mornings early. But I am looking forward to sharing my passions with Friends across the sea.

To help answer questions of people who haven’t been able to ask them in person, I thought I would take some time to answer the most frequently asked ones as my first post.

When are you leaving?
I am leaving on the morning of Friday, April 8th to arrive in London on the morning of April 9th. I return late in the evening on Tuesday, May 17th. I am gone for a total of 5½ weeks.

Why are you going?
Last fall I was invited to take part in the annual conference of Quakers Uniting in Publications, the group that co-sponsored the Quaker Youth Book Project, to release Spirit Rising in the UK with my fellow editorial board member, Harriet Hart, and to speak on a poetry panel. Since going to the UK is such a big trip from the West Coast of the United States, I contacted several friends and their meetings to ask if they would like me to come talk about the book. The response was so enthusiastic that the trip quickly elongated to the current 5½ week itinerary.

What countries are you visiting?
England, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and France. A day-by-day itinerary will be posted before I go.

Have you been there before?
I have never been to the European continent before, at least not outside of the airport in Amsterdam. I did visit the British Isles in 2001 for five weeks including Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, England, Wales, and Scotland. For the most part, I am going to entirely different places this time around.

Will you be blogging while you’re gone?
Yes! I am looking forward to posting videos and pictures while I’m gone in addition to sharing my experiences with you through words. In addition to my blog, I will also be posting for The Friends Journal on their website as well as writing two articles for them when I return. To help me with the blogging and photo archiving, The Friends Journal is sending me a Nikon Coolpix to borrow and take with me on the trip.

Are you going with someone?
Yes and no. I am traveling on my own from place to place but will be staying with Quaker friends nearly the entire time. They will be going with me to the talks and acting as elders and cultural translators. On a few of the train trips, a friend will even be traveling with me.

Aren’t you nervous traveling on your own?
No, I am not. Europe is generally a very safe to travel and I have traveled before on my own, in England and Kenya as well as in the United States. Many people speak English there and I will enjoy the cultural experience when they don’t.

Where are you staying?
For the most part, I am staying with friends I have traveled with in Kenya and with participants of the 2010 Quaker Youth Pilgrimage to whom I spoke last summer. For two nights, I am staying at Swarthmoor Hall, a famous Quaker historical site that is now a bed and breakfast up in the north of England for some rest in the midst of all the traveling.

How are you paying for it?
Grants are paying for the majority of the trip including transportation, food, lodging, and my living expenses while I’m gone, among other things, to enable me to publicize the book and talk about writing. These grants include the Obadiah Brown Fund, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s International Outreach Grant, Northwest Yearly Meeting’s Youth Opportunity Grant, the Margaret Fell Fund, and generous contributions from The Friends Journal and a few personal friends. I am paying for everything else including any entertainment I partake of while there.

What are you taking with you?
Not much. I am of the persuasion it is best to travel light, easier to get from place to place and less to keep track of, so I like going with one backpack for all my belongings and a day pack to take with me when I go out. This is very doable. I have traveled in this way to the British Isles for five weeks in 2001 and three weeks in Kenya in 2009. I get better at it every time. It is the best way to travel.

What are you looking forward to?
The highlight list is extensive as you can imagine. Besides the obvious highlights of seeing friends, here are some experiences I am really excited about:
• Leading the workshop “Writing as the Authentic Self” at the QUIP conference.
• Meeting Friends from around Europe and the Middle East in Switzerland.
• Attending musicals in London’s West End. (I’m a musical nut!)
• Walking in reverence and awe at St. Paul’s.
• Touring the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.
• Punting in the canals of Cambridge.
• Speaking on the poetry panel at the QUIP Conference.
• Exploring the Louvre in Paris.
• Climbing Pendle Hill.
• Visiting the Bronte Museum in the village of Hayworth.
• Seeing the bells of Notre Dame.

Thank you all for your encouragement and traveling advice as I have readied for this European Speaking Adventure! I am grateful to have you as my community near and far.

Kung Fu Quaker

One of my very favorite teachers from high school is absolutely delighted I am with the Quaker church, thrilled I agree that the way to peace is not through violence. Being a Mennonite, we are what you could call peace testimony cousins and she really likes that fact.

As a high school student, I wouldn’t have guessed Mennonite the way she pushed our entire class out the door every Monday morning and into the parking lot for “Dagio taiso!” (Japanese morning exercises that I think are called Radio Taiso, but that is the way I remember her yelling it out, one arm thrust into the air.) If you can picture how much effort it takes to pull 25 high school students out to a parking lot to do exercises on Monday morning with other students watching from the windows above, you may begin to get an idea of how much stamina this woman had, and still has. Add a slight frame and red hair, and you have our beloved sensei (teacher). She was one of those teachers any high school student is lucky to have in their life. Personally, I adored her. And I loved dagio taiso. I thought it was great fun and a great way to live in my body, moving around. Our sensei really liked me.

As a college student and early young adult, I was considered sweet and of the quieter variety. I didn’t push my weight around. (I know, I overcame this later.) So, since I highly disliked hitting people, I thought it a good idea to take a self-defense class while I was in college to learn how to push my weight if I needed to. In a beautiful, naturally lit room overlooking the Quad, I learned how to scream, how to hit and kick, where to go for the vulnerable spots on an attacker, and how to keep an eye out on where I was walking. It was a transformative experience for me, learning how to defend myself and learning I had a voice. I still didn’t like to start a fight, but I felt much better about finishing one.

However, no fighting was ever needed (thankfully!) until one beautiful spring day at a medieval event called Bargamels. Bargamels has a pub theme and was actually my favorite event of the year when I was involved in medieval reenactment. My favorite sport to watch was two fighters in full armor going at each other with swords. We did that a lot. But on this particular day, I was seated in the grass wearing my red dress (an inner black dress and fancier outer red dress) reading a book for the New Testament class I was taking at the time. Nearby, they announced the commencement of the Bar Wench Smack Down. Intrigued, I listened. That was my first mistake. They wanted women of legal age who were willing to hit each other with meat cleavers and other assorted weapons found in a pub. It sounded like fun.

You have to understand, up to this point, I rarely ever participated in something even loosely resembling the word, “sport”. I was the mild-mannered lady-in-waiting. But, sitting there, I thought, “Why not?” That was mistake number two. Mariana, my Baroness, whom I served, was not there. Neither were any of our guards. That was her mistake. No one to keep an eye on Roana to make sure she behaved herself. She would later learn this is important. Multiple times over. That is another story.

Realizing, (I’m a bright one!), I couldn’t kill people in the skirted layers I was dressed in, I removed the outer red dress and joined the queue lining up around the eric where we would be fighting. They explained the rules such as no hitting above the neck as we weren’t in armor, and to be your own judge of a mortal wound. This particular group has a culture of their own where honor and chivalry is highly valued. The fighters I respected had taught me well.

When it was my turn to enter the ring, I chose the meat cleaver. All the weapons were made out of PVC pipe, heavily padded, and covered in duct tape. There were knives, mugs, and even a stool we borrowed from an earlier tournament. You could have a weapon in each hand which was handy as you could then thrust with one and defend yourself with the other. (If your arm was hit, you dropped your weapon and hid the injured appendage behind your back. If it was a leg, you either jumped on one or went down on your knees.) I showed no mercy. I liked to take the arms off first, the legs if I could get at them. I figured if they had one less weapon, it would be easier for me to go in for the kill on the chest. Many a time, I had both of their arms cut off before killing them. It wasn’t long before the other women weren’t too eager to come into the ring with me. One woman took one look at me and asked, “I have to fight her?”

I was having a BALL. The time of my life. I LOVED fighting! It was so much fun to kill people! I could see why all the fighters enjoyed it! That is, I was having fun until one of the guards saw what I was doing and went to get my Baroness. Mariana, who was busy judging the baklava competition, and she loved baklava, came hurrying down the hill and as she told me later, spotted in the ring, me, killing people with a grin the size of Texas on my face, and she cried out, “Is that my sweet Roana?”

Yes, Mariana, it was. Your sweet lady-in-waiting took second place that day in quite a crowd of women. Second place was just fine by me though, since if you took first, you couldn’t join in the smack down again the next year. Second was good. I believe it was the next year I was awarded the prize for chivalry. (Just to defend myself a bit so this post doesn’t completely ruin my reputation.)

Since that time, I haven’t had much reason to fight anyone; although that reputation did follow me around for quite some time in that group. There was one fighter practice to which I went and they said I was pretty good. But I wasn’t interested in the investment it would take to be able to last more than two seconds in a ring with a real heavy fighter. That is, until…

My friend, Emily, recently posted on facebook that she is holding Kung Fu classes in her basement with a teacher from Corvallis. I have now been a part of the Quaker church for over four years. I know the peace testimony but that old saying that, I admit, gets me into trouble, “Why not?” came to mind. I am willing to try most (moral) things once.

I showed up in time to take the first bow. This is where all that Japanese dagio taiso training and language came in handy. (Thanks Sensei!) The teacher had us warm up with some exercises in a squatting position. He showed us how to hold our arms up to defend ourselves. He showed us how to kick. Then he taught us how to move our feet back and forth, side to side and we learned a series of movements put together to defend ourselves against multiple attackers. It was rather like a martial arts dance. My favorite part was when he started teaching us how to pull someone to the ground who is pushing us or grabbing our wrist. I thought that was pretty awesome and I admit, I was pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing.

At the end of the class, the teacher asked me what I thought of the class and why I liked it. I have been thinking about this question ever since. Being a part of a peace church, you would think I wouldn’t enjoy working on learning such skills. But I do, I really do. Something in me loves a good fight, learning how to take someone to the ground if I need to. I would still step out of that red dress and join the Bar Wench Smack Down. (Don’t worry though; I will be out of the country the weekend the event is held this year.) It is a paradox that seems so strange.

I realized while driving today there is a warrior in me. Someone who really needs to know how to, figuratively speaking, use a sword, a meat cleaver. I spent so much of my life stifling that warrior down that when I started letting her out in my twenties, she had a heyday. Now, instead of shying away from conflict, I engage in it. Not to hurt another person, but to reach a good, healthy conclusion. I am learning how to defend myself, how to control the power racing through me, channeling the strength held in my hands. I need to know what it is like to live in my body, to be joined to it in soul and spirit. I need to know that my actions affect the world and the people around me. And learning how to fight in my body helps me find the courage to fight in my soul.

The peace testimony isn’t simply a call to lay down all our weapons and not fight. It is a call to lay down the weapons that maim, that hurt and kill. It is a call to lay down damaging words, harsh actions, and prideful choices. It is a call to pick up compassion and thinking of others. However, the peace testimony is not a call to let others walk all over us. It is not a call to stop sticking up for the passions of God. It is not a call to run away from conflict but to instead face conflict with love and justice evenly yoked in tandem. Better yet, approach conflict with an attitude where you cannot discern where justice ends and love begins.

We can’t afford to ignore the power out-flowing from within each of us. Part of peace is knowing our power to hurt, to maim, even to kill, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, yet instead to choose to use that power to heal, comfort, and teach. If we do not know our ability to tear down, we can never wholly build up.

It’s okay to pick up a weapon! Go ahead! But make sure it’s the right one. God tells us to take up our sword of truth. It is a powerful weapon. We are not to use this weapon flippantly or unwisely. We need to know both the power it can hold and the damage such a sword can inflict. Some of the greatest hurt in our world is done by those who abuse their power or wield power unwisely when they don’t know they have it. (For a great book on this topic, read MaryKate Morse’s book, Making Room for Leadership.)

So can I be a warrior and a Quaker at the same time? A Kung Fu Quaker? I believe so. I don’t see any problem in learning these things. It’s hard to live in the world as a lion when one walks around with the stature of a cat. Learning the right way to punch, how to take someone down, spending time concentrating on the placement of my body and the body of others, helps ground me in the physical world and teaches me how I can better carry myself and my power within that world. In fact, it is downright fun.

God gave us physical bodies to live in and it has surprised me how much I enjoy learning how to be present to the physicality of our existence. It’s an important piece of our lives and one not to be ignored. Maybe this is my way of learning to set physical boundaries after learning years ago I could have the emotional ones. And how can we have peace if we do not respect the boundaries of who each other is? If learning to fight is my way of learning peace, with others and with myself, of knowing my power in a tangible way, then I believe that is a good thing. I think even my sensei would be happy with that road to peace. One punch-kick at a time.

England 2011 - Brilliant!

(Me in front of the London Bridge in 2001)

Dear Friends,

This last fall I was invited by an organization I am a part of called Quakers Uniting in Publications (QUIP) to speak at their annual meeting on writing and to help release Spirit Rising: Young Quaker Voices, the book for which I have served as an editorial board member and contributor for the last three years. Though the book has been released since last May, the Quakers in Britain are holding a UK release and they would like to have me come and promote it as well as speak to Friends around the area.

Though I loved the idea of this opportunity when Gil, one of the co-clerks, first asked me to come, I thought about the conference and prayed over it for several months. I was, in fact, about to let the idea go due to my tight budget here at home but the idea has never let me go and so I decided to try some doors, to see what would open. First, I renewed my passport since it expired last September and started working on saving reward air miles to help with the airfare. I then talked this opportunity of ministry over with trusted mentors who gave me resounding encouragement and urged me to go to England.

Now things are falling into place. I am discussing with the Quakers in both Britain and the Netherlands where else they could use me while I’m there and the doors are opening one after another, in Lancaster, Brighton, Cambridge, around London, and in The Hague, Netherlands. I am really excited about these opportunities to minister with and spend time with the European Quakers. They are a group with a different flavor than both the Kenyan and US Quakers I have already had the gift of traveling amongst.

When our editorial board worked on Spirit Rising, dreaming of what it could be and do, we hoped the words would not only inspire a person to know God better and to more deeply understand and appreciate the diversity within Quakerism and humanity in general, but that the words would also inspire people of all theologies to discuss with each other the beliefs dear to them and form the difficult yet profound relationships we began between the ten of us editorial board members. We wanted what was birthed among us to grow in the book and come to fruition in the lives of those who read and discuss it. We wanted to see our work continued around the world, that the book would go back to the countries the words came from and spill out from there. This opportunity to go speak in Britain and the Netherlands is a part of that work. We need people in this world who will stand up and say they have done it; they have delved into the painful conversations with people different from themselves and to be honest about how they have been changed by those experiences. If we are to have greater cooperation among our various countries and theologies in this world, we need to hear the voices of those who are willing to say yes, it is hard, but yes, it is worth it. I want to be one of those people. As imperfect me, I want to stand up and help be that bridge crossing those divides and whatever country that ministry is in, whatever culture an audience comes from, that is where I want to be. This is the work I am called to.

In addition to the speaking and intervisition, I am also going to England and Netherlands on writing assignments from Friends Journal and Western Friend. I will be writing articles about experiences such as being an evangelical traveling amongst unprogrammed Friends and another on the QUIP conference. And of course, I will be blogging while I’m there.

Though different Quaker organizations are helping me fund the trip, I still have a ways to go. All told, the trip will cost around $2,200.00 between airfare, transportation, room and board, conference fees, and other miscellaneous expenses such as traveling health insurance, though this amount may grow a bit depending on the travel and time required for the additional speaking ministry. Though this amount takes into account the discount on airfare from my reward air miles and my being hosted by local Friends, this cost is still beyond my budget. I am fundraising through donations and what I can set aside out of my own income though I am trying to squirrel away whatever I can now as I will be missing a great deal of work to do this ministry. I would greatly appreciate any help you could give whether that is financial or holding me in prayer as I undertake this work. You can make out any checks directly to me. Specific prayer needs include guidance as we plan who I will be speaking to in addition to my work at the conference, smooth travel, safety, good health, and most importantly, that the words I bring to these groups are blessed and used by God.

As I said, I will be posting here to my blog as I travel, www.WalkingtheSea.blogspot.com. I invite you to check in with me to see how the trip is going, both in the planning and execution. I will leave sometime in late April and return in early May. Thank you for your consideration in helping me minister in Britain and The Netherlands.

Please contact me with any further questions. I hope you are doing well in the New Year.


Sincerely,
Sarah Katreen Hoggatt

Don't Ask - I Won't Tell

I have a confession to make. It's not easy to say this-much less publish it to the wide world-but I feel I can no longer continue in secret.  Though it doesn't seem harmful now, not opening up about it could be harmful and doing so, may help others who haven't felt free to be open up about their own desires. But I can't stay silent any more. Too many people need to take in what I have to say today. So here we go:

I have been to mass.

Not just a little bit.  Not just crossing my chest when I think no one is looking in an alleyway downtown, or sneaking the rosary under my coat in a dark movie theater, but everyday, and for years. The nave itself, has rarely seen me. In fact, before the last two times I've gone, it's been years since I've taken a knee in public.  But I have had a long-standing love affair with Catholicism. 

It started out innocently enough as all affairs do, a talk with a friend about transubstantiation and consubstantiation. You know, what Sophomores in college usually talk about.  This friend brought up some good points and we had a very interesting discussion. She invited me to mass. I went. I felt odd but she was there beside me helping me along on when to kneel, when to stand, and when to say what. It was a crash course in the holy rosary. 

Two years later, I was driving with Jesus to rehearsal. I liked Jesus. She was fun, a laugh a minute, and she fascinated me.  Jesus must have seen something in me too for she invited me to join her in leading her youth group at St. Mary's Catholic Church and you know how it goes, where Jesus leads, we follow.  Jesus, otherwise known outside of our play, Journey to the Cross, as Leonora, (I was the blind man she healed, a disciple she called, and a high priest who betrayed her rolled into one, but that is another whole metaphor for another story), was a gift in my life.  I joined her at St. Mary's as an intern and we had a blast. I got to help plan and sit in on all the lessons. I got to know the kids. I got to shoot Lee with rubber bands in the dark on our overnighter.  I even went to a tea with the women. I got to learn from her how to laugh at myself. 

In addition to being the youth leader in Albany, Lee also worked at the Newman Center, the Catholic student center just off campus.  Hanging out with all the Catholics at the Newman Center and playing "Dress Up Jesus" on the Internet became my favorite haunt.  We laughed until we cried.  We made comfort food in the kitchen and held regular get-togethers. I even took their class on what Catholics believe and why, taught by a local priest.  One night we went bowling and competed against the Presbyterian center down the street that I was also familiar with. They called me a traitor. But those times there among the voluminous tomes of Catholicism are some of my very happiest from my college years.

After college, I went and got religion.  Well, first I got depressed and then I got religion.  (Another longer story.) This religion came in the form of Christian History, a topic so little taught in our world. At seminary, I learned about our church fathers, "Lord, give me chastity but not yet." I learned about the early councils when the church was one. (Ha!) I learned about the Abbas and the Ammas who moved out to the desert when Christianity became acceptable.  I learned about those faithful followers of Christ who lived on top of pillars for years on end in faith to God.  (Someone should have shared with them the verse about wanting a contrite heart more than sacrifice.) I learned about the mystics, the church splits, I learned about the tree of faith and I learned that Catholics were Christians!  I walked the labyrinth and learned about the rosary. I knew the saints and venerated the icons. (Rublev's Trinity is my absolute favorite!)  From Carole and MaryKate I learned we are all one, we are from the same family.  What is more, I learned I loved the art, the images and pictures, the traditions and practices.  I loved the history. 

About a year ago, I attended an Episcopalian church and it was an enriching experience. I really enjoyed it. Some of my favorite authors and books have been Episcopalian. Then this last Christmas Eve, I decided to go to midnight mass. Every once in a while, you just need some good liturgy.  So I asked my spiritual director what times the services were going to be at (all my directors have been Catholic more or less). I wanted to remember in the midst of the all the Christmas decorations and shopping why we were celebrating. I was thirsty for mass.

Though it was the second time I had been there, I visited that church once years ago, I didn't really know what I was doing.  The room was packed, overflowing even, so it wasn't too hard to sit in the back and try to blend in, though I hoped they wouldn't find out I wasn't really Catholic, just a wannabe.  But even being an outsider, I felt very comfortable amongst them. My favorite icon hangs in the front on the right hand side, and it has enough qualities of Judaism, the rhythms of worship echo in my heart and make it sing.  The next week I went again, still crowded, and I still sat near the back, trying not to let people know I didn't have it all memorized.  But I love how they use their bodies in worship, it feels so wholesome, so life-giving. 

Really, the protestants left out a lot of great stuff when they "reformed".  It's like there having been missing pieces in my protestant spirituality that have been filled in and brought to light as I've engaged in Judaism and Catholicism.  While I was at seminary, we were taught these other Christian practices, a rich array of them, not to show what they did, but as pieces of us, our history, our heritage.  We we taught these practices, these spiritualities, were beautiful and meaningful and true. We were taught to respect them, to experiment with them, even to enjoy them.  I still do. So being a visitor, it would seem "home" is elsewhere, but I feel home there too.  Is God there?  Yes. Yes He/She is.  And wherever God is, there is home.  You can hear Him in the singing, you can hear her in the prayers. You can hear God in all of these spiritual practices.

Sister Antoinette once told me she didn't think I would be happy until I became Catholic.  I think she's right in a way.  I would never be happy sticking to just one spiritual practice. I need Catholicism too on top of everything else. There is so much out there. So many deeply enriching experiences that sticking to one all the time would be like having mashed potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  As much as I like mashed potatoes, I want variety in my diet. It keeps things interesting, keeps me healthy.  Diversity is nourishing.  And if diversity is nourishing in what we eat and what we do, then why not how we pray?  Why not how we relate to God?

Trying out different ways of relating to God is a good thing.  It's not that I'm betraying any faith I profess to have or church I am involved with, (though how I could betray Judaism, Protestantism, and Quakerism all in one is beyond me), it's that I'm enriching it. God doesn't have denominations in Heaven. We are all one. Why not embrace that here? Why not visit each other, get to know one another?  Why not break down those stereotypes and get to know someone from a different faith background for ourselves?  In my own life, I found that we aren't so different and in the places we are, those places enrich my life far more than I ever thought possible.

So I go to mass.  And I go to Quaker meeting.  I visit churches and I delight in Shabbat.  And yes, I have some practices that are rather Catholic. It's one of the reasons I have enjoyed becoming friends with people of the Catholic faith. I can share those things, those practices of mine, knowing full well they share them too and that they won't ever laugh at me or question why I do them.  And when they ask me if I have considered a religious life, I know they are not simply incredulous of why a woman would invest herself in attending seminary, but are asking sincerely, and we can have a real conversation about it.

God is just too big, and too wide, and too immense to limit ourselves to one way of prayer. Thanks be to God.

Conference Update

Since Wednesday, I haven't checked for any messages on my phone or went onto Facebook. Do you know how good that feels? It's been nice to disconnect in those ways and to release myself from them for a while. It is one of the things I learned in Kenya, how nice it can be to disconnect from technology. (And here I am writing on my blog.)

I admit to you, I am writing this during the business meeting. Come to think of it, I did this in Kenya too. Yesterday was my full day. I spoke in the afternoon plenary on the young adult panel, then led a workshop on "Spirit Rising: Young Quaker Voices", followed by the author's night after dinner where five of us read from recently published books. It's nice to have a more relaxed day today before heading out tomorrow.

Letting Go

We arrived to the Pacific Northwest Quaker Women's Theology Conference yesterday in the late afternoon. The grounds are beautiful. To get here, you have to cross a wooden bridge over a lagoon where at the end, you can turn around and gaze at the beautiful bay of water before you surrounded by trees and a range of mountains shaded in blue on the other side. All the houses and building on the grounds are on a green gently sloping hill that comes to rest at the lagoon with trees lining the backside.

It feels good to finally get to relax, let go. Yesterday I found the basketball court and a bin full of various balls nearby. Throwing baskets, oddly enough, helps me find that flowing peace, or at least encourages me along the trail! It helps unwind me, find the rhythm, a joyful movement. Seeing as how I am with nearly sixty Quaker women, you can imagine I don't have much competition for the basketball hoop.

As I've walked the grounds over the last day, I keep walking past the dock with boats tied up just asking to be taken out. Each time I go by, I think to myself, "How much trouble would I get in if I took one out for a spin?" Then at lunch, Ashley assured me we had full privledges to use the boats! Wahoo! So while scoping out the territory, I met a woman from Seattle who likes to go swimming and after checking out the swimming area which is very green if you know what I mean, I persuaded her to take out a paddle boat with me for a while. It was a great time but lets just say after five years of tap dancing, my legs are nowhere near the condition I thought they were in. I think there is some bicycling in my future.

I like how Sarah P. and Ashley planned the schedule. There is nothing we have to attend, it is all optional. I'm going to the plenaries and the home groups but the silent worship is out along with some of the singing. It feels really good to say no, to claim free time instead where I can do whatever I want without having to be anywhere in particular at all. This is actually a great growth point for me. Years ago, I would have tried to atend everything, no matter whether I liked it or not, and would have very succesfully burned myself out. Now, knowing I was already coming into this quite burnt out, I am giving myself the gift of space, of time, of a good book and hot tea. If I need a holy excuse, not that I do, I could claim I need the space for all the things I will be doing tomorrow: speaking at the plenary session, giving a workshop, and reading from "Spirit Rising" at an author's party in the evening. Some conferences have talent nights, women's theology conferences have author parties. hahaha!

I've already broken the no food in your room rule (so I hope no one at the conference is reading this) and I don't care. This is to be a restful time for me as well as for many others I hear. While doing the volunteer cordinating for this, I talked over the phone with another young woman named Erin who had heard about me through a mutual friend. Waiting for lunch, we got to actually meet and talk face-to-face a little bit and in the course of the discussion, found out we were both extroverted, had our noses pierced, she is a makeup artist and there is purple in my hair. After those revelations, we figured we will get along just fine. It felt good to meet another young woman who also feels the frustration of being in a group surrounded by introverts when we are verbal processors. Even in the Quakers, even in a group that are mostly unprogrammed Quakers, we can still find each other. It's nice to know.

Walk With Me

It is one of those beautiful nights after a thunderous storm has rolled through and the air is now fresh and clean. Everything is moved, substituting for the school year is over, all the volunteer positions have been assigned and I am sitting by a fireplace in Vancouver in the still calm with a friend nearby. Deep breath.

In the morning I will leave for the Pacific Northwest Quaker Women's Theology Conference. Despite the fact I'm speaking a few different times (which I am looking forward to), I am viewing the coming days as a vacation, a time to rest, take walks, read, write, and spend time getting to know an intriguing bunch of women. The topic for this conference is mentoring. I wrote a paper for it, which I will post on here, but there are more things I would like to share with you all.

Over the last several days, I have spent time with some of the women who have mentored me over the last few years, women who have taught me a great deal, vocally and by example. They have shared of themselves, their talents, and encouraged talents of my own. As I've talked with them, I have repeatedly felt grateful to God for giving me time with these women, grateful I've had the blessing of sharing the road with them for this period of our lives. I respect their work and delight in hearing about what they are thinking, sharing their fascination with areas of interest, new projects. I have a deep respect for women (and men) such as these who study, who explore the world around us, who think about the wider world. My life is so much richer because of them, the colors are far more vivid because of their presence, the aura they leave behind. How many times can you say "I am grateful?" How many ways can you say "Thank you"? I feel like what these women have taught me, though I am certainly still growing and learning, is now coming from the inside and no longer only the voices I externally hear. It's not just what they have taught me that has added so greatly to my life, it's that they helped me live out of my truer self, they walk(ed) with me on the journey to my own soul and talked with me there. I am so glad, in different ways, we still walk together.

Spirit Rising: Book Release

Yesterday was a very full day. After breakfast, I led a workshop on Writing as Prayer. Personally, I love workshops that are more interactive and so I lead my own in that manner, a style the attendees appreciated. We had good discussion and good questions. I really enjoyed the time we got to spend together.

In the afternoon, Angelina, our project coordinator, presented her report to QUIP and then our editorial board left to do some of the hard work this book keeps us coming back to. We know we are asking the people who read the book some very hard questions but please know, we understand how hard these questions are to grapple with because we have asked them of ourselves and each other first. We are hoping our own work together can be a model for what others can do between themselves.

Quite frankly, we are weary. We have walked a long and difficult road to gather these writings and bring them together. We are thankful even as we struggle knowing this book is now no longer ours. It is everyone's book. Everyone's spirit is rising. We are looking forward to talking about the book and hearing back people's reactions to where the words come from. We are looking forward to watching the book take flight and live a life of its own apart from us. It's kind of like watching a child leave for their first day of school. We hope it goes well, we hope others like our "child" and that our child will grow and work in the world in ways we can only now imagine.

Those are the thoughts that were in my head as I listened to the editorial board and contributors read pieces from the book last night at the release party. I feel like Michaelangelo who has spent the last several years inches from the ceiling. Last night I got to step onto the floor and look up at what we've done and for just a few minutes, I could see where this book would go and all the voices that will now be heard. Tears fell from my eyes in knowing what we had just created, what God had spoken through us to do. Stephen read a verse this morning that the grain of wheat must die for the plant to grow. As our editorial board takes our leave and takes the book back to the places from which it grew, we are hoping that in our place grows a beautiful return for the work so many have done.

One thing I want you all to remember, though, is that the words are not enough. Words themselves have no power. The power lies in where the words come from. The power lies in the love in which they are spoken and the love in which they are lived out. May love be our highest goal.

Lucy Duncan
John Lomuria eating leaves.

Green soup, John wants to know if this is food. He doesn't think so.

The house where we all eat, meet, and the young adults sleep. They figured it was a good idea to keep us all together in one place. I agree. I've enjoyed it. We all sleep on the second floor.

The Friends United Meeting offices here on the grounds.

The Friends United Meeting offices here on the grounds of Quaker Hill.

Beauty Several of us took a hike yesterday afternoon out to a waterfall. It was nice to be outside.

Angelina giving her report to QUIP.

Our editorial board signing each other's books.

Spending time together working through the hard places.

C. Wess Daniels

Cool sweaters!

Our book release party.

Reading 1 Corinthians 12-13

The coolest cake EVER!!!

May love be our highest goal.