Freedom Friends Forum

Ashley,
I have fussed with this question a bit, and I have come down to
where I don't really care what it is called. I think most would say we are convergent,
but what is important to me is that we worship in spirit & in truth, and continue to
make ourselves available to do so. I find that I worship in community differently when
I am accepted, and welcome as opposed to being tolerated. I think that it is fine for
folks to wrestle with this  and come to their own understanding, and for the community
to do this as well. I just have issues with it, and I will explain it like this...

I am not called to figure this one out. I am called to show up on Sunday,
and join in worship of the Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, whatever we
choose to call or name toward "God"... I am not called to tease out
what it is we call it. Peggy has more interest in that than I do, and she
is better at it too. She is gifted with a bigger picture view of things, which
includes various philosophical understandings of worship practice, religious
viewpoints, etc. I am called to minister in various ways 7 days a week.
I am called to love justice & mercy, etc...

It very much reminds me of when I worked in a residence for retarded adults.
I was a volunteer for a few years before I worked there. As a volunteer I was
able to meet each person completely in the moment. I led art classes and the
participants were all over the map-- some were depressed, some violent, some afraid,
almost all were on medications. They had varied histories & families, friends, situations.
When I walked into the classroom we were all there in the moment.

When I became an employee, I was required to read their histories, their medical charts,
their behavioral history for the day  & the week. TFor some people, that information
was helpful to them. To me, it distracted me from being fully present. I had so much to do that
I was reading charts when I could have been in the room and asking my student how
they were right then. Just because someone had an outburst at 11 am didn't mean they even remembered the issue by 2 pm. Or maybe they figured it out, and it didn't get recorded on their chart yet.

I very much understand that we are all wired differently. For some it is important to understand
this thing we are doing in the context of the larger world, history, Quakerism, and those things are
important to me. but whether or not we are convergent friends, is not one of those things that
is at the top of my list presently.

In some contexts it is an important question to me-- like when we are involved in community, and
how we handle situations, questions, events, and other people. It does inform our actions.
However, what we call it, and what other f/Friends think we are, that is not so important to me.

I want to know at the end of the day, did I live well? was I kind, loving, honest? Did I take right action?
Did I say the words that I needed to say, and did I act congruent with my words?

Are we convergent? probably. Does the word matter so much to me, nah. Did we start out trying to make a convergent church-- not in name-- but in practice, I think so.
what matters is what I do when someone
is visiting, when someone is looking for a community, and is having trouble with belonging. we all belong somewhere. What we call somewhere is sometimes part of the map that helps us find where we are supposed to be. I am just not one of the map makers. I am called to journey in community, and report what I find, learn, need, care about, etc. Someone else is making the map...