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Appreciative Eldering

When I first got involved in Friends Meetings, I was fortunate to have a number of role models and elders to guide my first steps into this society, which was foreign to the world I had known. I felt immediately that I was a Quaker and that I had been one for years before discovering a meeting. But learning the Quaker jargon took a while. Some of it seemed so natural because it fit so well, but some of it required absorbing new processes and new ways of looking at the community life. I did some of that learning by osmosis, some by asking questions, and some by getting help from more experienced Friends.

On Mediation (January 2020)

A Lesson for Three Characters

Three members of a Quaker meeting answer the question, “Why are you here?” The first says, “To benefit from group meditation, which helps my personal well-being.”  The second says, “To be part of a community that benefits the world.”  The third says, “To seek and serve God.”

On Balance (May 2017)

Spiritual Accompaniment - Review

Spiritual accompaniment can be a very physical process. Shaking, sweating, rocking, and buzzing are just a few manifestations of the Spirit experienced by Cathy Walling and Elaine Emily as Elaine offered Eldering workshops and ministry with Australia Yearly Meeting in 2007-2008. Cathy’s call to this particular form of eldership took root many years earlier. She longed to know what Quaker elders experienced in previous centuries, but found their voices missing from historical journals.

On Needs (May 2015)