Yes I'm still in catch-up mode, in terms of paperwork, processing both the TRCC Peace in Education conference and the World Conference of Friends and of course my photos... however on a positive note I am caught up on my laundry and unpacking!
So, Yearly Meeting has been and gone and now it is time to try to turn our presentations there on both FWCC and the World Conference into newsletter articles, and I guess a few blog posts would be good too ;)
But instead of being able to get on with that I've been finishing the tax receipts for MM donations and getting to grips with now being convenor of YM Nominations Committee and, despite the best efforts of technology to thwart us, we have had our first skype committee meeting with the current line up!
In some ways I'm somewhat glad of the enforced activity that has delayed the prospect of really getting to grips with my World Conference experience beyond providing snippets of information to those who ask 'how was it?' and my 5 mins worth during the group presentation at Yearly Meeting. Sure I've gone over and over the FWCC business side of things which is no small matter in itself, especially given it included the Thread Group looking at visioning the work of FWCC World Office over the next 5-10yrs which was an incredible experience and at times very moving. But the World Conference experience was so much more than this and I'm struggling to know where to start to explain it.
Reading blog posts by Rosie and John amongst others helps put the wider picture into some kind of manageable form and as I slowly edit my photos that too gives gives time and space to revisit the overall experience.
Thomas gave his message from the Asia West Pacific Section led morning worship session again at YM and despite having heard it once plus read it through in its draft forms it hit me just as powerfully giving me new insights all over again. The same was with the Kabarak Call for Peace and Ecojustice - sure I'd heard it read in session and had read through it again as we prepared our YM report but still I heard new words in it as Jimmy read it out for us at YM. This wasn't just the case for me but for others who had been in Kenya too. I'm so glad the YM plans to see that Thomas' message will get published here (I think it will also be in the World Conference book when that comes out) as it made such an impact on Friends both in Kenya and here at home. I still get a lump in my throat when I read them through again as I recall that strong sense of the spirit flowing like the 'living waters' referred to in the Call.
Many were the times in Kenya where I was moved to tears by what I was hearing and also simply by that strong sense of the spirit at work; by the hauntingly beautiful sound of over 850 Friends singing 'Seek Ye First' as a two part round which has been echoing in my head ever since; by the realisation that unlike at the end of WGYF where us 'old hands' knew that the chances were many of our paths would cross again, this time it was different as in another 21yrs (the time since the last World Conference) a good proportion of those present will no longer be alive.
I suspect I'll be blogging about these experiences for a long time to come.
1 comment:
21 years since the last one...... I suppose it must be, but it really doesn't seem like it. I know how hard it was to distil my thoughts and experiences after that and I'm looking forward to reading about your experiences .
hugs
dawn
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