 Looking
back at the
MSF
Gathering
"Our
Gifts and Our Giving"
Dec.4th
-6th
Twenty folks gathered at beautiful Third
Haven Monthly Meeting in Easton, MD to explore
ideas of gifts and giving together on Dec. 4th. The
fact that we did manage to “gather” 20 was a feat
in-of-itself, seeing that Easton MD is almost three
hours south of Philadelphia! Bravo to all who joined
carpools and came from distant places to be with our
community for this program, and SUPER-thanks to Colin
and Tristan who drove our carpools. We were so far
away from PYM, that we had some BYM Friends join us
(go Sawyer and Jeanette!). The mixture was wonderful!
Due to the distance, we started late on Friday,
at 9 pm, with some icebreakers and get-to-know-you
games and then had a discussion as a community about
what our values and norms for our time together would
be. In many ways, we re-created the Guidelines that
are the tradition of a MSF gathering, but in our own
words, with a deeper sense of ownership and investment.
Saturday was a wonderful mix of stillness
and storm (literally as snow and metaphorically as
MSF energy released!), claiming gifts and exploring
what it means to give, discussion and contemplation.
Our activities ranged from group discussions and walking
meditations about what our spiritual gifts were and
how they matched up with the spiritual needs of a
community, to team-building exercises (thanks for
the idea Jeanette!), to goofy games in big and small
groups, and workshops on the gift of positive touch
and massage, and the gift of perspective and vision
in painting. Our small groups were rich and thought-provoking
and had some great participation. To end the evening
we had an amazing show of the group’s creative talents,
first through paper bag skits and then from individuals
who came forth and shared their own gifts!
Sunday started with our typical clean-up,
and was then followed by a great Meeting for Worship
with a concern for business, Clerked beautifully by
our “clerk-in-training” Hannah Blossom! We ended with
a time of communion and first-day school with the
larger Third Haven community and then it was time
to carpool back to Philly!
Thanks to everyone who helped to manage the
logistics of such a far-away gathering, and a special
thanks to the Susans, Leigh Annes, and caretakers
of Third Haven who welcomed us so warmly into their
historic space.
Next gathering:
“Community, Communication, and Communion” @ Burlington
Conference Center: Jan. 22nd – 24th, 2010
Click here
to see all gathering reports.
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