Self Power & Other Power
4 weeks ago
Sunday 21 November 2010
Newcomers
Today, in our Meeting for Reflection post-worship, we had the benefit of several recent attenders, who shared with us their feeling of uncertainty: as a newcomer, it is quite easy to feel wrong-footed. 'Everyone else is an experienced and knowledgeable Quaker. Why should I feel that I can offer ministry in this group, where anything I say will probably be seen as naive and trivial? I don't know why I came, and I probably shouldn't have.' Those of us who had been around a bit longer were able to say that we also feel some of that. To be uncertain is very OK. I felt this was a very valuable thing to say and to hear.
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2 comments:
This is absolutely right! It should be quite an unusual thing to find any Quakers (however long they've been involved) expressing hard and fast certainties. We are all living with uncertainty. Thats the beauty of MfW - you never know what's going to happen from one Sunday to the next. If you crave certainty, you're not going to feel comfy in a Quaker meeting. But the uncertainty of living adventurously, and exploring together... that's what it's about.
"God of Surprises "was the title of a book I once read
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