I greatly enjoyed joining with fellow Quakers in May at Camp Swatara for an annual retreat with 9 Friends Meetings from central-eastern Pennsylvania. I arrived on Friday afternoon to set up an Amazon Ecology sale of crafts made by our partner artisans from the Peruvian Amazon with much appreciation for Judith helped me lay out woven birds, headbands, and flutes. When others arrived in the evening to register and then wandered to a camp fire, I relaxed with friend Jim near our bunks at a lodge and caught up on life since our meeting last year.
I began Saturday with a yoga class with Sally where I found I could hold myself up in downward dog longer after some months of regular visits to the gym. Our morning plenary session had three amazing women speakers. Inaara is a new staff person from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (tasked to help Meetings with the elusive goal of inclusion) wowed us with her eloquent talk about hope in the midst of often desperate seeming challenges for humanity and the planet.
I led a workshop in the afternoon that asked people to build trust and muster their creativity and communication skills when challenged with various “natural disasters.” I loved watching people ponder if and how they could cooperate to solve a problem if they first assumed they were supposed to tackle it separately.
The evening talent show was the best many remembered. Our MC was hilarious. Young friends showed virtuosity with their voice and violins. The beauty of Jonathan, Juji and Lulu doing Interplay style movement with each other to music and poetry left me speechless in tears. I sang and played Rainbow Warrior Spirit and Song to the Vladivostok on a borrowed guitar. My sounds of the humpback whale and wind over waves created a hush in the audience sitting in the dark and left me crying again as I was brought back to seeing whales killed over 40 years ago.
We had business meeting on Sunday morning where meetings shared joys about reconvening after COVID, a couple being married under the care of a meeting, and clean energy initiatives. Sorrows included the passing and ailing of old Friends and difficulties attracting younger members. Meeting for worship was moving because so many (including me) shared how special the weekend was because it was so full of warm hugs, profound thoughts, joyous singing, laughter, tears, and healing.
When everyone else had left, Yuri, Judith and I spent a few hours packing up all of the crafts and display materials and loaded them into my car. I was happy we had sold far more crafts this weekend than any previous year. I also brought home with me so much gratitude that so many Friends wanted to support our work.
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