Faith Healing Pipe Organ Family Feast

RantWoman is seasoning items to write under the influence of pipe organ lingering after Christmas eve worship RantWoman had rich worship experiences and expects several deliveries.

Faith Healing, Radio Broadcasts on Christmas morning about the faith of non-Christians:
A self-identified pork-eating, alcohol-drinking, premarital sex having Muslim woman who grew up in the US spoke. She explained how her father came to grips with her intent to live with her boyfriend. Her father asked, "Does he believe in a force greater than himself? ... Does he believe in gravity?" Well, yes. Then the boyfriend was Muslim enough for her father.

Faith Healing irreverence, not particularly Christmas-themed except that the thought muddled to the surface during pre-holiday bustle., perhaps in connection with solstice-themed reflections on subsistence challenges after the solstice before spring produce begins to appear:
To everyone who thinks God is supposed to fit into 30-second soundbytes, RantWoman notes that 19th century Russian novelist Fedor Dostoevsky got paid by the cuarto. If he had kept it short, his family would have starved. RantWoman has no suggestions about how to handle that point in the age of expectations about soundbytes, in the age of Twitter, a medium RantWoman peculiarly actually adores.

Faith Healing, Grace: RantWoman's worship thoughts were more Luke Chapter 1, geneology of Christ including WOMEN, and C Wes Danilels "You can't out-scandalize God" http://gatheringinlight.com/2013/12/23/a-new-family-portrait-matthew-1/  than ministry in quaker worship from the book of John about men of good will / men with whom God is pleased.

Faith Healing, Nelson Mandela 1.
The fake sign language interpreter on stage at Nelson Mandela's funeral has inspired the Seattle Deaf and interpreter communities to address longstanding concern with a person who apparently has been misinterpreting the Seattle Men's Chorus for decades.
Here is RantWoman's contribution to the conversation, with multiple links to a blog by members of the deaf community.
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2013/12/letter-to-frank-stilwagner-of-flying.html
The short, boiled down version: hearing people think the "interpretation" is very artistic or some darn thing: Deaf people find the signing linguistically useless and people who train ASL interpreters find MUCH to object to. Holding the situation in the Light never hurts.

Faith Healing, Nelson Mandela 2:
On the bus on RantWoman's way to Christmas Worship, RantWoman and RantMom's cellphone conversation suddenly lurched from family dramas and Christmas stockings to Nelson Mandela. RantMom's box of Christmas decorations moved from MT include the historical Rant Children stockings custom sewn by RantMom. There is a stocking for each Rant child.

This year, RantMom's display expressed her fervent hope that all her children might be able to bear each other's presence. RantWoman knows several mothers who do not have that expectation. RantMom has been clearly told this is not necessarily a reasonable expectation right now; it's a moot point anyway since RantBrother is in MT, indoors at least.

RantWoman is not sure how the conversation got from stockings to Nelson Mandela, but it did. Somehow 26 years of principled study on Robben Island came up, as did the diplomacy spoken of by lots of African leaders. RantWoman got stuck on the stockings and things already restimulated from seemingly innocent words in the Christmas eve worship. At SOME point it might be reasonable to have some moments of Truth and Reconciliation, but RantWoman was definitely not called to try on the bus. RantWoman already, earlier in the fall had to tell RantMom that RantWoman thinks some outside help would be extremely helpful and on point for RantMom. Or, hypothetically, there is always the option of Quaker worship groups with someone else who maybe possibly might have certain life issues in common. Would RantWoman do that on purpose? Uhhhh...RantWoman would not mind if God got that done but would still want prayerful care of the situation if that occurred, but first RantWoman would have to drag RantMom to....

Faith Healing: extra guest
This year the RantFamily Christmas feast included a friend of Little Sister's family, another guy from Guatemala so Brother in Law had someone to talk to. Guy from Guatemala was being Christmas guest because his wife has gotten into some odd mindset involving faith healing and other challenging themes. RantWoman is sorry that faith healing gone overboard meant Guest could not have Christmas with his daughters but was delighted he was part of the Rant family feast!

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I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas. Only a Hippopotamus will do

It's fourth Sunday of Advent or God present amidst all the messiness of life and family members are gathering 'round with all their giant Personalities and Issues and Holy-day Expectations and Clamor and Fuss and Frazzle and sundry other attractions that RantWoman is more than Bad Friend enough not so secretly to really enjoy, along with some FRUITCAKE. Uh, the fruitcake has not arrived yet.

Sensible Auntie would like to speak of a spirit of giving, of generosity, of thinking of the delights of others.

Sensible Auntie has gotten distracted from such centered efforts by "O Quaker Auntie." O Quaker Auntie is very relieved. Recently on one of the Rant Sister's Sunday parallel journeys to our respective houses of worship Little Sister thrilled the likes of O Quaker Auntie. Little Sister is not actually as charmed by the thought of middle school Nerf War at her house of worship as RantWoman might have suspected.

Okay, and...?

Little Sister further confessed another moment in the world of middle schooler and Nerf weaponry: Irrepressible Nephew knows how to modify the Nerf Blaster,  something RantWoman suspects looks even more like a weapon than ordinary Nerf Ware. In particular, Irrepressible Nephew knows how to modify his Nerf Blaster so that it fires better or something. Bad Auntie, inadvertant setter of less than perfect examples just wants to hide under the bed and really does not want to know more details of this armament modification.

Unfortunately for RantWoman's desire to live in denial, O Quaker Auntie got summoned to a confession that Irrepressible Nephew's school peers greatly esteem this skill. Irrepressible Nephew goes to school in another neighborhood so inorder for Nephew to realize his prowess, a teacher signs off on kids making the exchange at school under the teacher's supervision.

O quaker Auntie is stuck inventorying reasons possibly to hyperventilate. O Quaker Auntie is also meditating upon a number of youngish men she knows who have grown up in the bosom of Quakerdom who have gone off to join the military because they "needed structure." SO FAR O Quaker Auntie is managing to let Irrepressible Nephew and his parents find their own paths about the modified Nerf Weaponry. So far...

Remember Worse Auntie? Bad Auntie sets bad examples unintentionally. Worse Auntie says things like "you're darn right I did that. So?" or "You;re complaining of some or another RantWoman excess. What if RantWoman fears the world actually needs MORE of that very Behavior?"
--put Azalea into the search bar to find one piquant Worse Auntie Moment.

--RantWoman actually thinks maybe the world needs MORE of "Grab the Blind Person and Bless them." This happens all the time to RantWoman; RantWoman can attest that it also happens worse to other blind people. RantWoman thinks that every time this occurs on the way to a Quaker event she should remember to complain and exclaim LOUDLY.  RantWoman thinks she should do this for three reasons:

1. RantWoman has perhaps been remiss in taking really a VERY long time to start complaining of this in her life. Ask RantWoman if you really want timeline.

2. Maybe other people who hear RantWoman ranting will learn that this behavior is insane and even more optimistically that they too could speak up when they observe someone doing this or other behavioral cousins such as Grab the Blind Person and Drag them into traffic, Grab the Blind Person and Argue with them about walking route in traffic, or worst of all Grab the Blind Person and Impose someone else's physical needs on the Blind Person's choices.

3. MAYBE if RantWoman talks enough about her range of experiences, people will figure out which just have to be held in the Light and which really, really need more intervention and even immediate  intervention.

Well, maybe

--RantWoman thinks maybe service dogs is another area the world needs MORE, not less of. For LOTS of conversations, a service dog is a service dog is a service dog and the human handler is the embodiment of responsible animal stewardship. In reality:

1. Not every blind person takes appropriate care of their companions; RantWoman has been dreading the possibility of meeting one such challenged blind person.

2.  LOTS of people get their doctors to certify that it will be beneficial to live with an animal and then drag the animal everywhere, whether or not the dog gives even faint impression of finding this enjoyable. O Quaker Auntie is spending a good bit of time being pet furniture around one such creature!

3, Another RantWoman pet peeve, no matter how many certifications an animal has: feeding the dog human food and worse feeding the dog at the table.

4. And this is not even to mention intercultural issues and problems for people expected to help service dogs and their handlers get around even if the people themselves have dog-related PTSD.

Anyway, rather than go on about service chickens a service lizard, and the occasional service python, service emu or service gecko, even Worse Auntie is TRYING to get into the holiday spirit. In fact, Worse Auntie is just thinking about this fabulous hit:

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas. Only a hippopotamus will do.
http://youtu.be/7oOzszFIBcE
warning: closing trailer contains just SCANDALOUS language.

Worse Auntie also notes this historical example of communication from RantMom, should RantWoman ever have wandered near the idea of asking for a hippopotamus for Christmas:
RantWoman this is your mother. You will be getting a sweater. And you will write your grandmother a thank you letter!

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Christmas presents: minutes AND email.

RantWoman has discovered that her email drafts folder is a little like the closet where one stores Christmas presents one has accumulated over a good spell before the holiday. Here are two such presents, one about minutes and one about email. Readers are invited to note that RantWoman is holding them in the Light as they read.

RantWoman of late has been called, repeatedly to concerns about minutes, specifically the difference between recording decisions and recording minutes of exercise hopefully reflecting the range of comments about some or another issue.

RantWoman is aware that, at least in others' estimation, she is probably overachieving on numerous not preferable dimensions. RantWoman suggests that readers who venture further and find themselves perplexed either trust their Light or feel free to inquire of RantWoman what the heck she is talking about.

With minutes of decision, precision and clarity are greatly to be desired. With minutes of exercise, RantWoman feels called to point out that part of the POINT of the exercise is like tilling a garden with different plants able to make different things of the available material.

RantWoman is holding several minutes of exercise situations for additional discernment. RantWoman takes exception to what has gotten recorded in all of them. RantWoman is clear repeatedly to speak specifically because of a sense of community going astray from Truth if she does not. Hold RantWoman--and community--in the Light.

First, the tilling the garden thoughts came from a conversation involving lots of references to pruning, dislike of thinkings that seem like voting or that seem argumentative or repetitive. RantWoman wanted to speak more of tuning, of pulling different voices into the right chord and harmonies for the situation.

Not to be argumentative, but how are Friends supposed to discern sense of the room if some threads do not get woven into a succession of offerings?
RantWoman also particularly points out that Friends sometimes need to hold thoughts of "helpful" on different timeline. RantWoman sent argumentative email to one of the people behind the "don't be argumentative" votes. RantWoman has acquired some experience working with disaster preparedness topics for very diverse audiences. RantWoman pointed out that certain behaviors which are actually already darned annoying when everyone is warm and dry and the lights are on might be peculiarly helpful in making those assembled think of resources needed for more extreme circumstances. If RantWoman thinks about this thread a few steps further, she suspects a topical query might be what spiritual resources are needed in worlds of White People Adjustment / What really needs to evolve to whip this Climate Change thing conferences?

Not to be argumentative, but RantWoman has been holding the following thoughts:  "Trust the committee" vs test the committee; bring it to the group and let go. When RantWoman drafted this she had in mind 3 situations where what the Business Meeting did with the work of the committee was very different from what the committee did. In the interest of conciseness if RantWoman recalls these situations in form sufficient for blogging, RantWoman promises to examine them in their own entry.


The second challenge on RantWoman's mind is the use of email for Quaker Business. RantWoman is not prepared to lay down her clerkship of the Association of Bad Friends Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee on Email Immoderation; this can be one problem. The other problem is that every time RantWoman picks up the question of email, it turns all squishy in her hands.

RantWoman adores email BECAUSE it is a record of what was said. RantWoman deeply appreciates being able to use a search bar and find things without having to skim her own impossible handwriting. RantWoman also has personal experience with people who say they dislike email, have work history reasons for being leery of email, but also maybe have a hearing loss and, it turns out, actually do much better by email.

In this vein, RantWoman was thrilled by a Quarterly Meeting plenary a couple Quarterly Meetings ago involving a restorative circle exercise exactly about the pros and cons of email. RantWoman only wishes everyone in her life for whom email is a vexed question had been at the Quarterly Meeting.
For example RantWoman attended a Clerking workshop with Weighty Friends who Teach Clerking. One of the items handed out as if it were holy writ without invitation to discuss was a statement on email seasoned by Milwaukee and Claremont Friends, Friends of a generation who dislike email. 

After the clerking workshop, RantWoman banged out a series of emails to the effect, among other things, that perhaps Friends who cannot imagine God showing up by email may in fact be writing whole generations out of their concept of the divine. RantWoman is grateful that her offerings were well-received in the abstract; applications in practice around RantWoman continue to evolve.


Friends

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Hanukkah, Peculiar Gratitudes, Inner Blowtorch Day 1

RantWoman feels led to celebrate the historic convergence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah with 8 days of Dark and Light, peculiar gratitudes, possibly tasteless observations, and questionable reflections all illumined in RantWoman's Inner Blowtorch. By the grace of God(dess?) perhaps RantWoman will even include some reflections on the actual history and story behind the celebration.

Or RantWoman will ask Adam Sandler:
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com/2013/11/thank-you-adam-sandler.html

Please, hold this all in Light and stay tuned

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Email: The Gospel According to, oops well, Care and Counsel.

RantWoman, God, and the Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee on Email Immoderation are feeling called to hold worship sharing with the, oops well, Care and Counsel Committee at RantWoman's Meeting about the subject of email. RantWoman proposes to serve as Recording clerk and to record minutes of much exercise in a separate entry. RantWoman is still seasoning the matter of what queries to begin with.

 

RantWoman hopes that God shows up in words, but notes a peculiar God historical tendency to show up in burning bushes, pillars of cloud, commandments etched in stone tablets, plagues, pestilence, planetary inundations, and sundry other difficult to parse manifestations.

 

RantWoman is not sure which members of the Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee... are going to show up, but the committee includes a particularly large membership with a number of different qualifications:

--Generic Customer Service Friend

--Veteran Tech Support "Users always Lie; They don't know they lie; they don't mean to lie but they Lie. Now what was that symptom again?" Friend.

--Mental Health Triage Friend

--Out of Control Spiritual Accompaniment Friend

--Data Nerd / What is trending over time Friend

--Lots of ways to agree about measures to make email manageable but not sending is not an option Friend.

--Language Nerd and Literature Scholar Friend

--Magical Realism So what if the timelines are non-linear Friend

--You're always asleep when I'm awake Friend

--You barely know me and I barely know you but I am supposed to know you are a resource Friend

--It takes days and days of phone tag to reach you Friend

--I actually think sort of slowly and LIKE being able to use my search engine to think over bits of the conversation again Friend

--If you don't understand something, have you considered asking for clarification? Friend

--If you don't understand something, who might you refer the problem to Friend?

--Look, really sorry the message is not coming in palatable form but have you considered that it might be your job either to figure it out or to connect the sender withsomeone who can Friend

--I talk about Service Dogs all the time. You think I don't know when to quit aboutservice DOGS. How about we talk about service CHICKENS? Friend

--Really sorry God is not showing up on your schedule Friend.

--You say you dislike email but you actually do much better by email sometimesFriend.

--Sometimes I get so upset I cannot talk Friend.

--You like to talk; I need to send email Friend

--Have you considered the possibility that what I am talking about applies to your day job too Friend.

 

RantWoman acknowledges that The Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee... could perhaps get things off on better footing by losing references to the "Oops Well" part of the Care and Counsel Committee moniker. RantWoman acknowledges this, but she showed up warts and all and the worship sharing needs to happen regardless.

Plus, RantWoman recently stumbled across the most interesting reference to the word "oversight" not in sense overburdened with the historical weight of enslavement but in a more egalitarian, shared oversight "we all take care of each other" sense. RantWoman WISHES she could remember which blog roll item she saw this in. RantWoman also would not mind some umbra of a penumbra of a sense that anyone else on Care and Counsel committee cares about RantWoman's inquiry. RantWoman is aware of needing to hold someone in theLight about medical matters as well. Finally, if someone calling Dial a Tirade gets a busy signal about this topic, oh well, there are plenty more tirades available. Please hold that point in the Light along with the entire gigantic Still Didn't Get the Memo Committee on Email Immoderation.

The following item appeared recently in the monthly newsletter at RantWoman's Meeting.

 

CARE AND COUNSELCOMMITTEE

Thoughts on UFM Email

While email is a tremendous benefit to us, at times it can be a burden. Care and Counsel Committee put together the following document to help fellow members. It is common when in the midst of an email problem that we feel the need to help the other person understand our position or make our points more firmly. In these guidelines below, we suggest another tack: Whenever you feel the need to set things right, instead wait calmly. If after due consideration it is still necessary, briefly state your position once and move on.

Too Long: One strategy for long emails is to skim them looking for questions or requests. Limit your response to answering the questions or requests directly and briefly. This will greatly reduce how much must be read and understood, but still gives the other person a specific response. It represents a midpoint between ignoring an email and taking on the burden of reading and responding to an overly long missive.

Too Numerous: If you are receiving too may emails from another member, consider taking a break and filing for future perusal. Once your good feelings return you can limit the amount of mail you read from the other person by setting aside a period of time, say 10 minutes every Monday, to read and respond to their emails. Take the rest and file them for later.

Confusing: If the email is confusing and there are no requests or questions in it, then take whatever understanding you may

have from it and move on. If there are requests or questions in it that you cannot understand, simply respond by letting the

writer know that.

Unkind: A good rule of thumb is to read the first few sentences and ask yourself if you feel good about reading further. If continuing to read is digging a hole of bad feelings, then stop digging and move on. If you want, let the writer know that for you to read the email, he or she will need to rewrite it with kindness.

Writing Email: The other side of reading email is writing email. Kind, compassionate, and thoughtful emails that come quickly to the point and put any requests in the first sentence are the mostly (sic—RantWoman) likely to receive an audience. Put aside longer or heated emails until you have the chance to revise them to a paragraph or two of kind, compassionate, and thoughtful words.

Care and Counsel Committee,

 

RantWoman, this is God. If the entire Still Didn't Get the Memo committee shows up  and everyone talks one blop at a time, this one worship sharing is going to take millenia.

RantWoman , musing: ...could just forward to Care and Counsel one of Rant Brother's "I'ms still mentally ill and I still want firearms" emails, perhaps seasoned with more "I didn't tell you about my day" details than anyone wants to interact with about why it's IMPORTANT that people like RantBrother have places like the Friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing  they can come to read and send email.

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Peace? Tantrums. Hammer Strokes.

RantWoman apologizes. This item is from a recent issue of her Meeting's newsletter. RantWoman finds the passage evokes an entirely unseemly desire just to have a temper tantrum or even ...

PLEASE hold that urge in the Light and remind RantWoman "use your words...."

ON PEACE

Advice

Peace is the state in which we are in accord with God, the earth,  others, and ourselves. We know that true, lasting peace among us can finally be attained only through unity in the life of the spirit. We work to create the conditions of peace, such as freedom, justice, cooperation, and the right sharing of the world’s resources. As we work for peace in the world, we search out the seeds of war in ourselves and in our way of life. We refuse to join in actions which lead to destruction and death. We seek ways to cooperate to save life and strengthen the bonds of unity among all people.

 Queries

Do we live in the virtue of that life  and power which takes away the  occasion of all war?

 Do we refrain from taking part in war as inconsistent with the  spirit of Christ?

 What are we doing to remove the causes of war and to bring about the conditions of peace?

 Where there are hatred, division, and strife, how are we instruments of reconciliation and love?

 How do we communicate to others an understanding of the basis of our peace testimony?

 As we work for peace in the world, are we nourished by peace within ourselves?

 On the other hand, two really different items that speak greatly to RantWoman's condition in spite of sundry controversies and conversations needed.

First from Russia
http://johanpdx.blogspot.com/2013/11/prophets-cynics-and-tricksters.html

Next closer to home:
http://robinmsf.blogspot.com/2013/11/cups-of-tea-and-hammer-strokes.html
 

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Psychology Today on Vicarious Trauma

RantWoman spends a certain amount of time reflecting about the needs for spiritual care of people in many different work circumstances. Here is an item about professional interpreters that RantWoman can especially relate to.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/talking-about-trauma/201308/vicarious-trauma-and-the-professional-interpreter

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Adult children; abusive parents

Adult Children and relationships to abusive parents wit h lots of links on the Mean to read list.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2013/02/abusive_parents_what_do_grown_children_owe_the_mothers_and_fathers_who_made.single.html

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One at a Time PLEASE

Dear Parents,

RantWoman LOVES your children, really she does. RantWoman loves having a community that includes kids, parents, crusty curmudgeons, and people with all kinds of life experiences that might not be obvious just sitting in Meeting for Worship.

RantWoman is Auntie, not a parent. RantWoman REALLY digs being Auntie, for one thing because she gets to Give the Kid Back. RantWoman considers it her holy duty to cheerlead parents doing the fulltime job. In other words, RantWoman means well! And sometimes RantWoman's good intentions work; sometimes they do not.

RantWoman also considers it the community's job to cheerlead parents and to nurture our children's growth and development. RantWoman sees no reason growth and development are incompatible with that glorious time at the end of worship when children come, meeting shortly closes, and thenthere are ANNOUNCEMENTS, love 'em or hate  'em. RantWoman personally really appreciates announcements--when she can hear them.

RantWoman has been trying to have a community conversation about the principle that one person talks at a time during announcements. RantWoman's Meeting includes a whole bunch of people who hear badly. The worship room is covered with sound muffling carpet all over the walls. RantWoman's Meeting is not any more blessed with people who find it easy to SPEAK UP than anywhere else. And RantWoman thinks there are lots and lots of people who will appreciate it if children and adults can learn to talk ONE AT A TIME. This does not have to be perfect and there is plenty of time for people to grow into this, but RantWoman has become clearer and clearer that this is reasonable.

The first time need to speak to this issue came to RantWoman there were MANY new families with LOTS of children in worship and RantWoman was more than willing to make allowance for "new" and very young children. Meeting for Worship featured the next in a series of "hold it in the Light" messages about a youth struggling with more teenage challenges than average. RantWoman does not remember what all came up during announcements except for an announcement of a death of another challenged youngish person who few people in the room knew. Announcements ran long and the many children were exuberant, vocal and understandably not on topic.

RantWoman found her stomach churning and had to sit with a whole bunch of personal issues before being clear to go home and do a customary RantWoman email. When RantWoman brought up her concern and the suggestion about talking one at a time, she received return email suggesting she just go worship somewhere else where there are no children. Fortunately for the future of quakerdom, there are no such options within RantWoman's one bus on First Days travel constraints. RantWoman has not heard back about any other ideas but RantWoman is PRETTY sure kids AND grownups can work this out.

If you would like to hold this topic in the Light, focus on growth in shared worship, and stop here, please feel free.




If you are game for another ride at the RantWoman spiritual amusement park, thank you and read on.
Warning: it's a spiritual amusement park. RantWoman reminds readers of her past as a Russian literature major and throbbing literature brain symbolism habits. Think parallelism between different scenes with common elements. Think long complex novels whose authors got paid by the cuarto. Think long complex novels where the characters are all referred to by multiple names. RantWoman has also dabbled in Latin American magical realism; one feature of that genre is that timelines are sometimes, to say the least not linear.

In other words, RantWoman pointedly does not guarantee easily digested nibbles. In fact, if people insist that God show up only in easily digested nibbles, Worse Auntie is likely to show up and foam at the mouth about who the heck are any of us to argue with God and why does anyone feel entitled to God as personal Butler, God perfectly sculpted in dainty easily digestible bites? Nor unfortunately can RantWoman guarantee there is anything to be fixed though Holding in the Light nearly always improves the experience.

RantWoman recently had a conversation with a Weighty Friend about a Famous Founding member of our Meeting. Famous Founding Member expected his children who came to Meeting to sit through worship from day one. Famous Founding Member claimed that this practice is why all of those children remained Quakers as adults. RantWoman notes this without further comment.

RantWoman is an oldest child. Especially with a young RantWoman, the RantParents did not necessarily have a great grasp on the concept of "age appropriate. RantWoman learned early that Mommy was a better person all week if she had a good experience at church, and RantWoman learned that the church service was usually a whole lot more interesting that whatever childcare options were available. RantDad as choir director usually could keep an eye on the Rant children from the front of the church 

RantWoman was also on the learn to sit still side of the sit still or get spanked when we get home norm of parental behavior expectations. RantWoman is not sure she is grateful to Little Sister for reminding her recently of this divide, but it does partly explain some of RantWoman's twitches around uncorralled children in worship: a stew of "someone is going to get spanked," "where ARE their parents?" "How come they get to run around and I don't?"

RantWoman reminds herself that she is a Quaker not a Presbyterian anymore and children are SUPPOSED to be allowed to breathe. Than RantDad shows up with his bad vision and unacknowledged frustration shrieking at young children who do the bobble around thing all young children do. RantWoman remembers being terrified about RantDad yelling; now unfortunately RantWoman can relate to the frustration but she considers it her holy duty to TRY to keep a handle on the shrieking.

Next come RantWoman's bus nerves. RantWoman has written extensively of the vast realms of rich spiritual experience and spiritual challenge available aboard the average public transportation system. Today's topic is children, small people who need to stay connected to the big people they get on the bus with while everyone quickly and safely gets stowed, small people who sometimes speak better English than the big people they get on the bus with, all kinds of situations where it helps if everyone pays attention to safety and courtesy.

But RantWoman, someone will say, it's Meeting for Worship, not the bus. Um, RantWoman's bus nerves have a single standard of Truth. They cannot tell the difference between the bus and Meeting for Worship. Sometimes on the bus that is a GOOD thing.

But RantWoman that's YOUR mental health issue. Can't you just go talk to your counselor (times 2 with a theme and variations motif)?


WARNING: TRIGGER ALERT for additional trauma!
Very Funny. RantWoman has a new mental health provider. About the second time RantWoman had an appointment with new mental health provider, there was ...ta-da...massive disruption in bus service all over the city for several hours because one of the humble public servants who drives buses got shot in the face by, please excuse RantWoman speaking plainly and HOLD THE GUY IN THE LIGHT --posthumously because of police action, an idiot with a gun who could not pay his bus fare.

RantWoman of course was affected by the massive schedule disruptions but had no idea initially what bus route was affected.

RantWoman managed an alternative routing that at least got RantWoman to her appointment but got her there very late. Not late enough to cancel, but late enough to exchange info: new mental health professional rides the route affected by the shooting all the time. RantWoman rides that route sometimes too. And when RantWoman's bus nerves want to flare into hypervigilance mode, RantWoman needs only to think about shooter on a bus at rush hour on a bus with lots of family destinations on the route.

Maybe other people can bear with RantWoman and her multiple time sequences and all the joy and tragedy and scarieness and love sitting in worship and can join RantWoman in holding THE BUS in the Light too.

And maybe we all get to count our blessings that Meeting for Worship usually is not as scary as the bus.

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Morning pages mid afternoon

RantWoman recollects Hurricane Katrina anniversaries, global climate change, and sundry world concerns while praying fervently along with radio updates that good sense holds as far as Syria and international supervision of chemical weapons.


By way of digression / distraction / reflection on what does or does not change, an interesting web based history snapshot via RantWoman's #NatlPrep tweet stream from the Presidential recordings program about Lyndon Johnson and Hurrican Betsy:

http://whitehousetapes.net/exhibit/lbj-and-response-hurricane-betsy

Presidents are required to show up at disasters and sound sympathetic; RantWoman always appreciates historians who can pull at all the other threads of motive and decision in such moments.

Warning, if you need one thought at a time, feel free to stop and to come back or not as led to read further.

RantWoman finds herself peculiarly grateful to have the time to reflect on Lyndon Johnson and digressive #disaster responses or the shadows of climate change in modern hurricane realities or the life-upending effects of earthquakes rather than, for instance to endure a barrage of breathless war-themed broadcasts.

Here, RantWoman does not even apologize to all her readers who wish she would do one thing at a time gosh dang it and have only simple messages and ... and... RantWoman IS trying to keep a handle on giant leaps but lately has been gratified to notice that other people have gotten that SOME things on RantWoman's mind are IMPORTANT. RantWoman is also grateful to get that RantWoman sometimes just trips over giant leap observations that take a lot longer for other people to come to. RantWoman has not necessarily gotten any more patient about this, but maybe appreciating the phenomenon is a good place to start.

In the rest of life, RantWoman is observing National Disaster Preparedness Month, seeing what kind of time commitment she can compress into meaningful daily messages. Besides #npm2013 #natlprep #disaster #preparedness #accessibility, be insistently but hopefully appropriately present in conversations goals, RantWoman has undertaken this effort just for the soul-purifying exercise of doing at least one blog post a day but TRYING not to singe her Meeting around RantWoman's Inner Blowtorch. Hold that effort in the Light.

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Protest and Survive

RantWoman's febrile mind is hovering somehwere between Protect and Survive  and a slogan she is considerably more familiar with, Protest and Survive. RantWoman permits herself to wonder in passing about applicable theology but for now RantWoman is just collecting imagery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_for_Nuclear_Disarmament

RantWoman does not have any imagery from activities on this side of the pond; RantWoman does suspect her collection of moldering protest T-shirts probabluy include a couple iterations of the slogan.

RantWoman hereby includes a link to something from her past.
http://peacecampherstory.blogspot.com/
In particular, RantWoman in the summer of 1983 was interning in our nation's capital, doing data things for campaigns to stop the MX missile. At a certain point, RantWoman became really clear that her calling was not particularly that flavor of lobbying but instead to GO TO PEACE CAMP.

RantWoman honors the anniversary of her arrival at peace camp, along with the peculiar opportunity to recognize a certain heart racing  head pounding panicky feeling sometimes when beset by many not very friendly people waving US flags on pointed sticks in her face.

RantWoman learned and learned of many things at Peace Camp.



And today, RantWoman needs an assortment of other spiritual sustenance.
Hope, Part 3
http://quakeroatslive.blogspot.com/2013/07/hope-part-3.html

My people, with links to two very different additional voices
http://questforadequacy.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-people.html



http://www.lambswar.com/practicing-the-presence/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LambsWar+%28The+Lamb%27s+War%29


http://gatheringinlight.com/2013/07/31/mysticism-revolution-or-suicide/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GatheringInLight+%28gathering+in+light%29

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LGBT Group on campus of Fuller Theological Seminary: reprint from AP

LGBT Group Finds Acceptance at Evangelical College
by Sarah Parvini
Associated Press

Saturday Jul 13, 2013


PASADENA, Calif. -- Nick Palacios struggled to get his conservative
Pentecostal parents to accept him as a gay evangelical Christian for nearly a decade before his family found a common ground through faith.

Now, as an openly gay seminarian, the 29-year-old hopes to carve out a similar acceptance for other gays in the broader evangelical community through his role as president of the nation's first LGBT student club sanctioned by a major evangelical seminary. The group, called OneTable, formed last fall at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, one of the world's largest multi-denominational seminaries, and has attracted about three dozen students.

"It quickly became apparent to me that I was going to be OK and that I wasn't going to have to forsake my faith for my sexuality," Palacios said of his struggle for acceptance.

"I really hope that people will see Fuller and OneTable as a model of what the body of the church is supposed to do in this situation."

Fuller's stance has created ripples in the larger world of Christian colleges and seminaries, where a growing number of gay evangelical students are asserting their dual identities with underground clubs and nascent political activism. Last year, for example, a group called the Biola Queer Underground was quashed by Biola University, a small, conservative Christian school in nearby Orange County.

This fall, the LGBT group plans on staging rallies to combat the Biola's longstanding policy on homosexuality - that sexual relationships are reserved for heterosexual marriage - and address what many students call a campus climate of fear and shame.

Some activists have hailed the approach taken by Fuller as an important step forward for gay rights. Others say it's an empty gesture unmasked by the school's fine print: Students can "come out" but they can't have sex, be politically active or challenge a school policy that states homosexual sex is "inconsistent with the teachings of Scripture."

Richard Flory, a researcher at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California, said Fuller's acceptance of the group, while unique, is more about symbolism than about a move toward true tolerance.

"It sounds like they want to have it both ways: Jesus loves you as you are, however there are limitations to what you can be," Flory said. "It's like sticking your toe in the deep end of the water to see what happens."

Fuller's community standards states that "sexual abstinence is required for the unmarried" and marriage is between one man and one woman.

Nevertheless, Fuller's decision not to push back against OneTable is a critical step toward acceptance for gay evangelical students, said Justin Lee, the executive director of the Gay Christian Network, which tracks the burgeoning movement. An increasing number of young people have been coming out on Christian campuses nationwide, whether they are accepted or not, and Fuller's move acknowledges that and provides a touchstone for students who would otherwise keep their sexuality a secret, he said.



While some Christian colleges across the country have accepted LGBT student groups, Fuller is the first evangelical seminary to do so, Lee said. In February, one prominent evangelical school, Wheaton College in Illinois, officially recognized a support group for students who have questions about their sexual orientation.

Fuller has a total of about 4,500 students, with 100 denominations represented. In addition to the main campus in Pasadena, regional campuses are located in Menlo Park, Sacramento and Irvine in California; Colorado Springs, Colo., Phoenix, Seattle and Houston.

OneTable is only on the Pasadena campus.


Palacios and other Fuller students say they aren't out to be political - they are aware of the group's limitations, and choose to accept them.

OneTable fits into the greater conversation at Fuller, which is committed to helping students understand that sexuality is part of being human, said Juan Martinez, who oversees the approval of the seminary's student groups. Martinez does not take issue with Fuller's LGBT students as long as they accept the school's guidelines of being both celibate and non-political, he said.



"If you are ready to make that kind of commitment, then we're ready to walk with you," Martinez said. "We're not going to turn around and say, `No. You can't be here because you like girls or you like guys as opposed to the opposite sex.'"

Many evangelical Christians disagree with Fuller's decision to allow the club, however, and say it's simply not possible to be both gay and evangelical.

Fuller is not acting in the students' best interests by sanctioning the group and should instead be teaching reorientation as the students' best option, said the Rev. Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian organization.  "It's possible to change any or all of these attractions," said Sprigg, a former Baptist pastor. OneTable's genesis comes at a time when gay rights and the intersection of faith and homosexuality are at the forefront of national - and global - conversation.

The Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the federal law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman in June. The same month, the president of Exodus International, a Christian organization once dedicated to helping homosexuals repress same-sex attractions, apologized to the gay community for inflicting "years of undue suffering" and shut the group down.
For Palacios, Exodus' end struck a personal chord. Ten years ago, after confronting him about his sexuality, Palacios' parents saw Exodus as a chance for their son to change - they thought the organization could "reorient" him. For years, Palacios armed himself with biblical verses and religious texts he could use to defend his identity as a gay Christian. Now after years of their son refusing to repress his sexual orientation, Palacios' parents have become more accepting and were even amicable toward a former boyfriend.
"Just as it has taken me the better part of 20 something years to figure out the blend of faith and orientation I can't expect my friends or family to get it that quickly," he said.

Some straight students at Fuller have also embraced the chance to discuss faith and homosexuality openly. Samantha Curley, 25, the group's former president, said hearing about her friends' struggles made her a better Christian. Before starting at the seminary, she said, she didn't have any gay friends.



"I think that's ultimately what faith does," she said. "Jesus wanted us to experience the full expression of humanity. I'm fearful of what will happen if we don't learn to do that in the church."

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved.



Will Burley
E-mail: will.burley3@gmail.com

The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.
~ Eric Hoffer

Subscribe to my business blog: www.burley-wilson.com/blog

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How not to be an ally

RantWoman suspects she is going to be reading a lot of this blog, for  one thing, someone RantWoman works with is speaking frankly about his pronoun gender preferences. RantWoman wants to be on point about the matter except when she wants to roll her eyes or snarl at other people rolling their eyes.

How not to be an ally:
http://blackgirldangerous.org/new-blog/2013/6/17/8-ways-not-to-be-an-ally



And while we're at it talking about the privilege thang, George Monbiot about Bono:
http://m.guardiannews.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/17/bono-africans-stealing-voice-poor

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Beloved dead, about the Recording clerk

RantWoman elders her Meeting's Recording Clerk, based on multiple RantWoman experiences, including RantWoman's heroic vexation of the Recording clerk during last Meeting for Business....add an exhortation: if something RantWoman says is not clear consider the options of either just letting God work on it or asking for clarification. RantWoman cannot read faces. RantWoman cannot read minds. If someone is upset or not understanding things a lot of the time someone has to use their words. Otherwise, as another blind person RantWoman is in a lot of meetings with says, RantWoman can offend you with impunity whether she means to or not.

No, RantWoman is NOT just taking up space for herself.  RantWoman  had occasion to think about a number of people in our community who she knows are grieving the loss of a loved one. RantWoman actually did not do this to start because she was overflowing with empathy. RantWoman did it because she made a list of people she needed to talk to and realized several of them were grieving. Then as RantWoman poked at various thoughts arising from that, she recognized that in fact there are even more people in our community who have lost loved ones over the past year. THEN RantWoman decided she should just say some prayers for awhile AND think about what space the topic might need in community conversation.

Okay, so you read on. How about a request to be held in the Light after the fact. The hold in the Light after the fact point is part of RantWoman's sometimes shit happens and the interpreter gets to keep on talking or the recording clerk gets to keep on recording thread.

RantWoman heard that people spoke last week of Doris Ferm of Bellingham who
passed away the Friday after Quarterly Meeting. Doris was a STALWART of
FCWPP Steering committee meetings and she just beamed when she got there this last time even though she was an hour late. RantWoman wound up rooming with her and her 80-year-old sister. That all
wound up being very sweet in a geriatric chaplain and passing of generations sense but that is another story.) But the real kicker came late in the meeting when people were talking about interest groups planned for the next day, one usual one about legislative matters and one about gun-related deaths. A couple people looked at death records for like 5 years and discovered that suicides outnumber homicides and all else by about 5 / 1 across the state. They planned to do an interest group about it and were chattering away chirpily.

One problem for RantWoman: a few years ago a friend of hers shot himself. He had MANY tough circumstances and barriers about getting help. He was able to buy the gun he used despite having been hospitalized multiple times the previous year for suicidal depression. Some of the time when gun suicides come up, RantWoman just thinks "better access to mental health care..."  Some of the time brain just leaves the room! RantWoman's brain was leaving the room at that point in the FCWPP meeting. Even worse, someone else in the room, RantWoman knew from listening around Meeting, might also be having a really rough time. RantWoman looked at that Friend at one point and had definitely guessed correctly, but the Friend was across the  table and saying anything would have been
awkward.

Luckily at that point RantWoman did not have to try VERY hard to focus enough for what was needed in the minutes.

And the Clerk is not sure about there being a God.

And RantWoman has a pretty versatile concept of God getting things done all kinds of ways, but it was only after the brain leaving the room moments repeated themselves the next day at the actual interest group that RantWoman managed to email the presenters with concern about sensitivity if people have stories the presenters say they are interested in. One of the presenters got the  point immediately; the other one RantWoman is not so sure.

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Contagion?

Who do you say I am?

RantWoman hereby celebrates the election of a new Pope, a Jesuit who has chosen his Papal name to remember St. Francis of Assisi's focus on the poor and humble by invoking.....Robert Barclay, educated by Calvinists and Jesuits, ... and John Woolman. RantWoman needs to get a couple Quaker in-jokes out of her system; RantWoman also promises she DOES mean to poke and probe at what the living presence of the Holy Spirit asks of her Meeting or at least of RantWoman.


Furthermore, RantWoman hereby celebrates both Nominating Season and the season of drafting the State of Society Report. "Celebrates" is a peculiar word. RantWoman is wondering whether she has been fed some weird too much of the truth serum of quinoa, guacamole, and 4 stars spicy salsa or whether some stray bedbug left over from last year's contingent has just been scouring her email:



Recent email from....Conflict is a Gift of God Friend:

"We are facing a significant down-tick in participation this winter -- worship attendance is down almost 20% from last winter. "


RantWoman:

Thank you for sharing this concern. I appreciate info about something I would not necessarily have noted.

--To what might we attribute this decline?

--the annual flu / crud being worse than average both in firs instance and in tendency to recur?

--a significant number of Friends called to travel because of deaths in their families, work, pleasure?

--the exhausting barbarity that passes for work schedule for many working age Friends

--the expense and tiresomeness of travel by car or bus

--childrearing, eldercare. grieving, medical events all the matters lurking amongst us trying our spirits right now

--The demands and darned inconveniences of aging. We have many weighty wonderful but rapidly decrepitating elders. Without in the least making any effort, for instance, to ask Rantwoman's permission (Rats. RantWoman would not grant it anyway) many of these weighty souls are beset by hearing loss, rheumatism, Parkinsonism, various forms of vision meltdown, digestive obstructions, dyspepsia, disinclination to leave the house, and multitudinous other distresses. A certain Pendle Hill pamphlet may well go on as to "Hallowing our Diminishments" but what if Friends really need is "Howling about our Diminishments"?

--weird weather?

--people coming once and not feeling led to return?

--People besides RantWoman sometimes feeling bored and stifled by all the beloved Friends in Adult Religious Education who are certain they have things figured out and need to say so instead of listening when some of us don't?

--People afraid of being accosted by someone loudly calling them to the community of coffeemaking?

--People who want other people just to shut up and go make coffee and don't deign to listen about spiritual matters or who demand conversations about spiritual matters predigested according to each person's individual tastes?

--Fear that Nominating Committee will try to draft them for something frustrating that does not feed them spiritually...?

--Something else which has somehow evaded the fog and blur of RantWoman's oh, so limited Light?


Have you considered whether you should also perhaps share your concern with:

--the clerk of Meeting?

--members of Worship and Ministry?

--members of Oversight?

--the clerk of Finance Committee?

--someone on Nominating Committee?

--random people who those listed above do not necessarily talk to



What would YOU have us do about this? Any guesses what others might feel led to do about this?

--Different format activities?

--Weekly invitations on Facebook so that all the people who Beliefnet tells are Liberal Quakers know how to find us? Oh dear. That means presuming we have something to offer a world hungering for spiritual communion. Actual agents of contagion? (See below)

--Potlucks at arbitrary intervals, perhaps featuring random rambling moments from RantWoman's dorky documentary collection, disaster preparedness, other slightly demented entertainment?
--The harangue a month Saturday brunch club?

--some sort of neighborhood based gathering / witness and gardening party

See some of these ideas definitely speak to Rantwoman and RantWoman is having problems finding other Friends who either share her enthusiasm or are willing to be carried along, say for the sheer privilege and delight of hanging out with RantWoman, the joy of walking in the Light....?

Recently RantWoman saw something connected with flu season about infection control and different religious practices including communion. Having read Barclay's Apology last year, RantWoman might offer one comment about infection control through spiritual rather than physical communion, including HOPEFULLY the immune boost from just showing up around one's community.


(Disaster Preparedness Brain also recalls encountering a story of one community whose residents during the 1918 flu epidemic were too scared of contagion to go out and care for each other. Guess which community suffered a much higher than average death rate!)

The Woolman reading group this year is getting a really different spin on infection control and particularly sometimes deliberate exposure to small pox.

Put this all in the salad slicer with someone's definition RantWoman read recently of being an elder as "agent of contagion for the Holy Spirit." What might "agent of contagion for the Holy Spirit look like around our Meeting?

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Nabokov again controversial in Russia

By way of blog as filing cabinet / hold a whole country's culture scene in the Light:

From the New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/02/the-turn-against-nabokov.html?mbid=gnep&google_editors_picks=true

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Parker Palmer in Seattle in July 16-18

RantWoman shamelessly reposts as much of email as she can figure out how to repost cleanly.


Parker J. Palmer in Seattle!
Healing the Heart of Democracy
Civil Community, Creative Conflict, and the Common Good

Are you frustrated with politics? Do you wonder if you can make a difference?

Bestselling author, internationally known educator and activist (and our founder) Parker J. Palmer will be in Seattle for three days in July.

With wisdom and wit, he'll share his commonsense approach that serves the common good. What you learn will transform the way you collaborate and create community.

Parker will spark our local civic (and civil) understanding about how we each contribute to a politics worthy of the human spirit. Mark your calendar!

SAVE THESE DATES!
Tuesday, July 16
Parker J. Palmer at Benaroya Hall
5:30 - 7 pm Sponsors Reception
7:30 - 9 pm Talk by Parker
$25 adults; $15 seniors & students

Wednesday, July 17
Half-day deep dive with Parker
8:00 - 11:30 am, St. Mark's Cathedral on Capitol Hill. $99

Thursday, July 18
Lunchtime panel with City Club
More details to come

Pass the word:

To participate or for more information contact: Terry Chadsey, Executive Director,
terry@couragerenewal.org , (206) 466-2055



TICKETS GO ON SALE IN MARCH!



Center for Courage & Renewal
1402 Third Avenue Suite 709
Seattle WA 98101

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Luminarias

RantWoman and Inner Blowtorch are still doing well but not ripe for presentation. It would vaguely occur to RantWoman to see what her search engine might tell he of whether and how Friends in different countries do or do not observe Christmas but RantWoman has decided to let her focus stick to and start with  luminarias.

RantWoman may or may not offer anything on the matter of luminarias vs farolitos. For the moment RantWoman's leading is to let the lights speak for themselves.


Albuquerque, Old Town
A blog called CannonFire, not as problematic as you might think at first glance
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2010/12/red-and-green-thanks-for-christmas.html

Another from Old Town
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/victor/hereandthere/2008/12/christmas-eve-in-albuquerque.html

A blog entry that touches on the farolitos vs luminaria matter
http://penguindroppings.blogspot.com/2012/12/noche-de-luminarias.html



RantWoman's search enginer was hovering over "Las Posadas" when she was interrupted by Little Sister, free to talk because the guys in her house were off on a tamale pickup expedition!

Back to music. Look, okay, very discerning selection from the various collections served up by Youtube is beyond RantWoman's Light. Check out this one as a placeholder and choose one of the alternatives suggested or use your own darn  search engine.
Una hora de villancicos musica la navidad
http://youtu.be/7EisrJAJKGI



A documentary about Las Posadas in Mexico
http://youtu.be/S021tBiTxn4


La Navidad en Guatemala
http://lfyj-g.com/la-navidad-en-guatemala/

This last item is dedicated  to...Irrepressible Nephew and his Abuela Guadalupe whom he has never met, to RantMom and every grandparent who does not quite know what to make of dual=-national grandkids,  to every mixed status family and DREAM Act kid anywhere near a Friends meeting anywhere in this country.

There. RantWoman will now STOP and wish everyone Merry Christmas / Feliz Navidad and save further fulmination for the new year. RantWoman bets Friends can hardly wait.

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Inner Blowtorch Solstice

And the Lord spake unto RantWoman. And the Lord said, "um, RantWoman, we still do not know how to deal with this Inner Blowtorch thing."


RantWoman. "Funny. Me neither. How about some tunes?"


Today's song theme, Bring a torch Jeanette Isabella

First, a cast of thousands, choreography, the Mormon Tabernacle.
http://youtu.be/NtDbBd8yh9U.

RantWoman has a peculiar gift: sometimes RantWoman is too happy to have music carry her along whether or not the theology of any accompanying lyrics exactly captures her own heart. The visual spectacle looks darned pagan to RantWoman, but what does RantWoman know of Pagan?


Bring a torch / I saw three ships, Celtic harp
http://youtu.be/X7cqygEtOZY


Celtic harp, same ensemble as above, the Huron Carol
http://youtu.be/PpDtSIVy0fQ


Celtic women, Christmas medley. A whole hour. Too much of a good thing?
http://youtu.be/Jga12Im8cvk


Bring a torch, guitar and keyboard
http://youtu.be/gmvqCNvq-fw


RantWoman means to witness upon questions of weighty Friends, overweight Friends, and all of us ministers of God. RantWoman has a sense both of getting repetitive and of not wavering in her Light. Perhaps a few more rays over the horizon will fall afresh on the right words....


Meanwhile, RantWoman is not used to thinking of Bach as "protestant mysticism" but such has spoken the radio:
JS Bach, Pipe Organ, BWV 720, Fantasia in G minor on the theme of Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott
http://youtu.be/-CDZdI0FUnQ



The whole cantata, BWV 80, Ein Fest Burg ist Unser Gott
http://youtu.be/OMcP9Uky-AQ


One more time, different group
http://youtu.be/xG5v-dnat-U

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Go Tell it on the Mountain

RantWoman is feeling an opening in her leading to hold a holiday festival of singing and dancing on her blog. Okay, so RantWoman is opening the floodgates not only to her own prodigious capacity to free-associate, misconstrue, and leap deep chasms of incomprehnsion in a single bound, even worse, God keeps telling her also to open herself to torrents of info through search engines.

Today's theme: Go tell it on the Mountain presented in several versions thinking that different ears need different voices.


A great kids choir; sorry about the annoying ad at teh beginning




Vanessa Williams and God as movements of bodies, not just of the Holy Spirit





Jewel and Toby Keith





A Wikipedia item about a novel by the same name

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Tell_It_on_the_Mountain_(novel) 1953, by James Baldwin



Go Tell it on a Mountain?

Oh, Hell's Bells.

Mr. and Mrs. Friend with a Remarkable Story just want to come to worship like everyone else. RantWoman recognizes that Friend With a Remarkable Story has less control than other people about reasons his life might get publicly commented about. RantWoman is perfectly fine her Meeting sometimes carried along in the wake of that, along with all the other forms of Quaker witness about in her Meeting.

But along comes Friend from a Nearby Meeting going on and on in kind of an inflammatory way about Friend with a Remarkable Story and then censoring the Remarkable Story pieces RantWoman tried to insert into the narrative in the comments, not to mention some other pastoral care of Friends at challenging moments threads RantWoman decided not even to touch yet.

http://quakersusanne.wordpress.com/2012/11/24/another-difficult-topic-sex-offenders-and-quakers/

http://quakersusanne.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/discipline-and-emotions-sex-offenders-and-quakers-part-ii/

http://quakersusanne.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/rules-of-verbal-engagement-sex-offenders-and-quakers-part-iii/

RantWoman has been reading other blog threads and holding Nearby Meeting in the Light for awhile. RantWoman is also more than morbidly curious enough to be interested in details of key moments, but RantWoman feels it's sort of unseemly to pry and is inclined just to have ears open.

And in the meantime, one actual motivator behind this post: in Meeting for Business Friends learned that QUEST, our single-congregation leading to operate an Americorps program will now post the text of our Meeting's bulletin announcement about sex offenders along with the text about our SHARE ministry and something else on its website.

This reflects one Friend's wish that potential program participants who find the topic restimulating might have the option of choosing  other Americorps programs. Computer Hacker Barbie, aka RantWoman, was already tripping over too many words in Business Meeting but when RantWoman first heard of the concern she blurted out something along the lines of "What? like there wouldn't be sex offenders somewhere else. At least here we try to talk appropriately about it!"

Maybe RantWoman will suggest, when a certain yellow sheet gets wordsmithed to everyone's satisfaction that the text on the web also includ a link to the text of the Yellow sheet, but so far all that is available is RantWoman's whacking at a draft.
http://rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com/2012/09/evolution-draftily.html

Go tell it on a Mountain!

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