![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Sunday gatherings
Aug. 15th, 2005 02:01 pmA day of much sitting and even more driving.
Since leaving the Episcopal church, my husband Dave has been worshipping with the Quakers, as I may have posted earlier. The Santa Cruz meeting is an amazing community, one of the largest in California, and with what I see as solid foundations -- people who have many years of this mindful spiritual path. One ministry struck me particularly this Firstday. After a number of people had risen to speak, one stood quietly for a few moments, then said, quite simply and humbly that the messages had been deeply meaningful to him and that he needed more time in between to contemplate each one. This quality of deep listening, of honoring silence, is rare and precious.
Home, lunch, change clothes...
Off to the combined birthday parties of my cousin Trude (80) and her daughter Lee (50). It was Trude's father who found my own father and his brother, orphans in war- and chaos-ridden Ukraine, and arranged for them to immigrate to the US. I can't remember a time when Trude and her husband Ben were not part of my life. There are not too many people who have known me that long, and this family is not only "family" but wonderful, thoughtful people full of stimulating ideas and shared social justice values. My sister, who I hadn't seen since the wedding almost 2 years ago, and her partner came down from Mendocino. We sat together, and it was one of those events where I wish I could be 10 people so I could talk to everyone.
Since leaving the Episcopal church, my husband Dave has been worshipping with the Quakers, as I may have posted earlier. The Santa Cruz meeting is an amazing community, one of the largest in California, and with what I see as solid foundations -- people who have many years of this mindful spiritual path. One ministry struck me particularly this Firstday. After a number of people had risen to speak, one stood quietly for a few moments, then said, quite simply and humbly that the messages had been deeply meaningful to him and that he needed more time in between to contemplate each one. This quality of deep listening, of honoring silence, is rare and precious.
Home, lunch, change clothes...
Off to the combined birthday parties of my cousin Trude (80) and her daughter Lee (50). It was Trude's father who found my own father and his brother, orphans in war- and chaos-ridden Ukraine, and arranged for them to immigrate to the US. I can't remember a time when Trude and her husband Ben were not part of my life. There are not too many people who have known me that long, and this family is not only "family" but wonderful, thoughtful people full of stimulating ideas and shared social justice values. My sister, who I hadn't seen since the wedding almost 2 years ago, and her partner came down from Mendocino. We sat together, and it was one of those events where I wish I could be 10 people so I could talk to everyone.
