Missouri Valley Friends Conference 2004

On Saturday morning, Deborah Fisch, clerk of Iowa Yearly Meeting, spoke to us about transforming our Meetings from a group of like-minded people into a gathered community. Deb spoke from her experiences of having been part of a caring Friends community and seeing a variety of Friends communities in her traveling ministry.

• Deb believes that in order to have a community of caring people, we need to know each other. This cannot be accomplished if we just see each other on First Days. We need to find ways to see each other during the week, in different contexts, so we can get involved with each other.
• A gathered community has a spiritual foundation and yet our fear of offending has made us afraid to share our spiritual journeys with each other. We need to find a way to ask each other about spiritual beliefs, discuss them, aid each other in our paths, no matter how different they may be.
• To become closer to each other and closer as a meeting, we need to recognize each others' gifts. Deb suggested this recognition of gifts as a technique to be used specifically by the nominating committee, waiting in silence for names to rise to the surface and to fill the needs of the meeting. The nominating committee would then approach those selected in a spirit of asking them to consider making that very special contribution. This is different from announcing that there's a slot to fill and begging them to fill it, regardless of suitability. She suggested that a person might be more likely to serve if told that s/he were chosen because of a specific gift.
• Considering ourselves a community needs to be an intentional act. We must not let the world choose our actions for us. She once asked a respected Quaker about what had made Quaker communities of the past so vibrant. The woman answered that Friends back then came to Meeting for Worship expecting to be changed in some way when they met with the Divine. Now many Friends just come to Meeting looking for a quiet time in their schedule. If we come with the intention of being changed, we will be. A gathered meeting will give each one of us more strength to step out into the world...and the world needs Friends now.

There were interest-group sessions in the afternoon. Terry presented a session on “Root Beer, Clouds, and Shakespeare in Love: Everyday Quaker Influences”, a program she had presented at Penn Valley. A session on “Quaker Spiritual Gifts” was presented by Marianne Lockard from Arkansas. This mini-workshop helped us discover our own Quaker gifts based on a list Marianne developed. Margaret spoke about how Friends have often shied away from discussing spiritual gifts for fear it would do damage to the testimony of equality. She reassured us that if we remember that all gifts are equal, recognizing our gifts is essential to building the gathered community Deb envisioned.

Several talented Penn Valley Friends entertained the conference with their gifts at family talent night on Saturday. Rachel did a stand-up comedy routine about current events. Chloe recited some of her poetry, told stories, and played the flute. Matthew and other teens did an amazing chair trick.

Rachel organized the bookstore and the used book/cd sale. She reported that we raised $108 for FCNL in the sale.

The beautiful setting, the wonderful people, and the delicious food were essential to the enjoyment of the conference. Many Friends headed down to the lake for contemplation whenever they got a chance. Susan and Karen took a canoe out and discovered what might have been a giant nest of wasps, that fortunately they did not check out closely. Rose, the cook, inspired us with her warm and delightful spirit and worked enthusiastically to meet everyone’s dietary needs, including making homemade dumplings for a man who couldn’t eat bread. We were blessed by presence of visitors from outside Missouri Valley including Friends from Switzerland, Arkansas, and several foreign exchange students.