Friday, January 30, 2009 by Jay T.

Out in the world at six in the morning, Pita and I find the thuds and clicks of our footsteps soaked up by the condensing vapors.  Condensing on my jacket sleeves, not quite to the point of dripping off.  Last night’s crystal vision is transformed to a morning murk.  Does the world really take form and reality about forty feet in front of us, then melt away as we have moved on?

No souls stir in our neighbors’ streets.  A bike light emerges from the south, passing behind us smoothly as we cross the street.  No porch lights on among the many apartments surrounding the pond.  No nutria or even ducks float on the reflectant surface.  Another, brighter light, this one with squeaky brakes as he makes the turn down to the park.  A runner, striding long marks the last of the silence before the traffic gates somehow seem to fly up.

Soon two trucks, the snow tired news delivery runabout and autos unworth counting are zipping by.   Our heads can duck for now the noisier day begins.  The train across town, highway noise and the hiss of steam escaping with industrial fibers slice their ways into our brains.  Some fog seems to lift.  Sun to be up sooner today than yester, we turn toward home to find breakfast.

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Sunday, January 4, 2009 by Jay T.

I escorted my wife this foggy  Sunday morning on the way to Portland.  She was teaching a fabric art class at A Common Thread.  I was planning to worship somewhere in the Portland area, then attend a threshing session with Multnomah Friends Meeting on the revision of Faith & Practice.

I wasn’t sure where to worship.  When out of town, I often want to try something new.   A Google search for ‘agnus dei Portland’ yielded little.  Somehow, I figured out I wanted Imago Dei Community.  The website told me it met at the wrong times.  I didn’t want to walk in late when I wasn’t sure I would even remain.  [Be patient, this involved story is leading somewhere.]

My best choices seemed to be arriving on time to West Hills Friends, where I had visited twice over the past dozen years, or arriving late at Multnomah.

She drove.  I dozed.   By our arrival at the site of her class, I knew I wanted to arrive on time and stay awake at West Hills.  That felt a better option than arriving late and sleeping in the back of the farther away silent meeting.

Mike’s message at West Hills invited us to live in faith that God will lead us through our lives in this new year–moment  to moment, obviating the need for rules to live by.

During the worship following, I found myself reflecting on discernment.  Patricia Loring has cued me in on the prospects for discovery over a lifetime of a feeling and sensing way of discernment. “Earlier Friends, ” she writes, “often spoke of  ‘feeling after’ Truth…” (Loring, P.  1999. Listening Spirituality:  Corporate Spiritual Practice Among Friends.  Openings Press.  p. 73.)  This is different from the clear life leadings (career, marriage) with which God has shaken me in my boots and brought me to blessings beyond any I could expect.  This is practicing moment-to-moment reliance on the Spirit to help know which street to take or which coat to wear. Read the rest of this entry »

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