Tuesday, August 30, 2011 by Jay T.

I was cycling my way to meeting on a recent Sunday and passing cars honked at me.

But it’s not that simple.  You see, I was in Seattle, or rather its northern suburbs.  I’m not familiar with them.  I’m not a city boy, nor a suburbanite.  For the past week or more, I had eagerly planned this bike ride of about two hours.  It included three sections.  First, some hilly residential way-finding along twisty roads.  Then a middle section along several miles of the extensive Burke-Gilman lakefront trail, which Seattle has only recently converted from an old rail line.  The journey would finish (I hoped.) through an urban residential and commercial area leading to the Central Area Senior Center where South Seattle Friends meet.

I had loaded my bike on the rack for a six hour car journey, unloaded it that morning at the hotel in Lynnwood, and fueled up on the hotel’s breakfast.  I was set with a Google maps route especially plotted for a bicycle.  Somehow the Seattle bike map hadn’t been at the hotel waiting for me, although I had requested online that one be sent.  Seemed like a small problem.  Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Flexing some forms, Physical activity, Journal | 1 Comment »

Sunday, April 4, 2010 by Jay T.

The meeting room for Corvallis Friends looked a bit different this morning.   Big sheets of newsprint were spread around the floor.  All who came were invited to lie down and be traced around, yielding a body outline.

A special invitation had been issued to children, letting them know that worship would be designed to include them.  A few adults, seeking a quieter space on this Easter Sunday, chose to absent themselves.  Some probably chose to join the early walk and outdoor worship, which gathered at 6:20 am in a local park.

After many body outlines had been traced and some posted on the walls, I explained that the markers, yarn, ribbon, flowers and glue could be used at any point during worship to add to the image of one’s body.  I asked Friends to notice how the feelings within and recognize them.  I explained that George Fox had written about this process many years ago and that contemporary Friends, some of them in our meeting, were rediscovering the ways our Teacher is present in our hearts and bodies.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Flexing some forms, Physical activity | 1 Comment »