Days 2 and 3

I was going to post last night, but got in way too late.
Day 2 was the first day of business meetings. I appreciated the time to worship that was included. There was a bit of a Taize element to it, which I am not entirely in to, but it was deal able with. We had some visitors from Canada Yearly Meeting, Philly Yearly Meeting, Pacific Yearly Meeting and the Friends World Committee on Consultation. I was pretty happy to see visitors from Unprogrammed Friends, it is good that we rebuild some of the relationships that have for whatever reason lapsed. After the introductions we spent some time centering using a combination of silence, music, and readings. Personally, I have been so opened to silence recently that I would have actually preferred an absence of the music and readings. It is amazing how much I have grown in this area.
In the meeting we talked about about the incredibly dull yet important budget and the new staffing ideas for better focus on our leadings in ministry.
What was really exciting and took place over the rest of the day's session and most of the following, were presentations by the new boards about their ministry plans and priorities. It was good to see some excitement being raised about doing work and an eagerness to go try the plans out.
I attended a couple of workshops in the afternoon on Monday, one about using RSS feeds, and another to meet and hear from the Board of Local Outreach, It combines parts of the old Boards of Evangalism and the Board of Peace and Social concerns) the idea behind these Boards being combined is that we need to minister to both the spiritual and temporal, and that the one cannot be healthily divorced from the other.
On Tuesday afternoon, I met with Colin Saxton, our Yearly Meeting Superintendent, to talk about how I was doing in my pastorship and how I was holding up. We had a great conversation that helped me clarify my sense of call. I also met with the Board of Leadership Development about my Recording Process. I came into the meeting a bit frustrated with the process, and I think the meeting started out a bit on the wrong foot. I kind of feel sorry for the Board as they are having to reinvent the process a bit. I think that we ended the time well, with a greater understanding of the process. I am still dealing with residual frustration from the past communication issues, but that is normal, frustrations take time to work themselves out and I am looking forward to partnering with the new board as we move forward with what I hope will be a nurturing and learning time for us. I genuinely see that the folks I met with want to equip me to the best of their ability to lead a church after the manner of Friends.
So if any of you read this, know that while I may be a little frustrated with the process, I do see and appreciate the effort that you are putting in to help all of us in the recording process grow.
The business meetings have been an awesome view into the way God can work through his people when their minds and hearts are open to him.