Aj Schwanz

It’s afternoon-time:¬† my little Mover & Shaker is down for a nap, and while I’d like to avoid working on my Yearly Meeting workshops by reading a Fluff Book or watching the E! True Hollywood Story on Desperate Housewives, I couldn’t handle the restless tension anymore - must. sit. think. write. prepare.¬† (underlying motivation:¬† must. not. look. like. boob. when. facilitating. workshop.).

And while I feel somewhat saturated with thoughts and experiences, of both mine and others, the white canvas of NeoOffice seemed very threatening and overwhelming.¬† Sometimes I just need a little distraction, so while compiling notecards (just like my 11A teacher taught me to do when working on a project:¬† she’d be so proud:¬† I’m such an English geek), I listened to an Emergent podcast of Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt (who has a few blogs:¬† what is it my dad says?¬† Gross excess is only half enough?¬† ) sitting at Chipotle talking about Emergent ’stuff’.¬† I’m not so surprised about the location:¬† I mean, how can one talk about our response to God’s callings in present day culture without a quality amount of guac present?¬†
At two points Tony and Doug talk about their experience as authors:¬† as folks receive the writings, many have looked beyond the words to the authors, somewhat ‘dehumanizing’ them to be a concept or an idea rather than a person.¬† It reminded me of my weekend.

This weekend I had the chance to meet some a) fellow Quakers and 2) fellow bloggers.¬† A little over a year ago I began a ‘real blog’ - a place to share non-Mama thoughts (or at least not go into the graphic details of how much my infant son yarfed that day) and to connect with other Quakers.¬† And honestly, at that time, I was thinking solely of Christ-centered, evangelical Quakers:¬† you know, people just like me!

And I did connect with people like me, but they didn’t look how I expected.¬† In fact, the folks I’ve engaged in the best discussions with on how to respond to the calling of the Spirit have been folks coming from non-evangelical Quaker backgrounds.¬† It’s so easy to group people:¬† folks from FGC are like this, folks from EFI are like this.¬† And yet, that’s so truly dehumanizing.¬† Only when we come into true relationship and conversation with each other can we see each other as God intended:¬† God’s blessed creations.

So thanks, convergent f/Friends for sharing of yourselves.¬† I’m so glad to have met *you*:¬† not an idea or a thought or a generalization of you, but the real you.¬† Blessings to you all in the continued journey.

Ps.¬† Gregg, while you blogged your picture sooner than I did, Jason had this one up on Flickr that evening.¬† I think I win:¬† you decide the prize (one year without being called out during service?¬† A Judah-free night?¬† Sugar-free Moose Tracks ice cream?¬† All-expenses paid trip to the next ETC?¬† I’m easy).¬†