Dear Friends:
This report on our prayer vigil on July 18 comes to you delayed because of our participation in the residential session of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting near Allentown. It also comes seasoned, however, by this participation. I, Jorge, having been asked to share my experience of faith community, was confronted by the awareness of my sins against my community of faith and the need to confess them. Throughout our PYM residential sessions I have experienced the Spirit calling me into humbleness.
I will be the dust in the path
Under your feet I will be
Low and below
Rising only at the strike of steps
Or the blow of the wind
Washing away with the rain...Reaching out to others with a public witness of peace exposes us to their (and your) challenge about the authenticity of our action. At the July 18th vigil, a young man came to ask us for some directions and help. As he walked away, he said, "If I offered you money you would be glad to take it. Yours is all false advertisement!" Worried that something had gone wrong in our communication, one of us went after him. He had been stranded in Philadelphia for three days. For three days he had approached churches asking for help to secure hospitality and food, and had failed to receive any. He was tired and hungry. He had not meant to be rude, he told us later, he just felt that we had been as insensitive to his plight as others had been. Later on, as he shared his troubled journey, he told us, apologetically, how his patience had been worn by responses like, "Sorry, there is nobody here to help you," or "The pastor is not here," "We used to give this kind of assistance before, but we don't anymore," "Your boots certainly look expensive..." He shared his painful skepticism towards religious people.
For some of us, although he had not been a formal part of our prayer vigil, he was still the precious conduit of divine discipline in our midst. This is what meeting for worship is, after all: a space for God's teaching to come to us. We have also experienced this in our Yearly Meeting sessions: the presence of the Spirit calling us to truthfulness in our testimony, purifying our hearts and minds.
Thank you, Friends, for participating in this ongoing process of finding the Light and sharing it, as you challenge us with questions and exhortations. Thank you also for the encouragement you have given us, especially during personal encounters at this Yearly Meeting sessions.
Love,
Jorge and Marcelle
Further encounters with Jim ...
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE
Independence Mall Vigil for PeacePlease join us at our weekly prayer vigils for peace in the world, held in front of the Liberty Bell on Market St. between 5th and 6th, every Sunday from 4 to 5 PM. For more information, contact cityquake@aol.com.
In our reports, participants share their experiences of the prayer vigils and explore beliefs related to their participation. Reports reflect the experience of each author and do not necessarily represent the beliefs or practice of all vigil participants. We welcome your responses, which are forwarded to the individual authors (when possible). We sometimes include part of a response in a future report, unless you ask us not to.
It is meaningful to us that you share in the vigils by reading these reports and in other ways, such as joining us in prayer.
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM