We held our final Local Arrangements Committee before the Triennial on Saturday last in Dublin - the morning at our Yearly Meeting HQ (Quaker House, Stocking Lane) and the afternoon at King's Hospital, wherea very lively sports camp was taking place. It finishes up the day before the Triennial starts, making for a quick turnover for school staff before the Quakers arrive.
It's hard to believe our gathering is so soon. After five years of planning and meetings, we were getting down to the nitty gritty with just three weeks to go...
On our agenda were lots of last minute decisions, plus a run-through of the week to see what we had forgotten. From informing kitchen staff exact numbers of meals to coordinating meeting flights at the airport and getting everyone safely to KH, thinking about how we organise 314 Friends each onto the right bus for Wednesday's excursions to providing towels and padlocks for everyone, there was lots to check. My mind was spinning, but I don't know if that was the mind-boggling scale of the task or too much coffee after my stupidly early start to get to Dublin for the meeting!
It was good to see King's Hospital again and visualise where everything will be - from registration on the first day, to where all our workers will be, the book shop, the craft display, section meetings and worship sharing groups... We toured the school again to help us get our bearings - from the swimming pool to the classrooms. Looking at the empty school auditorium with its tiered aquamarine seats, I imagined that soon it will be full of Friends from all over the world (hopefully with all the right sound, translation and audio visual equipment in place) - it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
My specific job is part of the team co-ordinating the information office, along with plenty of willing volunteers from among the Triennial participants. It's a bit of guessing game trying to imagine everyone's questions and needs and how we can best answer them.
We were delighted to hear good news about the visa applications, after much toil, persuasion and prayer on behalf of local Friends and World Office staff and volunteers. Some more queries to be checked and dealt with, but things were looking positive on the whole.
It's now less than three weeks to go, and I think we all left the meeting with lengthy final checklists to make sure everything is in place in time. I am looking forward to meeting you all on 11 August! I'll probably be around for registration along with Janet, Charles, Felicity and others. Praying for smooth and safe journeys for everyone.
Chris McCartney
Monday, 23 July 2007
Saturday, 14 July 2007
Some Thoughts from an "Isolated Friend"
Is WOMAN the ultimate symbol for sin? Is that the reason that I felt rather uncomfortable upon reading the suggestion to prepare for the Triennial
by referring to 1 Corinithians 14?
On Friday the 13th of July I decided to follow up my feeling of discomfort and read the whole of Cor. 14. Lo and behold, verses 34 and 35 read as
follows - at least in the old King James version that I like..
34. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak: ..
35. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
I am all for prophecy but not necessarily happy about having Paul as a role-model!
On the other hand I found the Study Booklet contributions from Julia Ryberg ("on fire") and from Elizabeth Duke (repent, reconcile, renew) not only inspiring but also very useful in respect of giving a possible direction to my thoughts regarding how to deal with the question of "What can I, a Quaker from Wales, possibly say, prophetic or otherwise, to all those people in Eastern Europe who were either Oppressors or Oppressed for half a century but who now have to live together?"
Having myself lived and worked in Germany for 25 years, I know some of the difficulties involved, particularly in the realms of sorrow and repentance regarding both the Nazi as well as the Communist regimes.
Bryn Jones
International Meeting Friend
www.QinBG.org
by referring to 1 Corinithians 14?
On Friday the 13th of July I decided to follow up my feeling of discomfort and read the whole of Cor. 14. Lo and behold, verses 34 and 35 read as
follows - at least in the old King James version that I like..
34. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak: ..
35. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
I am all for prophecy but not necessarily happy about having Paul as a role-model!
On the other hand I found the Study Booklet contributions from Julia Ryberg ("on fire") and from Elizabeth Duke (repent, reconcile, renew) not only inspiring but also very useful in respect of giving a possible direction to my thoughts regarding how to deal with the question of "What can I, a Quaker from Wales, possibly say, prophetic or otherwise, to all those people in Eastern Europe who were either Oppressors or Oppressed for half a century but who now have to live together?"
Having myself lived and worked in Germany for 25 years, I know some of the difficulties involved, particularly in the realms of sorrow and repentance regarding both the Nazi as well as the Communist regimes.
Bryn Jones
International Meeting Friend
www.QinBG.org
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