Bat Ministry . . .

'And Ruth the Mobitess said unto Naomi,
Let me now go to the field,
and glean ears of corn after him
in whose sight I shall find grace. 
And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.'

Ruth 2:2  KJV

Last Thursday evening I found my way to Cork Meeting House, thanks to my flat mates - Charles B Lamb and his wife. I went for what was listed as a 'Bat Walk from Cork Meeting House' with 23 other Friends, mostly Young Adult Friends, and Erik a visiting Friend from the Netherlands - whom I had sat with and got to know a bit at supper. Conor Kelleher lead this 'hike.'

Now, we didn't exactly go on what I would call a hike, rather we walked around behind the Meeting House and through the grave yard and into what I've been told is the old grave yard, pre-marker area. Conor talked to us for over an hour about bats - different kinds of bats, their eating, sleeping reproductive habits and such. Very interesting to hear and experience.

Conor had a small electronic devise in his hand that would go off when the bats would fly overhead - amazing that he could tell by the number that was displayed on the screen exactly what kind of bat it was! 

We were entertained by a pair of bats, possibly mother and child, with their acrobatics show over our heads.

After about an hour or so on bat watch and listening to Conor speaking the whole time, we heading out of the grave yard and made our way around to the front of the Meeting House where Conor showed us about 6 different 'mummified' bats! Rather interesting.

When we were ready to head back to our flats at Deans Hall, someone asked if anyone knew the way. I was feeling confident, so I volunteered to lead the way. And yes, we made it back, no problem.

So, yes, as crazy as it may seem there was a bit of 'bat ministry' behind the Cork Meeting House during Ireland Yearly Meeting. The sharing of ones gifts with others, no matter the gift is an amazing ministry . . . for me this was a continuation of the sharing of gifts that we had during Western Yearly Meeting sessions the week before.

As far apart as we may be in physical distance and as different as we may be or seem to be in our Quaker practices, we are all Friends, and we all have our God given gifts that we so freely share with those around us. I've heard it said that we're all called to be ministers and it's amazing to experience the different ways Friends find to minister to each other . . . the diversity in our ways of ministry is so wonderful.

What a blessing!