Circle of Friends . . .

"And Ruth the Moabitess 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

Outside Cork Meeting House
Cork, Ireland

We have left Cork and Ireland Yearly Meeting. As expected, time with our Irish Friends there was way to short. We attended the last business session this morning and decided to skip the worship service and lunch with Friends and begin our journey north a bit earlier. Now I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression here, there was a lot of 'worship,' un-programed/silence during the business meeting, and the 6 of us Pilgrims agreed that was enough for us. In doing so, not enough time to say proper good-byes to Friends, but maybe leaving quickly and a bit quietly was best.

Irish Friends are so very, friendly! I felt so very much at home and never felt like an outsider or even a visitor, I truly felt like part of the 'family!' This made leaving this morning even harder.

Outside Cork Meeting House
Cork, Ireland

Ireland Yearly Meeting was a very international Yearly Meeting! Friends attending represented Britain YM, Switzerland YM, Sweden YM, German YM, Netherlands YM, Norway YM, West Scotland YM and the following YM's from the United States - Philadelphia YM, North Carolina YM (Conservative), Illinois YM, Indiana YM & New Association of Friends, and Western YM. Representatives from the Church of Ireland, the Irish Council of Churches, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Roman Catholic Church were also present.

When I wanted to go to a program Thursday night at Cork Meeting House, all I had to do was to ask a Friend how to get there and he didn't just tell me how to get there, he and his wife went out of their way and escorted about 6 of us over to the Meeting House. When the program was over, one of the Friends asked if anyone in the group knew how to get back to Deans Hall (which was the name of the 'flats' we were staying in) and I said that I did . . . and I lead the group back to the flats.

In the cemetery at Cork Meeting House
Cork, Ireland

Ministry this last week has been a two-way street, given and received. The warm welcome and greetings from Friends, the simple directions or escorting to a location, conversations - anytime and anywhere and about all sorts of topics, opening/holding doors, singing (in English and Irish - another posting I expect), warm smiles, words of encouragement and hugs.

I had read that they had a 'Market' where they would have things for sale, to raise funds for mission work, I felt a strong need to contribute some items that I had made to this. So, I took some of my small stitchery items for the Market, 4 folded star hot pads, 2 little gift bags and the last 8 of the luggage tags I had made. When I took them in to the Market, the Friend I spoke to was excited and asked me to make a sign to put with them letting Friends know who had made them, which I did. I saw this Friend several times and each time I did she was excited to shared comments about the items I had donated. I  can tell you that all that I donated was gone . . . none of those items are returning to the States with me. I was blessed by several Friends who came up to me and told me that they had purchased one or more of the items I had made and how much they loved them and how they were going to use them!

Conversation with Friends at
Blarney Castle, Ireland

I also made a small display for Friends Committee on Scouting to take with me to help spread the word among Irish Friends about Friends Committee on Scouting, our new 'Quaker Faith Journey' curriculum for our Scouting and Guiding Friends outside the United States and Canada and the 'Friends Emblem' award for the adults. I was really blessed during several conversations to have made Scouting and Guiding connections - and not just with Irish Friends!

This morning as I sat in the silence at the close of the final business session for Ireland Yearly Meeting these words, from a song titled "Circle of Friends" came into my head: 

"In a circle of Friends, we have one Father.

In a circle of Friends we share this prayer,

that we'll gather together

no matter how the highway bends.

I will not lose this circle of Friends."