Battle Update On A High Note

Meeting for Worship, Fourth Month, 3, Year of our Lord 2016. 

I sat at the library table with a worn Journal of George Fox, a That Thy Candles May Always Be Burning, and a worn Good News Bible to read as my preparation for Worship. Sitting at the table one looks into the Meeting room proper.

Usually when I finish my reading I quietly join the others in worship, but this morning was different. A man and his teenage daughter came into the library. He sat in the chair to my left and she cuddled in the corner recliner. I didn't know what to make of it. No one had done that before and I didn't know either one. I leaned over and whispered my name; he reciprocated. I stayed at the table rather than leave to join the others.

He was writing on sheaves of paper. I began worship. His writing was noiseless but I was aware of his movement. It didn't matter because my mind was in a swirl. Was there something I should be doing to welcome him?

Thankfully, the Lord calmed me and as always, different thoughts came into my head. I thought of yesterday's tele-Meeting for Worship with Ellis and how the Lord had blessed us in that Meeting. There were other thoughts, too, and a whispered prayer that Jesus's spirit be in me and over the Meeting. 

After while I felt a beautiful peace settle over the Meeting. It reminded me of the scene from the movie Risen in which the protagonist, Clavius, had followed the disciples to Galilee where they were to meet Jesus. After meeting Jesus and supping with Him they all lay down to sleep. Clavius woke in the night to see Jesus sitting atop a bolder. He went to him. Their conversation was sparse but Jesus repeated a desire Clavius had told to Pilate in the bathhouse early in the movie. A visible change came over Clavius (this movie was so well done) as he realized Jesus was Messiah. After that opening he lay back on the bolder and fell asleep beside Jesus. I can't express the emotional impact of that scene except to say it manifested a longing Christians sometimes have to be with Jesus.

Then near the close of Meeting when the general question was asked if there is a joy, sorrow, or concern, I realized my joy. Worship this morning was as if all of Meeting were sitting at the side Jesus. 

Turns out the man sitting next to me was not new to the Meeting. But he was sympathetic to this Christian Quaker. In fact he showed me his thick, note-laden Bible. I don't know what to think of all this.