Hartford.

In our Society visiting is a ministry in which many should share. It should not be restricted to any official body in the meeting. It cannot be neglected if inner fellowship is to flourish. Any group within the Society of Friends who have ever tried to establish a new meeting or to revive a dying one know that the first essential is to visit, and the second essential is to visit, and the third essential is to continue visiting. These visits help to draw the meeting for worship into a basic fellowship that can yield to the Spirit. If the members of the meeting know of difficulties that one or another in their midst may be facing, they can literally draw on the bank of God's healing power for that member.
Douglas V. Steere

I have been hesitant to post about Hartford, only because I'm still struggling to find the words to describe the experience.....

Hartford was an extended meeting for worship last week - it came out of a session mid-year in Maine, which apparently left many thirsting for a deeper connection, more silence, more Presence, more of anything other than what they apparently got. I was not at that session, so I cannot comment on it - but I felt a deep calling to attend this one.

Perhaps I was free to observe and to be silent, since I was not there as a reaction to anything else. Perhaps the others in attendance that day also were committed to a meaningful experience. Whatever the causes, we all found ourselves in a gathered meeting, a deep experience, and I look forward to experiencing this again.