[Green Acre‘s peace flag, Bahai School, Retreat and Conference Center, Eliot, Maine]
“War’s good for business,” a member of my Quaker meeting commented a few years ago. For years, every Sunday, he has taken it upon himself to count how many people have shown up for meeting for worship. So by business, he means—with irony and with deep pacifistic conviction—the headcount of bowed heads during Vietnam or the Gulf War or—so many to chose from!
But, of course, there’a a darker truth to his observation. War is good for business. For the fossil fuel industry. And for companies like Textron, maker of cluster bombs,* and just a few miles away from my Quaker meeting. Once a month for the past five years, a few stalwart souls from my meeting, rain or shine or sleet or hail, worship on the sidewalk in front of Textron. [“Showing Up”] And one Sunday every October, Friends Meeting at Cambridge’s meeting for worship happens at Textron.
So, yes, this October, our country engaged in yet another war, I noticed that more people showed up at Textron to worship knee-to-knee than had attended last year. (My f/Friend noticed too, no doubt!)
For me this year, that outdoor worship—on a crisp fall day with October sun on my face, a nearby tree is full autumn glory, birds singing—was about “I must be about my Father’s business.”
How deeply I felt that call!
*This link is to an appalling article in today’s “New York Times.”
Dear Patricia,
Hello, there, my dearest and precious Christian white sister, Patricia! Wow and wow! Wow, my SIster, wow! What a great and an astute blog post article in which you have so graciously composed, as well as your other very brilliant and inspiring ones! This blog post article is right on and very true and relevant! I have the same observations which you and the gentleman from your meeting have, Sister. I have noticed the same things. My wonderful church here where I live in Iowa City, Iowa, Faith United Church of Christ, is very much like your wonderful Quaker meeting. I notice at Faith that there is a definite increase in attendance and activism when there is more war talk and stuff, and when there is a widely broadcast crisis in the news. Your beautiful and lovely, wonderously marvelous Quaker meeting sounds like there are such a great and spiritually-minded, good Christian people of our Good God. All of you sound so cool and like a good group of magnificent people, Patricia! I can feel the love, concern, prayers, and thoughts coming from you, Patricia, and the fantastic and fabulous others from your dear family and those fantabulous people from your faith-filled Quaker meeting! This means so, so very much to me, and I truly value and appreciate you, my Sister, and all of the others with all of my heart from the deepest depths of my heart from the bottom of my heart! Thank-you!!!!!!
It is so sadly true that war is indeed good business. It seems like such a strange phenomenon that something as evil as war would be good for business, but this is so sadly true and the case. War does indeed help the fossil fuel industry, and Textron in the making of cluster bombs. The spectacular people at your Quaker meeting who courageously go out in rain or shine or sleet and hail to be activists and to protest against heinous and problematic things occurring in our imperfect country, society, and world are just like the spectacular people at my Faith! My dearest and precious white sister, Patricia, we are both so, so very incredibly blessed with our superbly super places of worship! Our Good God is indeed so, so very Good and has very generously and graciously blessed us in this way, and in many other bountiful ways of blessings as well.
I, too, love outdoor worship, and the outdoors in general! At Faith we sometimes have outdoor worship. I, too, love the crisp autumn days and the autumn in its gloriously radiant brilliance of full autumn glory! I pray and wish for always for you, Sister, your dearest husband, the rest of your dearest and darling family, and for all of those special and blessed people at your soulful and astounding Quaker meeting to have a very nice, special, and a blessed Wednesday, and for all of your days to be so especially blessed! For always I keep you, Patricia, and all of the others in my heart and love, and in my daily and frequent prayers and thoughts! For always I keep you, Patricia, and all of the beloved and precious others, covered and uplifted in prayers, and I send positive energy all of your way! Patricia, what a blessing you are indeed, and your great blog post website, and your soul-inspiring, uplifting writings! You provide such an empowering Christian witness to me, Sister, and to your other very grateful and appreciative readers! It is such an immense joy, blessing, and pleasure for me to read your amazing blog post articles, and to respond to them from my very heart, soul, and spirit! It just makes my day even more brighter, Patricia! Please have a very nice, special, and a very blessed Wednesday, my dearest and precious white sister who you are so, so very much as a white anti-racist and ally in solidarity, Patricia!
Very Warmly and Sincerely Always,
Your Christian lesbian black sister in solidarity, Sherry Gordon