FROM THE MAY EDITION OF THE WHITEWATER FRIEND
Contributed by Doug Gwyn - Pastor

FROM VISIONING TO VISION

I have now met with all ten visioning groups. Phew!! It has been a good exercise in prayerful listening, careful note-taking, and now sifting through the pages of notes. At the beginning of this process, I observed in meeting for worship that, in the animal world, there are two main kinds of vision: the vision of a fruit-fly, with many hundreds of little lenses that point in all directions. The fruit-fly assembles a panoramic -- but not very focused -- image of the world around itself from these hundreds of little images. Then there is the single-lens eye that vertibrates (also squids and octopi!) share. It focuses more narrowly but gives a more coherent single image of what's going on out there.

Well, I think at the moment of this writing, we still have the vision of a fruit-fly! The vision may not be coherent yet, but it is panoramic, with many different views in many different directions. There are several points in common among the groups, how they view the 'sacred center' of First Friends' spiritual life, who they believe God may be calling us to be in the years ahead, etc. But they still need focusing.

So our next step will be the Forum session this Sunday, April 25, at 11:00 in the meeting room, after our fellowship time. Please come and take part in this time to reflect and focus the various points of light we have shared among us in recent weeks. I appreciate the input of all those who have taken part in the vision groups. But this next step will be important if all those meetings are going to be fruitful. See you there!