What does it mean to be “centered in Love?” What do you need? What do you need from us? What do others need? What do they need from us? What do you do that could be called Love? What makes that “Love”? When do you experience Love? When have you felt loved by this community?

Queries:

Do you have a place where you feel closer to God, a thin place? What’s it like for you there?

What does it mean to honor the sacredness and utilize the power of our bodies?

How do you practice simplicity in your life? What difference does this practice make?

How can I honor the sacredness of the elements–Earth, air, fire, water?

How can we participate in God’s work of “setting everything right on Earth”?

Queries:

Where are the real demons in our world? What can be done about them?

Where is a perspective shift needed in our understanding of what others are facing?

What kind of pressure are people under? What kind of pressure am I under?

How has listening to another person’s story made a difference–in my life or in theirs?

Dor Deasy has been attending Camas Friends Church since 2018. She is currently the Clerk of the Business Meeting for Worship and a liaison to the Elders. She describes herself as having the mind of an analyst, the heart of an explorer and the soul of a poet. Dor’s tap roots are her husband Jim, theologian John Dominic Crossan, and her relationship with God.

On paper, she has an undergraduate degree in industrial/Organizational Psychology and a Masters of Applied Theology. She spent many years working as a Design Researcher studying human experiences and using such techniques as observation, ethnography (following people around and talking with them in their own settings and cultures), group facilitation and depth interviewing.

Her studies included “the meaning of beauty”, “the meaning of dinner”, the “meaning of Teams”, “what if conference rooms had not been invented?” and “the future of transportation.” She currently works as a Chaplain for PeaceHealth. Until February, her focus was acute care (working in the hospital attending to the spiritual distress of emergent and critical care situations). Since February, she has been working in Hospice with a focus on palliative care and the end of life journey.

Dor believes the important parts of our experiences (kindness, self-awareness, empathy, Grace, Forgiveness) are both gifts and skills. Once we have received them as a gift, we are responsible for developing them as skills. She is “a piece of work” and a work in progress.

Romans 12:9-21 (NRSV):

9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 Instead, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Queries:

What opens up for me if I affirm an “Advocate within”?

What is that Advocate saying to me, today?

How can I be a loving advocate for others?

What would ease my troubled heart? What would bring a sense of peace?

What are we doing here, really?