The Evergreens and the Anchorites
An article by Hollister Knowlton, used by permission.
An article by Hollister Knowlton, used by permission.
When my job was eliminated and I was offered early retirement, it seemed an answer to my prayers. Way had opened for me to devote my life to working for the earth – for calling Friends to live a life of right relationship with all creation – for lifting up the Truth that peace, justice, and ecological sustainability were all one issue, inextricably interconnected.
Without an income, I could no longer afford to keep my house – a 120 old fixer-upper I had been lovingly restoring – but selling it was to provide several other blessings.
First, it enabled me to pay off the mortgage on a small row house down the street and put enough money in the bank to live simply for awhile.
Second, the need for its sale – and the fact that Marcelle had moved into my third floor several years before - led to formation of our extraordinary worship group, the Evergreens, so called because we lived on Evergreen Avenue.
Wanting to stay in her third floor refuge, which had allowed her to follow a leading to write about women and spirituality and to teach part time at Pendle Hill, Marcelle thought of Laura. A fellow Quaker, Laura was just finishing up a year at Pendle Hill, and Marcelle knew she was looking to buy a house.
Laura was drawn to our village community -- our Quaker meetinghouse down the hill and fellow Friends scattered throughout the neighborhood – and bought the house, happy to have Marcelle stay. We were surprised, but intrigued with the idea, when she asked if the Quakers on Evergreen Avenue and beyond met for daily morning worship.
Soon, we were meeting from 8 to 8:30 each morning for silent worship, and sharing our reflections afterwards. Our Catholic neighbor joined us, as did a Methodist, and since I’d moved to a smaller place on the same street, I came too. In time there were about 12 of us meeting regularly for worship and study, mostly Quaker, but greatly enriched by our friends of different faiths.
Over the last five years we have become a blessed community of support and caring for one another. We take turns leading our study together, celebrate birthdays and special occasions, share in the work of one member’s large community garden plot, and provide prayers or clearness for one another as needed. With our “adjunct” members, some who can not join us in the mornings because of full time work, and others who have returned to homes as far away as Wales and India, we number perhaps 25, all connected via an electronic listserv.
As if this loving group were not enough richness, a core group of five “anchorites” has also formed. Originally the spiritual care and support group for Laura’s two year “School of the Spirit” experience, we now serve that role for one another, each of us having received minutes of religious service from our monthly meetings
We hold one another in love. We also hold one another accountable.
Last fall, when I was invited to be a plenary speaker at the 2009 FGC Gathering, and at Illinois and Ohio Valley Yearly Meetings and accidently (it’s a long story) said “yes” to all three, the anchorites were there for me.
They have held me in love, sitting with me as I spoke of my apprehensions, my feelings of inadequacy, my quandary about whether to prepare a written address or to simply prepare spiritually and then speak from the silence. Two of them came to listen to an early initial draft and offer gentle guidance. One morning recently, when I had awakened early and was moved to write, they listened through my tears, crying with me, as I read the first 10 minutes of what seems to be the words I am being given. They have nudged and supported me in a way that has made me enormously cared for. Three of them will be sitting on the stage with me in Virginia this summer. I am blessed, indeed.
