From the November 2025 New England Yearly Meeting newsletter: Since a seminal spiritual experience when I was 17, I have felt God’s love over me as a cloud of love. This cloud has been hovering, leading, following and protecting even when I forget it’s there. And sometimes love breaks through in the words of others I meet or in raindrops. As I grieve and fret about the pain I see in the world, I think about the words I heard from Steve Chase at a Quaker Gathering in 2011: Build Community, Have Fun, Take Action and Do it Now.  Another person who offers me wisdom and hope is a Penobscot leader and activist, Sherri Mitchell. I heard her speak right after the election about feeling hope that we’ll finally realize that building community is paramount to saving the earth and each other.Last April she invited anyone who desired to join her, to a ”Walk for Peace and Friendship.” Many people joined the 10-day walk from Indian Island to Augusta, Maine, praying with our feet and sending love and peace into the world. During the 7 miles on Saturday, we walked through a steady rain. It was a blessed experience as I walked in the rain, the falling drops from the clouds above both washed and filled me with love. A few weeks ago on a sunny, blue sky fall day, I went to the top of the Penobscot Narrows Observatory for the spectacular 360-degree views of the sparkling Penobscot River and backdrop of extraordinary foliage. This river is home to Sherri and her community. I was reminded again of her words about water and struggles of the Penobscot people to save their ancestor, the river.From the November 2025 New England Yearly Meeting Newsletter  Two weeks ago, I attended a very beautiful, fun and meaningful concert titled “We Are Water.” The blend of Indigenous music, stories, puppets, and wisdom, against the backdrop of photos and videos of the Penobscot River and other bodies of water was powerful. The loving collaboration, humor, integrity, and creativity among the Indigenous artists and YoYo Ma was a joy to witness. The audience was challenged to take the joy, beauty and love we witnessed and let it ripple out like a pebble dropped into water. What is the role of water in your life? What pebbles can you drop to ripple out to our broken world? With gratitude for the many circles of community in my life and God’s faithful cloud of love, Wendy Schlotterbeck |
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