Listening to Wisdom

January 30, 2010 - Posted by tractorgirl

This week has been pretty manic one way or another, but within it all I have had the priviledge to listen to some pretty special people reflect within informal(ish) settings. Of these special people two have stood out; one is internationally well known whilst the other is not, as far as I am aware, known outside their immediate circle.

They both reflected on the past and the present and the place of their faith within that, with clarity and thought. They both had “that thing” going on with them, you know that thing that certain older people have where their faith almost oozes out of their being and their words are almost secondary. Again it highlighted, what I’ve said before, that listening to older people can be an incredibly enriching and priviledged experience.

The two contrasting situations which came almost immeadiately after each other on Thursday evening also showed the way Durham is a very special, yet a very ordinary place. Situation one was a get together of women post-grad Theology students we have every couple of weeks. It’s not a “feminist gathering” in any sense, more of a space for us to chill, chat and support each other in a space where sometimes, as appropriate, we can acknowledge the fact being a women makes a difference occassionally, (eg because of the different commitments we juggle or the way we are sometimes percieved). We also sometimes having visiting speakers in. This week we had the priviledge of having Dr. Geraldine Smyth from the Ecumenics department of Trinity, Dublin sharing with us a little about her life and research.

Afterwards I went to a very ordinary small group at church and listened, during the discussion, to one of the older members sharing their memories and comparing it to now. Both made it a very special evening.

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3 Comments

  1. Anna says:

    Chilling, chatting, supporting and sharing: sounds pretty feminist to me, or at least what feminism should be about :-) Glad that the department has such a space for women students.

    ... on July January 30th, 2010
  2. Ian says:

    Sounds wonderful; and great to hear there was some space to breathe amid the manic mania.

    ... on July January 31st, 2010
  3. Beautiful Dreamer says:

    I would have loved to have been there.

    ... on July February 3rd, 2010