Tidings from Friends
The Weekly Newsletter of Guilford College Friends Center
Welcome to Tidings from Friends, the weekly newsletter published by Guilford College’s Friends Center. In this time where we are more disconnected than usual and trying to find ways to connect and support the campus, we offer this as a means of lifting up our campus community with a brief thought and other reflective pieces for you.
Each week this newsletter will contain a list of upcoming events, a selection of local and/or student artwork or poetry, some resources for navigating religious life on campus, and a “mindful moment.” This mindful moment might be a passage of scripture, a written meditation, a link to a video, or something else. If you are interested in submitting artwork, poetry, or a mindful moment, please contact perkinsja1@guilford.edu.
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Artwork

Mindful Moment
The Practice
“The Hospitality of Discomfort”
Seth Godin
- My Colleague Marie Schacht differentiates between hospitality (welcoming people, seeing them, understanding what they need) and comfort (which involves reassurance, soft edges, and an elimination of tension).
- Art doesn’t seek to create comfort. It creates change.And change requires tension.
- The same is true for learning. True learning (as opposed to education) is a voluntary experience that requires tension and discomfort (the persistent feeling of incompetence as we get better at a skill).
- The practice, then, is to not only cause temporary discomfort for those whom you lead, serve, and teach, but to embrace your own discomfort as you venture into territories unknown. Artists actively work to create a sense of discomfort in their audience. Discomfort engages people, keeps them on their toes, makes them curious. Discomfort is the feeling we all get just before change happens. But this new form of hospitality – of helping people change by taking them somewhere new – can make us personally uncomfortable as well. It might feel easier to simply ask people what they want and do that instead.
- Choosing to offer only comfort undermines the work of the artist and the leader. Ultimately, it creates less impact and less hospitality as well.
- Your discomfort is no excuse for being inhospitable. Our practice is to bring a practical empathy to the work, to realize that in our journey to create change, we’re also creating discomfort.
- For our audience. For ourselves.
- And that’s okay.
This Mindful Moment provided by: Wess Daniels.
Upcoming Events
Day | Date | Time | Event | Organization |
---|---|---|---|---|
Wednesday | 1.20.2021 | 8:30 AM | Meeting for Centering Silence (staff/faculty focus) | Friends Center |
Wednesday | 1.20.2021 | 7:24 PM | GCM Weekly Fellowship | Guilford Christian Ministry |
Friday | 1.22.2021 | 1:00 PM | Meeting for Centering Silence (open to all) | Friends Center |
Saturday | 1.23.2021 | 7:00 PM | Triad Hillel Havdalah | Chavurah/Hillel |
Monday | 1.25.2021 | 1:00 PM | Meeting for Centering Silence (student focus) | Friends Center |
Wednesday | 1.27.2021 | 8:30 AM | Meeting for Centering Silence (staff/faculty focus) | Friends Center |
Wednesday | 1.27.2021 | 1:00 – 2:00 PM | Connecting Conversations: Judson Van Wyk | Friends Center |
Wednesday | 1.27.2021 | 6:00 PM | Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Link coming soon) | Guilford College, UNCG, A&T, & International Civil Rights Museum |
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Opportunity that may interest some students:
New Garden Friends Meeting is searching for a Young Friends leader for the 2020-2021 academic year. This position is for a leader who will work with both Middle School and High School students. The leader will collaborate with another Young Friends leader as well as the New Garden Friends Meeting Religious Education Coordinator. At present, all programming is virtual due to the pandemic but will transition to in-person activities when conditions allow. Applicants should have a background in Quakerism and experience working with pre-teens and teenagers.
To apply, please send a letter of interest and a resume to Sharon Burton at (office@ngfm.org).



More info and application here: nchillel.org/jlf
Please reach out to Vicki Cathcart, Director of Jewish Student Life, vcathcart@guilford.edu if you have any questions.


Resources
To find information about the Interfaith Leadership Council, faith leaders who work with students on campus, or to see a full calendar of all campus faith-related events, visit our Multifaith page.
The Friends Center Prayer Room is available to students of all faiths and spiritual journeys. Ideal for prayer, meditation, or reflection, we encourage folks to make use of this space. See our flyer for more information.
To contact Friends Center Director, email danielscw@guilford.edu.
For a variety of self-care resources, visit our Self-Care page.
To provide feedback or suggestions, submissions for artwork or Mindful Moments, or questions about this newsletter, contact perkinsja1@guilford.edu.
About Friends Center:
Friends Center is a collaborative project between the Religious Society of Friends and Guilford College. Friends Center is responsible for nurturing Quaker life and renewal on campus, building and sustaining interfaith cooperation on campus, and building relationships with the global Quaker community. To read more about Friends Center, visit the homepage of our website.