Hello Friends!

Greetings from Arlington, VA, where I am staying with some old friends from the Quaker community I grew up in and their sweet 14 month old daughter Rowan.

I just thought I would write a quick note to connect with those of you who might be interested in how my trip is going.

It’s going great! Today is Wednesday – I am halfway through the tour. I’ve got three shows ahead of me and three behind me.

And already I’ve learned so much! As I shared with my support committee in Chapel Hill, this tour is intended not just to spread the word about my music and ministry but also as a growth experience for me as a performer and as a minister. I am deepening my understanding of how to be faithful in the “spotlight,” how to engage an audience and how to feel peaceful in the face of the unexpected.

I was very lucky to begin the tour at my home Meeting of Richmond, VA on Friday night, where a variety of folks came out to support and witness my ministry. There were many seasoned Friends who had seen me grow from a baby to a teenager in the Meeting and we were also blessed with the presence of many friends whose acquaintances I made in those teenage years! Most of those friends are not Quakers but musicians and I was honored to have their attention, their passion and their love (and afterwards, their feedback!) trained on my gifts and plans. Incredibly supportive.

Friends Meeting of Washington on Saturday night offered some challenges, as the Meeting (and the surrounding DC Meetings, who had been invited) had but four members in attendance (two of whom were there to unlock the meetinghouse and help me set up!). About twelve Young Adults showed up in response to personal invitations and the Facebook event and it took me some time to settle in which generation I was speaking to (the two generations have such different ways of taking in art!) or how to split the difference. In the end, I felt like we did find that Spirit place body-whole after a few sputters.

I also want to comment that the FMW Meetinghouse is absolutely gorgeous and peaceful – a surprise in the middle of the busy DC streets – with a wonderful courtyard and a giant Meetinghouse with a sounding board for the facing bench, turning the slightest whisper into a full-room sound. Absolutely beautiful acoustics.

Herndon Meeting on Sunday was also a deep and growing experience – my first opportunity to worship with a body before ministering with them. They have a (lit) fireplace in their Meeting room!

I was impressed with the Spiritual attentiveness and engagement of those members who stayed after Meeting – several times between songs members would speak up and engage me on the topics of ministry, Quakerism and Young Adulthood – a practice which I valued and found myself inviting. I was also blessed with the opportunity to learn how to gear my performance to a new generation (for me) – four year olds! There were several in attendance and though I did not succeed in holding their attention, I was surprised to see some of my songs transform from darker epistles to lighter medleys.

And so I find myself with a breather in the beginning of this week – an aspect of the scheduling which I had previously thought to amount to a small booking failure on my part but is turning out to be a strong point in the itinerary. I have much work to do – planning my spring tour in PYM is no slight task, as it encompasses five times the number of Meetings and four times the timespan of this current tour. And I am feeling very blessed to have had this time to reconnect with old friends in the DC area – rebuilding my center as I prepare for another spate of reaching out.

Thank you, Friends, for your prayers and thoughts as I continue to travel through Baltimore Yearly Meeting.

In Peace
and Gratefulness

Jon Watts