Gathering In Light

sermons

Thieves, Bandits, Good Shepherds, and Church Forests

2025-05-12 - A message for First Friends Meeting in Greensboro, NC The text for the week (Although, I really drew on 10:1-18): “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own

Featured Featured

Where do we go from here?

2025-04-05 Presented during the 400th Anniversary Review of Fox's birthday Context: I was asked to offer a playful, imaginative presentation as a last thought for our day long conference looking at George Fox's 400th birthday (last year) and what was learned from those events and where

Events

George Fox at 400 Conference

For the Quakers reading this blog and those interested in Quaker studies, this Saturday (Saturday 5 April 2025 - 13:30-21:00 (UK time)) there's a really great online mini-conference put on by Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre looking at the Quaker tradition at Fox's 400th birthday

A Shot of Light - Live from (a Cactus) in Arizona

True love is not magic, It is certainty, And what follows from certainty is  Mystery. -Bill Callahan Hi Friends, I am here in Phoenix, AZ for the week working with 8 Quaker meetings from El Salvador, Peru, Jamaica, and the United States for a program I helped create called Quaker

Looking Back on 2024

Happy New Year to you all. I mean that even if we don't all feel it at the moment. Things are getting ugly since the presidental transition has taken place. Anxieties are up among a lot of my people and I'm not quite sure what to

annual review

A Few Questions and Activities for Reflection As We Enter a New Year

I had the opportunity to meet with some staff at the college this morning as we prepare for a new year with many uncertainties. Instead of trying to figure out or guess what is unknown, we focused on what from last year that we want to try and bring forward

Sermon

On Choosing the Golden Calf or the Lamb

“When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do

Sermon

What is Our Path Forward?

A Message for Deep River Friends in the Occasion of their “Founders Day Celebration” and honoring their 270th year as a meeting. November 10, 2024 In John 15 Jesus says: John 15:12   “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one

The Quaker World Now in Paperback

Rhiannon Grant and I co-edited the book, The Quaker World published by Routledge in 2022 and it is now ou in paperback at a much cheaper price. The challenge of the original hardback was cost. At $200, it was not accessible. Rhiannon and I didn't choose the price

FAQQ

The Practice of Using Quaker Silence in Educational Settings

This is something I wrote at the prompting of a colleague at Guilford College who wanted to know more about Quaker silence and our use of it on campus. Filed under "Frequently asked Quaker Questions." Dear friend, Quakers practice a listening silence when they gather for worship as

Influncers & Influences

My wife, Emily, recently asked me about my influences and it has me thinking about the spiritual significance and difference between being an influencer versus someone who is an influence. She asked the question, “Besides members of your family (because a typical response to this question often involves parents and/

Biography as Theology

Testaments: Theological Explorations as Self-Portrait

Dated: 2024-04-30 This is the theological reflection I wrote for the recording process I underwent earlier this year. It is a 26-page reflection inspired by McClendon's concept of "biography as theology." It takes the reader through my early spiritual formation to my becoming a Quaker minister

Quaker Tradition Featured

On Being Recorded

It finally happened! I was recorded as a Quaker minister on May 19, 2024 at First Friends Meeting in Greensboro, NC. It was a true gift of affirmation and something I'd hoped would happen for a very long time. To be recorded in the Quaker tradition, is our

newsletter

A Shot of Light From Wess

Hey Friends, I hope that you are well and that the beauty of spring is upon you. Spring in Greensboro is about as glorious as it gets and I love it. The birdsong is in full harmony, the blooming flowers paint our neighborhoods with color, and I am enjoying late

music Featured

If You're Not Busy Being Born - Creating A Playlist of "Hymns" for Today

What is the role that music plays in the formation of our spiritual lives? Wess tells a little of his story of music and how it has shaped his life.

Featured Featured

Silence can save us

If liturgies of empire lull us to sleep, silence is a practice of resistance that can wake us up. It can wake us up to the pain and suffering of our neighbors. Wake us up to our own pain, our own inaction, our bitterness, or call to act.

Featured

Building a Writing Studio

About two years ago, I moved out of my home office and handed it over to our oldest daughter so she could have her own room. Up to this point, the three kids shared rooms in all of the houses we’ve lived in. But in 2021, we moved into

Blog Entries

Looking for Privacy Focused Blogging Platforms

My beloved WordPress is becoming more and more corporate and finding more and more ways to tie data-tracking and AI into their product. I’ve used the self-hosted WordPress install for most of my blog’s existence, but even this version of the platform is showing signs of data-mining, namely

Blog Entries

On The Rebound

My son has recently gotten interested in basketball. This has had an unintended consequence. Up until now, he has not showed much interest in it but his friends at his new school invited him to join the 5-6th grade basketball team. One weekday evening in early February he let Emily

Biking

Riding Uhwarrie National Forest

About 50 miles south of where we live is the Uhwarrie National Forest 51,000+ acres lying just West of Badin Lake. I have been down to Uhwarrie a couple times, once of my motorcycle, and once with the family for hiking. As I’ve been getting more into cycling,

Featured

An Update & Next Steps

Dear Friends, I wanted to offer a little update since you haven’t heard from me in awhile. I am doing well and enjoying my sabbatical (read more about that below). What I wanted to let you all know is I am moving towards publishing solely from my blog: gatheringinlight.

Bag of Tricks

Q&A: A Quaker Perspective about the Issues of Empire and the US

I received a question of email recently that prompted me to put together a response here: “I wonder if you would have one or two of your own articles or lectures that you could share with us, where you bring a Quaker perspective about the issues of Empire and the

Office

New Garden Friends Meeting Pastoral Search

Hi all, I wanted to post this here in the hopes of helping spread the word about New Garden Friends pastoral search here in Greensboro, NC they are just about to undergo. Read through the description below and see if this resonates with you or someone you might know. Feel

Advent

Sharing: Hush – Songs for Christmas by Seth Patrick Martin

If you’ve been around the site, or me much, you know I love the music – and friendship of Seth Patrick Martin. He’s just shared a new Christmas album with us that I wanted to link to here. He produced it with his friend, Joe Kim in Seoul. The

Blog Entries

Are We In A Post-Social Media World?

I was lucky enough to get to talk with Georgia Sparling of Thee Quaker Podcast a little while back about social media and some of the things I’ve wrestled with as a Quaker theologian, educator, parent, and person who has been actively online for 20+ years. That episode published