There’s a new edition of the Historical Dictionary of Friends, which I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to write two articles for: one on convergent Friends and one on Freedom Friends Church. The Dictionary is especially helpful for those working on academic areas of Quakerism, though it
Continue reading →To change the world enough you must cease to be afraid of the poor. We experience your fear as the least pardonable of humiliations; in the past it has sent us scurrying off daunted and ashamed into the shadows. Now, the world ending the only one all of us have
Continue reading →The minister’s work is to go from house to house and warn all both small and great, yea, with tears. This is the word of the ministry in the Spirit – In the Spirit that gave forth the scriptures and so brought people into the life that gave them forth,
Continue reading →This is the message I gave at Camas Friends Church on Sunday March 11, 2012 “The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip
Continue reading →A couple of years ago I had an article published in the Quaker Studies periodical called “Convergent Friends: The Emergence of Postmodern Quakerism” that attempted to identify some of the features of convergent Friends. Convergent Friends is a hybrid Quakerism that attempts draw together the best parts of the Quaker
Continue reading →Here is a moving prayer confessing the harm that we the church can too often cause: OUR Father, we look back on the years that are gone and shame and sorrow come upon us, for the harm we have done to others rises up in our mem- ory to accuse
Continue reading →A quote I came across today that helped me make sense of Mark 8:27-37: To want to admire instead of to follow Christ is not necessarily an invention by bad people. No, it is more an invention by those who spinelessly keep themselves detached, who keep themselves at a
Continue reading →Ash Wednesday by Elvis Perkins No one will survive Ash Wednesday alive No soldier no lover No father no mother Not a lonely child In the up and in the bedroom A black and white of the bride and the groom Will bring me to my knees With the colorized
Continue reading →Here’s a passage from Jean Vanier’s “Befriending the Stranger” that I felt was worthy to post here: Jesus came into the world to re-create it, to give it back its full meaning to take away our limited vision of life, a vision which prevents the birth of hope
Continue reading →This week I had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with my first ever class. I’ve been teaching a course online for George Fox Seminary called “Culture and Systems Change” since the beginning of January, but since it is what they call a “hybrid” course, that means that we also
Continue reading →Gustavo Gutierrez’s Definition of Poverty: “What then does being poor mean? I believe that a good definition does not exist; but we can approximate it if we say that the poor are the non-persons, the ‘in-significant ones,’ the ones that don’t count either for the rest of society,
Continue reading →This was the message I gave during our meeting for worship at Camas Friends this past Sunday. James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who
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