I’ve often shared quotes from one of my favorite early Quakers, Isaac Penington, here’s a thought from him for the day: Truly the Lord hath done great things for us! He hath given us the sight and knowledge of himself in his Son, which is life eternal: he
Continue reading →The politics of Scapegoating or “Scapegoating, Treyvon Martin and Seeds Falling” // The message I gave on March 25, 2012 (John 12:20-33) _Headlines of a Scapegoat There are a lot of things happening that have caught my attention in the news recently: One of the recent news pieces that has
Continue reading →We must awaken to hope, resisting the temptation to despair that history cannot be any different, that another world is not in fact possible. Here we must remember our sisters Shiphrah and Purah [Hebrew midwives who disobeyed the king of Egypt] and all who have danced defiantly in their footsteps
Continue reading →A powerful and challenging poem I came across this week. They Have Threatened Us With Resurrection (1980) by Julia Esquivel; translated by Ann Woehrle It isn’t the noise in the streets that keeps us from resting, my friend, nor is it the shouts of the young people coming out
Continue reading →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
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