Everday Reflections - Gathering In Light

LIfe At Woodbrooke Part 2 | Reading and Writing

I’ve been reading and writing a ton while here at woodbrooke, which I suppose is good since that’s why I came here!? I just finished a fourth section to my final paper, it was on Martin Davie’s analysis of why and how Liberal Quakerism became the predominate

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B’ham or bust: Three Weeks and Counting

Life seems to be moving at increasing speeds lately, it’s all I can do to keep track of the things that still need done before I depart. I am leaving for England in under three weeks now, and still have tons of books that need read, articles that need

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Maundy Thursday (House) Worship/Prayer Service

A few days ago Emily and I had the idea to invite some friends over to hang out Thursday, tonight, to kick off Emily’s spring break (she rarely stays up past 9pm on a school night). Then I thought that because it was Maundy Thursday it would be great

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Quakers and Coffee

A few weeks ago I decided to create a few new names for some of my favorite coffee drinks just for fun. I work at Fuller’s Bookstore, and attached is a really great coffee shop ingenuously named “Coffee by the Books.” What this means for me is a steady

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I am Heading (Providence) Rhode Island: FWCC Convergent Friends Conference

This weekend I have a great opportunity to spend some time with a group of ecumenical Quakers. I am flying to Providence Rhode Island to participate in the Friends World Committee for Consultation, an ecumenical group of Friends who have been trying to help bridge the gap between the various

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Remember You are Dust: Reflections on Lent 2007

The season of Lent began last week on Ash Wednesday, which marks the 40 day period of waiting for Holy Week. Lent is a time of cleaning out our lives, remembering the frailty of life, reflecting on God and preparing space for the pinnacle of the Christian calendar that comes

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The Things We Carry: A Spiritual Reflection on Life With Ghosts

Life with Ghosts Last night Emily and I started to watch “One Punk Under God,” a documentary about Jay Bakker. Jay is the son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. I’ve been interested in finding out more on Jay as we had a friend who worked with Jay’s

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Left Behind Video Game Hopes to Improve Public Relations Before It’s Too Late

[Edited to Add Picture Link see the bottom of post for more details] I’ve writen a couple time on the new Left Behind Video Game called “Eternal Forces.” Post #1 — Left Behind Eternal Forces: Violence for Christians Post #2 Training Violent Behaviors: Media and the Message of Desensitization [rant]

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Gathering In Light 2006: A Year in Review

This past year has been a lot of fun on many fronts for me but I’ve had an especially great time blogging in 2006. I thought it would be fun to post some of the things that standout in my memory as important events for gathering in light and

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Blogging Goals for G.i.L. in 2007 – A Blogger’s New Year’s Resolution

The new year is finally here, not that I was in a rush to get here but with a sense of anticipation we’re facing another year of exciting prospects. In keeping with a trend common among many bloggers (see Copy Blogger, Fernando and Glenn Worsely) I thought I’d

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Is Beppe Done? Pod-fading? If So…So Long Good Friend

Joe Guada, good friend, fellow blogger and wonderful podcaster is hanging up his pod (or whatever it is podcasters hang-up). He says, “And so the time has come Beppepodcast is pod-fading. In fact, I have decided to permanently retire the podcast. Why? TOO MUCH WORK! amongst other things” You can

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Happy Birthday Emily

Emily, my wife, turned 26 on Friday (the 17th). Thursday evening we celebrated by going out to dinner at a nice restaurant and and taking the night off. Friday evening, we stayed at home and made dinner and hung out with our housemates a bit. Emily and I met at

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Join Me on Buy Nothing Day – November 25th

As a follow-up from yesterday’s article I wanted to mention “Buy Nothing Day.” Adbusters does an event every year where they encourage people to not shop on one of the biggest shopping days of the year – November 25th (Saturday). Emily and I will be joining them and I’d

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FAQs: Why Go to Fuller Seminary for Your Ph.D.?

Sorry we missed the FAQs last week, I was swamped, but we’re back and I’ve got some great guests coming up in the next month. This segment is officially called “FAQs of a Theologian” and it is where I or my theologian guests answer a question that often

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Surviving a Study Program With EarPlugs, a Hiding Place, and Lots of Coffee.

We had a great, and much needed, weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped to make my birthday awesome. Emily and I took it easy all day Saturday. It was good because I actually feel pretty well-rested and ready to go. The next couple weeks are going to get crazy around

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There’s Little Time When You’re On the Run – Some Birthday Trinkets

[Edited Twice] Lately I’ve been pretty under-the-gun with school work, and all the extra things going on. I don’t have much time to do some of those I love doing. I hope to write soon about all the stuff I’ve had my hands in but for now

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An Ordinary Revolution You Probably Shouldn’t Miss

I just finished Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution,” which is the first assignment for the class I am teacher’s aid for and I thought it was a fantastic read. In fact, if you’ve got nothing better to do in the next thirty minuets go out and pick up

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A Quarter With Alasdair MacIntyre

Yesterday I started class. Now it’s official, I have been a doctoral student for 1 day, and at the moment I am still pretty excited about this new adventure (and also unsure, I must confess). I am taking a class with Dr. Nancey Murphy where we will be studying

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Some (Borrowed) Quaker Queries on Simplicity

Awhile back I visited a nearby Quaker meeting with Robin and Chris while they were in town. It was my first experience in an unprogrammed meeting and I really appreciated my experience there and it got me thinking more about queries. One thing I have always loved about Quaker practice

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Live Update – Now Finished

This morning I came over to Fuller’s Coffee Shop, made myself a mug of Cafe’ au Lait, plugged in my iPod and am listening to Starflyer 59’s new album, My Island. I’ve cracked open mywebsite code, uploaded the bleeding-edge version of Subtle, and am doing a few

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What Do I Mean by Small Churches?

There was a question about what I meant in terms of a small church from a commenter the other day, I thought I’d address here. In response, when I think of a “small church” I think of a place that you are able to know and be known by

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In My Alternate Life…

Emily likes to play this game where we talk about what we’d be doing in alternate lives. We went camping this past week, and she asked all of us there what we’d be doing in our alternate lives. Well as these things go I like to play around

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So School Begins Today: What’s Coming up For Gathering In Light

This past friday I finished up one year tenure as Fuller Seminary’s textbook buyer. I began working at the bookstore in the beginning of summer 2005 and shortly thereafter I took over with this full-time position. Well, even though I had a hard time adjusting to full-time work and

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Advertising on Blogs: And So I Take It Back

I’ve written a fairly recent article on why I decided to turn the ads off on my site. Well I still agree with what was said there, but I have also found a way to meet in the middle. I have signed up for Text Link Ads a company

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A Little Time for Spiritual Inventory With Sequoias

Every so often I realize that I’ve been going full speed ahead for too long and need a break, this past week I had one of those realizations. I finally got to the point where I felt like I had been running with my eyes closed, not paying attention