I had a very interesting discussion with a non-Quaker friend this morning.  I've long studied animal behavior, especially regarding canines (wild & domestic) and horses, but have certainly enjoyed learning about the behaviors of other creatures with whom we share the planet. 

If a young springbok is being pursued by a hungry lion, is the little antelope safer making a solo run for its life or should it head for the herd?

Are you in a prey mindset, or are you a predator?  If…

Paul Bock shared with us last week a message entitled, "What's Got Into You?" about being drunk with the Spirit, and queries about what it might look like if Friends were to do this today.

2 Samuel 21 – A drought-induced famine hits for three years.  David learns from the Lord that it is because of the sin Saul incurred when he put the Gibeonites to death.

David goes to the Gibeonites to ask what he can do to expiate Saul’s guilt.  They ask that seven of Saul’s sons be handed over to them to be “impale[d] before the Lord at Gibeon on the mountain of the Lord” (21:6). The king cannot give them Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, so he turns over two of the sons…

I attended both 1st Hour Discussion and Meeting for Worship this morning at my local Meeting. 

However, an issue that prompted me to seek more solitude was once again mentioned both in vocal ministry AND in the  announcement for discussion at an upcoming social event.  I feel like we are (if you will please excuse the phrase) "beating a dead horse."  Sometimes excessive focus on an issue becomes a road block, an obstruction to healing.  Sometimes all the words that need to be said…

I was reading Friend Mark's blog - Community, build it or break it.  It's dangerous reading Quaker blogs after meeting for worship when you have let down your guard and opened yourself up to God's will.  He raises a point I have heard in my own meeting and that is that our meeting houses are in affluent areas.  This is raised as an answer to the question of why don't we minister to the poor as much as the early Quakers did.  So as a suicidal act that will make me personna non grata at my…

Yesterday I attended 'Community - build it or break it?', tenth in a series of Dialogues organised by London Quaker's. 53 friends from across London gathered at Friends House to hear Catherine West and Nigel Norie speak about difficulties of finding ways of tackling inequality consistent with Quaker principles. We heard about initiatives such as the Islington Fairness Commission, North London Citizens and the Islington Youth Council. Catherine described Islington’s methods of tackling…

2 Samuel 19 – When word gets out how the king is taking the death of his son, the day of victory turns into a day of mourning, and Joab is furious – rightfully so.  His men are made to feel ashamed instead of proud of their sacrifices.  Joab confronts him: “Today you have covered with shame the faces of all our officers who have saved your life today, and the lives of your sons and your daughters, and the lives of your wives and your concubines, for love of those who hate you and for…

Greetings, Friends!

Chapter 6 of Minding the Light: Our Collective Journal is now available online and also attached in a PDF file below.  For this chapter, we invited Friends to respond to the query, "What experience comes to mind when you hear the phrase ‘sacred space’?"    

This query arose in the context of discussions about remodeling our meetinghouse to better reflect our values as a community.  As part of this process, we chose the theme…

In the midst of Indiana Yearly Meeting’s ongoing turmoil about homosexuality, the Bible, and the authority of the yearly meeting, a Friend writes, “it is clear even to the casual reader that God has something to say to his people about their bodies and their relationships.” 

 What is clear to me is only this: that the many things to be found in the Bible about human bodies and relationships, especially about sexuality, make a complex, confusing and even contradictory pastiche.  I’ve…

2 Samuel 18 – David organizes his men into three groups: one under Joab, one under Abishai (Joab’s brother) and one under Ittai the Gittite (Gath was a city in Philistia on the Mediterranean).  David wants to go out with them, but they prevail upon him to remain in the city to send help if they need it.  As they go out David says to them, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.  And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders concerning Absalom”…

What is the purpose of a Quaker Hermit? 

With a strong background in psychology and a firm commitment to the Quaker Testimonies, I tend to think in terms of the unobserved reasons for observed behaviors.  Why has a person (or even an animal) taken a particular course of action?   I believe that as Quakers, we attempt to live purposeful lives.  Hence, what purposes could there be in solitude, in seeking a more solitary life? 

As one responder to my last post so perfectly pointed…

2 Samuel 17 – Ahithophel (the wise advisor) advises Absalom to pursue David that night while he is weary and discouraged and take him down – kill him, but him alone. Don’t kill everyone. Bring the rest of David’s army back to him and let them live in peace. But then Absalom seeks the advice of Hushai, the spy of David’s who has infiltrated Absalom’s circle of friends. He tells Absalom that Ahithophel is giving him poor advice—that David would not be “weary and discouraged” or easy to…

2 Samuel 16 – Meanwhile, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, meets him with food for his men.  His master has stayed behind in Jerusalem believing that the overthrow will result in the restoration of his father’s patrimony to him.  David then turns all he has previously granted to Mephibosheth to the servant Ziba.

There is incredible drama in this story. Mephibosheth is the lame son of David’s dearest childhood friend, Jonathan –…

    I live half the year in Arizona where I am able to attend weekly meetings and then go to Oregon in the summer without a meeting within several hours drive. QuakerQuaker is very helpful to me in progressing in my spiritual journey but I still feel adrift without meeting for which I seem to have a deep need. I've been reading the Liberal Quaker and Convergent Quaker Blogs which have provided me with much food for thought and even contributed a few comments. 

     To cut to the…

WEDNESDAY: A transparent mess, that's what I told my shamanic counselor I was. He laughed, said no way, but that…

2 Samuel 15 – Absalom steals the hearts of the people of Israel (15:6) by being available to them to give judgment on cases that affect them.  After four years of this, he asks his father if he may go to Hebron to offer a sacrifice there he promised to make while he was in Geshur.  Hebron was a holy site to Jews in that time, the place where Abraham and Sarah were buried, the place where David had been anointed king. The plan Absalom really has is to have the people proclaim…

One of our values is that of Community, not unlike convents or monasteries, other "churches," communes (old and new types).  So, is there a place for a Quaker hermit?

Just as Thomas Merton received permission from his abbot to have times of solitary existence, I do think there are times when individual Quakers may have a need for solitary time of silence and contemplation.  Even Thoreau went to the woods. 

In the "noise" of this world, in the contention that at times seeps into…

2 Samuel 13 – Another drama unfolds – I remember the first time I read some of these stories when I was teaching Middle Schoolers (7^th graders) at Friends Academy. I could hardly believe I was reading the Bible! Some of the stories, I didn’t think 7^th graders should read. Old-fashioned me.

Anyway, David’s son, Absalom (his son by wife Maacah—3:3), had a sister named Tamar. His half-brother Amnon (by wife Ahinoam—1 S 25:43) is enamored of…