ESR's Carole Spencer shares her reflections on leading a recent retreat on "Images of God":

A basic assumption of the workshop is that God is beyond all words and images, yet we need symbols and metaphors to be open to the mystery of the divine in which we live. A second assumption is that our language…

" ... to call it to more openness and hospitality." Wess Daniels

In a recent letter , Wess Daniels shared his decision to no longer teach a seminary course at George Fox University because GFU conditioned his position on his willingness to conform to the institution's (his employer) rule that he no longer discuss a particular issue publically.

A person can respect Wess' decision remove himself from his teaching association with his employer to freely express his conscience…

Some people go to the woods or the mountains to encounter the Divine. They seek the quiet to listen for the “still, small voice.” Peggy Senger Morrison, though, has some of her best conversations with God while driving a Kawasaki motorcycle named Rosie. She writes about them and other adventures in her new book,…

If you find the outward ways and practices of traditionalist, conservative, evangelical, and liberal Quaker forms do not sustain, there is another way. It is the direct unmediated life in Presence. In Presence, there is no looking back and no need for a hoped future. In Presence, all is given and all is known; sufficent to sustain eternity within you in all things and circumstances. The way is simple and uncluttered by outward forms. It is a stumbling block to many. No matter what your…

This morning I found myself in Spenser's sonnets and specifically:

“After long stormes and tempests sad assay,

Which hardly I endured heretofore:

in dread of death and daungerous dismay,

with which my silly barke was tossed sore:

I doe at length descry the happy shore,

in which I hope ere long for to arryue:

fayre soyle it seemes from far and fraught with store of all that deare and daynty is alyue.

Most happy he that can at last atchyue

the…

Well before I read the story of George Fox's trials and tribulations as a young man, I did my own wanderings. Mine tended to be from church to church, seeking some person or Divine force to heal me. These travels always corresponded with a severe period of clinical depression, which scared me with its ferocity and longevity. This is why some modern-day…

Following Jesus: A Review

 I grew up in a secular home.  That means I don’t have a background in Christianity.  As an adult when I turned to religion my first attraction was to Buddhism which I studied intensely for many years.  I mention this to clarify that the Evangelical tradition of Christianity is very far from my own experience.  I have no direct knowledge of this tradition, its views, or its forms of worship. 

 As a Quaker in a Meeting that is affiliated with the…

Got a minute?

http://youtu.be/K49NlP5SsMQ

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

For traditional peace churches like Friends, the above…

The following is the text of a message delivered during worship by ESR student Travis Etling as part of the ESR Board of Advisors meeting on September 28, 2014. 

I think that a robust religious imagination helps us to think about the future. Vision has to do with looking forward, looking outward. If contemplative…

Inc.: As "that of God" applies to all people, so the Court of Quaker Opinion supports the inclusive nature of Quakerism.

Exc.: Then why the designation "Society", which derives from the Latin "partner, or companion"?

Inc.: We are a collective, or corporate, body of seekers.

Exc.: Never having graduated from "University", which derives from the Latin "collective, or crowd".

Inc.: Then we should change from being seen as a company to broadening our reach as a…

Watchfullness in times of ease and satisfaction. Presence sustained.

In times of freedom from outward constraint and care, a sense of satisfaction in acomplishment can overshadow the sense of Presence so that unity and identity in the Light fades against outward accomplishment; self-consciousness anchors outwardly and conscious becomes informed by outward sense of the ease of things. However, this inward dimming is forestalled when watchfullness combines with intention; just on the…

The Activity of Prayer

Martin recently featured a post on the ‘Spiritual/Activist’ divide amongst Friends.  It is from a blog by Lynn, a birthright Quaker whose blog, ‘The Friendly Seeker’, is thoughtful and insightful.  Lynn’s post is called ‘Corporate Witness’ and it can be found here:

http://thefriendlyseeker.blogspot.com/2014/09/corporate-witness.html

Because I find myself on the…

The following is a review of John Dear's book, The Nonviolent Life, by ESR student Christie Walkuski. Dear is the keynote speaker for ESR's 2014 Ministry of Writing Colloquium on October 31-November 1.  You can learn more about that event and register online here. As we lead up to the Colloquium, you are invited to join the ESR community in reading The Nonviolent Life during the…