Andre Trocme, a French Protestant pastor and pacifist, is known as a man who led an effective response to the Vichy and Nazi genocide against the Jews. He had a heart for servanthood and God, and an ethic that moved beyond the preaching of pacifism from the pulpit to guiding an entire community to sacrifice on behalf of those who had even less. He wanted to do more than he had, and to this end, he sought ought the assistance of the American Friends Service Committee. He…

The cross is lost to the church. While it hangs on walls of sacred buildings and around the necks of believers, we are no way yoked to it if our responses to murder are any indication of our faithfulness as related to this ancient symbol of torture. Truly, I say to you, the nature of the cross is not found nearly as much in it’s capacity to remind us of the torture of Jesus; but the nature of the cross is most powerfully known in the church’s willingness to burden…

http://sandhillcommunity.blogspot.com/ 

The liberation of Eve,

the rape of Bathsheba,

and the masculinity of Joseph.

“Read my blog…” I’ve read a lot of emails that end with a statement similar to this. I begin this essay in such a manner, not because my blogs are significant, but because my writing tends to reveal a few things about my gender traits in a way that even those who have not met me can recognize. I tend…

It’s the “holiday season” but this is not an essay about Christmas. Nor is it about Halloween. It purports be an essay about Quaker’s and holidays. However, it’s more about language – sacred language – and how French philosopher Jacques Derrida has something to say about sacred language that might surprise a few folks that are “in the know.” What should we do with Derrida’s prediction that the words of or about God might avenge themselves upon those who attempt to co-opt them for personal…

His eyes moved from the cracked sidewalk block beneath his feet to the cracked window of the upper flat. There was a sleepy eyelid of space between the window frame and the dingy bedspread that covered the rest of it. A flickering blue light emanated from a television and radiated through the eyelid in contrast to the depressing gray of the Detroit neighborhood. That light - the blue light, - promised that someone would be home.

He walked quickly so as not to betray his anxiety or his…

Author’s note: I have taken the liberty of making use of Ben Pink Dandelion’s reference to a specific manner of Quaker practice as “liberal-liberal” Friends. As one who identifies closely with Conservative Friends, I am a Hicksite and identify as an FGC liberal Friend. My comments are more concerned with identity and intelligibility than an overarching critique of FGC Friends, which has a far different…

The discussion below, of Quakerism and Heterotopia, is not an idea that is by any means unique to me. Other Friends have written on this topic before, and a quick google of the two terms together should produce results. The thoughts below are simply my own attempt to construct some sort of theological background for some constructs that are often in the background of much of what I right.

In sending out the essay below, I received some good feedback. An important piece was…

Friends General Conference and Conservative Friends have more in common that they have differences. An interesting difference is the concern for universalist thinking. It is my belief that the two Quaker entities can find a common ground through which a common communion can take place through concepts of universalism. However, there are some things that I feel must necessarily take place for communion to be possible.

First, I want to address some particulars. Conservative Friends, as…

The stories we tell  one another reveal much about who we are, and what we believe. In my family, the children love to hear stories of how mom and dad met, or the ice storm that was occurring when mom went into labor with Micah. With Emma, we didn’t even own a car, and relied on neighbors to drive us 15 miles to the hospital. Such stories, which are similar to narratives told by other families, not only serve  keep our children or friends amused. Stories of our lives are integral pieces of…

Originally published in

FRIENDS JOURNAL

09/2012

TRANSFORMING PREJUDICE INTO LOVE

r. scot miller and Aran Reinhart

My name is Aran. I am a man with breasts. I was born with a female body and tried to live as a woman for nearly 39 years. As hard as I tried, though, I always felt like I had a huge hole in the middle of me. I tried to fill the hole with many things over the years: food, television, church,…