"But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." (James 1:25)

I have the heart of an artist. I was raised in the collaborative community of the theater. I received professional training as a theater director. The culture of creativity I come from encouraged, rather than criticized, the exercise of intuition and initiative. This may seem foreign to the dominant…

May 1, 2011

            Beloved Friends:

            My words arise from a still, small voice in my heart, along with a seed of concern for our continuing Spiritual growth and true development as unprogrammed Friends. Within the larger body and branches of our…

Your family is yearning with hope for tomorrow,

that burns with the light of Your love in this place.

Now tears for our errors are cleansing our sorrow;

we're ready to be hallowed and filled with your grace!

Illumine us, Jesus, to know your direction

and move with the Spirit where life's breaking in.

The justice and mercy of Your resurrection

empower us to live out God's reign from within.

Pray in us and through us,…

Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. (Lev 9:23)

     Reflecting on my practice of the spiritual disciplines for my Spiritual Formation class at Earlham School of Religion, I recalled a very special…

Sung to the tune of Abide With Me

Meter 10.10.10.10

See Psalm 139:13-16 

For it was you who formed my inward being;

You knit together life and parts unseen.

I praise you for I’m wonderfully thine;

Awesome your handiwork, O God, divine!…

O God, do not keep silent;

be not quiet, O God, be not still.

See how your children have strayed,

how your detractors ever increase.

Avoiding you, we diminish your own family;

silencing your own beloveds.

“See,” we say, “how Christianity has destroyed nations,

let the name of Christ be remembered no more.”

In corporate discernment we’ve erred;

We witness while avoiding the Word –

The house of New England and New…

           Being both a member of New York Yearly Meeting (Brooklyn) and a student at ESR, I was invited by the school to attend the 316^th Session of our Yearly Meeting this summer at Silver Bay, NY.  While there, I provided a presence for ESR and had the opportunity to meet and engage with Friends, old and new.  When asked to submit an article about my experience for ESR’s blog, Learning and Leading, I said that I would.  Why has it taken me so…

Based on Psalm 116

Meter:  6.6.8.6

Return to rest, my soul;

The Lord has heard my cry.

Because Your ear has turned to me

I’ll praise You till I die.               

My sorrow and distress

was more than I could stand –

I called Your name in anguished pain

And there I found Your hand!

You dried my eyes from tears;

I couldn’t catch my breath

Until Your saving…

Maurice Creasy, a 20^th century Quaker theologian, discusses the original Christological understanding of founding Friends as being able to hold the “particular and the universal, the historical and the mystical emphasis” of Jesus together in unity. The salvific significance and power of Jesus…