EDITORS PICKS
Highlights from last week's QuakerQuaker Editor Picks. All accessible from our Tumblr at http://daily.quakerquaker.org

Young adults in leadership and community
Kevin Camp reports back from a conference on community and leadership for 20-35 year olds: “Community is a great challenge in my Monthly Meeting. During the six days we were together, I found reflected back at me many similar concerns to my own.”

The language of God
Way Bee on how we talk about God: “Religion, to me, is like a language.  I may speak only one language, but if I cry, or I laugh or I smile, chances are good that I will be universally understood.  God is the smile and the tear, the expression of our deepest emotions where there is no mistaking the meaning but neither are there words to truly convey it.”

In the Deep End With Grief
C Wess Daniels talks about giving pastoral care to hurt individuals: "When we sit with someone who has encountered devastation it can be scary. This is partially because the path towards healing is rarely ever clear. It often feels as though there are far too many routes that must be travelled down to even know where to begin."

Quakers going to prison
A prison-worship program in New York State marks its 40th anniversary: "There are very few places in the prison where you feel you’re at peace,” said an inmate named Dale, who is serving 25 years to life for second-degree murder and attempted murder. “Where you feel peace, but you also feel your humanity."

The shadow side of being a scattered people
From Micah Bales: "Life in diaspora is hard, living as we do in scattered pockets. We are tempted to turn inward, to seek refuge from the world, to become a cliquish subculture that promotes an ingrown sense of identity, even as we fail to reach out to others. "

Why Am I a Friend and What’s It To You?
Doug Bennett on why he became a Friend: "Another aspect of the orientation of Friends is a sense that if you know what God asks of you then you should do it. Belief leads – should lead – to action. If we believe that God loves everyone and asks us to love everyone as well, that should guide our daily lives."

Why do we have to be so bad?
More from the prolific Secret Quaker: "Since we have no clearly identified leadership, that “envious spirit” would still seem a particular risk among Quakers. For anyone who has every been stung by other Quakers, there will be times of desperate searching for answers, starting within our own consciences but also about the ways we operate."

TRENDING ON QUAKERQUAKER BOARDS

* Interpreting Our Past -- Part2 and 3. By Jim Wilson
* Continuing discussion of "Interpreting Our Past. By Patricia Dallmann
* On the prospects for a progressive - libertarian alliance. By Matt.
* The Rebellion Against the God of Myself. By Jean Yeager
* A Buddhist Quaker's introduction. By Luke Lucas

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