Job 10 – Job says he is disgusted with his life and must complain about it. “I will say to God, ‘Don’t simply condemn me—tell me the charge you are bringing against me’” (10:2).

Job believes God does not “see” with the eyes of men – God is eternal and so mysterious, it is pure pride to claim any kind of “knowledge.”

“You guided my conception and formed me in the womb. You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together. You…

February 27, 2013

Fundamentalism Among Quakers — Brinton’s View stimulated a number of comments. Some of them were posted on QuakerQuaker, and some on Facebook, after Friends Journal…

Job 8 – Now Bildad of Shuah speaks to him, censoring him for talking too much. “Does God twist justice? Does the Almighty twist what is right? Your children must have sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved” (8:1-3).

Bildad’s advice is similar to that of Eliphaz – Job or someone in his family MUST have done something to bring this misery on him, “but “if [he] pray[s] to God and seek[s] the favor of the Almighty. . . if [he is]…

Chapter 11 of Minding the Light: Our Collective Journal is now available online and attached as a PDF file below.  For this chapter, we invited Friends to respond to the query, "What experience of the Light do you treasure?”  We received nine responses – eight stories and a drawing.  The stories tell of a broad range of experiences that felt particularly meaningful or significant to the authors and continue to inspire and comfort them

We invite you to read these…

Job 6 – The misery Job feels is heavier than the sands of the seas. It is no wonder then that he speaks a little wildly – carelessly. “Don’t I have a right to complain? Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass, and oxen below when they have no food?” (5:5)

“”Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my desire. I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me. At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I…

Perhaps the dateline should read “January 10, 1959″ because, rummaging around in the Friends Journal archives, I stumbled across a piece by Howard H. Brinton entitled “The Place of Quakerism in Modern Christian Thought.” It was…

Job 4 – Eliphaz of Teman is the first “friend” to address Job’s woes. He speaks of Job as a man who used to give support and words of advice to others. Now it is his turn to be advised. Should his piety not give him strength? “Doesn’t your reverence for God give you confidence? Doesn’t your life of integrity give you hope?” (4:6)

His advice is to recognize that God brings the unjust to destruction. “My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil…

Job 2 – Again the Sons of God [and Satan] assemble, and again God praises Job. This time Satan asks to be given power to afflict Job’s “person,” or his personal “health” (2:4). Job is smitten with boils from head to foot. His wife seems annoyed at his patience with God. “’Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.’ (2:9)

Job responds to her with these words: “’You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand…

Here on LI, a man who killed a police officer when he lost control of his car was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and avoid jail.  The Police Officer left a widow and three children and they suffered a painful loss that they have to live with for the rest of their lives.  It is assumed that the driver was falling asleep at the wheel and that led to his loss of control.  There is a public outcry that the law should be changed so that the next time this happens any driver involved…

Introduction: The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary (Nashville: Abingdon Press. 1971), notes that while this book is typically classed as “wisdom literature,” the “wisdom” here is mostly from the mouths of the three of Job’s friends and is not much respected. The thoughts of Job form a kind of anti-wisdom writing.

The “wisdom literature” tradition was not just Jewish. There are examples of similar stories in many different…

The last couple weeks on the North Valley Friends podcast, we wrapped up Peace Month and then we began a new series, talking about the prophetic voice in Jeremiah.

Genesis 48 – Soon after promising his father that he will return his body to their lands in Canaan, Joseph visits his dying father. Jacob tells his son about the promise God made to him at Luz; and he says “’I am claiming as my own sons these two boys of yours, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born here in the land of Egypt before I arrived. They will be my sons, just as Reuben and Simeon are. But any children born to you in the future will be your own, and they will inherit land within…

Genesis 45 - Unable to go on any more with this, Joseph dismisses everyone and reveals himself to his brothers. “He wept so loudly the Egyptians could hear him, and word of it quickly carried to Pharaoh’s palace” (45:2).

After having put them through the wringer, Joseph now tells them they are not to reproach themselves any more: “It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives . . .  to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives…

ESR Alum Adam Webber shares a bit about his new CD project - how it developed during his studies at ESR , and how it fits into his pastoral ministry now:

My new CD, "As a Deer Longs", should probably have been subtitled, "A Soul Slogs…

Genesis 43 – The famine continues to ravage the land. When the grain from Egypt is gone, Jacob wants them to go back and get more. Judah reminds him what they face there is they go back without Benjamin. This time [in this Yahwist source] it is Judah who takes mature responsibility for seeing to it that Benjamin returns safely. “’I personally guarantee his safety. You may hold me responsible if I don’t bring him back to you’” (43:9).

They go back, and they take gifts…

Grounded.  That’s the word I heard over and over at a recent Quaker Silent Retreat. During introductions before we entered into forty hours of silence, many of the twenty people in attendance said they had come with a hope of getting grounded. Many spoke of the annual retreat as a time to regain the Center that had been subsumed by work, causes, studies, care for…

Genesis 41 – Two years after this, the Pharaoh himself has two disturbing dreams that he cannot understand. “In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass. Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin. These cows stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank. Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven healthy, fat cows!” (41:2-4). He wakes up and then sleeps again. “This…

Please forgive the long delay in posting. Had to attend a family members funeral mass in Florida over the weekend and had also to be without a computer, but everything should be back to normal now.

Genesis 39 - Returning to the Joseph story (of the Yahwist source—36 and 37 having been Elohist – together with 40, which is yet to come), we see Joseph has been sold to Potiphar, chief steward of the Pharaoh (39:1).  



Everything he touches turns to…