“‘Friends have no creeds’ is a creed.” That was a favorite reader comment on my recent blog post Deal or No Deal? Creed or No Creed?  The commenter adds, “Sheesh, have these people never studied recursion or self-reference. Goedel, Escher, Bach?”

True enough. But ‘Friends have no creeds’ is a very small creed. And I could even be comfortable with a slightly longer statement such…

By Kathy Hersh, ProNica Board of Directors

Belinda Moss'  job is to make other people look good. Last week it was Paul McCartney and dozens of other celebrities who performed at Madison Square Gardens for Hurricane Sandy relief. Belinda is a freelance make-up artist whose clients include not only Sir Paul, but also the show America’s Got…

I love the Quaker Way.  Though perhaps love is not the right word - I 'm not sure we should ever "love" a created thing, and for all its depth and beauty, Quakerism is a created thing.  What I mean to say is that in my understanding of Quaker life I have - somehow, someway, to some extent - come to find God.  One day in early September 1987 I had a mystical experience.  In a state of depression and hopelessness I sat alone in a small woods when suddenly what I can only describe as a Divine…

Genesis 38 - Judah marries Shua (a Canaanite) and has three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. When he grows up, Er is  married to a woman named Tamar but dies with no heir; so Onan is asked to fill his role (with Tamar) and give Er sons, but he dies too after “wasting” his seed in his intercourse with her. The section ends with this – “[T]he Lord considered it evil for Onan to deny a child to his dead brother. So the Lord took Onan’s life, too” (38:10).

 …

Genesis 37 - The story of Joseph opens when Joseph is 17.  If Jacob spent 20 years in Haran and married Leah and Rachel after 7 years there, then Reuben must have been 13 or 14 when they returned to Canaan.  We see here that Joseph’s poor relations with his brothers derives not solely from his dreams, but from other things as well. 

Joseph “reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing” (37:2) and his father…

Genesis 35 - Jacob is led by God to go to Bethel to build and altar “to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother, Esau” (35:1). He tells everyone to get rid of the household idols he has permitted to be carried by his family.  Bethel is south in Shechem (half way to Jerusalem)—the place where Jacob had his dream on his way to Haran in flight from his brother.   Earrings worn as amulets associated with the worship of these idols are also buried under a…

Genesis 33 – When Jacob sees Esau coming with his 400 men, he divides his family up in a way that is especially protective of Rachel, putting her last in the line approaching his feared brother, Esau. 

He goes ahead of everyone and bows down to his brother seven times, hoping to make peace with him. He [and we] are surprised when Esau runs “to meet him and embrace him, [throwing] his arms around his neck and [kissing] him” (33:3).  They weep in each…

Genesis 32 – Now Jacob turns his attention to the fears he has about what might await him at his home. He camps in a place called Mahanaim (meaning Double-Camp according to Schocken) where he sends messengers ahead and learns that his brother Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men.  He is afraid for his children, especially for his favorite wife and child, so he divides his family and his possessions into two. He begs the Lord to remember the covenant he cut with…

We had our annual All Church Retreat this last weekend, and for the last few years we've been enjoying just spending the weekend at the meetinghouse (though we sleep at home in our own beds...) rather than going away for the weekend. This way, lots of people can participate for the time they have available, and it's way cheaper so everyone can come. We have a lot of fun together Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday morning, playing lots of for-fun games and get-to-know-you games, eating…

“Friends have no creeds.”  We Quakers often say that. We are committed to no human words but rather to following the Holy Spirit. We believe God speaks to us today – speaks to all who still their hearts and listen. “No official words can substitute for a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.” We believe that commitment to creed would be a kind of idolatry.

Most Christian denominations, on the other hand, do have a creed. They have an official statement of faith they use…

Genesis 31:33-55 – Laban searches for the idol taken from his home. He looks in Leah’s tent and the tents of the two serving women; finally he looks in Rachel’s tent. She had hidden the idols in her “camel saddle, and was sitting on them” (31:34). Laban cannot find them. Rachel says she can’t get up because she is having her monthly period.

Jacob gets angry and challenges Laban; he’s angry not only for this assault on his household, but because of Laban’s having taken…

Part of my responsibilities as clerk of Ministry and Worship are to compile an annual report. In it, my Monthly Meeting seeks to attain the Spiritual State of the Meeting. The past several years, we’ve relied upon an online survey to gather information from members and regular attenders. It has encouraged greater participation and honesty. The anonymity of the…

Genesis 31:1-32 – Things begin to get tense between Laban, Laban’s sons and Jacob. They feel that he “’has gained all his wealth at our father’s expense’” (31:1) despite the fact that Jacob has worked very hard for him for a very long time. The Lord decides it is time for Jacob to return to the land of his father Isaac.

Interesting to note is Jacob’s position here  — he is caught between two VERY angry men - at least he feels he is.  On the one side is his brother…

Genesis 30 - Children, all but one sons, are born from the following women in the following order:

         Leah           Zilpah        Rachel                Bilhah

         1-Reuben    7-Gad          11-Joseph              5-Dan

         2-Simeon    8-Asher      12-Benjamin        6-Naphtali

         3-Levi

         4-Judah

         9-Issachar

         10-Zebulum

         Dinah

After 20…

Genesis 29 – Jacob hurries on to Paddan-Aram and sees a well in the distance surrounded by livestock waiting for the stone to be moved from the mouth of the well. The covering stone so heavy (it says) that only when all the shepherds are assembled at the end of the day are they able to move it away.  But here, when Jacob sees Rachel—the girl he falls in love with—he alone moves the stone back so she can water her father’s livestock (29:10).

At Laban’s invitation, Jacob…

Genesis 28 – This chapter is a retelling of what just happened in 27. In this telling of the story there is more of an emphasis on where the “blessed son” should go and whom he should marry. Here Jacob does not flee from his brother’s wrath; he simply follows the instructions of his father to go to his grandfather Bethuel and marry one of his uncle’s daughters. It seems as if Esau thinks he looses the blessing not because of any chicanery of his brother but because he married women…

Genesis 27 - Here is the heart of the Jacob-Esau story. Isaac [Yitzak] “was old and turning blind” (27:1).  He calls for his older son, Esau to make him some of the stew Esau cooks so well; he sends him off, planning to reward him with “the blessing that belongs to his firstborn son” (27:4). The Tanakh calls it his “innermost” blessing. 

But Rebekah overhears her husband’s plan and gets Jacob working on the deception she has planned for a while. …

The Bible in the ‘Guide’

The presence of the Bible in the Quaker work ‘A Guide to True Peace’ is pervasive.  This is in keeping with traditional Quaker writings.  The Bible is used in the ‘Guide’ as a proof text, meaning that the point of view that the ‘Guide’ presents is placed in a biblical context and supported by numerous biblical quotations.

There are 102 quotes from the Bible in a work that is roughly 80 pages (the number of pages varies somewhat…

Genesis 26 – A severe famine strikes the land, so Isaac moves to Gerar, where Abimelech, king of the Philistines, lives. “The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you. Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father” (26:2-3). So Isaac stays in Gerar.

But when “the men…