In my unprogrammed meeting we have one program and I'm on the program committee that plans it. It's called "Connections," and it falls between the two worship hours. Last Sunday, Pentecost for those who believe in liturgy, we planned for Connections a worship sharing on the topic of departed elders. By "departed" we meant anyone who no longer came to meeting, whether they had died or moved away or couldn't come because of illness or other reasons. By "elder" we meant anyone we had loved and… Continue

Several of the disciples were there--Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. But when the day was now breaking,…

Continue

"This is the end of the testimony of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, that we may all come to partake of His life, and that by partaking of it, we may live upon it, and being made alive to Him, we shall then be made able to serve Him." (From a sermon preached by Robert Barclay at Grace Church Street, Sixteenth of Fifth Month 1688. Source: The Concurrence and Unanimity of the People Called Quakers as Evidenced by Some of Their Sermons, first published by Andrew Sowle,… Continue

I have uncovered some older writings that I will post on the blog "Seeker of Truth and Reality" occasionally as a "track record" of my own search.



This was written and read in 1969, at the age of 25, when I was Clerk of West Branch Quarterly Meeting in Indiana Yearly Meeting. IYM was reorganizing from Quarterly to Regional Meetings and this was the last Meeting of West Branch QM. Most of my current views are remarkably similar 40 years later. This… Continue

Continue

This week I was given a significant complement by my mountain dulcimer instructor. Of all her students, she told me, I was the one who put the greatest consideration into bringing out the full potential of the instrument.



Now I can't take full credit for this. My instrument was built by a master luthier. Years of craftsmanship went into everything from the selection of the wood to the careful placement of the frets to the delicate inlay. From the beginning, I knew that I had an… Continue

Before I dive into the details of my new experience/experiment, I will start by stating the facts:



1. I was not raised in a Quaker household.

2. Unfortunately, due to my busy schedule and mobile lifestyle, I do not belong to a Meeting.

3. I wasn't fully immersed into a Quaker culture until last summer in the YALD program and...

4. Even while I was immersed in such a beautiful culture and considered myself a Friend, I feared that my experience of the Divine would be limited… Continue

So much of my life I spend cynically griping about the bad side of human nature. The work I do every day frequently centers around a ceaseless source of constant frustration. Seeking strategies to reform destructive behaviors is the basic skill set of many professions and basic activism. Influencing people so that they might understand the correct means of conducting their lives is a substantial challenge and a constant energy drain. I'm sure… Continue