http://downtoegypt.blogspot.it/2012/08/the-workstudy-mir-peace-camp-at-betania.html

I met Franco Perna at Betania, a religious retreat near Northern Italy's Lago di Garda. At 75, he has been involved in organized peacemaking since the early 60's.

Introduction to the Book of Wisdom from Lawrence Boadt’s Reading the Old Testament

The Book of Wisdom is known only in Greek and was possibly the last Old Testament book written. It contains philosophical arguments found in Philo of Alexandria and other Jewish writers in 1^st c. BC. The author is interested in reassuring the Jewish community in Egypt that keeping their faith is worthwhile despite hardship in a pagan land. The focus is on salvation…

I have just produced a second eBook of my poetry.  It can be downloaded free of charge.  It includes some of my early poems, as well as more recent work.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/paula-puddephatt/the-carousel-of-dreams/ebook/product-20336439.html

Chapter 8 of Minding the Light: Our Collective Journal is now available online and also attached in a PDF file below.  For this chapter, we invited Friends to respond to the query, "What’s something you have created in response to the Light within?” For this chapter, we received 10 responses – some stories, some images, and one cartoon strip!   The main image on our website for this chapter is of a beautiful stained glass piece created by a woman in our…

Sirach 51 – A beautiful psalm of thankfulness and praise – thankfulness for God’s (Wisdom’s) interventions in the writer’s life, praise for all the good that flows from “her.”

“I am determined to put her [God’s wisdom] into practice, I have earnestly pursued what is good, I will not be put to shame. My soul has fought to possess her, I have been scrupulous in keeping the Law; I have stretched out my hands to heaven and bewailed my ignorance of her; I have directed my…

This week's podcast focused on Theological Authenticity by Jonah Harkema, exploring the necessity of being authentic with each other about our theological questions and doubts.

If you enjoy poetry, you might want to check out my poetry eBook, which can be viewed or downloaded, free of charge. 

http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/paula_puddephatt_2012_8.pdf

Sirach 50 – High Priest Simon II, son of Onias III (220-195 BC) is celebrated. He repaired the Temple. His portrayal of this High Priest seems filled with sensual images that indicate he has actually seen him emerge from the Sanctuary. So perhaps we could put the writer in this 3rd-2^nd century period. He is a “youthful cedar of Lebanon” (50:12). He is not a famous historical figure, so he must just be a man respected by the author in his time.

“And now bless…

Sirach 48 – Elija – A prophet who “arose like a fire” brought famine on the land for the sins committed. He was “taken up in the whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses” (48:8-9). And there is an allusion to immortality for those who fall asleep “in love” [of God]. They “too will have life” (48:11).

Then Elisha – He was filled with Elijah’s spirit. “No task was too hard for him, and even in death his body prophesied” (48:13) for that the dead were…

Sirach 46 – Celebrating Joshua, Moses’ successor and one “mighty in war” (46:1).  “He himself waged the wars of the Lord” (46:3). This is not translated as “holy war” and the note to this line says the words really say that the Lord handed enemies over to him [Joshua]. Joshua’s name means Yahweh saves and the Greek for the name is Jesus. Interesting! The text says he “deserved his name” because he “was a great savior of the Chosen People (46:2). He was said to have stopped the…

New Blog Post: Early Quakers and the Fire Within"

Prayer really works. Essentially, God is good.

Sirach 45 – Moses is celebrated in this chapter. God “gave him commandments for his people and showed him something of his glory” (45:3). God chose him “alone out of all mankind; he allowed him to hear his voice and led him into the darkness; he gave him the commandments face to face, the law of life and knowledge” (45:5-6).

God also made a covenant with Aaron: “He clothed him in glorious perfection and invested him with emblems of authority” (45:8). He gave him…

Sirach 44 – He turns to the praise of famous men: James Agee got the title of his 1941 book about sharecroppers in the South from this part of Sirach – Now Let Us Praise Famous Men. There have been men of authority, intelligent advisers and prophets, musicians and poets. “Some of them left a name behind them, . . .while others have left no memory, and disappeared as though they had not existed, it is now as though they had never been, and so too, their children after them”…

For those of you who are interested in poetry, please check out this link to my new eBook.  It contains a selection of my work, and can be downloaded, free of charge.…

Sirach 42 (Continued) – God’s Glory: “He has imposed an order on the magnificent works of his wisdom, he is from everlasting to everlasting, nothing can be added to him, nothing taken away” (42:21-22). It is the nature of all things from God that they “go in pairs, by opposites” (42:24).

Sirach 43 – On God’s Glory: “The sun, as he emerges, proclaims at his rising, ‘A thing of wonder is the work of the Most High!’ . . .Great is the Lord who made him, and whose…

This week, Nate Macy brought our message, from Psalm 24:1, "For I am already God's, nothing separates me."

Sirach 41 – On Thoughts of Death: “O death, your sentence is welcome to a man in want, whose strength is failing, to a man worn out with age, worried about everything, disaffected and beyond endurance” (40:3-4).

But we should not fear death in any case. It is “the sentence passed on all living creatures by the Lord” (40:4). 

Reputation: “Be careful of your reputation, for it will last you longer than a thousand great hoards of god. A good life…

I recently wrote this for my blog The Liberal Quaker.

Preface

In Liberal Quaker community I came to know myself. I was fully accepted and encouraged to become who I am. My elders were patient with me. They asked hard questions and at times made tough observations, but let me do the work to answer and respond. I have sifted through a great deal of…