Psalm 93 – “The Lord is king! He is robed in majesty. Indeed, the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength. The world stands firm and cannot be shaken. Your throne, O Lord, has stood from time immemorial. You yourself are from the everlasting past” (93:1-2).

There have been floods and raging of seas, but “the Lord above is mightier than these” (93:4).

“Your royal laws cannot be changed. Your reign, O Lord, is holy forever and ever”…

Psalm 90 – “Lord, through all the generations you have been our home. Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God” (90:1-2).

“For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours. You sweep people away like dreams that disappear. They are like grass that springs up in the morning. In the morning it blooms and flourishes, but by evening it is dry and withered”…

This week included our normal morning worship as well as a candlelight service on Christmas Eve. Check out Sunday's service, "Finding God in the Unexpected," and the Christmas Eve service, including videos of our cute kids telling different parts of the Christmas story.

Psalm 88 – “O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night. Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry. For my life is full of troubles, and death draws near” (88:1-3).

This is a prayer of one totally in despair, yet still not rejecting of God, though God is seen in many ways as the one who has caused all the pain.

“They have left me among the dead, and I lie like a corpse in a grave. I am…

Quakers today who eagerly affirm the Biblical truth of the Spirit of Christ  now being  present, available and personally leading all who practice the Christian faith in Spirit and truth are just as eager to minimize the use of Scripture by the early Quakers.  The extremely important use of Scripture is revealed in a few passages found by a  review of some of Fox's writings.  Fox admitted he built his beliefs and practices on the history and world view as presented in Scripture, the New…

http://ronirvine.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/a-fearless-gentleness/

Greetings, Friends!

Chapter 10 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, "When has the Light been hidden?”

Responses to this query touched on many stages of waiting. . . waiting in hope and waiting in fear; waiting for Light in the darkness and waiting for answers; hope fulfilled after long waiting; unfulfilled hopes after long waiting;…

The liberation of Eve,

the rape of Bathsheba,

and the masculinity of Joseph.

“Read my blog…” I’ve read a lot of emails that end with a statement similar to this. I begin this essay in such a manner, not because my blogs are significant, but because my writing tends to reveal a few things about my gender traits in a way that even those who have not met me can recognize. I tend…

Psalm 85 – “Lord, you poured out blessings on your land! You restored the fortunes of Israel. You forgave the guilt of your people—yes, you covered all their sins” (85:1-2).

You resisted destroying us for our failings. “Now restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put aside your anger against us once more” (85:4).

“I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people. But let them not return to their foolish…

“Do [I] you try to make [my] your home a place of friendliness, refreshment and peace, where God becomes more real to all who live there and to those who visit it”? 1.

I find myself compelled by the light within to share the gift I received these past two days – the opportunity to…

Psalm 81 – “Sing praises to God, our strength. Sing to the God of Jacob. Sing! Beat the tambourine. Play the sweet lyre and the harp” (81:1-2). Let us celebrate our God who gave us the narrative we live by, whose presence we have felt and whose direction has given our lives purpose.

“He made it a law for Israel when he attacked Egypt to set us free. I heard an unknown voice say, ‘Now I will take the load from your shoulders;…

Psalm 78 – “O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us” (78:1-3).

“We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders” (78:4). Another meditation on the history of the…

Psalm 73 – Psalms 73 to 83 (and 50) are twelve ascribed to Asaph. Asaphites were “temple singers” (Wikipedia). He might have been an individual though. Chronicles notes that Asaph was a descendant of Gershom the son of Levi. In 1 Chronicles 6:39, David appoints a man named Heman as the main musician or cantor and Asaph is named his assistant.

“Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts pure. But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I…

Once upon a time there was a breed of chicken called an Araucana.  The Araucanas bore good fruit, in this case a blue egg, and were generally quiet, friendly birds.  However, it had some genetic problems resulting in doa chicks, making it a rare bird.  Eventually, the Araucana found its way to the US where a few people decided they could improve on it and solve its genetic problem and they developed the Ameraucana.  The Ameraucana didn’t have the genetic problems and was…

Psalm 70 – “Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me. May those who try to kill me be humiliated and put to shame. May those who take delight in my trouble be turned back in disgrace” (70:1-2).

“But may all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, ‘God is great!’ But as for me, I am poor and needy; please hurry to my aid, O God. You are my helper and my savior; O Lord, do not…

Rachel, weeping for her children,

refuses to be comforted,

for her children are no more.

                         Jer 31:15 (The Inclusive Bible)



At tonight’s labyrinth walk, I was greeted by the words of the prophet and an invitation to pray with Rachel and the parents of Newton, Conn.



I entered the familiar hall, changed tonight by the Solstice darkness, the flickering candles, the shadows of silent walkers. It was lovely…

Psalm 68 – “Rise up, O God, and scatter your enemies. Let those who hate God run for their lives. Blow them away like smoke. Melt them like wax in a fire. Let the wicked perish in the presence of God. But let the godly rejoice. Let them be glad in God’s presence. Let them be filled with joy” (68:1-3).

“Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy”…

Psalm 66 – “Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people. He made a dry path through the Red Sea, and his people went across on foot . . . For by his great power he rules forever. He watches every movement of the nations; let no rebel rise in defiance” (66:5-7).

“Our lives are in his hands, and he keeps our feet from stumbling” (66:9).

“You captured us in your net and laid the burden of slavery on our backs. Then you put a…

In an article dated Nov. 15, 2011 I found the following: Unicef said on Tuesday that 24 children were killed in conflict in Somalia in October, nearly double the confirmed child killings in every other month of  2011.

In praying about the recent slaughter of young children in Ct., my heart spoke to me about all the young children that get slaughtered regularly, especially in the less developed…