As this is my first post on QuakerQuaker, and as it might be relevant to understanding my perspective on this matter, I'll briefly introduce myself.

I'm Frederic Bayer, 19 years of age, a convinced and enthusiastic Friend living in the United Kingdom but born and brought up in Germany. I regard myself as a Christian Quaker. I was a "spiritual but not religious" atheist before I became a Quaker – the Quaker Way "reconciled" me with Christianity.

Within the Liberal Quaker…

[Also published on SimplicityProcess.com http://wp.me/p4NMHw-K]

"Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset."  -- Saint Francis de Sales via …

New blog post today on simplicityprocess.com

a href="http://wp.me/p4NMHw-A%3E">http://wp.me/p4NMHw-A>;

New blog post today on simplicityprocess, Inspired by Krista Tippet's new post on the "On Being" website. Lots of resonance here for Quakers.

http://wp.me/p4NMHw-A

Yuletide Greetings,

Do you have a Christmas tree in your home? If so, then you are celebrating an ancient ritual called Yule or Jul, dating back to prehistoric Germanic and Celtic pagans. You are honoring  the Spirit in the trees. Isn't it fascinating how Christianity absorbs and incorporates earlier pagan rituals into its celebration of Jesus' birth?…

http://simplicityprocess.com/2014/12/19/when-the-time-called-christmas-came/

This year, 2014, marks my first “time called Christmas” among the Quakers.

I’m a Baby Quaker, a Proto-Quaker. I first started visiting a Quaker Meeting about nine months ago, so I have been…

One of the difficulties with maintaining a commitment to the Peace Testimony is the elevation of W.W. II to the status of a ‘Good War’.  The idea is that W.W. II is an exception; other wars may be awful, unnecessary, or even evil, but W.W. II is considered to be an example of a necessary and even a virtuous war.  The impact of this view is that the same kind of logic is carried over to contemporary conflicts so that the U.S. attack on Iraq under Bush II was done for righteous and ‘moral’…

Hi Friends

It's that time of the quarter again: QuakerQuaker's Paypal account has run dry and it's time for a special appeal. A couple of internet bills are coming due over the next few weeks and we need a bit of extra help.

Please consider giving what you can as a one-time gift or (if you can) learn how to sign up for monthly…

The is the second part of a series that was previously published in a local paper. I've lightly edited it for this platform; again, although it reflects my Quaker approach to chaplaincy, this isn't explicitly "Quaker." Any thoughts or feedback would be welcome.

Job was a righteous man who lost almost everything: his children, his flocks, and his health. And he was angry about it. He wasn't angry at any particular person, not the bandits who made off with his flocks, not with his…

A Garden Grows: Quakerism in Nazi Germany by Mary Mills, available as an e-book from Amazon or Smashwords through the QUF Bookstore, translates five essays by Hans Albrecht, Clerk of German Yearly Meeting from 1927 to 1947, along with the illustrated album written by children of…

The following is something I published in the local paper; as such, it's not explicitly Quaker, but reflects my Quaker perspective. There's more to come, feedback is welcome.  

Everyone experiences loss at some point in their lives. Death is the largest loss: whether facing our own mortality, or dealing with the passing of a loved one, it is a life-altering experience. But we face many kinds of losses in all parts of our lives, such as the loss of a job, or of a relationship.…

College student Samantha Siebert reached out to ESR's Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies Stephen Angell to complete a questionnaire on Quakerism for a project in her religion class. Below are her questions and his responses. Do you think he got all of the answers right?

The chaplain is not here to tell you that everything will be okay. 

In the long run, maybe. But we get to that "long run" faster when we're willing to be in the moment, even when it's unpleasant. 

I still think the best Biblical advice for helping people cope with loss is found in the book of Job, chapter two, verse thirteen: "They sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw…

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a piece by Stuart Isacoff on Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations."   

In it,…

ESR MA student Tracy Davis completed this essay for her Quaker Mysticism course with Carole Spencer.

Quakers are mystics. Friends testify to a communicative Creator who is both transcendent and immanent, present among us, even within us. Our practices of silent waiting worship, corporate…

Friends United Meeting recently announced that it will soon be publishing a 2nd Edition of Douglas Gwyn's Apocalypse of the…

Standing with two feet on the other shore, the old place fades in the cooling mist. The past things, on the other side of the canyon, are shadowings that no longer overcast and enchant Being. Presence shines inward and fills the space of the old place. I am parallel to the old place, seeing the misty dark forms engulf Being in their outward cast and ruling and guiding Being in their various manifestations and professions. When those casted speak, puffs of mist drift from their mouths…