Every Meeting for Worship has its own character. Some are more silent than vocal, others more vocal than silent. I've been present for both iterations. Due to a divorce, I've been forced to relocate back home. I arrived around six months ago and believed I was assimilating well until today. I attend the Meeting where I first found the faith and was convinced,…

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get…

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get…

Previously seated in my kitchen, I was brought to my feet, feeling handcuffs snap tightly around my left wrist. It was clear where I was headed, but it wasn't to jail. A petition had been put out on me, and my…

Written originally for a Non-Quaker audience.

We as Americans are divided along political and ideological lines, surely, but what gets less attention is how divided we are along moral lines. Though I write as a person of faith, we are not yet so divorced from the notion of basic upright precepts that we no longer have any shared definitions of…

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.-Isaiah 41:10

The above verse is enclosed more for my partner and her family than myself. My regular readers have recognized I've taken an extended break from writing. This is due to a death in…

I write again about the best way a contentious situation in a Meeting might be resolved. It's easier to use myself as an example. Below is one way that Meeting concerns might best be resolved, concerns best put aside as responsibly as possible, with a minimum of hurt feelings and confusion. To wit, it has become known to me that my old Meeting for Worship has…

Donald Trump is many things to many people, most of them rotten to the core. Thinking people rightly see him as a threat to Democracy and basic decency. But you don't have to go to college or be highly educated to see the threat present in his ascent. I see an electorate that is underwhelmed and even discouraged by the major party candidates, but when it comes…

Some years back, the committee of which I was clerk decided to Elder a Friend for sharing vocal ministry too frequently. As long-term readers may recall, I aimed to deal as fairly with him as I could, but he took immediate offense and never returned to Meeting again. I wanted to open a free-flowing dialogue based on mutual respect, but he was content to take…

My partner’s mother hails from conservative small town Texas. Now pushing seventy, I’ve heard her tell the same story on numerous occasions. It must have left quite a lasting impression, as I hear it every time I’m visiting family during the holidays. The latest retelling is always delivered with a kind of amused pity. She relates to the…

For the sake of full disclosure and complete transparency, let me state for the record my religious past. I was raised, baptized, and confirmed a United Methodist. At the age of seventeen, well into teenage rebellion, I became a heathen Unitarian Universalist. This lasted for eight years, whereupon I dramatically renounced UUism and returned again to my…

A study of the past shows that times of great societal reform often come only from armed combat. This is a disquieting thought to those who espouse non-violence and peaceful reconciliation. The English Civil War led directly to the formation of the Religious Society of Friends. The Puritan Revolution, it is sometimes termed, was a grand and dramatic epoch where, as…

10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are…

At the last stop along my religious journey, I was summoned to meet with the clerk of the Meeting and the alternate clerk. The reason was never expressed until I arrived, and I have to admit that it felt a little like I was being sent to the principal’s office. After I sat down and listened to the argument presented me, I was instructed to not make written…

If we are followers of Jesus, are we willing to emulate our Lord at the expense of our very well-being, our health? We know of Christians who are persecuted daily in far flung lands. We know of Friends who were jailed and even killed for their religious daring. Our faith reminds us of the sacrifices of our forefathers and foremothers who dared to spread a…

The cynic rejects organized religion because of the perceived damage it creates to the believer. The atheist believes in no higher power, no higher authority. The atheist may observe nothing, but the cynic observes everything.

Certain biblical narratives in the life of Jesus could be said to invoke guilt to enforce belief. Matthew 23 speaks harshly to…

I'm not out in this post to air any personal grievances. A Friend told me, in more profane terms, that there are a certain amount of cares one can give about any contentious subject. There comes a time in every person's life where change is necessary, even changing houses of worship. I'm keeping this post simple and short for now, but may expand its focus as…

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Matthew 10:14

God never promises the perfect house of worship, city, and demographic makeup. Our own founder, George Fox, wandered for years in eternal search for those very things. My father's mother, the daughter…

I've heard a variety of conflicting opinions about sharing my mental illness within a Meeting. In the best case scenario, I am lifted up as a symbol of courage in the face of adversity. In the worst case scenario, I am pitied in a condescending sort of fashion. My perspectives are discounted and the only thing people can view about me is my illness. The same…