123 Book Meme applied to Douglas Gwyn

Robin M. tagged me with the "page 123" meme. A long time ago in Internet time: over 10 days ago! Yikes. The rules of the meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
2. Find page 123
3. Find the first 5 sentences
4. Post the next 3 sentences
5. Tag 5 people

I'm breaking rule 1, because the computer lives on Robin's desk. The topmost book on my bedside table lately is Douglas Gwyn's Apocalypse of the Word (Richmond, Ind.: Friends United Press, 1986). So here it is:

Here Fox's incarnational emphasis comes through with full force:

...for feeling God's word in the heart to obey it, you come to know that which the prophets and apostles witnessed, the word of life which became flesh [John 1:4], which is Christ in us....

This incarnation receives its highest realization, as we have previously noted, in the Church: [the] word became flesh, and dwelt among us; so he (christ) is the head of the Church...."

I'm honored to be tagged with my first meme, but, like Paul L., I can't keep track of which Quaker bloggers did or didn't do this meme already, so "tag yourself," as Paul said. (Just loved his Canon Office All-in One Pixma MP830 User's Guide, though!)

Here's another quote I liked from the Gwyn book (page 142):

Two closely related ways that the community of faith as a whole answers the light in men and women are the love and unity of Friends with one another. Fox in his own life had a profound sense of God's love, so much so that he speaks of being 'ravished' by the love of God. And his life in this relationship bespeaks a dynamic in which his love for God is not one of pious gratitude, as Calvin describes the Christian life, but of passionate desire. In the community that his message gathered, this love spreads in all directions, as the Friends of Christ (John 15:14) are bonded in love, joined in the one seed.

This love and unity are a powerful witness to the world, one which convinced many who saw Quakers together. It is not a coalition of shared self-interests, but a self-giving faithfulness in which the seed in one person nourishes the seed in the other.