I had a conversation with a Friend today who had led a book group at our meeting recently. They read God's Politics by Jim Wallis. She said there was a regular group of about 12, a third of whom were into the politics of it, a third of whom despaired of anything to do with national or global politics, and a third of whom didn't believe in God and wanted to criticize anything to do with organized religion!
It struck me as odd that a person who was so disgusted with organized religion would (a) show up at a Quaker meeting regularly, and (b) read a book called God's Politics.
The answer to (a) is that we unprogrammed liberal Quakers are the least "organized" of the organized religions. Sometimes to our detriment, like when we do a worse job of organizing a Quaker children's program than we would a political rally for children's rights, but that's a different rant.
My Friend's answer to (b) was that, hey, they wanted other people to talk to and this was a nice group of people to hang out with.
I was left thinking about the creative tension involved with being a hospitable, welcoming place, including for "religious refugees," while at the same time being a community where we can support, both individually and collectively, growing together in the Light, to quote Will T.
- - -
I typed the following passage up some time ago to hold in reserve. I'm publishing it now in light of the conversation today.
It's by Martha Paxson Grundy, from an essay called "Christ Teaching Us," published in Walk Worthy of Your Calling, edited by Peggy Senger Parsons and Margery Post Abbott, p. 130. (Buy it at Quaker Books of FGC!)
My vision of the mission God has given to unprogrammed Friends has been twofold. The first part is to provide a "gateway" for seekers and social activists....
But the other half of our mission is to invite those who enter the "gateway" into a growing, deepening experience of a Quakerism that is more than an absence of the things some seekers have rejected. We have a vision provided by our seventeenth-century spiritual ancestors whose lives were radically changed because they moved into increasingly compltee obedience to Christ.... The half of our mission that involves living into this vision is not done very well. I meet people who are hungry for increased authenticity--for posessing God's Truth and not just professing it, or assuming that because we are Quakers we automatically have it. If our meetings are content to stop at the "gateway," these people will go elsewhere, because they will be fed. That breaks my heart because the Quaker vision, as it was experienced and can be lived with newness now, has so much that answers the anguish of our times.
- - -
Simon St. Laurent is posting excerpts from H. Larry Ingle's First Among Friends over at Light and Silence. I found this post to illustrate how early Friends answered the anguish of their times.
I find many of the Quaker blogs to be living into the search for authenticity that Marty writes about. Some use the language of Christianity. Some use the language of the Light. Some use the language of non-theism, or "atheology" as James Riemermann called it. I'm not so bothered by the differences in language. I'm excited by the willingness to reveal, to share, to be vulnerable, to seek together in love.
6/09/2006
Physical Mental and Spiritual Health of Children
A week ago Friday I attended the annual regional conference of the Bay Area Open Space Council.
One featured speaker, Ray Minjares, is a grad student at UC Berkeley in public health. He gave a talk on the public health costs of poorly planned growth; i.e., Sprawl! (See my post Supersize Me! The Housing Problem as a Spiritual Matter, too.) This is a necessary and important conversation for the environmental community to be having with planners and with public health professionals.
Another featured speaker was Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder..
He was an unassuming but very powerful speaker, thanks to his ideas. And slogans! He said he resisted the publisher's desire to take the phrase "nature deficit disorder" from the book and elevate it to the title. "That just shows how much I know about marketing," he said.
Another great slogan: "No child left inside!"
Cheers and clapping. "That's my only guaranteed applause line," he said.
He finds this issue resonates with nearly everyone. A "doorway issue," where people can walk through the door together even if they don't agree on much. And a "wedge issue," where environmentalists can peel off support from people who would otherwise appear to be opponents.
Louv related a story about the woods near where he grew up, how he felt he owned those woods. Yet he had no idea those woods were in any way connected to any other woods, or that there might be forests in trouble in other parts of the world. Today, the reverse is true: Lots of kids know about the problems of the Amazon rain forest, but few of them could tell you when they last stood in the woods and simply looked at leaves.
Louv also talked about writing a chapter on the impact on children's spiritual health of not having enough nature nearby. He said he was very careful how he wrote it, because he didn't want to offend Christian conservatives (and thereby have them miss the point of the book). He had a neighbor who is a conservative Christian read it, and she liked it. He hasn't received any negative comments about that chapter yet.
I was browsing through Flickr today for photos of where I grew up, and found some lovely ones here and here. I was blessed to live in an exurb where there were still small working farms nearby, and woods in the backyard. Now, I count my sons lucky that we live across the street from a park where there is a variety of form: tennis courts, baseball and soccer fields, playground, and also hills, paths among bushes, and lots of trees.
One featured speaker, Ray Minjares, is a grad student at UC Berkeley in public health. He gave a talk on the public health costs of poorly planned growth; i.e., Sprawl! (See my post Supersize Me! The Housing Problem as a Spiritual Matter, too.) This is a necessary and important conversation for the environmental community to be having with planners and with public health professionals.
Another featured speaker was Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder..
He was an unassuming but very powerful speaker, thanks to his ideas. And slogans! He said he resisted the publisher's desire to take the phrase "nature deficit disorder" from the book and elevate it to the title. "That just shows how much I know about marketing," he said.
Another great slogan: "No child left inside!"
Cheers and clapping. "That's my only guaranteed applause line," he said.
He finds this issue resonates with nearly everyone. A "doorway issue," where people can walk through the door together even if they don't agree on much. And a "wedge issue," where environmentalists can peel off support from people who would otherwise appear to be opponents.
Louv related a story about the woods near where he grew up, how he felt he owned those woods. Yet he had no idea those woods were in any way connected to any other woods, or that there might be forests in trouble in other parts of the world. Today, the reverse is true: Lots of kids know about the problems of the Amazon rain forest, but few of them could tell you when they last stood in the woods and simply looked at leaves.
Louv also talked about writing a chapter on the impact on children's spiritual health of not having enough nature nearby. He said he was very careful how he wrote it, because he didn't want to offend Christian conservatives (and thereby have them miss the point of the book). He had a neighbor who is a conservative Christian read it, and she liked it. He hasn't received any negative comments about that chapter yet.
I was browsing through Flickr today for photos of where I grew up, and found some lovely ones here and here. I was blessed to live in an exurb where there were still small working farms nearby, and woods in the backyard. Now, I count my sons lucky that we live across the street from a park where there is a variety of form: tennis courts, baseball and soccer fields, playground, and also hills, paths among bushes, and lots of trees.
6/02/2006
Describing Quaker Faith
I knew a birthright Friend on the East Coast a dozen years ago who had grown up in the Albany area, and was then living in Manhattan, just a few blocks away from me. We were near the 15th Street Monthly Meeting. Yet he didn't attend much if ever. In fact, I met Michael at a Friends Committee on National Legislation meeting in Washington, DC.
I'll never forget the intense conversation another Friend and I had with him as we walked around the neighborhood near the conference center one evening. We were talking about some aspect of Quakerism.
"I have friends who are not at all religious, but I know they are saved!" he said fervently at one point.
I almost wanted to back away from him. What was a person who'd grown up Quaker doing talking about whether people were "saved"? And feeling so intensely convinced of the Truth he was conveying -- they were saved -- and that it mattered so much to him? His energy and intensity and conviction burned into me. We never did have much contact, but I do remember that encounter.
- - - - -
Over at Growing Together in the Light, Will T. writes in this post, "I do not mean to imply that we should have a creed or statement of belief but that we need to find a core understanding of Quakerism that we at least agree to wrestle with to be able to continue as a religious community."
I agree! And just how are we to define that core understanding, when many of us have such different vocabularies? Most of the time I think we're describing much the same thing, from different vantage points. But are we? It seems like all of us wonder, at times.
- - - - -
I recently re-read Samuel Caldwell's 11/1998 evening talk at Pendle Hill, "The Time Has Come to Choose." The choice he posits is between Quaker faith, as against Quaker culture (full text available here). I liked what he had to say so much that I hand-wrote it into my journal, and now I'm retyping it rather than copy it:
- - - -
It was Caldwell's definition of "saved" and "condemned" that had me remembering Michael from New York. These are terms I resonate with. And the agency of free will in choosing one over the other is clear. God has given us that ability, and waits in expectant worship for us to find the Way.
Similarly, Will T.'s "This is Eternal Life" speaks to me in a way I might not have been able to hear well a dozen years ago. I found it breathtaking.
What do you think? What is your core understanding? Where do you find the Life, the Truth, and the Way?
I'll never forget the intense conversation another Friend and I had with him as we walked around the neighborhood near the conference center one evening. We were talking about some aspect of Quakerism.
"I have friends who are not at all religious, but I know they are saved!" he said fervently at one point.
I almost wanted to back away from him. What was a person who'd grown up Quaker doing talking about whether people were "saved"? And feeling so intensely convinced of the Truth he was conveying -- they were saved -- and that it mattered so much to him? His energy and intensity and conviction burned into me. We never did have much contact, but I do remember that encounter.
- - - - -
Over at Growing Together in the Light, Will T. writes in this post, "I do not mean to imply that we should have a creed or statement of belief but that we need to find a core understanding of Quakerism that we at least agree to wrestle with to be able to continue as a religious community."
I agree! And just how are we to define that core understanding, when many of us have such different vocabularies? Most of the time I think we're describing much the same thing, from different vantage points. But are we? It seems like all of us wonder, at times.
- - - - -
I recently re-read Samuel Caldwell's 11/1998 evening talk at Pendle Hill, "The Time Has Come to Choose." The choice he posits is between Quaker faith, as against Quaker culture (full text available here). I liked what he had to say so much that I hand-wrote it into my journal, and now I'm retyping it rather than copy it:
God gives to every human being to every human being who comes into the world – regardless of race, religion, gender, or station – a measure of the eternal Light to be inwardly guided by on a daily basis. That Inner Light is supernatural, personal, universal, saving, eternal, persistent, and pure. The chief end of religious life is to learn to listen to and act upon the promptings of this Light under the authority of God and within the bonds of human community. Those who learn to heed the promptings of this Light come to be “saved” – that is, they come into fullness and wholeness of life and right relationship with God, themselves, the universe, and one another. Those who resist, ignore, or otherwise deny the workings of this pure spirit within them, though they profess themselves to be religious, are “condemned” – that is, they become alienated from God, from themselves, from the universe, and from one another.
That’s it. That’s the whole enchilada.
- - - -
It was Caldwell's definition of "saved" and "condemned" that had me remembering Michael from New York. These are terms I resonate with. And the agency of free will in choosing one over the other is clear. God has given us that ability, and waits in expectant worship for us to find the Way.
Similarly, Will T.'s "This is Eternal Life" speaks to me in a way I might not have been able to hear well a dozen years ago. I found it breathtaking.
What do you think? What is your core understanding? Where do you find the Life, the Truth, and the Way?
5/25/2006
A lovely spring College Park Quarter
What a lovely time we had together this past weekend at College Park Quarterly Meeting. It was made deeper by two things: First, it was the last spring quarterly meeting the Sullivan family would be our hosts at Ben Lomond Quaker Center, and in fact Traci Hjelt-Sullivan has already gone to Philadelphia to start her new job as gathering coordinator beginning with next year’s Friends General Conference gathering. The goodbyes were many, varied, and sweet. For example, the teens gave Walter a Quaker Center Camp t-shirt they had colored and signed.
The plenary meeting for worship with a concern for business adopted a lovely minute of appreciation and gratitude for the work of the Sullivans. I had suggested including the whole of the Fox quote about “be patterns, be examples, … walk cheerfully across the earth answering that of God in every one.” It really resonated. In fact, one Friend stifled sobs when that part was read aloud, and I knew it was good.
Second, we did actual business in our small groups—not just sharing, which can be lovely or it can be dry, and it’s usually highly focused on the individual. Instead, our Ministry and Oversight Committee asked us to read aloud two or three state of the meeting reports from across the Quarter. We then responded to some simple queries about how did we hear Truth prospering, where were the spiritual strengths and weaknesses, and what was the one thing we thought needed to be brought back before the entire plenary.
It was a very effective exercise. I was fortunate to be in the group that had my own meeting’s report, and it definitely gave me a new perspective. First, others expressed in words some difficulties they had with the report which I had felt but hadn’t found words to express (primarily, that it was wordy and listed lots of things we’re doing, so it was hard to hear how was Spirit moving among us). Second, some Friends confirmed my own (and Robin M.’s) sense that our meeting is actually quite functional and thriving in many ways, though of course we have our limitations, too.
A weighty Friend also said that these reports are full of the things we do, yet we need to report on who we are – inside. “And I’m saying that as a confirmed and committed activist!” he added.
I would like more annual sessions and meetings for business to be like this. I found it more helpful than just individualized reflections. To ask how is Truth prospering among us (collectively as well as individually) is a basic query that is frequently appropriate.
Another nice thing: We get to go back this weekend, for San Francisco Monthly Meeting's annual retreat! Hm, maybe I'll sing a song from JC Superstar for the talent show. ;-)
PS Special shout-out to the New Young Elder! :)
The plenary meeting for worship with a concern for business adopted a lovely minute of appreciation and gratitude for the work of the Sullivans. I had suggested including the whole of the Fox quote about “be patterns, be examples, … walk cheerfully across the earth answering that of God in every one.” It really resonated. In fact, one Friend stifled sobs when that part was read aloud, and I knew it was good.
Second, we did actual business in our small groups—not just sharing, which can be lovely or it can be dry, and it’s usually highly focused on the individual. Instead, our Ministry and Oversight Committee asked us to read aloud two or three state of the meeting reports from across the Quarter. We then responded to some simple queries about how did we hear Truth prospering, where were the spiritual strengths and weaknesses, and what was the one thing we thought needed to be brought back before the entire plenary.
It was a very effective exercise. I was fortunate to be in the group that had my own meeting’s report, and it definitely gave me a new perspective. First, others expressed in words some difficulties they had with the report which I had felt but hadn’t found words to express (primarily, that it was wordy and listed lots of things we’re doing, so it was hard to hear how was Spirit moving among us). Second, some Friends confirmed my own (and Robin M.’s) sense that our meeting is actually quite functional and thriving in many ways, though of course we have our limitations, too.
A weighty Friend also said that these reports are full of the things we do, yet we need to report on who we are – inside. “And I’m saying that as a confirmed and committed activist!” he added.
I would like more annual sessions and meetings for business to be like this. I found it more helpful than just individualized reflections. To ask how is Truth prospering among us (collectively as well as individually) is a basic query that is frequently appropriate.
Another nice thing: We get to go back this weekend, for San Francisco Monthly Meeting's annual retreat! Hm, maybe I'll sing a song from JC Superstar for the talent show. ;-)
PS Special shout-out to the New Young Elder! :)
5/12/2006
Quick takes
I thought I'd do a traditional "weblog" type of post about some stuff that's caught my attention of late:
- Rich Accetta-Evans continues his thoughtful exploration of Christianity and Quakerism at Brooklyn Quaker. He's going to tempt me into the sin of pride: Get thee behind me, Rich!
- Frannie Hall Kieschnick called me today, in response to a note I wrote to her (blogged about here recently). She said she'd like to find ways for people who are not in seminary to get involved with The Beatitudes Society. I told her I was encouraging some Quakers to learn about their work. We're going to talk more.
- She also said her husband had found my blog post. Eep! Be careful what you say in public on your blog! :) (I don't have a TV, so I honestly hadn't heard of her brother before.... this makes more sense if you go back to the original post...)
- Frannie also mentioned a front-page story in the S.F. Chronicle about how Glenn Greenwald's How Would a Patriot Act: Defending America from a President Run Amok has become a best-seller through promotion on blogs, not through the mainstream. Working Assets is publishing it.
- As Quakers well know, NSA is spying on everyone, except a few million Qwest customers. Here's Working Asset's response: Hang up on the NSA! Quote: "Working Assets is the only telephone company participating in the ACLU's lawsuit against the National Security Agency." Okay, I don't want this to be some kind of commercial, so go read FCNL's statement, "No blank check for domestic spying", too. Thanks.
- I'm intrigued by Neil Young's multichannel new media promotion for his new album, Living With War, which includes songs such as "Impeach the President." Not deep, but it rocks. Anyway, he's got (or his marketing agency does anyway) a blog on Blogger, a MySpace page, and they were streaming the album on the web before you could even buy it. Very smart marketing.
- I really like the song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, which was supposedly #1 in UK based solely on downloads. I heard it on KFOG, the well-known FM rock station in SF, but they didn't put it on their website playlist! Fortunately I'd heard a DJ on another station mention the name of the band, which I thought was Snarls Barkley. Hooray for Google, I got the right hit eventually.
- Finally, last night I led the "Stewardship" workshop of our new expanded SPICES workshop series at the SF Friends School. It was a rich experience. It felt spiritually grounded, and not an opportunity for political harangue, which given the ecologically troubled times was an achievement in itself. Thanks to Stephen and Chad for being presenters!
- Rich Accetta-Evans continues his thoughtful exploration of Christianity and Quakerism at Brooklyn Quaker. He's going to tempt me into the sin of pride: Get thee behind me, Rich!
- Frannie Hall Kieschnick called me today, in response to a note I wrote to her (blogged about here recently). She said she'd like to find ways for people who are not in seminary to get involved with The Beatitudes Society. I told her I was encouraging some Quakers to learn about their work. We're going to talk more.
- She also said her husband had found my blog post. Eep! Be careful what you say in public on your blog! :) (I don't have a TV, so I honestly hadn't heard of her brother before.... this makes more sense if you go back to the original post...)
- Frannie also mentioned a front-page story in the S.F. Chronicle about how Glenn Greenwald's How Would a Patriot Act: Defending America from a President Run Amok has become a best-seller through promotion on blogs, not through the mainstream. Working Assets is publishing it.
- As Quakers well know, NSA is spying on everyone, except a few million Qwest customers. Here's Working Asset's response: Hang up on the NSA! Quote: "Working Assets is the only telephone company participating in the ACLU's lawsuit against the National Security Agency." Okay, I don't want this to be some kind of commercial, so go read FCNL's statement, "No blank check for domestic spying", too. Thanks.
- I'm intrigued by Neil Young's multichannel new media promotion for his new album, Living With War, which includes songs such as "Impeach the President." Not deep, but it rocks. Anyway, he's got (or his marketing agency does anyway) a blog on Blogger, a MySpace page, and they were streaming the album on the web before you could even buy it. Very smart marketing.
- I really like the song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, which was supposedly #1 in UK based solely on downloads. I heard it on KFOG, the well-known FM rock station in SF, but they didn't put it on their website playlist! Fortunately I'd heard a DJ on another station mention the name of the band, which I thought was Snarls Barkley. Hooray for Google, I got the right hit eventually.
- Finally, last night I led the "Stewardship" workshop of our new expanded SPICES workshop series at the SF Friends School. It was a rich experience. It felt spiritually grounded, and not an opportunity for political harangue, which given the ecologically troubled times was an achievement in itself. Thanks to Stephen and Chad for being presenters!
5/08/2006
Guest Epistle to the Distracted
GUEST POST: Lisa Hubbell wrote the following epistle at the spring 2006 Christian Friends Conference gathering, at which Krista Barnard did a presentation on the Epistles, and suggested participants write their own. (I'm registered for Krista's FGC Gathering workshop, Finding ourselves in the Bible. I definitely "found myself" in Lisa's epistle.) Thanks to Lisa for her permission to reprint here.
-----
Epistle to the Distracted
(Lisa Hubbell, 3/25/06)
Dear one:
You're not yourself lately.
I don't see the joy of the Spirit filling you up and overflowing
as it once did.
Slow down.
Take the time to drink and be refreshed at God's well,
instead of filling your body and your mind and your heart and your time
with distractions that do nothing to bring you closer to God.
Stop.
Breathe.
Remember.
Don't you know that God is always with you, always available?
Well, yes, you can say you know that.
But how often do you really feel God's presence,
really let God in,
really open yourself to letting God work on you, heal you, change you?
I know that you're afraid, that you're holding back tears,
that you sometimes feel like you're on the brink of falling apart.
Dear one, there is nothing wrong with that.
It may be the best place you could possibly be —
so close to falling into God's arms, if you would only let yourself go.
Dear one, God is calling you.
And there is joy in the surrender.
It is only your own stubborn choice
that ever leaves you carrying any burden alone.
God is standing at the door, knocking.
Listen.
Rise.
Answer.
-----
Epistle to the Distracted
(Lisa Hubbell, 3/25/06)
Dear one:
You're not yourself lately.
I don't see the joy of the Spirit filling you up and overflowing
as it once did.
Slow down.
Take the time to drink and be refreshed at God's well,
instead of filling your body and your mind and your heart and your time
with distractions that do nothing to bring you closer to God.
Stop.
Breathe.
Remember.
Don't you know that God is always with you, always available?
Well, yes, you can say you know that.
But how often do you really feel God's presence,
really let God in,
really open yourself to letting God work on you, heal you, change you?
I know that you're afraid, that you're holding back tears,
that you sometimes feel like you're on the brink of falling apart.
Dear one, there is nothing wrong with that.
It may be the best place you could possibly be —
so close to falling into God's arms, if you would only let yourself go.
Dear one, God is calling you.
And there is joy in the surrender.
It is only your own stubborn choice
that ever leaves you carrying any burden alone.
God is standing at the door, knocking.
Listen.
Rise.
Answer.
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