Monthly Archives: December 2010

The Question: John the Baptist's "Are you the One?" Matt. 11

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Here are some thoughts from a portion of my message this past Sunday on Matt. chapter 11.

In Matthew chapter 11 we find John again sending his disciples out (as he did in Matt. 9) to get a little scouting report on Jesus. This time John is in prison because, as is the case with most prophets, some angry words for the current political regime had been exchanged and King Herod’s feelings got a little hurt. See John had been condemning the fact that Herod had taken his brother Philip’s wife as his own (Matt. 14:1-12). (Preachers Job’s have always been interesting). And that not going over all that great landed John in the dungeon of the royal palace and ultimately it cost him his head.

John was a radical herald, a messenger of The Truth not unlike many early Quakers. A blistery preacher who ate only what he could forage, it’s not surprising that the first place we find him is out in the wild and the last place is in a dungeon. In Scripture, God’s messengers rarely get CEO desk jobs and a company car. And because he was blistery, like many of the apostles, and saints, and Friends, since he paid a dear price. John was the first martyr for the Jesus movement. John was clearly all in with his faith there is no doubt about that, his only doubt was that he wanted to be sure he had the right Messiah. Continue reading →

Book Giveaway: Three Copies of Spirit Rising: Young Quaker Voices

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I don’t know about you but I love free books! So, in the spirit of Christmas I wanted to gift three people with a copy of the book I helped edit and love to share around. The book was published this year by Quaker Press and has been well received by many. The book is a collection of essays representing an international community of young Quakers (between 15 and 35 years old) and covers a broad span of theological convictions, as well as cultures and ways of practicing faith. It is a great snapshot of what it means to be a Quaker in today’s world.  The book was compiled over the course of two years by a team of ten editors. We are proud of the book and feel that there are many very rich writings, poetry, short stories, and reflections that are creative, inspiring and engaging. I think you’ll enjoy it as well (or may find it to be a nice gift for someone else!). If you want to purchase a copy you can go to Quaker Books online and you can find more out about the book on the book’s main webpage. Continue reading →

Logging off from Facebook and Twitter

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Some of you have probably noticed my absence already but last Friday I logged off of Facebook and Twitter for the month of december. Call it a digital detox, social media vacation or just plan weird but I decided I really needed a break over the advent season so that I could be fully present to my family and work at “seeing beyond.” For a couple months I have been thinking a lot about my interactions online, the time it takes up, what I learn from doing it and why I engage in online activities and I have been feeling the need to create some space from these things so that I can have a better perspective on their role in my life (I posted a recent reflection here). So there’s not much else to it. I deleted a lot of my fb and twitter apps on my computer and phone so there’s less temptation and I have a few friends who I know will let me know if they see that I’ve logged on for any reason. So far it really hasn’t been an issue. I’ve enjoyed not worrying about what’s happening online. It’s amazing the amount of mental space that stuff takes up. I’ve felt free and less tethered to my devices. And actually, being less tethered has helped me to see I don’t really need a cell phone at all (or not all the time). So my wife and I are going down to one cell phone to be kept with the car at all times. I am going to place great emphasis on getting a hold of me when I am in physical places such as my office or my home. I have had my life dominated by these things and am finding that a little distance has been very freeing. And who knows what will happen come January, I won’t worry about that until then.

Modest Proposal .pdf Version Available

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Because I’ve been posting about Brent Bill’s recent series of posts about the revitalization of Friends I wanted to alert all of you to the fact that he’s edited all the blog posts down into a .pdf. I was excited to learn he was going to organize them in this way and plan to have copies of these printed out and look forward to reading through them with the elders of our Quaker meeting.

You can view it and download it here.

Seeing Beyond What We See

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At Camas Friends we are thinking about advent season and how it is connected to our sense of sight this year. Here’s something short I’ve written about it:

This advent season we are invited to see the movements of grace all around us. The Christian tradition has for two millenia argued that God once took on human flesh and came to earth in the form a crying little infant (forget whatever it says in “Away in a Manger”). And that baby, rather than be born into the sterility of modern medicine’s “safe” environment, away from all possible threat and rather than be born into the relative security of an imperial power, protected by walls, patrols and money, this baby, Mary’s little Emmanuel, was born in the wild. And as you might expect from the wild, as Mary, his mother courageously gave birth on the floor of a stable, God’s silent creatures in attendance waited to voice their praise. Continue reading →