gathering in light

This may be old news for some of you but last week Quaker Wendy Gonaver, an American Studies professor at Cal State Fullerton here in LA, was fired for refusing to sign the loyalty oath.

The LA Times reports:

As a Quaker from Pennsylvania and a lifelong pacifist, Gonaver objected to the California oath as an infringement of her rights of free speech and religious freedom. She offered to sign the pledge if she could attach a brief statement expressing her views, a practice allowed by other state institutions. But Cal State Fullerton rejected her statement and insisted that she sign the oath if she wanted the job.

“I wanted it on record that I am a pacifist,” said Gonaver, 38. “I was really upset. I didn’t expect to be fired. I was so shocked that I had to do this.”

(From Teacher fired for refusing to sign loyalty oath - Los Angeles Times)

This is the second time in the last year that a Quaker woman has been fired from a teaching Job in California for this reason. I personally am inspired by their witness in this situation, I can’t imagine how difficult it must be. But I have reflected on how I would like to respond if I were in their position. I certainly hope to teach someday, and I wonder if I would be able to lay my job on the line for something I too believe it. [Read more]

Barclay Press, the main Evangelical Quaker publisher, has totally revamped their website and invited five columnists to write for them over the next year. I am one of their columnists, along with Joseph Thouvenel, Pam Ferguson,  Eric Muhr, and Nancy Thomas. The new site and featured columns launched yesterday. I was really excited to receive the invitation to write for Barclay, they’ve played a big role in helping me first get published, their staff is wonderful to work with, and I really like what they’re doing their.  As a press they have a great mix of spirituality and faith in everyday life, emerging and missional church theology and Quaker books available.

 This past weekend I was in Greensboro, North Carolina, at a Quakers United in Publication (QUIP) conference. There was a really great group of people there, writers, publishers, editors, bloggers, you name it, if they’re interested in publishing and they’re Quaker there’s a good chance they were there (or should have been!). I was one of the people accepted to the editorial board for the second Quaker Young Adult book, an edited volume of essays and artwork projected to come out in 2010. The weekend was spent doing a panel for the rest of the QUIP members and then collaborating with my fellow editors on a call for submissions for the book, as well as some basic overall structure for the project, etc. [Read more]

This is the comic from Zits today, a friend of mine sent it to me:

It’s true, I do have pretty wild weekends, all things considered. But I can’t leave the comic alone for getting me right, I’d like to press in on it just a bit. I actually really enjoy this comic strip, it can be fairly accurate in its satire of teenager-dom. That said, there’s a tragic assumption here: that Quakers don’t (need to) study? [Read more]

I decided to take part in Brent Bill’s recent contest to help get the word out about his book. I know Brent through my work with convergent Friends and have enjoyed following his blog and his interest not only in Quakerism but the emerging church. He is the author of a number of books and has a new book releasing this month called “Sacred Compass” from Paraclete Press. Here’s the basic premise of the book:

A compass makes a good metaphor for our spiritual lives and the work of discerning God’s will for them. God doesn’t speak as clearly and as obviously asMapquest or GoogleMaps or GPS. Maybe that’s because we don’t navigate the life of faith via anything remotely resembling GPS. Instead, the divine compass points us the mind and love of God. Our sacred compass operates in our souls and calls us to life with God. As we move toward Divine guidance, we joyfully behold the face of a loving God gazing back at us. 

[Read more]

If you ever get the chance to sit in on a silent Quaker meeting, take the opportunity. It’s not the kind of experience you’ll get just anywhere. Yes, it’s intense. Yes, it’s likely to be extremely difficult to “center down” and focus for an hour, but it’d still be a great exercise in listening. When I see conversations geared to listening, I automatically think of the Quaker tradition. What better group of people to turn to for advice about how to listen? When Quakers meet for worship they reserve a time during the service for complete silence; this silence is a commitment as a community to allowing God space in our worship. But it is rarely ever a “silent worship.” Rather, in worship Quakers listen for the Holy Spirit to move them to action. That is, if the Spirt of God moves you to share/preach/sing, then listening to God involves acting on what was heard. In this way, the practice of silence for Quakers only begins with listening, but true silence always leads to an action. [Read more]

I recently applied to and was accepted to be a part of the editorial board for the upcoming Quaker Youth Book Project, a group that operates as a part of Quakers United in Publication (and here). The project will:

feature short non-fiction prose, poetry and visual art by international young Quakers ages 15-30 from all branches of the Religious Society of Friends, including programmed, unprogrammed, conservative and evangelical traditions, from meetings and churches affiliated with Friends United Meeting (FUM), Friends General Conference (FGC), Evangelical Friends International (EFI), Conservative yearly meetings and independent yearly meetings.

The writing and art included will focus on the personal spiritual experiences, beliefs, and identities of contemporary young Friends. QUIP envisions a book that will spark discussion and dialogue, speak to and lift up the growing youth movement in Quakerism, and act as a catalyst for transformation within the Religious Society of Friends.

I’m really excited about the opportunity not only to get more involved with the Friends, but also to have the chance to work on a project of this nature. I’ll love learning more about publishing and this specific project is certainly in line with my interests as a ‘convergent friend.’ It will also be a great experience for my academic work as well in that I’ll have an opportunity to learn more about all the various Quaker demographics and practices. My first meeting is in North Carolina at the end of the month, I look forward to meeting all the people I’ll be working with.

If you’re a ‘young Friend’ from ages 15-30 be thinking about what you can submit to the book project. I’ll post more on this later when I have more details.  

Ben Pink Dandelion, Quaker professor at the University of Birmingham (UK) and one of my tutors has recently (as in this week) published, The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction with Oxford University Press. It’s a perfect book for someone who knows little about Quakers and doesn’t want to work through his much larger introduction (though I must say it is really good). This shorter intro is the kind of book that will cover all the really important bases: some belief and practices, a little history, key figures and what the Quakers are up to now. If you can’t wait to get your hand then I suggest downloading Dandelion’s lectures he recently did at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Center on the same subject.

To announce his new book Oxford University Press Blog did a (very short) interview with him, which can be read here. It’s a great interview, it is short but contains some worthy gems, like when he is asked whether the Iraq War has helped to increase Quaker membership: [Read more]