gathering in light

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]

Last week I did a lecture in class on John Caputo’s most recent book,What Would Jesus Deconstruct? I have mixed feelings about the book (more on this later) but I think in either case he makes some very helpful comments. The class I am currently a TA for is Mission in Contemporary Culture. In it we basically look at the world of cultural studies and how it (or if) it can be used in the church and in theology. Caputo’s book is a great example of deconstruction (I’ll hesitantly call a method used in culture studies) meeting the church.

Caputo takes as his starting point Charles Sheldon’s classic late nineteenth century text In His Steps (where we get the famed question WWJD?) and looks at the interruption of the homeless man entering the worship service and breaking down as an example of deconstruction. That is, during a worship service, is the is the unexpected and uninvited that transforms, the exact opposite of what was ‘programmed’ or planned for worship.

The man says,

I’m not an ordinary tramp, though I don’t know of any teaching of Jesus that makes one kind of a tramp less worth saving than another. Do you?…It seems to me there’s an awful lot of trouble in the world that somehow wouldn’t exist if all the people who sing such songs went and lived them out. I suppose I don’t understand. But what would Jesus do?

Caputo, What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, 20-21

[Read more]

I had the chance to have a little road trip and drive down on Friday to San Diego and go to AAR (American Academy of Religion). I went down because of the Quaker theological discussion group that met from 4-10pm. I had a really great time meeting tons of new faces and Quaker scholars I’ve heard about (and often read) but haven’t met. I was really pleased to meet Paul Anderson, Corey Beals, Carole Spencer and Robert Gonzalez, among others. Oh, and it was really fun seeing Margery Post Abbott again as well. There were two sessions for the night. The first was called “A Quaker Sacramentology,” and while all the papers that were read we really interesting and put together well, they seemed to mainly present classic Quaker arguments for why historically we have the particular perspectives on the Sacraments we hold. But, to be honest, I found the criticisms more interesting and exciting then the papers themselves and would really like to see some of these criticisms fleshed out better (something I’ve attempted to begin in my Quaker Life article, “Sacramental Living, Redemptive Practices and Convergent Friends,” March/April 2007.)

[Read more]

Kevin Roberts, creator and editor of Conservativefriend.org, has posted an article I wrote for the site titled “Convergent Friendship and Playing With the ‘Other’ Kids” it reflects upon my experience in Ohio as well as some thoughts on Quakers and ecumenicism. If you get a chance jump over and have a look.