Gathering In Light

Featured

The Little Prince, Children and Receiving the Kingdom of God (Mark 10:13-16)

This is the message I gave at Camas Friends Church, June 24, 2012. “People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children

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Hello/Goodbye: On Coming, Going and Our Testimonies

This is the message I brought to worship on May 13, 2012. If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, testifying concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God’s

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Rodney King & The Images of (In)justice

We just learned today that Rodney King was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool on father’s day. King, who himself was a father, is a tragic figure in the landscape of recent American culture. He struggled with addiction, never fully healed from the beatings he received

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There Is No Big Red Phone

In preparation for me taking paternity leave as soon as #3 arrives (I constantly imagine the baby singing Dylan’s lines “Any day now, any day now, I shall be released) the church has set aside today’s “message” and the next two Sundays’ messages to be led by people

Quotations

I Have Only Today (Prayer)

This is one of my favorite prayers and one that was brought to my attention again today. My life is an instant,  An hour which passes by;  My life is a moment  Which I have no power to stay.  You know, O my God,  That to love you here on

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What is Born of God?

One of my constant “growing edges” in life and faith is the negotiation of what is my responsibility and what is God’s. When I stop and take a look at what is happening around me, and through me, I am often surprised by how much I live as though

Featured

Amazon Takes on Quakerism?

Some of the Basics* Amazon is one of those companies that’s kind of off-limits for the typical American consumer. I mean, who owns a computer and hasn’t purchased at least one thing from Amazon? I   know I have. And who can argue with such a “successful” business model?

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Isaac Penington to Elizabeth Walmsley 1670

I’ve often shared quotes from one of my favorite early Quakers, Isaac Penington, here’s a thought from him for the day: Truly the Lord hath done great things for us! He hath given us the sight and knowledge of himself in his Son, which is life eternal: he

Featured

The Politics of Scapegoating (John 12:20-33)

The politics of Scapegoating or “Scapegoating, Treyvon Martin and Seeds Falling” // The message I gave on March 25, 2012 (John 12:20-33) _Headlines of a Scapegoat There are a lot of things happening that have caught my attention in the news recently: One of the recent news pieces that has

Quotations

We Must Awaken to Hope…

We must awaken to hope, resisting the temptation to despair that history cannot be any different, that another world is not in fact possible. Here we must remember our sisters Shiphrah and Purah [Hebrew midwives who disobeyed the king of Egypt] and all who have danced defiantly in their footsteps

Poetry

They Have Threatened Us With Resurrection (1980) By Julia Esquivel

A powerful and challenging poem I came across this week. They Have Threatened Us With Resurrection (1980) by Julia Esquivel; translated by Ann Woehrle It isn’t the noise in the streets that keeps us from resting, my friend, nor is it the shouts of the young people coming out

Blog Entries

Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers) Second Edition

There’s a new edition of the Historical Dictionary of Friends, which I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to write two articles for: one on convergent Friends and one on Freedom Friends Church. The Dictionary is especially helpful for those working on academic areas of Quakerism, though it

Quotations

To Change the World Enough by Alice Walker

To change the world enough you must cease to be afraid of the poor. We experience your fear as the least pardonable of humiliations; in the past it has sent us scurrying off daunted and ashamed into the shadows. Now, the world ending the only one all of us have

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The Minister’s Work (George Fox)

The minister’s work is to go from house to house and warn all both small and great, yea, with tears. This is the word of the ministry in the Spirit – In the Spirit that gave forth the scriptures and so brought people into the life that gave them forth,

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If I Had A Hammer (John 2:13-23)

This is the message I gave at Camas Friends Church on Sunday March 11, 2012 “The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip

Featured

Occupy and Convergent Friends

A couple of years ago I had an article published in the Quaker Studies periodical called “Convergent Friends: The Emergence of Postmodern Quakerism” that attempted to identify some of the features of convergent Friends. Convergent Friends is a hybrid Quakerism that attempts draw together the best parts of the Quaker

The Pastorate

“On the Harm We Have Done” (A Prayer)

Here is a moving prayer confessing the harm that we the church can too often cause: OUR Father, we look back on the years that are gone and shame and sorrow come upon us, for the harm we have done to others rises up in our mem- ory to accuse

Quotations

Kierkegaard: Christianity & Sitting Safe and Calm

A quote I came across today that helped me make sense of Mark 8:27-37: To want to admire instead of to follow Christ is not necessarily an invention by bad people.   No, it is more an invention by those who spinelessly keep themselves detached, who keep themselves at a

Blog Entries

A Pile of Ash

Ash Wednesday by Elvis Perkins No one will survive Ash Wednesday alive No soldier no lover No father no mother Not a lonely child In the up and in the bedroom A black and white of the bride and the groom Will bring me to my knees With the colorized

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Befriending the Stranger – Jean Vanier

Here’s a passage from Jean Vanier’s “Befriending the Stranger” that I felt was worthy to post here: Jesus came into the world to re-create it, to give it back its full meaning to take away our limited vision of life, a vision which prevents the birth of hope

Blog Entries

Teaching My First Seminary Class

This week I had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with my first ever class. I’ve been teaching a course online for George Fox Seminary called “Culture and Systems Change” since the beginning of January, but since it is what they call a “hybrid” course, that means that we also

Blog Entries

Gustavo Gutierrez’s Definition of Poverty

Gustavo Gutierrez’s Definition of Poverty: “What then does being poor mean? I believe that a good definition does not exist; but we can approximate it if we say that the poor are the non-persons, the ‘in-significant ones,’ the ones that don’t count either for the rest of society,

Featured

On Integrity: Mirrors, Ships and Living Truthfully (James 1:19-27)

This was the message I gave during our meeting for worship at Camas Friends this past Sunday. James 1:22   But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who

Quotations

‘what thou hast been to me in the night’ James Nayler (A Psalm)

I’ve was reading a variety of quotes from early Friends in preparation for my message on Sunday and stumbled ever so timely on this one. It speaks to my current condition as something I really needed to hear: It is in my heart to praise thee O my God,

Reviews

Review: All Labor Has Dignity – Martin Luther King, Jr.

The book, All Labor Has Dignity,” is a collection of Martin Luther King, Jr’s speeches edited by Michael Honey, a scholar of labor and African-American history. There are a number of speeches/sermons that have never been put into print before that Honey was able to track down and