November 2009
“Definition: “Quaker monarchy system: Try to arrive at a consensus and if...”
– Jim Lehrer describing the decision-making process at his news show: Stressing the Web, ‘NewsHour’ Begins an Overhaul.
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Is desperation the mother of reinvention?... →
Changes at PBS’s News Hour:
Until recently, the employees who worked on the Web site of “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” on PBS were based in a building a brisk five-minute walk through city traffic from their on-air colleagues. The Web and television staffs interacted only at Mr. Lehrer’s annual holiday party. “They were all the recognizably young ones,” said Linda Winslow, the show’s...
How'd Amy on what we teach our kids →
The youth culture of our liberal Friends really has little to do with much of anything else. It’s segregated and it’s not even slightly religious. It can be wonderful and close and nurturing. It can…
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“Quakerism was meant to be what might be called an ‘Interior Life’ Society; not...”
– Hannah Whitall Smith, quoted by Thomas Hamm in the new issue of Quest: Quaker Theology.
Nick Block: Disenfrancishment: Quakerism is not a... →
In Quakerism, the one voice we need to hear and the one to whom we want to be obedient is that of the Holy Spirit. Our problem, and what makes us look like a democracy, is that we don‟t know who…
Emergent churcher Mike Morrell on @jonwatts Quaker... →
I think it’s great for continuing discussion about the tension Dallas Willard names in The Divine Conspiracy between traditional and progressive Christians, the former of whom worship Jesus for what…
Gene Hillman on the Quaker Gospel →
I take the Quaker Gospel to be Fox’s statement that “Christ [sometimes he said God] has come to teach His people Himself.” When Christ/God is among us, as in the painting “The Presence in the Midst,”…
C Wess Daniels on the debts we are called to... →
Our (Western) tendency is to think of forgiveness in terms of personal wrongdoings, forgiveness is an individual action. But in the [Lord’s/Disciple’s] prayer Jesus clearly draws on a Jewish…
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InsideFacebook: 9 Facebook Best Practices for... →
Some good tips. I more-or-less follow all these guidelines, though not always in the calculated way they suggest.
With over 300 million active users worldwide, and nearly 100 million in the US alone, Facebook can be a good platform for those wanting to grow their consulting business. While there are other social platforms for meeting new contacts or building your professional reputation, like...
LizOpp gives an overview of some Convergent... →
I ended up with a chart that summarizes my own take on how the Convergent conversation addresses certain topics.
Sheffield Craig shares a film on the City of... →
Many Quaker Meetings around the country are involved in their local City of Sanctuary groups, and we are keen to encourage new initiatives in towns and cities all over the UK.
Google's Sidewiki 101 for Brand Managers →
One of the great things about Web 2.0 is the empowerment of average users. With Twitter and Facebook pages, individuals can now respond back to companies and organizations with a few strokes of the…
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Johan Maurer revisits Thomas Kelly's "Eternal Now" →
In light of some recent political violence in Russia:
Kelly wants neither the escapism of other-worldly piety nor the obsession with here-and-now effectiveness of church-as-social-agency. It is the constant awareness (fading inevitably from foreground to background, and back again) of Divine Presence that gives us both endurance and perspective. As I contemplate how life is not a chess game...
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Faith & Organizations Project →
“Emerging Quaker” Diane asked me to spread word about an interesting study on faith and organization. I’m crazy busy but it looks interesting and I’d like to hear what people think of this:
Would you be willing to put up a link to a new Lilly study on faith and organizations that includes Quakers in the study? It’s a large study exploring how Friends and other...
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Betsy Blake and "He Lives!" at Pendle Hill →
My reflections on a talk Betsy gave about her walk with Jesus last night at Pendle Hill:
On Tuesday I heard North Carolina Friend Betsy Blake give a talk called “He Lives” at Pendle Hill, the story of how “Jesus has been her rock” to quote from the program description. It was a great talk and very well received. Betsy is a graduate of the Quaker program at Guilford (so...
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Wess Daniels: Old Quaker Discipline on the Poor →
While I was researching for a recent sermon I came across some great quotes on poverty from 18th Century Quakers. One thing I loved was that the section on plainness and living an unfettered life is right next to the section about caring for the poor. These two things, how we live and what we produce and consume, and interrelated to whether others have enough or not.
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Max Carter talk on introducing the Bible to... →
My review of a talk that Guilford College’s Max Carter gave at the Bible Association of Friends:
Max Carter gave the Bible Association of Friends this past weekend at Moorestown (NJ) Friends Meeting. Max is a long-time educator and currently heads the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program at Guilford College, a program that has produced a number of active twenty-something Friends in recent...
Following Jesus Danny on Internet Gossip →
I often receive emails from friends, or see Facebook postings, which contain patently false information. The content has usually been copied & pasted or forwarded from elsewhere and is usually from a…
Johan M on political and the line between... →
The question of whether it is ever right for Friends to support (or appear to support) one side over another in a conflict is not new. There is a difference between conscientious neutrality,…
LizOpp: Visibility of established Friends →
Not only is the online community of Quaker bloggers and blog-readers missing out on the voices and perspectives of those long-time established Friends—whether “institutional” or not—but as the…
Obedient Linda shares some advice for avoiding... →
When people start to gossip, tell them you would rather not have this information, I say. Even if it’s about you, trust me, you don’t want to know it. In AA they have a saying, “what other people…
Emerging Diane visits a lively Quaker church →
It was a contrast to Stillwater, where the demographic skews much older and where a sense of sacred quietness prevails. My first thought : East Richland seems more “alive,”more a-crackle with energy,…
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Photograph A Recruiter Project →
I just got an email from Alyse Emdur, an artist in the Los Angeles area who’s started this project. I don’t know her but she wants to get the word out and I’ve never heard of anything quite like it. Here’s the description:
While teaching, I witnessed the presence of army recruiters in our educational environment. I am initiating a nation wide participatory project,...
Swords into Plowshares, Megatons to Megawatts →
What’s powering your home appliances? For about 10 percent of electricity in the United States, it’s fuel from dismantled nuclear bombs, including Russian ones.
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New Geography on Detroit and the "Shrinking... →
Its size, scale, and powerful brand image are attracting not just the region’s but the world’s attention. It may just be that some of the most important urban innovations in 21st century America end up coming not from Portland or New York, but places like Youngstown and, yes, Detroit.
Via scdemark.
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Slim Goodbody Facebook Fan Page →
Popular children’s entertainer/educator Slim Goodbody is one busy guy: most weekdays of the school year find him spreading the message of good health in his trademark body suit (“When a…
Linda Wilk: Quakers live their principles →
I’ve been alarmed by some of the posts that I’ve found on sites like wikipedia and expert.com that stated that Friends follow individualistic spiritual paths. This is a gross misstatement of our…
Friends, Money, and Class →
Lots of thoughtful articles by in this issue of New York Yearly Meeting’s magazine.
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LizOpp: Pride and privilege (and credit) →
I know this because I am getting lessons about pride and privilege nearly every day it seems, from different people, over and over and over again. So it must be important and I need to pay closer…
Inside Facebook: Churches Use Facebook To Develop... →
While church-focused Facebook applications have been around for years, now real-life churches across the country are spreading their messages online, giving more people access to worship services and…
Emerging Diane has seen the damage done by gossip →
Factionalism, favoritism, in-groups and gossip do immense, and I would say, often unacknowledged, damage to Quaker institutions and meetings, as well as in the wider world. I’ve seen the “mischief…
Quakernomics Matthews tells us not to be positive! →
I feel we need to return to those earlier Quaker values it’s a hard road and there are no guarantees but being dreamily positive is no substitute for a realistic understanding of the problems we…
Peterson compiles his "Jesus Loves You!" posts →
Over at Facebook we have had long discussions about certiain ones. Sometimes people get tickled, offended or downright inspired. Some in the series are ironic, some silly, some serious. I will let…
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Gossip and ownward spirals →
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The Complete Guide to Google Wave →
An ebook by Lifehacker’s Adam Pash and ex-Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani. There are plans to keep it updated through Wave’s evolution over the next year.