March 2011
Laura Katherine: Should this be harder? →
Walking the path alone was hard. Walking the path in the company of Friends, illuminated by the Light — it’s still a hard path, but one I now cross with a smile on my face. I feel joy, and…
Doing Our Own Things Alongside One Another « Wee... →
This little girl spoke the biggest piece of wisdom during this class: Worship is like a family, all doing our own things alongside each other, and yet also doing the “Same Thing”. It doesn’t matter…
Mark Wutka: Unity of the Spirit (in spite of... →
When early Christians and early Friends spoke of “unity of the Spirit”, I believe it was someone quite different from like-mindedness. Instead, it was a shared experience of God, of a love and…
“There’s not one controversial idea in Love Wins that is not clearly voiced as a...”
– Rob Bell and C.S. Lewis (by Jeff Cook) | Jesus Creed
Rachel Stacy: Can a Christian be a Universalist? →
I am under the impression that the first generation of Quakers believed that Jesus had already returned to earth and in the form of the Spirit of Christ he had come to teach his people himself….
Deborah Haines: Have you heard about Quaker... →
So we decided to try something different: a Quaker gathering with no workshops, no plenary speakers, no staff, as little overhead as possible, and lots of time to be present to each other and to…
“But those involved in oversight in the church are asking themselves why the...”
– The Philly Archdiocese passed the national accountability Catholic “review boards” with flying colors before the D.A. exposed them. NYTimes: Priest Suspensions in Philadelphia Trouble Bishops.
Anthony Manousos: Quaker visitors in Iran →
David and Linda were the only publicly professed Christian in the city. (Some Iranians who were Christian preferred not to reveal their religious views for political and social reasons.) The Wolfs…
LizOpp: Quaker bloggers move to the head of the... →
So what are the possible implications of having two Friends, previously or currently active in blogging—not to mention Twitter—at the servant-leadership helm of groups such as FGC and FWCC…
Rachel Held Evans: The Future of Evangelicalism, A... →
An interesting parsing of the camps in Evangelical Christianity including some guesses where they’re headed. As an outsider I find this fascinating and wonder again whether there’s a role for Friends among the “new evangelicals” she talks about. Via @jrobjohn.
All your round are belong to us.: Launching Alfred... →
I was 3/4s of the way to figuring this out myself but spherecat1 beat me to it (and saved some unneeded frustration!)
Caps Lock is stupid. It is the one key on my keyboard that I absolutely believe shouldn’t exist. For the past six months, it has been a dead key on my MacBook Pro, which is still better than it’s normal function. However, a dead key is a missed opportunity for awesomeness, so...
Anthony Manousos: The Cross as an Instrument of... →
For Penn, the Cross is a liberating experience. It empowers us to do God’s will with the courage of a soldier. It frees us from worrying about what other people think of us. It is not an object for…
Steven Davison: Would John Woolman be a blogger? →
“Creaturely cunning and self-exaltation” says it all, I think. Blogs were practically invented for the purpose of self-exaltation and certainly they constantly present the temptation to toot your…
Ken's Hot Dogs: On Being a Wealthy Christian →
And let me not deceive myself into thinking that giving out of my relative abundance makes me righteous either. For though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, if I have not love, it profits me…
Anthony Manousos: Are blogs Quakerly? And how do... →
Blogs and social networks are Quakerly because they help build community. Because social networks are interactive, they help people stay in touch who are separated geographically. They bring…
WatchReport on the destruction from UK Channel 4 News’ Alex Thomson. I can’t believe the survivors have to face frigid weather and snow on top of everything else.
Tony Lowe: “Pharisees” →
We normally identify with Jesus in these encounters and think what bad guys the Pharisees were, and that if we were in their place we could have never been that blind or that wrong. But the problem…
Will T reports on last month's FUM General Board... →
Since I originally wrote this, one of the things that keeps coming back to my mind is the point Robert Barclay makes to the effect that we are required to follow our conscience, even if our…
NJ Pines Historic Map Collection →
Tags: maps
Tsunamis in the Mid Atlantic region →
A great collection of historical accounts from the Philadelphia NOAA office of possible and almost-certain tsunamis that have hit the US East Coast, including a 1884 5.2 earthquake that spawned a…
Will T: The Love of God →
As Friends we believe that God lives in us. This means that God’s love also lives in us because God is love. Our challenge is to experience that love and then to express it in our lives and to…
Anonymous comments: Why we need to get rid of them... →
Farhad Manjoo writes in Slate:
Anonymity has long been hailed as one of the founding philosophies of the Internet, a critical bulwark protecting our privacy. But that view no longer holds. In all but the most extreme scenarios—everywhere outside of repressive governments—anonymity damages online communities. Letting people remain anonymous while engaging in fundamentally public behavior...
“Aggregation” can mean smart people sharing their reading lists, plugging one...”
– The NYTimes’ Bill Keller in All the Aggregation That’s Fit to Aggregate
Rachel Stacy Touring Jordan [Friends Journal] →
Rachel Stacy will be traveling to Jordan to participate in the Associated Church Press tour March 11-19. Follow her here on the Friends Journal website as she blogs about her trip. Tags: …
Slate Magazine: The NPR fundraising scandalette →
How should Schiller have fielded the incitements? Praised the Tea Party or remained neutral? Spat on them when they revealed their Muslim Brotherhood connection? Lectured them when they said stupid things about Jewish-Zionist media control? I certainly would have, and I’ll bet you would have, too. But we’d last about 15 seconds in the fundraising business if every time a potential...
Tall Skinny Kiwi: Before you read Love Wins by Rob... →
In the world of evangelical demi-gods, John Piper is doing battle with N.T. Wright in the skies over atonement theories and eschatology and its becoming evident that this new generation, apart from a few new-Reformed oddities, are siding with Wright or at least the way of thinking represented by Wright. There is a power struggle going on that ventures beyond doctrinal categories and theological...
[Allentown Morning Call] Rare Vatican reversal of... →
Three years later, Lutkus and parishioners at eight other shuttered churches in Pennsylvania’s Allentown diocese have persuaded a Vatican panel to overturn the bishop’s decision to close them down…
Jarrod McKenna: Rob Bell and the New Calvinists →
The sales of Rob’s book are certainly experiencing a blessing, but I’m not sure the backfire of rash judgment from fellow Christians is what our Lord had in mind when he promised “blessed are you…
Anthony Manousos: Reflections on Lent and Easter... →
No matter how uncomfortable the Easter story may make us, and no matter how hard we try to avoid its message, it cannot be denied that the death and resurrection of Christ is crucial to an…
Kevin Camp: Writing the State of the Meeting... →
It is very difficult to draft any report that speaks for the individual concerns of hundreds of people, while still taking into account the general sense of the gathering. As I write, I find myself…
Zachary Dutton: The Community Testimony: a... →
So I ask a simple question. Where do these communities exist in Contemporary Liberal Quakerism? The Young Adult Friends movement in the larger Liberal Quaker community is an effort to bring about…
Micah Bales: Is Universalism Heresy? →
The Christian universalist asserts that the love and mercy of Jesus will eventually transform and redeem all people, even if this process takes longer than our earthly lifespans. Christian…
“It would be inappropriate for me to explain it. I can confirm that it did...”
– First Lt Brian Villiard, Marine spokesman, explaining why he couldn’t explain why WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning was stripped and left naked in his cell for seven hours on Wednesday. WikiLeaks Soldier Left Naked in Cell, Lawyer Says.
Chris M shares notes from a clinic on Quaker... →
Afterwards, I co-facilitated a workshop on clerking for about 20 Friends. It was organized by the meeting’s Outreach and Nurture Committee (great name!). It was a good experience, and so I share…
Valerie Hurwitz reports on the Festival of Friends... →
These gatherings began a year ago with the purpose of allowing Friends from different yearly meetings to gathering and worship together. There are no business sessions and no agenda, other than to…