Because I am a Quaker, the story of Palm Sunday reminds me of the story of James Nayler, who also rode into town on a donkey. The saddest part of the story for me is how Nayler was abandoned by Friends. It seems to me that these early Friends acted out of fear in turning their backs on him. Even if they were convinced that he was mistaken in his leading, he was a part of their community, and doing what he felt led to do.
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 where we have unlimited time to construct a perfect strategy, it’s a great comfort to me to consider that my only real task at any given moment is to remain in that Presence.
What if we, wildly, radically, impossibly, behaved as if —“as if”—isn’t that what faith is?— the whole story were true and not pick out the parts that allow us superiority? The extraordinary move is to recognize that the seeming impossible might be real because that is to recognize that the world and the universe as we know them might be more miraculous—and multidimensional and sacred and wild— than they seem.
There is no way to really be prepared for each circumstance. I can only be present in that moment and listening for the Light of Christ there and then. I learned that I need to be open and compassionate and willing to “do to the least of these,” and that bureaucracies can certainly be helpful at times but are often just a distraction from us doing the work ourselves.
It is important to me to know that when I wait on the living Spirit of Christ in our meetings and feel his presence here that I am also touching at least the outer hem of the garment of that man who “dwelt among us” in the flesh, who got his feet dirty walking the dusty roads of Palestine, who touched people and let them touch him, who started out as a baby and had to “grow in wisdom and in stature” just as we do.
For Friends, the gospel was not simply a message because they understood by experience Paul’s description of the gospel as “the power of God unto salvation”. Preaching the gospel was Spirit-led, Spirit-filled preaching that awakened people to the Light of Christ within them - to turn them from darkness to light (a phrase from Paul that George Fox often quoted). I would guess that many modern Friends are very uncomfortable with the idea of evangelism, and perhaps for a number of different reasons. The reason I am bringing this up is to contrast it with our attitude towards the political process.
The promptings of love and truth in me invite me to stay close to the root, Christ Jesus amongst us. My queries about this come from a love of our rich spiritual heritage and a confidence in the…
