As the blog name implies, I am a member of the Religious Society of Friends, known colloquially as Quakers. Many of my blog posts deal with issues of our society and its interactions with the larger world. I generally only include my own posts in this list. I share many many Quaker links in my Links Blog category and on QuakerQuaker.
Important Posts:
The Lost Quaker Generation (2003)
Peace and Twenty-Somethings (2003)
We’re All Ranters Now (2003)
Passing the Faith, Planet of the Quaker Style (2004)
Quaker Testimonies (2004)
Hey, Who Am I To Decide Anything? (2007)
The Biggest Most Vibranty Most Outreachiest Program Ever (2010)
Getting a Horse to Drink (on Philadelphia YM) (2010)
Tell Them All This But Don’t Expect Them to Listen (2010)
Steven Davison takes on one of the trickier questions of modern liberal Quakerism:
I am going to make a bold apology for a clarified liberal Quaker identity that retains its roots and recovers worship in the spirit of Christ, but yet releases us from the orthodox Christian preoccupations that no longer speak to so many unprogrammed Friends.
The talks was on “Quakers and the Prophetic Tradition”:
When Quakers talk about the prophetic tradition, we tend to go back to early Friends, but I am going to go back to Jeremiah.
https://www.ashleymwilcox.com/blog/2019/4/14/quakers-and-the-prophetic-tradition
From thr Guilfordian:
Wilcox began the discussion with a question of whether or not the Guilford community should seek out prophets and prophecies. Wilcox sought to relate this question to the Quaker tradition.
“This talk is about prophets and prophecy,” Wilcox said. “So the first question is, ‘What does it mean to be a prophet?’ I don’t think Jeremiah would recommend it.”
https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.guilfordian.com/news/2019/04/12/wilcox-talks-quakerism-and-the-prophetic-tradition/&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGjk1NzUwOWM3NjZmNTA4MzU6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNGr3hjx9Dxd8r_5amP0l6AQfRXDcg
The author Shivaji Shiva isn’t talking about the furniture we sit on but rather the leader of board meetings. The section on the role of a clerk is very useful, covering sections like “Humility,” “Contributions and ‘air-time’, and “Navigating conflicting views.” He concludes:
If some of these approaches are less familiar to you, why not find out more about Quaker business methods and how a governance tool kit used for more than 350 years could work for you?
A very well-done 17-minute video on “Quaker Country,” the part of England where the Quaker movement first coalesced in 1652.
An interview with British Friend Lucy-Anne Holmes:
I’m sitting in a cafe in Potters Bar and listening to a Quaker telling me about an orgasm she had that felt like it could create world peace. Yes, really. Being British, I shuffle in my seat awkwardly and take a sip of my tea, only too aware of a man on the next table who keeps glancing at us.
https://thefriend.org/article/i‑would-like-to-do-what-i-can-to-make-life-kinder-freer-and-more-respectful
At some point 18 months ago, we at Friends Journal decided that a future issue would revolve around humor. I remember feeling a lump in my stomach at the time. I’ve learned to stop and poll my motivations before making a Quaker-related joke — not to see if it’s funny, but to make sure that at least most Quakers might think it’s funny. Well, that humor issue is out and available online. Many of the features talk about humor but the first feature actually aims for humor itself. Don McCormick imagines Quaker historical figures brought into modern-day cable news programming as they describe some of our rather odd customs.
George gives the camera a steely-TV-anchorman-type look and says, “Hello, this is the evening edition of Fox News. George Fox speaking. For our first story, let’s turn to Will ‘the Quill’ Penn at the sports desk.”
“Good evening,” says Will. “Well, it’s half-time over at Sierra Friends Center’s outdoor basketball court, and the Woolman Wombats are battling it out with the Quaker Oafs. Both teams just completed the league’s required workshops on nonviolent communication and the Alternatives to Violence Project. The score at half-time is zero to zero. We have some footage from the second quarter.”
Every once in awhile a QuakerSpeak video comes along that reminds me why I was blown away when I first got to know Quakers. Ayesha Imani talks about the first time she worshiped with Friends:
I thought I had wandered into a group of people who actually believed that God was able to speak directly to them. I remember saying, “Oh my God, this is Pentecost!” I couldn’t believe that these people think God is actually glllllloing to speak to them! I’m down for this. This is where I belong.
Most of the Quakers reading this can probably guess where this is going – she pretty quickly got a lesson in the unwritten norms against exuberance at many Quaker meetings, the rules that prevent many expressions of worship. Ayesha’s Black and many of the strictures on behavior are pretty middle-class white. But a lot of this isn’t really about race. I’ve been led to do some very non-ordinary things at uptight Quaker meetings and feeling incredibly self-conscious over it. When I came to Friends, I loved the idea of the radical spontenaeity of our worship (anyone can minister anytime!) and the life it called us to but in practice we often are creatures of habit, to our detriment. I love Ayesha’s talk of “experimenting with freedom” and the “liberty of the spirit.” I realize my stories of non-ordinariness are all over a decade old. I wish I felt more of that liberty again.
http://quakerspeak.com/how-does-culture-influence-quaker-worship/
Friends Journal