The August Quakers Today podcast dropped Tuesday morning. It’s a nice mix, with an interview with Quaker hunter Timothy Tarkelly, an excerpt from Erin Wilson’s recent QuakerSpeak on LGBTQ inclusion, and an interview with “JollyQuaker” Mark Russ, who’s building great buzz for his new book, Quaker Shaped Christianity (check out the FJ review by William Shetter).
Quaker Ranter
A Weekly Newsletter and Blog from Martin Kelley
Tag Archives ⇒ time
Friends Journal Friends of Color in a time of Covid and BLM
July 18, 2020
Vanessa Julye in how some Friends of Color are worshipping in the midst of Coronavirus and increased racial struggles following the death of George Floyd:
In the midst of such despair and turmoil, our collective trauma, exhaustion, sadness, and anger have increased. Friends of Color are finding it harder to be in predominantly White environments including our Quaker meetings.
It’s time to flip our meetinghouses. Again
June 23, 2020
From Kathleen Wooten:
What if rather than saying “when we get back to in-person worship we will do these things again” – we just assumed this video gathering is the new way to “do church”, for at least a year or more? What is the rush to get back to what was? Is this a time for innovation and experimentation? Can we just relax and lean into a word that is being reshaped around us, and be responsive and accept this as the new tool for these times?
Can this be a time we rethink our assumptions of Quaker worship?
March 28, 2020
Now we are in a very strange time. Meetings that in the past took months to discern whether or not to rearrange their benches have jumped into online spaces and are creating whole new worship experiences, with new shapes and methods.
I too have been wondering whether this extended period of virtual-only worship will help us rethink the form of our Quaker worship. A lot of societal changes over the last few decades has made the classic Quaker Sunday morning worship less accessible to people who might be seeking the insights of the Quaker way. Suddenly now there is a wealth of ways to connect with Friends remotely. It will be interesting to see how that changes things.
What is a Quaker Book of Faith and Practice?
June 20, 2019
Thomas Hamm is one of the most literary QuakerSpeak interviewees — you could probably take his raw transcript and publish it as a Friends Journal article. But it’s good to have a YouTube-accessible explanation of one of the only formal compendiums of belief and practices that we creed-adverse Friends produce. It’s also fascinating to learn how the purpose and structure of Faith and Practice has differed over time, geography, and theology.
What do Quakers believe? How do we practice our faith? The best place to look for the answers might be in a book of faith and practice. Here’s what they are and how they evolved over time.
http://quakerspeak.com/what-is-a-quaker-book-of-faith-and-practice/
George Fox Speaking
April 2, 2019
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.”
Liberty of the Spirit
March 28, 2019
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/
Belonging and difference
February 13, 2019
Gil S on continuity and change:
Many of us find difficulty in facing change. The way a meeting house is arranged and the way Quaker faith is expressed have both changed over time. There have always been those who find it difficult if not impossible to let go of what has gone before. In my local meeting I always sit in the same place and acknowledge that I find change difficult, but in spite of this there are ways in which I have changed.
I suspect part of thr context of this is the hopes and fears of British Friends as they embark on a recision of their book of Faith and Practice. An editing group has recently been named.
https://stumblingstepping.blogspot.com/2019/02/belonging-and-difference.html