Transforming Weapons into Art. Earlham’s peace studies prof Welling Hall decided to actually take the parable literally and transform swords — and bullets and combat knives — into something new, in this case, provocative art.
On Being a Quaker Filmmaker. Martin Krafft explores that of God in the larger-than-life subject of his upcoming documentary film as she struggles with terminal cancer: “The more I filmed Rachel, the more I realized that I was not just filming her health journey. I was filming Rachel in her rich, complicated, at times painful, fullness.”
“Art Is Praying with My Whole Body.” Cai Quirk’s journeys as a lifelong Quaker, artist, and gender-diverse person are inextricably linked. Cai submitted two articles to us: this text exploration of their work and a series of photos titled “Transcendence.” We liked them so much we decided to publish both (one online and the other both in print and online). Unbeknownst to me, Cai also submitted a poem, which our poetry editor chose. When it came time to decide on a cover, Cai’s photos stood out more than any of the other selections we tested out. I’m pretty sure we’ve never had someone appear in so many forms before.
“Speaking into the Silence” from the August 1991 Friends Journal.
People have been commenting a lot on this chart Friends Journal shared on social media last week. Originally published in the August 1991 issue, what I love most about it is its 1990s-era flowchart design. What would it be today — some punchy infographic perhaps? We dove into the archives because this month’s issue is all about Quaker vocal ministry and at least two of the feature articles mention these kinds of charts.
There is a frequently reproduced diagram that graphically guides potential speakers through a series of questions they are to consider when they feel an urge to rise and speak. These examine whether a potential message is divinely inspired; whether it is intended for the speaker alone or for others present; and whether this is the right time and place to deliver it. These resources are all useful, but they only address one half of the act of vocal ministry: one that is, by far, the smaller and perhaps less important portion. The other part is the ministry of listening, and we are all called to be listening ministers.
Since the beginning of the Religious Society of Friends, written advices have guided Friends. Yearly meetings’ faith and practice books, Pendle Hill pamphlets on vocal ministry, and individual monthly meetings’ “Welcome to Quaker Worship” handouts have guidelines for speaking or not speaking in meeting for worship. In 2019, Friends General Conference even published a poster of a circle flow chart with guidelines for delivering a message during worship.
Brent Bill has subsequently shared the graphic Whittier mentions [link was on Twitter and is dead] and yes, it is very 2020’s infographical in design!
But I link to the articles because these kinds of when-to-speak kind of charts can always become problematic. As Betsy Cazden replied on Twitter: “The people who need it least will spend the full hour obsessing about the flow-chart and will never speak. The people who need it most never will.” Just a few weeks ago I was sitting on a bench in Cropwell (N.J.) Meeting testing and retesting my motivations and leadings to rise and give ministry. I gave a final breath to stand up when I heard the “good morning Friends” followed by the sounds of hands slapping on hands in rise-of-meeting handshakes. Over the years I have learned not spend my whole hour obsessing but had not realized this meeting’s worship was only 45 minutes!
Further reading: An Expected Miracle, a 2023 post about the (often unnecessary) pressures of Quaker ministry.
A Glimpse of Heaven on Earth Stuart Masters looks at how the first generation of Friends took the New Testament as a blueprint to build a new kind of spiritual community.
If You Can’t Love an Ordinary Bird Poetry by Neil Kennedy: “If you can’t love an ordinary bird, / a cardinal, for example, on a branch”
The longtime peace activist is interviewed on QuakerSpeak:
I’ve chosen nonviolence and nonviolent action as a means of social change partly because I believe that we’re all God’s children. We’re all brothers and sisters, and an injury to any person is an injury to me. We’re all related. So it’s morally right and it’s trying to walk our talk that love is not just something to talk about with your little family — the world is our family.
David’s all over the Friends Journal websites right week. Last week the magazine published his account of needing emergency heart surgery while on a friendship visit in Iran. True to form, he made it a teachable moment by using it to explain how American sanctions hurt everyday Iranians (I’m happy to report everything turned out okay). His most recent book is Waging Peace; FJ’s former senior editor Bob Dockhorn reviewed it in 2015.
As an East Coast unprogrammed Friend, Quaker mission work is still a bit exotic. We’re used to reading of well-meaning nineteenth century Friends whose attitudes shock us today. But here’s a story of some Midwest mission work with the Shawnee in the 1970s and 80s.
Their “mission” work consists of farming, teaching, music and woodworking and language translating, lots of transporting children and teens. It also involves preaching each week, and participation in funerals, weddings, and other traditional pastoral duties, all aimed at introducing people to Jesus.
Their “mission” work consists of farming, teaching, music and woodworking and language translating, lots of transporting children and teens. It also involves preaching each week, and participation in funerals, weddings, and other traditional pastoral duties, all aimed at introducing people to Jesus.
If you spend much time online you’ll know that there’s a lot of noise and bad information on the Internet. This is true with Quaker material too. Every day I’m scanning the corners of the net to find the blog posts, Reddit threads, Quaker magazines and mainstream coverage of Friends and bringing it on QuakerQuaker and my QuakerRanter Daily Email.
Various January server bills are coming due in the next week and the Paypal account is empty. Between domain registrations, server bills, and the Ning service the site can often rack up over $50 in a given month.
John A. Minahan has written this week’s featured Friends Journal article, a nicely paced exploration that touches on personal memoir, human milestones, cultural memory, and the Book of Genesis:
Now the astronauts had used that same rhetorical strategy but on a planetary and even interplanetary scale. Speaking the words of Genesis, they sent a message of healing to a wounded world; they expressed a certain cosmic humility about our place in the universe; and, most of all, they shared goodwill, jaw-dropping in its simplicity, with “all of you on the good earth.” A moral and existential vision took hold of me in that moment and has never let go. Though I couldn’t have articulated it as such then, it was a realization of original goodness.
