There's an idea that's been floating around among Quakers I know, which is often referred to as "naming a person's gifts".
For whatever reason, I find myself always suspicious of "quakerspeak" - where quakers use a special Quaker term for something when an ordinary word or phrase would do. I guess I like to speak plainly. I find it useful to translate in my head between this phrase, "naming a person's gifts", to something like "paying attention to a person's gifts". I think "gifts" is a bit of a strange word in this context, but here I think it's actually very useful to notice the connection between gifts as in "giving presents" and "this person is gifted / talented".
I received a gift from one friend when he mentioned that focusing on results is often not a good way to become closer to God. More than once, when I was focused on a good idea, this friend's gift to me has been to see the other side of a situation, the side that I had not paid attention to and that was important to understand before moving forward. I am thankful for his ability to share good ideas.
I received a gift from another friend when she welcomed me to Philadelphia by giving me, as a young person who had never had an office job, the chance to get some office experience as an intern with her organization. Finding somewhere for a person to help out, and giving them a chance to "learn by doing" and in turn give something back, is definitely a gift. I am grateful that I got the chance to spend four months doing this internship at the American Friends Service Committee.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
... Quaker Quest
One of the deep strengths of Quaker Quest (QQ) is that it takes the idea of Quakerism as a deeply personal religion and puts it into practice.
One of the central ideas that helped bring Quakerism into being was the idea that each of us has access to the divine light (or, may make communion with God) and that God may speak and act through any of us. This applies to Quakers, folks who are just interested in learning about Quakerism, and everybody else.
Quaker Quest puts this into practice by asking seekers to listen to several different Quakers and to share from their own experience and their own sense of the divine.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's Quaker Quest group, which just started recently, decided to plan a day for Quakers to learn about QQ and explore the possibility of running a QQ program at their meeting. The plan originally called for several wonderful and highly respected Quakers to give speeches which, altogether, would take up most of the morning. The question came up, what would it be like to be in the audience listening to these speeches for a few hours? It has been said that God works in mysterious ways. I believe that the divine also sometimes works in ways that are rather mundane and plain. For many people, listening to a priest give a speech for a couple of hours is rather boring, and they get antsy, stop paying attention, get up and leave if there's a chance, maybe forget almost everything that was said. The same thing can happen if it's a few "important" Quakers giving speeches for a couple hours.
At our Quaker Quest (QQ) planning group meeting, we felt it would be wise to give people a chance to actively participate in the session. I think that the fact that the audience might become bored was what brought the idea up, but to me it also served as a reminder that each of the participants has the ability to share something deep and powerfully beneficial to our group, and that making sure they are included at all steps along the way is important. I believe this is true not only at QQ seekers' sessions and at our Friends meetings, but at QQ info sessions for Quakers.
Sometimes god works in profoundly un-spectacular ways.
One of the central ideas that helped bring Quakerism into being was the idea that each of us has access to the divine light (or, may make communion with God) and that God may speak and act through any of us. This applies to Quakers, folks who are just interested in learning about Quakerism, and everybody else.
Quaker Quest puts this into practice by asking seekers to listen to several different Quakers and to share from their own experience and their own sense of the divine.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's Quaker Quest group, which just started recently, decided to plan a day for Quakers to learn about QQ and explore the possibility of running a QQ program at their meeting. The plan originally called for several wonderful and highly respected Quakers to give speeches which, altogether, would take up most of the morning. The question came up, what would it be like to be in the audience listening to these speeches for a few hours? It has been said that God works in mysterious ways. I believe that the divine also sometimes works in ways that are rather mundane and plain. For many people, listening to a priest give a speech for a couple of hours is rather boring, and they get antsy, stop paying attention, get up and leave if there's a chance, maybe forget almost everything that was said. The same thing can happen if it's a few "important" Quakers giving speeches for a couple hours.
At our Quaker Quest (QQ) planning group meeting, we felt it would be wise to give people a chance to actively participate in the session. I think that the fact that the audience might become bored was what brought the idea up, but to me it also served as a reminder that each of the participants has the ability to share something deep and powerfully beneficial to our group, and that making sure they are included at all steps along the way is important. I believe this is true not only at QQ seekers' sessions and at our Friends meetings, but at QQ info sessions for Quakers.
Sometimes god works in profoundly un-spectacular ways.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
... Torn Loyalties
I went to see the presentation of the Jesus for President tour. One of the deep messages of the presentation was to point to the problem that happens when you have loyalty to God and to your country. The speaker, Shane Claiborne, encouraged us to follow God... and to be loyal to our country only if Jesus/God/God's love/God's teachings would approve. By the same token, Quakerism, deeply rooted in divine love, should only get our energy because (and only to the extent that...) we have the opportunity to deepen God's love through it. And not because it is some special thing with any meaning independent of "that which is eternal" or God.
...Faithfulness
One Friend has said that she felt it was necessary to devote a certain loyalty to Quakerism, and not to direct her energy to too many places in a way that would prevent forming a really deep relationship with one community... and that the sort of long term commitment she was talking about was kind of like marriage. This seems to describe the feelings of many folks these days - we are yearning for the sort of deep relationship with a place and with a community, that is only possible with long-term faithfulness, as it were.
Monday, July 28, 2008
... Why I (heart) Quakers
I am so happy to share in community with Quakers (a group I grew up with) because I believe that, at our core, we are more than “peace and silence”, but a community that makes sincere effort to put divine love and kindness before anything else.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
... About Quakerly Confusion
O Great Mystery, Let Us Be Your Hands and Your Voice
If you've heard me talk about Quakers, chances are good you've heard me talk about Quaker inaction. Occasionally we Quakers get caught up in procedure, nitpicking, and perfectionism; sometimes these things get in the way of moving ahead with really good work. With all of the wonderful ideas we're interested in, it can be hard to keep focused. I can just imagine Quakers standing in the way of work on age-diversity in our Quaker communities on account of the fact that the folks working on age diversity are not working on racial diversity at the same time. (The average age of members in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is a little too close for comfort to the average life expectancy worldwide. On the other hand, the proportion of white people in meetings around here is fairly close to the proportion in 1600s England, when Quakerism began.)
I think it's important to realize that our ideas need not be astounding and awesome for us to try them out; we don't need to plan for every contingency before giving things a go.
Or, to paraphrase one Friend's joking comment on the state of Quakerism : we aren't sure if we can bring Palestinians and Israelis together to talk about peace unless the parties first agree to be environmentally friendly and welcoming to gays.
If you've heard me talk about Quakers, chances are good you've heard me talk about Quaker inaction. Occasionally we Quakers get caught up in procedure, nitpicking, and perfectionism; sometimes these things get in the way of moving ahead with really good work. With all of the wonderful ideas we're interested in, it can be hard to keep focused. I can just imagine Quakers standing in the way of work on age-diversity in our Quaker communities on account of the fact that the folks working on age diversity are not working on racial diversity at the same time. (The average age of members in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is a little too close for comfort to the average life expectancy worldwide. On the other hand, the proportion of white people in meetings around here is fairly close to the proportion in 1600s England, when Quakerism began.)
I think it's important to realize that our ideas need not be astounding and awesome for us to try them out; we don't need to plan for every contingency before giving things a go.
Or, to paraphrase one Friend's joking comment on the state of Quakerism : we aren't sure if we can bring Palestinians and Israelis together to talk about peace unless the parties first agree to be environmentally friendly and welcoming to gays.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
... About Young Adult Friends relationship to Quakerism
I wrote the following in response to this Quaker blog discussion on Young Adult Friends and "age segregation":
One YAF said of FGC Gathering that if her community is everyone at the gathering (instead of, say, a subset of the 18-35 group), her community ends up being nowhere - I guess you just can't connect to 1500 people all at once.
My suspicion is that the same sort of power dynamic that resulted in the really positive comments I have heard about some women's gatherings or women's business meetings (that is, women's ideas and voices wouldn't be overpowered by men's), is occurring now between young adults and older adults in Quakerism.
We as young adults in Quakerism are grossly outnumbered. Older adults don't know how to (and can't be expected to) create the kinds of events and spaces that will draw young adults into this community in equal proportions to older age groups. Our few voices are being drowned out, to some extent. This is despite the fact that, on the whole, our older adults want nothing more than to create a kind of Quakerism that will nurture us YAFs as part of the community.
Let's not let our desire to be a part of the wider Quaker world defeat our efforts to create space where young adults can have a strong Quaker experience in the ways that work best for our generation.
One YAF said of FGC Gathering that if her community is everyone at the gathering (instead of, say, a subset of the 18-35 group), her community ends up being nowhere - I guess you just can't connect to 1500 people all at once.
My suspicion is that the same sort of power dynamic that resulted in the really positive comments I have heard about some women's gatherings or women's business meetings (that is, women's ideas and voices wouldn't be overpowered by men's), is occurring now between young adults and older adults in Quakerism.
We as young adults in Quakerism are grossly outnumbered. Older adults don't know how to (and can't be expected to) create the kinds of events and spaces that will draw young adults into this community in equal proportions to older age groups. Our few voices are being drowned out, to some extent. This is despite the fact that, on the whole, our older adults want nothing more than to create a kind of Quakerism that will nurture us YAFs as part of the community.
Let's not let our desire to be a part of the wider Quaker world defeat our efforts to create space where young adults can have a strong Quaker experience in the ways that work best for our generation.
Monday, July 14, 2008
... About Quaker Dogma
I've tried to give a fair two-minute summary of Quakerism couple of times (when asked), and I've heard other folks do the same. One of the things that I think happens is that the Spirit gets lost in the details; the goodness (and I do believe there is goodness) gets lost in the procedure and the technicalities.
Quakerism does not exist to create procedures, dogmas, technicalities, whatever, independently of basic human values of love, kindness, and respect. If a Quaker-habit can't be explained in terms of these values, perhaps there is a good reason for it. Perhaps not.
Quakerism does not exist to create procedures, dogmas, technicalities, whatever, independently of basic human values of love, kindness, and respect. If a Quaker-habit can't be explained in terms of these values, perhaps there is a good reason for it. Perhaps not.
... About Young Adult Quakers Here in Philadelphia
A lot of Quaker groups (and other communities) have found that it's a challenge to find a deep personal or spiritual experience in a large group. Since the Philadelphia Young Adult Friends group has so many people connected with it, it can be hard to figure out what's best for the community as a whole. Someone at FGC Gathering this past week said of that community of about 1500 people, that "my community is everywhere at the Gathering, so it winds up being nowhere" - it's easy to get lost in the crowd, even if the crowd is a lot smaller than 1500. One of the solutions that has worked for some people at FGC Gathering, and has been proposed for PYAF, is to have small groups, with maybe 4 to 8 people, that can meet to worship, provide social & emotional support, eat together, play together, read and discuss interesting quaker (or non quaker) writings, do worship-sharing, etc.
... About Capitalism
I have a new favorite book. It is "Creating a World Without Poverty", by Mohammed Yunus. Yunus describes his vision of a new kind of capitalism, "social business," working alongside traditional businesses (and the ways he and others have already put social business principles into practice.)
The "social business" model of nonprofit/non-loss business is a model whereby organizations take in enough money to cover operating expenses and are therefore self-perpetuating. One of the difficulties with "charity" organizations is that in hard economic times, the funding from charitable contributions tends to dry up (and this is just when it's needed most). At the same time, Social Businesses do not depend on donations and DO depend financially on the people they exist to serve. Because of their financial dependence on those they serve, these businesses are forced respond to the needs of those they serve; because they do not allow investors to take the profits they earn, these businesses have no incentive to sacrifice their social goals to create profit. A critical feature of "social businesses" is that they sell at least one type of good or service to their clients. In 2006 Mohammed Yunus and the Grameen Bank (a social business he founded) won the Nobel Peace Prize for working to combat poverty in Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank ("grameen" means "village" in Bengali) is one of a number of social businesses that Yunus helped create to combat the extreme poverty in rural Bangladesh - poor people in Bangladeshi villages were given the opportunity to start businesses, mostly serving other nearby poor people, on small loans from the Grameen Bank at very low interest (as opposed to loans by private moneylenders who tended to charge high interest and thereby keep poor women in a state of near-slavery). Since the Grameen Bank opened, there have been a number of other highly successful social businesses that have opened with such social goals as improving nutrition and improving access to electricity in the very poor areas of Bangladesh. While social businesses do not give profits to their investors, they do depend on investors to get started and then seek to quickly earn enough to repay their investors. So by investing in a social business, a person (or grant-making organization) can choose to reinvest in the social goal of the business or to take their funds back. In that sense, the social business has an interest in continuing to respond to the goals its investors have, but it can survive and even expand without funding from anyone except the poor people it serves.
The "social business" model of nonprofit/non-loss business is a model whereby organizations take in enough money to cover operating expenses and are therefore self-perpetuating. One of the difficulties with "charity" organizations is that in hard economic times, the funding from charitable contributions tends to dry up (and this is just when it's needed most). At the same time, Social Businesses do not depend on donations and DO depend financially on the people they exist to serve. Because of their financial dependence on those they serve, these businesses are forced respond to the needs of those they serve; because they do not allow investors to take the profits they earn, these businesses have no incentive to sacrifice their social goals to create profit. A critical feature of "social businesses" is that they sell at least one type of good or service to their clients. In 2006 Mohammed Yunus and the Grameen Bank (a social business he founded) won the Nobel Peace Prize for working to combat poverty in Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank ("grameen" means "village" in Bengali) is one of a number of social businesses that Yunus helped create to combat the extreme poverty in rural Bangladesh - poor people in Bangladeshi villages were given the opportunity to start businesses, mostly serving other nearby poor people, on small loans from the Grameen Bank at very low interest (as opposed to loans by private moneylenders who tended to charge high interest and thereby keep poor women in a state of near-slavery). Since the Grameen Bank opened, there have been a number of other highly successful social businesses that have opened with such social goals as improving nutrition and improving access to electricity in the very poor areas of Bangladesh. While social businesses do not give profits to their investors, they do depend on investors to get started and then seek to quickly earn enough to repay their investors. So by investing in a social business, a person (or grant-making organization) can choose to reinvest in the social goal of the business or to take their funds back. In that sense, the social business has an interest in continuing to respond to the goals its investors have, but it can survive and even expand without funding from anyone except the poor people it serves.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
... About Quaker Resurgence
There's somethin' going on in Quakerism. Some kind of "grounding and centering", maybe. Quakers are re-examining what Quakerism is today, what it's for, what it's not for. How we can bring vitality to Quakerism by reaching out to each other, by reaching out to the world. Spreading the power of kindness. The power of fun, even. That's right, Quakers are having fun - odd as it sounds.
As we put ourselves together into a deeper community, we strengthen our ability to do the work of the Spirit.
Almost since the beginning, Quakers have taken notice of cruelty wherever it lives and worked hard to spread kindness in its place. Whether the cruelty is war, racism, or whatever - we don't discriminate (too much). I believe this is what Quakerism is grounding and centering around - spreading kindness in the place of pain and cruelty.
As we put ourselves together into a deeper community, we strengthen our ability to do the work of the Spirit.
Almost since the beginning, Quakers have taken notice of cruelty wherever it lives and worked hard to spread kindness in its place. Whether the cruelty is war, racism, or whatever - we don't discriminate (too much). I believe this is what Quakerism is grounding and centering around - spreading kindness in the place of pain and cruelty.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
... About Spirit
Spirit (excerpted from google's definitions)
A few months ago, in a moment of boredom, I picked up the only bible we have at my apartment. It happens to have the words of Jesus printed in red, among black text. In the weeks that followed I read all of the red words, as well as a bit of the black text that gives some context. Now keep in mind, I was someone who didn't identify much with belief in God or any kind of supernatural stuff, and most of what I was hearing about mainstream Christianity, I really didn't like. I was also entirely new to reading the New Testament, and I was shocked by how much I agreed with, and how little I was bothered by, the things Jesus said. He is continually giving messages about caring for and respecting one's fellow human beings, whether they're rich, poor, strange, unbelievers, foreign, ugly, whatever. Everything else he says seems to spring from that.
My view of Jesus was shaped by this as I went in to the conference, and it was interesting to consider how mentions of "Jesus" in the context of a living Spirit that guides us today can be interpreted as a reference to those basic values of respect and kindness. "Whoever wants to be first (greatest) must be the last of all and the servant of all" (Mark, 9:35). It was clear that some of the young adults who were from less "liberal" sides of quakerism felt the same way. The message of respect, servanthood, and kindness may be a message for the individual as well as for the Christian movement as a whole - that Christianity should behave like the Christ we are told about in the bible - devoted to serving, in kindness and in caring, other people regardless of whether they worship like us, look like us, talk like us...
Our last evening together at the Young Adult Friends conference included a Meeting for Worship which started off with two speakers, (or "ministers") giving messages, (or "sermons") that were planned but unwritten. Following was unprogrammed worship, where Quakers sit and wait for what you might call the "holy spirit" to move them to speak. One young adult explained her deep love for Jesus and asked us not to hide who we are, even if there's a chance it might offend people (like talking about Jesus). We were told to get up and live the sort of life that Spirit calls us to live, to stop waiting for something to happen but to respond now to leadings from our religious center. What Spirit is it that is calling us to live better lives, to actively seek to live out our values? The spirit of love, of caring, of righteousness? Of Jesus Christ, of Yahweh? Is it not any kind of Spirit, but just cold, nonreligious ethics? To what extent are these just different ways of talking about the same ideas, do they, in some ways, represent ideas that can never be translated?
To me one of the themes of our Young Adult Friends conference was the way that, behind the guise of difference in language and in the ways we express our devotion, we are unified in terms of our most deeply-held values. But language is a difficult thing and even though I have chosen my words carefully, I'm sure that some of what I've written will not make sense to everyone who reads it. I hope that you all will accept this as well-intentioned, even if it doesn't make sense.
- intent: the intended meaning of a communication
- the animating force within living things
- the general atmosphere of a place or situation
- a fundamental principle determining one's character
- liveliness: animation and energy in action or expression
A few months ago, in a moment of boredom, I picked up the only bible we have at my apartment. It happens to have the words of Jesus printed in red, among black text. In the weeks that followed I read all of the red words, as well as a bit of the black text that gives some context. Now keep in mind, I was someone who didn't identify much with belief in God or any kind of supernatural stuff, and most of what I was hearing about mainstream Christianity, I really didn't like. I was also entirely new to reading the New Testament, and I was shocked by how much I agreed with, and how little I was bothered by, the things Jesus said. He is continually giving messages about caring for and respecting one's fellow human beings, whether they're rich, poor, strange, unbelievers, foreign, ugly, whatever. Everything else he says seems to spring from that.
My view of Jesus was shaped by this as I went in to the conference, and it was interesting to consider how mentions of "Jesus" in the context of a living Spirit that guides us today can be interpreted as a reference to those basic values of respect and kindness. "Whoever wants to be first (greatest) must be the last of all and the servant of all" (Mark, 9:35). It was clear that some of the young adults who were from less "liberal" sides of quakerism felt the same way. The message of respect, servanthood, and kindness may be a message for the individual as well as for the Christian movement as a whole - that Christianity should behave like the Christ we are told about in the bible - devoted to serving, in kindness and in caring, other people regardless of whether they worship like us, look like us, talk like us...
Our last evening together at the Young Adult Friends conference included a Meeting for Worship which started off with two speakers, (or "ministers") giving messages, (or "sermons") that were planned but unwritten. Following was unprogrammed worship, where Quakers sit and wait for what you might call the "holy spirit" to move them to speak. One young adult explained her deep love for Jesus and asked us not to hide who we are, even if there's a chance it might offend people (like talking about Jesus). We were told to get up and live the sort of life that Spirit calls us to live, to stop waiting for something to happen but to respond now to leadings from our religious center. What Spirit is it that is calling us to live better lives, to actively seek to live out our values? The spirit of love, of caring, of righteousness? Of Jesus Christ, of Yahweh? Is it not any kind of Spirit, but just cold, nonreligious ethics? To what extent are these just different ways of talking about the same ideas, do they, in some ways, represent ideas that can never be translated?
To me one of the themes of our Young Adult Friends conference was the way that, behind the guise of difference in language and in the ways we express our devotion, we are unified in terms of our most deeply-held values. But language is a difficult thing and even though I have chosen my words carefully, I'm sure that some of what I've written will not make sense to everyone who reads it. I hope that you all will accept this as well-intentioned, even if it doesn't make sense.
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