... About Spirit

Spirit (excerpted from google's definitions)

• 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

It's been a busy month or two since the conference for young adult Quakers ("Friends") from the different branches of Quakerism (some more liberal, some more conservative, some more in-the-middle). I'm just now getting the chance to finish writing about it.

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.