by Janaki Spickard Keeler Like many meetings, Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting (CHFM) is wrestling with how to respond faithfully to this present moment. As part of the meeting’s 100th anniversary year, they asked member Katy Hawkins, whose ministry of embodied Quakerism is held under the care of the Worship & Ministry Committee, to craft a […]
by Christopher Sammond More than thirty years ago, a member of my meeting asked me to serve as his elder while he did some ministry with another meeting nearby. I had never done anything like that in the six or so years I had been attending, but it seemed right, so I said yes. And
by Christopher Sammond A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine from another yearly meeting contacted me. His meeting’s Ministry and Counsel was going to have a retreat, and a large part of their focus was going to be how to support the meeting in deepening spiritually. As part of M&C, he was tasked
by Christopher Sammond These are heartrending, harrowing times. The recent horrific escalation in the cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians has hit all of us very hard. Added to the war in Ukraine, the unraveling of our climate, and the rise of fascism in our country, it seems at times too much to bear,
by Christopher Sammond Two weeks ago I had the real pleasure of facilitating a workshop on Opening to the Heart of Worship with Friends from Milwaukee Monthly Meeting. It was a wonderful time of exploring some of the nuts and bolts of our practice of worship- the “spiritual mechanics” of how to engage deeply in
Why do Quakers sing hymns so slowly? Because we’re reading ahead to the next line to see if we agree with it or not. When I tell that joke in workshops, I get a lot of laughs of knowing recognition. Yes, we are that way. Our quest for spiritual independence and autonomy has been
by Christopher Sammond Because we cannot reasonably expect to erect a constantly expanding structure of social activism upon a constantly diminishing foundation of faith, attention to the cultivation of the inner life is our first order of business, even in a period of radical social change.
by Christopher Sammond As Quakers, we often bandy about the phrase “there is that of God in each of us.” We often remind ourselves of this when someone in our midst is acting out in ways that are particularly challenging to that assertion. But do we let it in, I mean really take it in,
Tending to the Divine Within During Times of Crisis Read More »
By Christopher Sammond In 2004, when I came to New York Yearly Meeting to serve as General Secretary, some Friends shared with me that yearly meeting members whose passion was for witness were saying “Well, it looks like Ministry won,” with my hire. My passion for spiritual deepening was well known, and in a committee