by Maryann Concannon During the weekend of October 24-26, ten F/friends gathered at the Avila Center in Durham, North Carolina, for Weathering the Storm: a Contemplative Retreat in the Manner of Friends. Participants were mainly from North Carolina, but also travelled from Michigan and Delaware. April Allison (Durham Friends) and Maryann Concannon (Mentee, Red Cedar […]
Weathering the Storm Read More »
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 Joann Neuroth My body has had a wild ride this fall and winter: I fell and fractured my femur in Nov … in Dec the incision became infected, putting off physical rehab and lengthening the time I needed to spend without weight on the leg. In my rehab facility I contracted RSV. In many
God Starts with What Is Read More »
By Mary Linda McKinney A word on language before I jump in: I am setting aside my distaste for the “king” part of the phrase Kingdom of God. I prefer “Kindom of God” or God’s world or any number of other ways of expressing living into the perfection of God’s creation. If you are challenged
Living Into the Kindom Read More »
by Elizabeth Terney Sometimes, I take a second glance at my life out of surprise. How did an unprogrammed Quaker deliver two Advent sermons this year, not just as a guest preacher but as a pastor? It’s a long story, but I’ll shorten it for you: I followed God’s guidance. In 2019, I received an
Delivering Advent Sermons: How Did I Get Here? Read More »
by Mary Linda McKinney I’d never been one for New Year’s resolutions until a few years ago when I lit on the idea of committing to more. The first year, I decided that I needed more tacos in my life so set the intention to eat tacos at least once per month. With the support
By Mary Linda McKinney: I think a lot about the faithfulness of the earliest generation or two of Friends. They were arrested and imprisoned for their beliefs on the regular. Their homes, farms, and businesses were taken by the authorities to pay their fines because they didn’t doff their hats or they preached in public
by Mary Linda McKinney: School of the Spirit held the online one-day retreat Listening to the Sacred recently. Our four programs were represented during sessions by a teacher from each. Scott Wagoner, as the clerk of our Contemplative Retreats committee, encouraged us to consider contemplative spiritual practices. Interesting questions arose during Scott’s session: One Friend
by Joann Neuroth: I almost didn’t apply for the Spiritual Nurturer class that was so transformational for me – I pictured the School of the Spirit as very Christocentric, and I was still smarting from encounters with a judgmental and narrowly prescriptive childhood version of Christianity that excluded me. I hadn’t been successful, though, in
by Joann Neuroth: In 1846, Michigan lawmakers enacted this provision into law: “the preceding provisions of this chapter [on marriage] shall not affect marriages among the people called Friends or Quakers, nor of any other particular denomination, having any peculiar mode of solemnizing marriages.” Until a recent modernization of the marriage license form made Quaker
Are We a Peculiar People? Read More »