My January has been joyfully busy facilitating Faithful Meetings with Friends and I’m excited to be able to share some of what I did with you! On the first Saturday of the new year, I witnessed the closing Faithful Meetings retreat of Red Cedar Friends Meeting. I say “witnessed” because, although I am the facilitator […]
by Joann Neuroth Last week brought me a humbling, and at the same time encouraging, experience. I woke one morning with what I think early Quakers might have termed a “conviction” experience: a palm- to-forehead groan accompanied by “Oh no, Joann – you did it again. You were THAT PERSON you don’t want to be.”
By Mary Linda McKinney and Joann Neuroth We have the belief that everything we need is available to us when we are doing God’s work. When God leads or calls or nudges us to do something, God provides everything we need in order to do it. Everything we need may not look like what we
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 Mary Linda McKinney schoolofthespirit · Perfection by Mary Linda McKinney This message was given to me in worship a couple of Sundays ago. I knew it wasn’t for me because I’m a slacker, not a perfectionist, but neither did I feel the prompting to stand and share the message during worship so
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 Mary Linda McKinney schoolofthespirit · The Kingdom of God by Mary Linda McKinney Note about language: Please read in tongues. In this essay, I use the term “Kingdom of God” because that is a phrase early Friends used. I prefer to think of it as “the commonwealth of God,” “God’s world,” or the
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
by Mary Linda McKinney schoolofthespirit · Spiritual Diversity by Mary Linda McKinney It may surprise you to learn that it doesn’t matter to me what you believe. Whether you believe in The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost or an indescribable Divine or in absolutely nothing that is not tangible and measurable in this material world
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