Faithful Betrayal

On Sunday morning after Quaker Heritage Day, Wess “brought the message” to worship at Berkeley Friends Church. He told a parable about the master and the perfect disciple. You can read more of it in his article that was in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Quaker Life. Essentially, the disciple swears never to deviate from the Master’s teachings, and the Master says that to swear this is already to betray his teaching.

Wess was making a reference to how the Christian Church in postmodern culture has to break with some of the traditions that have been handed down to us. I think the lesson is that in order to be faithful to our highest or greatest calling, to be faithful to God, we may have to break with or betray some of our human teachers.

For Quakers, this may mean several things.

First is that we have to examine the taboos that we have inherited, like we can’t talk about X topic, or with those people (insert your favorite here). Depending on where you came to Quakerism, that may mean we actually have to talk about what we believe, whether that is a more or less orthodox understanding of Christianity, or it may mean we have to admit our doubts or that our interpretation has changed, of the Bible, or George Fox’s Journal, or whatever.

Second is that the way we do business, or worship, or nominations may have to change. Again. None of us is a Quaker in exactly the same way that 17th century Friends were. We may resume some old practices; we may borrow from those other Quakers; we may choose something that fits with our local cultural or generational norms. Here I recommend reading Brent Bill’s Modest Proposal (which is a lot less shocking and a lot more practical than Swift’s essay by the same name).

Third is that the institutions we have been handed may not be the instruments we need to achieve God’s kingdom in our times. Do our meetings need different (or fewer) committees that what we’ve had for the last ten years? Do our churches need to separate into smaller worship groups? Or join into larger congregations? Do we need some form of realignment of our allegiances and associations? (I know that word has history and heavy baggage, but I mean to invoke all of that, or at least some of that heat and light.)

How is God calling us to “be the Quakers” in 2011?

Where are the nudges in your personal life? What courage will it take to speak your understanding of the Truth?

What support do we need from each other to lay down the forms and patterns that no longer serve God’s purposes, no matter how useful they may have been when they were innovations?

And how will we know what is truly faithful in the face of the sense of betrayal that others will feel about our new leadings? How hard is it to tell somebody, “I know you’ve dedicated the last thirty years of your life to that committee, but it doesn’t exist anymore.”?

The fact is that those conversations are going on already. In monthly meetings. In yearly meetings. In international organizations. Some of this work has been hastened by the financial crisis. But most of it is due to the generational shifts, the Great Turning, the Great Emergence, that is happening all around us, whether we like it or not.

To swear never to deviate from the paths of our great teachers is to have betrayed them already.

A New Mission for the Church?

Another post on Quaker Heritage Day 2011. For more, see my earlier posts. For my inspiration, all credit goes to God, C. Wess Daniels, and the awesome Friends who were part of the discussion.

Wess's first topic of the day (after his introduction) was a redefinition of the word mission. I feel like it was an opportunity to reclaim the word, much like Carol Spencer inspired me to reclaim the word holiness last year. He started by asking us what associations we had with the word and these ranged all over, from the saving of souls to military campaigns. I personally think of the haunting movie with Jeremy Irons & Robert DeNiro, The Mission.

As I see it now, the word "mission" for a postmodern church or meeting means something combining the secular nonprofit organizational meaning of a purpose for being, as in a mission statement, and the Quaker meaning of a leading, or a God-directed purpose. It means the work that a particular church or meeting is called to do and be, and Divinely fitted to do, and needed to do. I think it could be related to Walter Wink's concept of the angel of an institution, but I don't really feel qualified to address that connection.

So then Wess proposed a very interesting idea, that the mission of the church, broadly speaking, is to be a midwife to the spiritual life, of an individual or a community. Here are some of the interesting points that were generated:
(some come from Wess and some from the audience, they built on each other)

• the midwife brings experience and training
• the midwife trusts the mother to be competent
• the midwife is not in charge or control of the labor
• the midwife is not the baby or the impregnator of the mother, nor the one doing the labor, nor the one who will keep the baby
• the midwife serves a particular area; she is mobile but not homeless
• the midwife doesn't show up where she's not wanted or just on game day
• the midwife is committed to the whole process, for better or worse, regardless of outcomes

Now substitute "minister" or "the church" for the "midwife" and read the list out loud to yourself.

The church trains and prepares and brings faith that a person or community can have, already has, a spiritual life. The church/minister has the role of accompanying the person who's developing their spiritual life - not in charge of creating it or saying where it will go, although they may have some experience of seeing how things often progress, and can be reassuring along the way. The church has to be flexible but not unmoored. A minister serves a community as a whole and people as individuals. The church has to be in it for the long haul.

I know I want to spend more time contemplating and discussing this image. Does it speak to you? Would your meeting or church be open to thinking about its purpose this way?

Follow up on QHD 2011

The short version is "It was great." Here's the link to my list of hopes and expectations, and I think I can say the whole event lived up to most of them.

The longer version is, by definition, more complicated and some of it is still reverberating in my brain and will therefore take longer to write about. But I didn't want to wait anymore to write a little bit about it.

As I've said before, Quaker Heritage Day is an important annual event in my spiritual journey. This year, the speaker was C. Wess Daniels, released minister from Camas Friends Church, in WA, near Portland, OR. I first met Wess in person at QHD in 2006. He is still a Ph.D. candidate at Fuller Seminary and he presented some of his material from his dissertation research. It was challenging in a intellectual way, like a college level class on Quakerism. Here are the slides & other documents from his presentation. It opened up new connections between Quaker history and postmodern culture, in a way that offers me hope for the relevance and vitality of Quakerism in the future. The four points I'd like to highlight (and write more about) were the redefinition of mission, the role of the church as midwife to the spiritual life of a community, Quakers as exemplars of fan culture, especially as remixers and participatory producers, and the role of faithful betrayal in spiritual matters.

I think my role in this event is as an engaged fan of QHD, in the technical sense of fan culture that Wess described. I helped spread the word; I encouraged more young Friends from a wider geographical area to come; I helped support the child care, and I coordinated the after-party. I am enthusiastic about the stimulation I receive from QHD and I just assumed that I could help in some way. Which may be irritating to the real organizers at times but I think overall it makes for a better event. Or I'd have stopped by now.

There are some photos on Facebook. Lisa H. wrote two good posts on Quakers and Remix Culture, (part 1 and part 2) and Chris M. shared some of his own further reflections. I hope to write up posts on the four points I mentioned in the next week or six, in between everything else that I have going on. God willing, and the internet connection doesn't bail out again.

And next year, you should really think about coming. It's not a balloons & facepaint type of party, although I apparently gave that impression to some local Friends, for which I apologize, but it's a good time for Quaker thinkers.

Quaker Heritage Day 2011!

What: Heralding the New Creation: Mission as Participation in the Quaker Tradition
C. Wess Daniels will help us think about the renewal of our tradition through a renewal of mission. He will touch on the first Friends’ understanding of their mission, the way that 20th century evangelical Friend Everett Cattell thought about it, the ways that convergent Friends today are building new communities online and face-to-face, and how our local meetings and churches can live out the new creation by fostering a participatory culture. (download flyer)

Who: C. Wess Daniels (Wess is the released minister of Camas Friends Church, a father of two (really cool) little girls, a husband and a doctoral student at Fuller Theological Seminary. Among his many interests are nourishing Christ-centered faith, encouraging cross-branch friendships in the Religious Society of Friends and trying to start what he calls the “Quaker Revolution.” But since things happen closer to the pace of evolution among Friends, he spends the rest of his days enjoying tasty locally roasted coffee, reading books that make him look smarter than he really is, playing imaginative games with his daughters, and learning how to watch for unexpected moments of grace. He blogs at gatheringinlight.com)

When: February 12, 2011, 9-4 (plus optional dinner on Saturday night and worship on Sunday morning)

Where: Berkeley Friends Church 1600 Sacramento St Berkeley, CA 94702
Corner of Cedar Street, 2 blocks north of North Berkeley BART station.
Telephone (510) 524-4112 www.berkeleyfriendschurch.org /qhd

Why: Because it could change how you think about the future of Friends


My own spiritual journey has been forever changed because of my experiences with Quaker Heritage Day. You can read what I’ve written about it over the last five years here and in the October 2006 issue of Friends Journal (my article is not online).

Okay, I don’t want to raise people’s expectations beyond what Wess could possibly meet. But I do want to encourage everybody who reads this to come. Especially if you have any hope of being around Friends for the next forty years or more.

Here’s what I expect:

I expect to be engaged more than just sitting and listening all day. Wess is good at creating interactive and worshipful exercises.

I expect to be challenged. My horizons have been broadened a lot already in the last five years. I first met Wess at QHD in 2006 and he had already made me think outside my usual boxes just from reading his blog. But I still expect to hear things that make me question them and myself.

I expect to make new connections between the past and the future – how Quaker traditions can speak to us today and transform us for the future.

I expect to laugh. Wess has a dry and self-deprecating sense of humor and a fine appreciation for the absurdities of life and Quakerism.

Here’s what I hope:

I hope it will be an intergenerational event. I hope for equal numbers of people over and under 40. [Note to YAF: Come and bring your friends!!!]

I hope it will draw Friends from a wide range of geography. I think it would be worth coming from out of town for the weekend. If you need help finding a place to stay, let me know.

I hope it will draw Friends from a wide range of theology. I think Wess’s presentation will appeal to many Friends, even as it challenges each of us in different ways.

I hope Wess is brave in sharing what he really thinks. One of the previous QHD speakers didn’t go far enough, I think he pulled his punches, so to speak, and the Day suffered. It was still interesting but it wasn’t amazing.

I hope that someone in the Berkeley area will want to host dinner afterwards. We can order pizza delivered, so no cooking is required. But a place where folks can hang out, where kids can be safely, where we won’t be bothering the roommates or the waitstaff, that would be great. If you or someone you know could host, call or email me. I’m in the College Park Quarterly Meeting Directory and my email is in my profile in the sidebar. I’ve had a couple of offers in SF, but it would make more sense to stay in Berkeley.

Registration is by mail or by phone to Berkeley Friends Church. The event is free and open to all, but the suggested donation is $20 with lunch; $15 without. Donations are gratefully accepted and support this annual event. Make checks out to Berkeley Friends Church with ”Quaker Heritage Day” in the memo line. Child care is available with advance registration. I expect that my kids will be there, so they'd be really grateful if you would bring yours.

Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism

A review and further reflections on Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism by Carole Dale Spencer

I’m trying to remember where I first heard of this book, and I can’t recall. I do know that I asked for it for Christmas in 2008, and thanks to my beloved Chris M., it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since, waiting for me to finish it.

I finally did it, because Spencer is coming to Quaker Heritage Day in Berkeley next week. It’s a tough read, if you’re not used to the academic style, but it gets easier near the end. And I’m really, really glad I read it.

A lot of the book is Spencer running through a series of individuals through Quaker history and showing how they are or are not exemplars of Quaker holiness. There’s more than 20 of them over 350 years, so if you want to know who they all are, read the book. Some of the history doesn’t agree with what I’ve learned – but then I only know what others have said about most of them. I agree with her interpretations of the ones I’ve read first hand: Hannah Whitall Smith and Richard Foster and Thomas Kelly. Elias Hicks, Joseph John Gurney and John Wilbur, these are three I’d like to read more of. (I’ve got the new version of Hicks’ Journal, which I understand addresses some of her criticisms.) I wouldn’t call myself a Beanite Friend, partly because I think that sounds silly, partly because I don’t think of myself as a follower of a particular Quaker ancestor, and partly because I don’t know enough of Joel Bean’s actual work to have a valid opinion. More and more I think I should read his work myself.

But I’m less interested in the historical aspects than in my own affinity for the key elements of Quaker holiness. I think this could be a key to what holds convergent Friends together in my mind. Or maybe it’s just the key to my own spiritual journey.

I think it’s important to separate the current iteration of non-Quaker holiness movements from what Spencer and I are talking about. Apparently, Quakers have always had a slightly different definition of holiness from the religious mainstream. Meaning we don’t have to equate holiness with American rightwing politics and religious fundamentalists. Actually quite the opposite, in some cases.

Spencer teases out eight separate elements of traditional Quaker holiness. I’ll list them here, because I’m copying them from the book: Scripture, Eschatology, Conversion, Evangelism, Charisma, Suffering, Mysticism, Perfection.

Spencer also explains how these elements relate to evangelical concepts like justification and sanctification, but I can’t keep them straight. Frankly, I think that Conversion and Evangelism are two parts of the same thing, and that Suffering and Perfection are another inseparable pair. And if you’ve got an hour or two, I’d be happy to sit down and explain why I think so and discuss it with you. I could use the help in working it all out in my own head. But for the purposes of this book review, let me just encourage you to read Spencer’s explanations of what each means.

Personally, I can only manage to keep three aspects in my head, in part because I think they are all inter-related and they all cycle around to each other.

1) Perfection, meaning holy obedience, spiritual growth, acting like Jesus, living up to the Light we’ve been given, actually doing what we know is right
2) Mysticism – listening to God, hearing Christ Jesus speak to my condition, cultivating and holding close to the intimate relationship with God
3) Witness, which in my mind includes spreading the word, sharing the Good News, working to improve the world, teaching and healing like Jesus.

The desire for holy perfection and faithful witness, the understanding of their meaning, and the strength to accomplish them come from our mystical relationship with God. I think that when Friends have kept close to that guide, then we have avoided falling into the rigid and rulebound forms of religion. I think that scripture is a tool to be used with our mystical interpretation. The Bible may not be perfect, but it’s the best description of Jesus’s teaching and actions that we’ve got.

I have three examples of how perfection and witness are related, but none of them comes from Spencer’s book so don’t blame her if they don’t speak to you. One is that we know that having a low flow showerhead isn’t going to save the world, but it helps to have your own house in order before you try to change farmers’ wasteful irrigation practices. Second, you can’t effectively protest factory working conditions while wearing clothes made in sweatshops. Third, people are more likely to listen to you tell them how Jesus is a blessing in your life if you are a blessing to your family and friends.

Now I know that these aren’t strict rules, and it’s not true that we can’t say anything about the wrongs of the world until we’re free from all our sins. But we have to be actively examining our own lives for the seeds of war and continually doing something about our own lives as we go along. And then we can speak with Truth and Power. Part of this is the confidence that comes with not feeling like a hypocrite and the recognition from one’s opponent that one is walking the walk. But I truly think there is something divinely inspired that makes a person a better advocate who has removed the beam from her own eye without getting bogged down in that process. Jesus offers us some good examples of looking at rules, and acting with love, even if, on occasion, that contradicts a generally useful rule. (Like healing on the Sabbath, for example.)

I think Spencer is right that our various forms of worship are culturally and temporally specific, not divinely mandated. What’s important is that our worship enables us to achieve communion with God – to hear God speaking to us. Hours and hours of silence seem intensely important to me, and absolutely fruitless to others. I’m willing to accept that other people experience God in other ways. (I don’t believe this is divided along lines of race, class or geography, but I know that what we’re used to makes a big difference.)

What is missing from this book is the growing holiness movement among unprogrammed Friends in the last ten to twenty years. That’s probably because we don’t call it that usually. But I think that Lloyd Lee Wilson’s book, Essays on a Quaker Vision of Gospel Order, fits all of Spencer’s criteria for Quaker holiness. I think some (not all) of our Quaker environmentalists are actually part of a holiness movement. In my local world, I think that the reason that Chris Moore-Backman’s and Carl Magruder’s ministries are so attractive to some and so off-putting to others is because they are actually preaching Quaker holiness. They’re just not using that word.

And then there’s me. Not that I am such a stellar example of Christian perfection. But I want to affirm that I’m really trying, on all these points. I’m just now understanding that this Quaker holiness is what calls to me in the Friends that I would call convergent. Do you feel the same way?

In all the branches of Friends, in all eras, there have been examples of Quaker holiness, real people who have touched the lives of the people around them, even if they didn’t publish any books or start any new movements bearing their names. Think about who you know that you admire as a Quaker. In what ways do they exemplify Quaker holiness? In what ways do they contradict my theory? You don’t have to name them here on this blog, but I’m really curious whether this idea resonates with other Friends or not.

Opportunities in Spring 2010

Whenever I’m going to an interesting Quaker gathering, I try to write about them on my blog to encourage others to come. There are two such opportunities coming up in the next few months.

The first event is the Annual Meeting of the Section of the Americas of the Friends World Committee for Consultation. This year it’s being hosted by Baltimore Yearly Meeting, at a camp near Reistertown, Maryland, a little northwest of the city of Baltimore. The dates are March 17-21, 2010. Registration is still open through February 22. For local Friends, there are opportunities to attend the evening sessions without registering for the whole thing or staying overnight. The website has more details.

As long time readers of this blog know, my appointment as a representative of Pacific Yearly Meeting to the Friends World Committee for Consultation has been a great gift to me. The opportunity to travel each year to a different part of the Quaker world has opened many new doors. This all began four years ago when I was invited to help lead a workshop during the sessions about convergent Friends, with Wess Daniels, Shawna Roberts, and David Male. You can read more about these prior events – click on the tag FWCC at the bottom of this post for more of my blogposts.

The second is Quaker Heritage Day on April 10, 2010. Every year, Berkeley Friends Church hosts a day long seminar with a well known Friend (or two) on a topic that connects Quaker history with our contemporary practice. This year the speaker is Carole Dale Spencer, author of Holiness: the Soul of Quakerism, from Northwest Yearly Meeting. Here’s part of the description from the flyer:

“Holiness is an idea that has been more divisive than uniting for the Society of Friends. Yet it was unmistakably important in the experience and faith of the first Quakers. Carole Spencer maintains that holiness, while neglected by many Friends today, provides an ‘ongoing thread that serves as the common denominator of normative Quakerism’. Nor was holiness solely the domain of nineteenth-century revivalist Friends. In fact, we can see various aspects of holiness in the lives of Quakers throughout our history and in each of our divergent traditions. What's more, understanding holiness as a ‘spiritual quality in which human life is ordered and lived out as to be consciously centered in God’ opens the way for us to see the possibilities for our own lives, whether we might consider ourselves to be evangelical, liberal, mystical, or some other kind of Friends.”

The program opens with breakfast and a book table at 9:00 with the speaker beginning at 9:30 am, lunch break at 12:45, and closing worship begins at 3:00 pm. The event is technically free, although the suggested donation is $20 with lunch, $15 without. Child care is available if requested before March 21, 2010. (I’ve already put in my request for two boys, ages 8 and 11.) The registration form is now online or you can call 510-524-4112.

I can clearly trace the origins of the phrase convergent Friends to a dinner party after QHD in 2006 that radically changed my understanding of the Quaker world. I met Wess and Emily Daniels, Max Hansen, Margery Post Abbott and Peggy Senger Parsons. I wrote about that experience in Friends Journal in the fall of 2006. You can find more of my blogposts about previous QHD events by clicking on the QHD tag at the end of this post.

One thing that I have treasured in addition to the regular conference experience of these gatherings is the opportunity to meet with local Friends, readers of this blog, writers of other blogs, local Friends who are interested in meeting Friends across the Quaker spectrum, and random guests of the Holy Spirit who have joined us each time. I have called these convergent dinner parties, and there have been several that I have attended over the last four years.

I believe there will be one in Berkeley in March (email me at the address in my profile if you’d like more details as they become clearer).

I’m certain that there will be a convergent gathering on March 21, 2010, in Baltimore, hosted by Friends of the Old Town Friends Fellowship. (You can read more about them at their website.) I’ll be joining them for their regular Bible study at 5, semi-programmed worship at 6 and potluck dinner at 7. Rachel Stacy and Kevin-Douglas Olive are part of the hosting group. I think that Martin Kelley is likely to show up and Tatiana is still looking for a ride from the Eastern Shore. If you'd like to know more, leave a comment here or email me directly.

If you can make it to any of these, COME! It will be fun.

[An early version of this post had the wrong date for the convergent dinner in Baltimore. March 21 is correct.]

Was thee faithful?

The following is a guest post from Brian Drayton, speaker at last weekend's Quaker Heritage Day at Berkeley Friends Church. It was sent to Chris asking him to forward it to as many Friends who were there as we could find email addresses. Excerpts were also read at my monthly meeting's business meeting yesterday, as an epistle.

I felt compelled to write back, both with my personal responses and to ask if it would be acceptable to him to republish his letter on my blog. He has graciously agreed.

I recommend you read it more than once. (I had to print it out.) I have found that his words grow more compelling each time I read them. Especially the idea that spiritual hospitality begins with welcoming the Holy Spirit into our own hearts and lives.

3/8/07
To Friends in and around Berkeley

Dear Friends,

As I have sat in the quiet since Darcy and I were with you last weekend, I have repeatedly had the sense that I was not free of the work I had come for. Through fatigue or ineptness, I believe that I failed to convey some part of what I felt I should offer. For this reason, and with a strong sense of love for, and connection with you, I feel to write some few words as a conclusion to our time together, about ministry and the Seed's victory.

Our mission, our calling, is to offer hospitality to the active life of the living God, and so all ministry is given to help each other in this great task.We encounter this life in the place of stillness, when the many voices calling and commanding us from self, society, and culture can be set into the background, and for a while, to our surprise, lose their command over our attention. In reaching to the Lord's lovely spirit, we can learn to feel our unity with others, and with the creation, and our love for them; and there we can be confident of receiving guidance about how to join in God's work of healing and reconciliation, creation and thanksgiving.

The precious, little, sweet springing of that life is what we need to practice keeping our eye on, step by step; or feeling for its gentle stirring, its cool and refreshing presence, its sharp, clear truth-telling, which, as William Penn tells us, shows us our illness, and provides at the same time the remedy. Friends have loved to call this low, beautiful thing of potential and power the Seed. The very image of a little seed, stirring into opportunity, arouses in us the desire to nurture new growth, cultivate the ground, remove the over-burden that prevents growth towards the Light that is the source of life.

We know that the life Christ leads us towards is one of simplicity, peace, and other fruits of the Spirit, but we should help each other remember that these should not be the objects of our longing — we know too well how one or another virtue can itself become an idol, a substitute for what we truly are seeking, which is the lovely Spirit our companion and shepherd. So we must encourage each other to recall this simplest, basic yearning, and to sharpen our eyes and ears for the least evidence of its activity and direction — and we must school ourselves to relish and savor the sense of Presence, if only for a little moment, before translating the guidance, the insight, the release, into action or words.

In this way, by recalling over and over our first invitation, to "come and see," and remembering that this first impulse of longing and interest is always precious, and a treasure in itself, we will grow to see how many evidences of this life there are, in so many things around us. The act of hospitality to the Spirit will become a growing joy. Then, as we encounter in the light fresh insight about where we are not yet free, where our compulsions and fears, resentments, wounds, and appetites bind us, we will be more able to look at these sorrowful things with directness, and then turn from them towards the light, which will help us so to live that the bindings lose their power. It is the resolute turning towards the Light, keeping our hands on the plow, that releases us, however hard it is; and in the choosing to turn is the Cross. As we experience this process, we come to see how it is the preface to joy.

There is something majestic in the realization that, to the extent we and others come to honor that simple freeing power, it brings victory over the things in us that make for destructions large and small. The victory of that Seed's growth comes as it comes to overtop and shadow out the cruel, the angry, the hasty or fearful in us; and we are empowered to speak to that sweet, free, cool thing in others, activating it, perhaps, so that they can taste just a little of its delight again, and long to know it better. So we can come to the place John Woolman spoke of, where to turn ourselves and all we possess into the channel of universal love becomes the chief business of our lives.

And "Seed" also means "descendent from the same fore-parents." We have been promised that Christ is our elder brother, the first-born of many brethren (as Paul has it). It is in living with this Seed, minding the Light that reveals it and guides us as we offer it hospitality, that we come to touch, and are enabled to accept, our child-hood of God, and our kinship with Christ, who as Seed and Light is there at work in us, before we even know how to name the power that is searching and soothing us, calling and comforting.

We minister truly, we truly serve, when we wait to feel that life, and the love that we have come to feel for it, when we speak or act. Our ministry may take the form of telling what has been done for us by that power, or what others have experienced; or it may take the form of guidance or warning about the path of growth and inward hospitality — true ministry will take as many forms as the needs are, and as the messengers are. But let us help each other to practice whatever helps come to that place of Presence and companionship, to form and hold a clear and intimate sense of that precious Seed, the Life of God coming to birth and growth in ourselves and all. More than that, let us never be too proud, or knowing, or weary, to stop and give thanks for that simple, sweet Presence, the foundation and goal of our soul's life.

In Christian love your friend,
Brian Drayton

"He is no true minister of Jesus Christ, but [he] who is led forth by His Spirit; and such we rejoice to hear declaring the things of God. Otherwise, upon meeting, we sit silent in the tongue, yet having a heart full of praises, where we worship God in Spirit and truth, who makes our bodies temples for the same Spirit, not speaking by hearsay and human arts, but lay all that down. When earthy thoughts, earthy words and earthy works are all laid aside and the temple within us is ready, the light of Christ shining in it, and the Lord with a further manifestation of His love enters it by His eternal power, [there]upon we can truly say that the Lord's presence is amongst us, feeding His flock and making us feel the power of an endless life."

William Britton, 1660, "Silent meetings a wonder to the world."

Managing Expectations

Managing my expectations is not something I’m good at. I have to work really consciously at it.

I have to work at experiencing events as they come – open to the good, with compassion for the poorly done elements of any event. To not feel disappointed that something was merely good, instead of life-shaking. To not be a spiritual glutton.

This year will be full of this spiritual discipline. As I encounter experiences, events, conversations that are similar to things that happened last year, I have to try not to compare them too closely.

QHD was one example. FGC will be another. Fortunately, FWCC will be a completely new experience this year.

I’m really not looking forward to the first convergent dinner party that goes badly. I just have to stay aware that it could happen. It will happen one day if we keep this up.

Thy will be done, Lord.

Convergent Dinner after QHD

I had originally planned to invite people to come to dinner afterwards at our house. It worked out fine last year, even though I live on the far side of San Francisco. But a few weeks ago, Lisa H. offered to host the dinner at her house, since she lives just a few blocks from BFC – within easy walking distance. (Thank you again Lisa – it was great this way.)

But then we both fumbled a bit, me over whether I could just keep inviting people to her house and her over whether she could just invite people to my party. In the end, we tried to invite all the people who were still there at the end of the day. About 20 people came in the end and I’m so glad they did. Only seven of whom were bloggers (that I know of): Wess, Emily, Max, cubbie, Lisa, Chris, and me. [This is why I should have written this sooner: now I'm worried I missed someone...] At least eight monthly meetings and four yearly meetings were represented, probably more. Max took photos!

About 5:30, another Friend happened to call Lisa to say, “I feel like going out to dinner or something. Would you be interested?” Lisa told her to come on over too.

Lisa made up copies of her own Quaker Playlist for all the attenders and a big pot of soup. Some Friends brought salad fixings. We ordered good pizza (but not from the Cheeseboard because they don’t deliver) and I brought a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies.

If you missed it, I’m sorry, leave me a comment or send me an email (the address is in my profile), and remember next time, if you read about it on my blog, you’re invited.

Opportunities, to do with children mostly

Darcy Drayton defined an Opportunity as a period of deep listening after the spiritual condition of another person or small, intimate group.

One of the opportunities of the day was a conversation over lunch with David L. I’ve met Dave before. We’ve had conversations before, often quite interesting and quite brief. On Saturday, we got to talk a little about the spiritual practice in my family of grace before dinner and of practicing praying out loud. Lately, when it’s my turn, I always choose to speak a prayer. In part because I want my children to have some concrete ideas of what to do in a moment of silence. Also in part because I think this is something I need to learn how to do at this phase of my spiritual journey.

Another Opportunity was a period of worship later in the evening, just before Brian and Darcy Drayton had to leave. The spoken ministry was fine. But the best part for me was that the children were all, not participating exactly, but present. The three of them were in a corner of a room, reading to themselves. They didn’t have to be shushed or managed. They were respectful and released from the obligation to act interested. I would like to find more opportunities for my children to be loosely present in worshipful settings like that.

QHD 2007, the longer version

Third in a series of seven posts about QHD 2007

Saturday was the fourth annual Quaker Heritage Day at Berkeley Friends Church. The first speaker was Hugh Barbour, second was T. Canby Jones, last year it was Margery Post Abbott and Peggy Senger Parsons. A few moments on Saturday afternoon were dedicated to holding Peggy Parsons in the Light, as we heard she had just returned the day before from two months of training trauma healers in Burundi. Last year was my first time at QHD and I was just about blown over by the experience. It was a more low-key presentation this year, but then it pretty much had to be.

This year's speaker was Brian Drayton, author of On Living with a Concern for Gospel Ministry, one of the biggest sellers at last year's QHD book table.

I think I counted 12 adult attenders from my Meeting alone. Maybe a fourth or fifth of the event. Pretty much all the regular attenders of the Thursday night study group. Bet the discussion this week will be rich. (Alas, I'm providing childcare for the Executive Director of the HEART of San Mateo County while he attends a county planning meeting.)

I've struggled a bit with what to say about the talks. But plain speech is winning out. I don’t think that Drayton presented much that was really new to me. Using Bownas’s categories of milk for babes or meat for grown men, I felt like I was being fed bananas or avocados – nutritious, but nothing to really chew on, nothing spicy hot. Chris M. took better notes than I did, and he’ll probably post some of the juiciest nuggets. Nonetheless, I think it was good to soak in the atmosphere for a whole day. And other Friends were deeply moved by the whole thing. I think I just didn’t manage my expectations very well.

In the closing worship, I had these words but no opportunity to share them, so here they are:

Just as prayer can be a full-body experience, ministry can be a whole-life experience.

I was thinking of my Friend Elizabeth’s image of praying for the world’s children by hunching over like a woman in labor, crying “Save my baby!” Or the image of a novice entering religious life fully prostrate, face down on the floor, in submission to Christ. And I was thinking of all the ways are lives are called into holiness, into seeking perfection, in order to become a clear channel for the presence of God in gospel ministry. Earlier in the day I had used words like purity, chastity, temperance and humility. Brian Drayton had added time management or avoiding over-busyness to the list. Which was both disappointingly mundane and absolutely accurate.

I don’t know if BFC will have QHD again next year, since Max Hansen is leaving the pastorate, but I sure hope so. If you have suggestions of possible speakers, I’d be happy to pass them on to the church leadership.

Practical advice for encouraging new gifts in vocal ministry

Here is one small practical piece of advice I’m taking away from Brian Drayton at Quaker Heritage Day at Berkeley Friends Church.

I asked a question about how to deal with emerging gifts in vocal ministry: how to notice and encourage a new minister without stepping on the tender shoots nor inflating beyond good measure?

Drayton recalled a Friend he had known who would come up to you after meeting for worship and say, “I was thinking about what you said in there. And it made me think … (whatever had come up for him).”

It let you know that he had noticed and gave an idea of his reaction. But it wasn’t empty or awkward praise or discouragement.

I like this suggestion a lot and I’m going to try to practice it. What do you think?

QHD, the short version

First in a series of seven posts about QHD.

Quaker Heritage Day with Brian Drayton was good. The dinner afterwards was great.

Thanks to Lisa for hosting. Thanks to Max for organizing QHD again and for taking photos (which you promised to post.) Thanks to Wess and Emily for coming up again.

Thanks to all the Friends who made the Opportunities of this day possible.

More content and live links to follow, after some sleep has been had by all.

Quaker Heritage Day 2007

Gospel Ministry and the Quaker Way

March 3, 2007
9:00 am - 3:30 pm

Berkeley Friends Church
1600 Sacramento St., Berkeley, CA 94702
510-524-4112

RSVP: office@berkeleyfriendschurch.org
Pre-registration by 2/19 is appreciated so that they can plan lunch.
Pre-registration is required if you need childcare.
[My kids are already signed up.]
Suggested donation: $20 per person

Brian Drayton will take us on a tour of Quaker understandings of Gospel Ministry, past, present, and future. If you care for how God's truth is spoken in -- or outside -- of our meetings, this event is for you.

Session 1: Variations on Several Themes: Friends Ministry Through Time

Session 2: Disorder Under Heaven: Is Gospel Ministry Relevant To Our Calling Today?

Session 3: Meetings, Ministry, and the Seed's Victory

And bonus Sunday sessions

I would also like to gather convergent/blogger Friends for dinner afterwards. This was a wonderful Opportunity last year. If you'd like to come, please leave me a comment or send an email to the address in my profile and I'll send you the details.

I've written before about reading Brian Drayton's book, On Living With A Concern For Gospel Ministry.

Here's the bio from the flyer about QHD 2007:

Brian Drayton of Weare (NH) Monthly Meeting is a plant ecologist working in science education research. He has traveled extensively in the ministry carrying a concern to encourage those who contribute to their meeting's ministry. He has given workshops, retreats, and addresses on a range of topics in Quaker history and belief for monthly, quarterly, and yearly meetings and Pendle Hill. In 1994, he published Selections from the Writings of James Nayler. In 2003 he was one of the originators of the Quaker Peacebuilders Camp, a program for teaching nonviolent action based on Quaker spirituality. His most recent book, On Living With a Concern for Gospel Ministry, was one of the best sellers on the book table at the 2006 Quaker Heritage Day.

Coming Attractions

It seems that most of my writing these days is correspondence with new Friends. The excitement of finding kindred souls and shared interests in unexpected places is lighting my life these days.

Last weekend I went to the Christian Friends Conference, a quarterly gathering of Quakers in northern California that regularly brings together unprogrammed and pastoral Friends. I am trying to write more about this – but there are two parts, and some of it is tender, and it may take a few more days, or given that school is about to get out for the winter break, a few weeks.

Here are some Quaker gatherings that I am very much looking forward to next year:

• January 20, 2007 College Park Quarterly Meeting, with a concern for living in harmony with the earth, and an opportunity to consider how to balance our personal choices with global needs, including consideration of a minute proposed by Strawberry Creek Monthly Meeting on reducing our greenhouse emissions, at Ninth Street Meetinghouse, San Francisco.
  

• March 3, 2007 Quaker Heritage Day, featuring Brian Drayton, author of On Living with a Concern for Vocal Ministry, at Berkeley Friends Church, and afterwards a convergent/blogger dinner at my house in San Francisco

• March 15-17, 2007 Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas, Annual Meeting, at Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island
  

• April 13-15, 2007 Young Adult Friends Workshop with Betsy Blake, on entering a new understanding of purpose and calling; and listening to the one, even Christ Jesus, who speaks to our condition, at Quaker Center in Ben Lomond, California

I will have different roles at each, which are still in discernment, but may include audience, hostess, fellow-worshipper, minister, and elder, and maybe some of each role at each gathering.

At any rate, the point here is to just say that I am planning to go, and I want to encourage other Friends to come too!

December 30, 2006: Now with live links to the various organizations!

What will it take?

So what would it take to raise mass consciousness of Quakerism? A catchy slogan like, "Quakers - We're not dead!"? I personally like the Boise Friends Church tshirts a lot, but you'd really need a lot more Quakers to wear them to make this effective.

Maybe we need a best selling book and an appearance on Oprah.
The Silence Driven Life?
The Woolman Code?
This needs more work but it's not a bad concept to start with.

Maybe Quaker meetings could adopt all of US Route 50, from Ocean City, MD to Sacramento, CA. We could do the trash pick up wearing our "Quakers are way cooler than you think" tshirts.

Maybe Ang Lee could make a movie about Mary Dyer getting hanged for her religious beliefs in Boston. He should really branch out and do more controversial stuff anyway.

I don't really know. I'm not a marketing genius. But maybe the guys at Church Marketing Sucks would help us.

But this is an achievable goal, any time we put our minds to it.

Imagine what it would be like if, in five years, no one in America could say, "I thought Quakers were all dead!"?

The QHD movie, continued

At the end of the first session of the morning, Peggy and Marge asked us to think big, to dream about what would be the four scenes in the trailer for the movie about the next 100 years of Quakerism. I thought of three in the fifteen minutes allotted for the exercise and one a few days later.

1. Convergence of Friends from various branches releases energy to build a vibrant Quakerism with children choosing to be/stay Quakers
2. Quakers take over and implement the 10 year plan to end homelessness
3. Quaker scientists, engineers and homemakers re-invent new way of life without fossil fuels
4. In five years, no one in America will say, "I thought Quakers were all dead."

So which one of these is the most likely to really happen? I'd say #1. Because it's already happening. QHD was a great example for me.

#2 is a pet project at our house. Chris M. is involved in developing the plan for the county where he works right now. We have both worked on housing, poverty, and neighborhood development issues for years. I know that other people had their own pet social justice issues that they'd like to see Quakers take on en masse - the public education system was another one of my favorites.

#3 is interesting to me, particularly because of the mix of who I think will have to work on the problem. I don't think that high technology will be able to solve this. I think that individual, practical men and women, people in the householder stage of life, will have to be a big part of the solution. Still this is a long shot. Or maybe not - see one of my very first posts, on The End of Oil
or better yet, read one of the long and eloquent rants by The Earth Quaker, who taught me everything I know about the end of oil.

But #4. This is the one that came to me in my kitchen a week later. I probably wouldn't have thought of it at QHD because I was trying to "think big." And this doesn't seem like such a big goal. But in fact it would be a huge shift. In part this appeals to me because it's possible to point out that this does not actually require "proselytizing." The point is not to convert everyone, or anyone, to Quakerism, just to make sure they know we exist. But the stealth agenda would be just that. I really think that if more people knew about Quakerism, more would want to join.

In any case, this is an achievable goal, anytime we put our minds to it.

We have a great trailer - How's the movie?

Let me explain the concept of the "great trailer" a little better. The point was that sometimes, when you're in a movie theater, you see an ad for an upcoming move (called a trailer, I don't know why) and you think, "Wow! I really want to see that movie!" And then when you go to it, you find out that all the best scenes were actually in the trailer and the rest of the movie doesn't live up to them. But sometimes, you find out that the rest of the movie is even better.

Quakerism has some great scenes, some great lines of dialogue in our history. Is that it? Are those great moments in Quaker history over? Or is there more to the story? Of course, being the rabid Quaker that I am, I think the answer is yes, good things still to come! And here are some of the things pointed out to me by Peggy Parsons and Marge Abbott.

God's peace vs. conventional wisdom?

Gospel order does not mean a placid existence. It doesn't mean no conflict. In fact it probably means plenty of conflict with the world. But no conflict with God's will.

It doesn't mean success in traditional terms or on our own schedule. One example they gave is that of Susan B. Anthony, who died without seeing the fruit of her labor. But in fact, women can vote nowadays, and she's the only Quaker ever to appear on money. How many Quakers even aspire to that kind of success?

There was also a reference to John 14, which you'll have to look up for yourself, because I don't remember what it was about, I just wrote down the title and chapter of the book.

Here are the stages of transformation in God's ways:

• Know truth - understanding that there is something different, something better
  
• Turning - trying to get right with God, some backsliding is common
  
• Changed - accepting that we are unable to do as we did before, finding the peace
  
• Guidance - waiting for the leading to know what is our part of God's work
  
• ACT - without fear, with love

For more on this, I recommend Howard Brinton's Quaker Journals, Samuel Bownas's A Description of the Qualifications Necessary for a Gospel Minister and Brian Drayton's On Living with a Concern for Gospel Ministry.

They also talked about the dangers of transformation.

See above re: conflict with the world. Also, anything written about Tom Fox.

Another example given: Like the Beaver said to Lucy, Aslan is not safe, he's not a tame lion, but he is good. God is like that too.
(Side note: I did not see the Christian references in the Chronicles of Narnia until I went to college and someone pointed them out to me, almost point by point, despite the fact that I had read some of the books dozens of times. I personally take refuge in C.S. Lewis's assertions that they were fiction, not meant to be Christian allegory, thank you.)

Additional good lines:

Re: people who are indifferent to your efforts: God doesn't care that people are indifferent to God, God loves them anyway.

God creates us to be invincible, not conquerors. For a better explanation of this idea, read this on Peggy's blog.

Even a small oasis in the desert transforms a much larger area into usefulness. The desert doesn't have to all become a rainforest for people to get what they need. A series of oases is enough. This is parallel to Godliness in a barren, hostile world.

A Great Trailer

The first part of the presentation was Peggy and Friend Helen (who came to my wedding years ago in NY!) acting out various scenes from Quaker history:

George Fox and Friend hiking, huffing and puffing, up Pendle Hill. At the top, George says, "I see a great people to be gathered!" Friend says, "Fine, George, but do you think we could gather them at the bottom of the hill?"

Susan B. Anthony being interviewed by a newspaper reporter. The reporter says, "Too bad you Quakers aren't betting folks. What are the chances this woman's suffrage thing will take hold?" Susan says, "Failure is not an option." Reporter says, "I bet it never happens."

I'm paraphrasing here, but if you want to know word-for-word what they said, you could ask my son Henry. He corrected me the other day when I was trying to tell this story to someone, and he quoted the lines exactly. Who knew he was paying such close attention?

One more scene I'd especially like to thank Peggy for.

John Woolman is finishing dinner at the home of a slaveowner. He informed the owner that he appreciated the fine hospitality but he felt obliged to pay the good people who had prepared the meal and his room. As the slaveowner sputtered, "John" got up and opened his drawsting pouch and proceed to give a coin to several people in the audience, thanking the "slaves" for their service. This was perhaps the moment I was most glad to have made my kids sit in the front row. Peggy/John gave each of them one of the coins: a real Susan B. Anthony dollar. The children were awestruck. They are still showing their coins to everyone who comes to our house, and it has provided multiple opportunities to discuss who Susan B. Anthony was, why she's on money, and what "vote" means. Four year old Silas is still a little fuzzy on this, but we're getting there.

That first half hour alone was worth the price of admission. But wait! There's more to come.

God's Agenda for Us: Will We Cooperate?

The following will be an intermittent series of posts with a conflation of what Margery Post Abbott and Peggy Senger Parsons said at Quaker Heritage Day, and my own reflections on it. If you want the real stuff, the whole Truth, and nothing but their truth, you'll have to go to their next workshop together or wait for the DVD to come out.

In case you were wondering, they said that God's agenda for us is Transformation by means of the Truth that flows into action.