Quaker Ranter
A Weekly Newsletter and Blog from Martin Kelley
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A walk around the Occupy Philly encampment
There’s a different feel since I last visited – it’s quieter and more lived-in. Less a protest and more a small town. Services are organized and there’s less people standing with signs and taking each other’s pictures.
I briefly sat in on the Quaker/Interfaith tent, where a meeting was going. I couldn’t hear much but the main issue of business was how open an interfaith speaker’s series should be. I didn’t have too much time so I quietly slipped off afterwards to take more pictures of Occupy. #blog
In album Occupy Philly, 10/25 lunchtime #occupyphilly (7 photos)
Part of the “Idea Wall”
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Torching Meetinghouses Ctd.
Apparently Micah Bales wasn’t calling for twenty-something Friends to engage in a reign of terror, of kerosene and matches. He was engaging in something called he calls metaphor. Micah reminds us that the living church needs to be able to ask questions:
A living, breathing community cannot be perfect in this sense. True life is found in dynamic tension. Living communities change and grow; they reproduce themselves in a diverse array of shapes and sizes, suited to their own times and places.
I myself would have avoided the burn-baby-burn pose, even rhetorically, if only because I’ve had too much personal experience of Quakers who completely lack a sense of irony. But it’s certainly not without precedent for Friends to challenge our connection to material space (Micah aint’ got nothing on Benjamin Lay!). This critique is why we call them meetinghouses, not churches, and it’s why their most prominent architectural style in the Delaware Valley resembles nothing so much as a barn – the most generic of open structures in the eyes of the farmers who built them.
There have been some good reactions among the commentaries on Micah’s post. Isabel P. wrote from the perspective of a “spiritual vagabond”:
For those of us with no meetinghouses, who wander from place to place trying to find a home for our worship groups, this sort of hyperbole (metaphor though it may be) is just painful. Is tradition and heritage really such an awful weight? Try being a spiritual vagabond …
Elsewhere, Mackenzie paints the picture of a not-atypical wealthy East Coast meeting that focuses on structure:
The meeting room is larger than needed for how few people show up weekly (about 70 on a “good” day, while the room can hold about 250). The campus is larger than the participants are willing to put in the sweat equity to maintain. You’d think working together to maintain it would go under the category of building community, which our First Day School claims is a testimony. Instead, the budget must be ever-expanded to hire someone else to fix things up, rather than have anyone get their hands dirty. Never mind that the meeting is running on endowments from long-dead Friends as it is. So much paid maintenance puts a strain on the budget, making for persistent calls for more money.
Further down in that same thread, Tricia shares the heartfelt thank-you notes of Philadelphia-area Occupy activists who found refuge in Quaker structures:
Dearest Quaker Friends, Thank you for harboring us in a safe place in your parking lot. We appreciate it, in solidarity — the 99%.
I’m so grateful that you opened your hearts and your space to us. (catastrophe averted!) I want to be a Quaker. Love and Peace, Barbara.
There have also been some obnoxious reactions, all too-typical dismissals citing some supposedly-inherent inability of younger Friends to be trusted in discernment or leadership. Of course our own tradition proves this wrong. When we talk about Quaker theology, the starting point for Friends of all flavors is an essay written by a twenty-eight year old. When George Fox had his famous opening that “there is one, even Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy condition,” he was a twenty-three years old talking about a son-of-God that never left what Friends would call his “young adult” years. William Penn co-founded his first Quaker colony at age 33, and even old Margaret Fell earned her nickname “the mother of Quakerism” for the organizing work she began at age thirty-eight. By counter-example, I’m sure we find some older Friends who lack something in the discernment or self-control department. The moral of the examples: age is not the most important factor in Quaker spiritual discernment.
Now I want to turn back to the meetinghouse question and put things in a bit of perspective. There are probably only five or six dozen unprogrammed meetings in North America that are so large they couldn’t simply squeeze into the nearest volunteer fire hall. If calamity struck the meetinghouse, the great majority of our congregations could take a quick phone poll of members to determine who has the largest living room and relocate there the following First Day. Yes, of course it’s nice to provide space to the occasional protesters (and local yoga group, battered women’s shelter etc.), but it’s fair to ask if this is what we’re called to do with this time and money. There would be certain opportunities gained if a monthly meeting sold or long-term leased its property and re-established itself as a network of house churches. I don’t think it’s necessarily a good option for most meetings but it would be an intriguing experiment. And it’s definitely worth imagining.
Kevin C T on the politics of the DC occupiers and differences from the Civil Rights…
Kevin C T on the politics of the DC occupiers and differences from the Civil Rights movement. http://cabaretic.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-movement-needs-good-sales-pitch.html
“The drafters of the statement included Quaker Symon Hill who has written of…
“The drafters of the statement included Quaker Symon Hill who has written of the statement: “As one of the drafters of the statement, I want to make clear that we want to act in solidarity with people of other religions and of none, not impose our religion on them or claim to be a more important part of the movement than they are. This point is made in the opening line of the statement.”
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A Quaker presence at Occupy London
Almost 100 Quakers attended a Meeting for Worship on the steps of saint Paul’s cathedral in London on Sunday afternoon. The Meeting for Worship took place in support of the Occupy London movement that…
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Strangers to the Covenant
A workshop led by Zachary Moon and Martin Kelley at the 2005 FGC Gathering of Friends.
This is for Young Friends who want to break into the power of Quakerism: it’s the stuff you didn’t get in First Day School. Connecting with historical Quakers whose powerful ministry came in their teens and twenties, we’ll look at how Friends wove God, covenants and gospel order together to build a movement that rocked the world. We’ll mine Quaker history to reclaim the power of our tradition, to explore the living testimonies and our witness in the world. (P/T)
Percentage of time: Worship 20 / Lecture 30 / Discussion 50
Extended Description
We hope to encourage Friends to imagine themselves as ministers and elders and to be bold enough to challenge the institutions of Quakerism as needed. We want to build a community, a cohort, of Friends who aren’t afraid to bust us out of our own limited expectations and give them space to grow into the awareness that their longing for deeper spiritual connection with shared widely among others their age. Our task as workshop conveners is to model as both bold and humble seekers after truth, who can stay real to the spirit without taking ourselves either too seriously or too lightly.
Martin and Zachary have discovered a Quaker tradition more defined, more coherent and far richer than the Quakerism we were offered in First Day School. In integrity to that discovery, we intend to create a space for fellowship that would further open these glimpses of what’s out there and what possibilities exist to step out boldly in this Light.
Sunday: Introductions
The most important task for today is modeling the grounded worship and spirit-led ministry that will be our true curriculum this week. In a worship sharing format we will consider these questions:
- What brought me to this workshop?
- What did they fail to teach me in First Day School that I still want to know?
Monday: What is this Quakerism?
Today will be about entering this grounded space together as Friends, beginning to ask some questions that reveal and open. How do I articulate what Quakerism is all about? What ideas, language, and words (e.g. “God”, “Jesus” “Light”) do use to describe this tradition? Today we start that dialogue. At the end of session we will ask participants to seek out an older Friend and ask them for their answers on these queries and bring back that experience to our next gathering.
- Worship. Reading of selected texts from journal and Bible
- Present question: When someone asks me “what is Quakerism?” how do I respond.
- Martin and Zachary will share some thoughts on this question from other Friends
- Journaling on Query
- Discussion of ideas and language.
Tuesday: The Mystical Tradition and Gospel Order
We enter into the language and fabric of our Tradition at its mystical roots. Asking the questions: What does God feel like? Introduce early Quaker’s talk about God. What does it feel like to be with God? What is Gospel Order?
- Worship. Reading of selected texts from journals and Bible
- Follow-up on previous day’s discussion/homework what new came into the Light overnight?
- Journaling on Query: When have I felt the presence of God? Describe it in five senses?
- Initial discussion and sharing of thoughts and ideas.
- Introduce some ideas from early Friends and others on this Query. How have others (Jesus, Isaiah, Merton, Fox, Day) spoken of this experience?
- Introduce themes of Spiritual Practice: If Quakerism is about asking the right questions, how do we get into the place to hear those questions and respond faithfully? We have already been incorporating devotional reading into our time together each morning but we will introduce into the Light of Discipline as such here. Naming of other practices, previously acknowledged and otherwise, within the group.
- Introduce ‘Spiritual Discernment’ themes for the following day’s session.
Wednesday: The Roots of Friends’ Discernment Tradition and the Testimonies
We delve into the archives, the dusty stuff, the stuff First Day School didn’t get to: the preaching from the trees, the prison time, the age George Fox was when he was first incarcerated for his beliefs, what the testimonies are really about and where they came from. Today is about taking the skeletons out of the closet and cleaning house.
- Worship. Reading of selected texts from journals and Bible
- ‘Let’s talk history’: Early Friends, the Making of The Society, and the Discernment Tradition. [Martin and Zachary may cover this, or we may arrange to have another Friend come and share some thoughts and infuse a new voice into our dialogue]
- There are lots of testimonies: what are ours? Name some. How to they facilitate our relationship with God?
- What’s up with “Obedience”, “Plainness”, and “Discipline”? How do we practice them?
Thursday: Friends in a Covenanted Relationship
We grow into our roles as leaders in this community by considering the opportunities and the hurdles in deepening our covenant relationship. We begin with considering spiritual gifts, and then consider questions around ministry, its origin and its discernment. We will take up the task of considering what our work, what piece of this responsibility is ours to carry.
- Worship. Reading of selected texts from journals and Bible
- Journaling on the Queries: What is alive inside of me? How are my spiritual gifts named and nurtured?
- What are the tasks of ministry?
- What are the tasks of eldering?
- What are the structures and practices in our monthly, quarterly and yearly meetings that we can use to test out and support leadings? How do these structures work and not work. Clearness committees? Traveling Friends? Spiritual nurture/affinity groups?
- What is holding us back from living this deepened relationship? What is our responsibility to this covenant and this covenant community?
Friday: The Future of Quakerism
We begin the work that will occupy the rest of our lives. The participants of this workshop will be around for the next fifty or more years, so let’s start talking about systematic, long-term change. We have something to contribute to this consideration right now.
- Worship. Reading of selected texts from journals and Bible
- Where do we go from here? Martin will present on emergent church. Zachary will present some thoughts on ‘Beloved Community’.
Many have talked about deep communion with God and about covenant community. Many have spoken our hearts and given voice to the passion we experience; now it’s on us what are we going to do about it? Where is it happening? - Discussion (maybe as a fishbowl) Where do we envision Quakerism 50 years from now? 100 years from now?
External Website: Quaker Ranter, Martin’s site.
The Passion of Uncomfortable Orthodoxies: Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”
Mel Gibson’s movie _The Passion of Christ_ is a challenge for many modern Quakers. Most of the rich metaphors of co-mingled joy and suffering of the early Friends have been dumbed-down to feel-good cliches. Can the debate on this movie help us return to that uncomfortable place where we can acknowledge the complexities of being fervently religious in a world haunted by past sins and still in need of conviction and comfort?