fear god Posts

I feel I'm being called to be profoundly non-strategic these days. What do big words add to understanding? Our message is simple. All we need to do is love God and care for one another. Our task is not to know all the answers but to simply follow what small leads we've been given and trust in the Lord that this is the work of the Kingdom. It is too easy to adopt the clothes of a professionalism that hide a predatory motive and mask the unspoken fear at the root of our labors.

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

I will worry less about those who seem intent to push houses across sandy soil. I will dig down looking for the bedrock and I will invite others to join with their shovels. I will stop worrying about the specks in my brothers' eyes.

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. Quotes from Luke 6.

• Hugh MacLeod's How To Be Creative manifesto
  26 hard-earned tips for being truly creative. Dont' follow crowds, don't hide behind pillars, don't take friends' advice too seriously and most importantly follow the Sex and Cash Theory. Via http://kaushik.net
  (tags: tech tech.design)
• Anna at New York YM, the fear of following God
  We sometimes forget that in its demand that we all open ourselves to God and dedicate every facet of our lives to Her grace and glory, Quakerism is the very antithesis of safe and easy.
  (tags: quaker quaker.newyork-ym)  r
  
• Ben's friend Maggie wants more traveling ministry
  Since.. the majority of Quakers in this century will be convinced Friends, I believe we are in need of a revival of traveling recorded ministers speaking out to meetings.
  (tags: quaker quaker.ministry quaker.vision)
• Robin M reads Rufus Jones' call to the youth of his generation
  Does this sound familiar to anyone? Go read it for yourself and tell me how many of these things you have said yourself. Why are we still working on these same things? Is this required every generation or so?.. What is different now?
  (tags: quaker quaker.vision)

• Canine D is a "Hootenanny Nazi" when it comes to Quaker singing
  "There are few things sadder than a rousing chorus 'Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep' stumbling over Ani DiFranco guitar-hacking."
  (tags: quaker quaker.culture quaker.music)
• Brent Bill wonders if we need a name-change from church back to meeting
  "If the research he read is true -- then Gen Y, Gen X -- are fine with the Gospel (as they understand it) but not too happy with the institution of the church. Which struck me as a wonderful "marketing" opportunity for us Quakers."
  (tags: quaker quaker.outreach)
• LizOpp on doing our best
  "Sometimes I wonder if God simply wants us to ask ourselves, Did I do my best? Was I faithful...? If we know we didn't do our best, if we know we weren't in fact faithful, we will have the consequence of living with that knowledge."
  (tags: quaker quaker.ministry)
• Sheffield Simon on the relief of being able to pray openly
  "Returning to my Quaker meeting with all its fears and anxieties about what we can and can't say..., I couldn't help wondering if our anxieties inhibit us and stop us from using the words which could give us strength."
  (tags: quaker quaker.liberal quaker.ministry)
• Street Corner Kirk joins a Web 2.0 Bible site
  "I see Quaker involvement there as having an outreach aspect, for instance in pointing out and annotating passages that are particularly meaningful to Friends."
  (tags: quaker quaker.outreach quaker.blogs)

It's hard to know what to say about yesterday's horrific massacre at Virginia Tech, where a gunman killed 32 people (at latest count) in two separate incidents. Is this an indictment of an American culture of violence? Virginia Tech has a strong military tradition, so is our war mentality to blame? Guns?, can we blame guns? Or how about the alienation of so many young people in our society?

Any answer seems glib and besides the point. This isn't the time to be a pundit. People snap for all sorts of reasons and usually for multiple reasons that can never really be untangled.

Like all humans, I'm shocked and saddened. I've spent time on the campus and the students and faculty I met were always warm and hospitable, gracious and open. What must they be going through? Think of the fear of the trapped students, the fear of parents turning on the news, the fear of survivors who will have to live with the memories of this nightmare for the rest of their lives. I add my humble words to the millions of prayers that have been murmured these last twenty-four hours. May God comfort the victims alive and dead, including the shooter, who must certainly be a victim of something himself.

How do we stop the violence? How do we show our youth that violence is not the way? And how do we get these damned guns out of their hands?

Lazy guy I am, I'm going to cut-and-paste a comment I left over at Rich the Brooklyn Quaker's blog in response to his post What This Christian Is Looking For In Quakerism. There's been quite a good discussion in the comments. In them Rich poses this analogy:

During the Great Depression and World War II, I have been told that Franklin Roosevelt rallied the spirits of the American people with his "fireside chats". These radio broadcasts communicated information, projected hope, and called for specific responses from his listeners; including some acts of self-sacrifice and unselfishness... Often people would gather in small groups around their radios to hear these broadcasts, they would talk about what Roosevelt had said, and to some extent they were guided in their daily lives by some of what they had heard.

A guest piece by Evan Welkin

Shortly after finishing my second year at Guilford College, I set out to understand what brought me there. During the stressful process of deciding which college to attend, I felt a strong but slightly mysterious urge to explore Quakerism in my undergraduate years. Two years later, this same urge led me to buy a motorcycle, learn to ride it, and set out in a spiritual journey up the Eastern seaboard visiting Quaker meetings. While Guilford had excited and even irritated my curiosity about the workings of Quakerism, I knew little about how Quakers were over a large area of the country. I wanted to find out how Quakers worked as a group across a wide area of the country, and if I could learn how to be a leader within that community.

A Guest Piece by Jeffrey Hipp

"I take this commitment of membership very seriously – to labor, nurture, support and challenge my fellow Friends; to walk in the Light together, and to give, receive, and pray with my fellow sojourners when the next step is unclear. My feet are on solid ground."