Johan Mau­r­er on retir­ing from the news cycle: “There is some­thing in me that resists the idea of unplug­ging, as if I am some­how let­ting human­i­ty down if I give up, for a time, my obses­sive atten­tion to the deeds and mis­deeds of the Pow­ers That Be. How much worse off every­one would be if I with­held my awe­some influ­ence for good!”

Speak­ing of Ben­jamin Lay and retire­ment, the Abid­ing Quak­er blog looks at how Ben­jamin Lay’s “cri­tique of and then retreat from soci­ety” fits with chap­ter 15 of the Gospel of Mark, which recounts Jesus’s tri­al and execution. 

It’s the first of the month, which means a new issue of Friends Jour­nal is avail­able. Decem­ber’s issue looks at Stew­ard­ship as a Tes­ti­mo­ny. There have also been break­ing arti­cles this week: Rashid Dar­d­en’s review of the new Net­flix biopic on Bayard Rustin, Lucy Dun­can’s reflec­tions on Gaza, and our roundup of the news of the three Ramal­lah Friends School grad­u­ates shot last week­end in Ver­mont.