April 21, 2019

This morning on my way to Meeting, I listened to an interview of Congressman John Lewis, the only one of six leading organizers of the 1963 march on Washington who is still alive.  He said that his lifelong campaign for civil rights was founded on his total commitment to nonviolence, peace, and love.  He did not connect nonviolence, peace and love, or his commitment to them, to any religion.

Today, Easter, Quakers and other Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His restoration to the presence, and living service, of God, His Father and the One Jesus lived to serve.

Today it is particularly appropriate for us to consider for Whom, or for what principles, we are committed to be agents; how we show our commitment to that service; and the degree to which that commitment is founded upon nonviolence, peace, and love.

February 3, 2019

Imagine the reach and depth of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit!  A Spirit which perceives the circumstances and needs of each person – and of each other person with whom we are concerned, moment to moment.  A Spirit which, when asked, may tell me to stay and you to move on; which may tell you to persevere and me to let go; which may tell me to act and you to forebear; which may tell you to speak and me to keep my peace.

Are there as many Holy Spirits as there are people, responding only to the assigned person’s prayers for guidance, as if in some cosmic call center?  Or is there one Holy Spirit uniting all humanity and nurturing each individual’s growth and grace according to her or his circumstances?  The answer is a matter of faith.

I believe there is one Holy Spirit available to each person at all times, if we ask; if we strive to stay connected to that Spirit – including to the presence of that Spirit in each other despite all human and cultural differences; if we seek to be agents of that Spirit of love and grace for our growth and for the contributions we can make to others.

January 27, 2019

How many times has it been asked, “How could a loving God allow that to happen?!” 

War, genocide, murder, rape, torture, violence, abuse of all kinds! 

Cheating, greed and corruption no matter the cost to others! 

Famines, epidemics, heartbreaking miscarriages, awful birth defects, catastrophic accidents and natural disasters!

How could a loving God allow such things?

Is it possible that our understanding of how God works is, though naturally human, simply wrong?

Is it possible that God has given life, function and opportunity to all living things and, particularly to each human being, stewardship – whether we accept it or not - of the gift of life, including care of ourselves, of each other, and of our planetary ecosystem?

Is it possible that we do not want that responsibility?

Two inexhaustible energy sources

Self-righteousness - whether concluding quietly to oneself or asserting vociferously to others that one is right - is the easier of humanity's two inexhaustible sources of energy.

The other one, the much more powerful one, is love.

Self-righteousness is instinctual, requires neither effort nor growth, and is at least initially comforting, especially when we go with a crowd.  The high costs of self-righteousness - loneliness, stress, atrophy of love of others and curiosity about them and their views - often appear after the habit of self-righteousness has taken hold so firmly that we do not see their origin.

Love is instinctual, too, but is much harder work because its focus is on growth and service, not on feeling emotionally or physically comfortable.  Love includes others.  Love includes curiosity about and care of others, as well as self-care.  Love includes acceptance of others, and modesty, because true acceptance of another means accepting that we might have something to give away, not protect, and that we might have something - maybe a lot - to learn from others.  Love includes curiosity about how we and others might grow, not how we might protect what we have, including our self-perception.  Love, too, can become a habit, and easier each day, once its value - particularly its value compared to self-righteousness - becomes clear.

Love is the powerful discipline.

Reality check #10

Temptation, including the blink-of-an-eye temptation to act on impulse, and how we respond to temptation clearly reveal our values - if we are willing to look.

If personal responsibility is really one of my core values, is what I'm tempted to do something for which I will shrink from taking responsibility?

Is what I'm tempted to do something which will diminish my awareness of my responsibilities?

January 20, 2019

We are enough.

Each of you is enough.

I am enough.

Though we gather as seekers, we must remember what we have already found: we have found many truths which bring us the experience of love, peace, strength, and courage.

You are enough.

I am enough.

Does the Holy Spirit within each person look upon us and our choices and condemn us? 

Does the Holy Spirit tell us, “you are not enough”?

I don’t think so.  I think the Holy Spirit says to us,

“Do your best joyfully and productively to use the gift of Life and stop trying to be more perfect than I made you.”

And we will be joyful and productive if we look upon each other, and every other person, with love, and with the conviction that “you are enough and I am enough.”

Creativity in dreams

One way to think about dreams: 
All the creativity they represent, night after night, is within the dreamer.
That creativity is worth cultivating in ourselves and honoring and encouraging in others.