Friendly Bible Study in Woodland, NC

I spent the weekend in Woodland, NC for the tenth month Representative Body meeting of North Carolina Yearly Meeting Conservative. On first day morning, we had a Friendly bible study before meeting for worship. Rich Square Friends have a simple form of bible study in which someone reads some verses aloud and then they wait for reflections to arise. This is different from the Friends' tradition of bible reading in which Friends sit together and read the bible, sharing with the group as they feel led, but not inviting reflection on the text.

Rich Square Friends use the Revised Common Lectionary as the source of the week's verses. I have often thought that it would be good for Friends to at least be familiar with the lectionary readings so that they had some sense of what other folks may have read that weekend in their church. This may give opportunities for discussion and open new avenues for ministry. I see it as a way of preparing the ground.

At times I felt almost giddy during the bible study because it felt so special to have this communal sharing of bible study, and at many different levels. Some Friends were very familiar with the bible, others were not. Some had insights into the particular historical and cultural context of the readings, while others offered real life experiences that reflected on the text. It was beautiful that Friends felt open to discuss their difficulties with various verses, and there was an indescribable way in which these difficulties felt like they belonged to all of us. It felt like the unity of the body of Christ that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12:24-26:

But God has combined the various parts of the body, giving special honour to the humbler parts, so that there might be no division in the body, but that all its parts might feel the same concern for one another. If one part suffers, all suffer together; if one flourishes, all rejoice together.

Every time I have done this form of bible study with Rich Square Friends it has been a deep, and wonderful experience.

Some Thoughts on the Nobel Peace Prize

I saw some e-mails recently on a mailing list that were proclaiming great joy over Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. The general tone of the messages felt to me like anyone who didn't agree with the choice didn't understand, or didn't pay attention, or didn't read the committee's statement. In fact, even after I posted a message expressing my trouble with this attitude, another Friend posted a message suggesting that anyone who questions the prize isn't paying attention.

It is not my intention to argue one way or another, but to suggest that when we are unwilling to accept that people may actual have a rational basis to disagree with us, we are sowing seeds of war. Paul wrote that "We are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." I think we should take this as a reminder that we are not fighting other people - that we should be careful not to personalize things, nor should we lump people into groups such that they lose their identity. When faced with a disagreement, we should sink down to the Seed and seek guidance from God. Perhaps some things are not worth arguing over, or perhaps there are lessons we need to learn. Perhaps we are even wrong.

I have also seen some Friends mention the AFSC / FSC Nobel Peace Prize in 1947, as if it makes us experts in the awarding of the prize. As I settled into worship yesterday, I felt led to read from First John, and I encountered this verse:

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are of this world.

I took this as a reminder that we shouldn't be looking to other people for validation of what we do, but we should be attentive to God for validation. Sooner or later, the life of the Kingdom of Heaven threatens worldly comfort zones, and people (including us) may become defensive. Instead of being concerned with worldly prizes, we should be saying something similar to Paul when he said "I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."

Love Freely Received, Love Freely Given

I am back from my first residency at the School of the Spirit "On Being a Spiritual Nurturer" program. It was a wonderful experience, that seemed very daunting for the first day or so. My Koinonia group walked the labyrinth the day we first met together, and unlike previous experiences with a labyrinth, I found it very comfortable and it really allowed me to slow down and listen. I ended up spending about an hour every morning walking the labyrinth at a very slow pace.

Every so often on the labyrinth there were little stones with messages on them, one of which was "Love Freely Received, Love Freely Given". While I had seen this stone a number of times, something was opened in me on first day morning.

Usually when I see that phrase, I skip right to the "Love Freely Given" part, and I suspect many or most of us do. I think we want to picture ourselves in the place of giving. When we read about Jesus washing the feet of the disciples, do we tend to see ourselves in Jesus' place, or in the disciples place?

It seems hard to put ourselves in a position to receive love freely, without any obligation. Is it even possibly to truly give love freely without the love being freely received? If I do something out of love for someone else who then feels an obligation to me, then the love wasn't really free for that person, even though I expect nothing in return (assuming I am truly giving love that way). I need to learn to accept love that is freely given, without any worry about what I need to do for that person, or whether I am deserving of it, or whether it somehow means I am a helpless person.

The act of receiving love freely is also an act of giving love freely - I am allowing someone else to express their love towards me with total openness. Likewise, truly giving love freely is also an act of freely receiving the other person's gift of acceptance of that love.

Since this past first day, some lyrics from the B. B. King song "I Like to Live the Love" have been going through my head:

Every man or woman
Enjoys going home
To a peaceful situation
To give love
And receive love
Without any complications

My prayer for us as a religious body is that we learn to give love and receive love without any complications.

Idolatry

I have been reading Incidents Illustrating the Doctrines and History of the Society of Friends and in the section on worldliness I found this story:

When John Churchman and John Browning were travelling in Talbot County, Md., an elderly man asked them if they saw some posts standing, pointing to them, and added, the first meeting George Fox had on this side of Chesapeake Bay was held in a tobacco-house there, which was then new, the posts that were standing were made of walnut; at which J. B. rode to them, and sat on his horse very still and quiet; then returning again with more speed than he went, J. C. asking him what he saw among those old posts, he answered:

I would not have missed of what I saw for five pounds; for I saw the root and grounds of idolatry. Before I went, I thought perhaps I might have felt some secret virtue in the place where George Fox had stood and preached, whom I believe to be a good man; but whilst I stood there, I was secretly informed, that if George Fox was a good man, he was in heaven, and not there, and virtue is not to be communicated by dead things, whether posts, earth, or curious pictures, but by the power of God, who is the Fountain of living virtue.

I think there are a lot of things in addition to posts, earth, or curious pictures that we substitute for the power of God. Sometimes we substitute ideas, or particular practices, or a desire to be identified with a particular group of people. Lately I have found myself letting go of particular ideas when they are taken on their own, but holding onto them in relation to experiencing God. Perhaps they are like the old posts. They once stood and held up a building in which Friends met, but by themselves, they are just pieces of wood.

I have found myself wondering how much of Meeting for Worship has become an idol. Do we come to meeting because of the silence, or because of our encounter with God? Are we silent because we are giving control to God, or because "that is what we do in meeting"? Is it most important that a message is Spirit-led, or that it is not too long, doesn't use icky words, and comes from a speaker who doesn't speak every week?

Perhaps there are ways in which the testimonies have become idols, or even Quakerism itself. I think it is helpful for us to look at why things are important to us, and whether there is Life in those things.

Conversation from the Heartland

I will be starting the School of the Spirit "On Being a Spiritual Nurturer" program in less than two weeks. Before each residency we have a number of readings. My wife Ceal was in the previous class, so I am familiar with a number of these readings, and one in particular I was very happy to read again - Conversations from the Heartland from the 10/2006 Friends Journal.

Kat Griffith tells the story of her living room conversations with some other home-schooling moms, most of which would be considered members of the "Religious Right". In these conversations, Kat learned much about them, and about herself.

I find this article particularly appropriate right now with all the rancor about health care. Someone in California recently had part of his finger bitten off by a demonstrator. About once a week I go out for Indian food with some co-workers and over the past month we have spent much of the time discussing health care. We have an interesting mix of liberal, conservative, and libertarian viewpoints, and the conversation is remarkably civil - maybe a little animated, but we tend to talk about the issues and not so much about each others' attitudes. I occasionally try to inject a religious aspect into it, and that has been interesting. I have had difficulty making the leap from "whatever you have done for the least of these my brothers and sisters, you have done it for me" to making it the government's job. It is not that I mind paying taxes to help others, but that I can't reconcile forcing others to do the same.

In her article, Kat Griffith found that while she had initially made assumptions about people on the "Religious Right", she found they had varying opinions on particular issues. How welcoming are we of different opinions?

Earnestly Desiring Gifts

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about various spiritual gifts - prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, healing, etc., and at the end, he says "you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts." I have always read that passage in the context of an individual, that is, each of you should desire these gifts. But, what about the community as a whole? Do we earnestly desire that those among us will be given the gift of prophecy (that is, do we want God to speak through others to us), or that others will be gifted with discernment, or the ability to heal?

Christ as Savior

There has been some discussion lately about Jon Watt's video of "Friends Speaks My Mind", especially around the lines:

I'm not a Christian,
But I'm a Quaker,
I've got Christ's Inner Light
But he's not my savior

I was a little uneasy when I first heard this song, and a little more concerned when a couple of young Friends missed the distinction and thought it was saying "I'm not a Christian, I'm a Quaker". Even so, I enjoyed Jon's concert very much (he came to perform for the Southern Appalachian Young Friends in Asheville), and enjoyed meeting him.

As I mentioned in a comment on Jon's blog, my reaction to questions like "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?" is often to ask what the person means by that question. One could very well ask about the meaning when someone who declares "I've got Christ's Inner Light but he's not my savior".

Since Jon's song also contains the phrase "but don't blame Elias Hicks for all our problems", I thought it would be interesting to see if Elias Hicks wrote about Christ as Savior. I found a good description on page 304 of Elias Hicks' Journal. I think it illustrates the way the idea of a savior was internalized, and fits well with George Fox's description of how the Light helps you to resist temptation. Hicks wrote:

First day, the 6th of 7th month. Soon after I took my seat in our meeting to-day, my mind was opened into a view of the great need man stands in of a Saviour, and that nothing can give him so full and lively a sense thereof, as a true sight and sense of his own real condition; by which he is not only brought to see the real want of a Saviour, but is also shown thereby, what kind of a Saviour he needs. For it must not only be one, who is continually present, but who is possessed of a prescience sufficient to see, at all times, all man's enemies, and every temptation that may or can await him; and have power sufficient to defend him from all, and at all times. Therefore, such a Saviour as man wants, cannot be one without him, but must be one that is always present, just in the very place man's enemies assault him, which is within, in the very temple of the heart: as no other Saviour but such an one, who takes his residence in the very centre of the soul of man, can possibly produce salvation to him: hence, for man to look for a Saviour or salvation any where else, than in the very centre of his own soul, is a fatal mistake, and must consequently land him in disappointment and errour.

I realize that the above paragraph does not mention Christ, but elsewhere in Hick's journal (p. 330) he does make it clear that he considers Christ in this role. That's not what I wanted to emphasize, though. As I have written before, Friends experienced a transformation from the Light, in which their sins were shown to them, and the desire to do those things was driven out. I believe that is what Hicks is saying here - the Light is saving you from your sin by removing the desire to sin.

I acknowledge that there are other meanings ascribed to "Savior", in terms of atonement and such, but, it seems to me like the transformative meaning is very powerful, and something that can be readily experienced. Shouldn't this be something we desire instead of deny?