She Ain't Heavy, She's My Sister

I read this story earlier this week, and it has been on my mind ever since. Sara Tucholsky, a senior at Western Oregon college, hit the first home run of her life in a softball game against Central Washington. Unfortunately, after she missed first base and turned back, her knee buckled and she fell to the ground. If her teammates were to touch her, she would not be able to continue around the bases, and her knee wasn't letting her do that anyway. That's when Mallory Hoffman, the first basewoman for the opposing team said to the umpires "Excuse me, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?" And that's what they did..



I have a great feeling of joy, and of rightness, when I see something like this, and I believe it is the Holy Spirit within me saying "That's what you should be doing! That's what 'love your neighbor' and 'love your enemy' is all about!" It is yet another reminder that there is no team, no company, no sect, no club, no uniform, no country, that is more important than our membership in the Kingdom of God. There is nothing that should come between our love for God and for each other.

Getting in Deep

I was thinking this morning about our attitudes to the Light of Christ within us and our willingness to trust in it, and I imagined a swimming pool in which the water represents God.

Some people like the pool area, maybe like the people who swim there, but aren't willing to jump in. They just sit in the chairs around the pool, and talk about the nature of the water.

Others, like me, get in the pool, but stay in the shallower areas where they are still standing on their own feet.

Where I wish to be, though, is the deep end, where I am no longer standing on my feet, but bouyed completely by the love of God.

Quiz time - Who said this?

I came across an interesting quote I'd like to share:

Well, Christianity and being a true believer--you know, I think there's the Body of Christ. This comes from all the Christian groups around the world, outside the Christian groups. I think everybody that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they're conscious of it or not, they're members of the Body of Christ. And I don't think that we're going to see a great sweeping revival, that will turn the whole world to Christ at any time. I think James answered that, the Apostle James in the first council in Jerusalem, when he said that God's purpose for this age is to call out a people for His name. And that's what God is doing today, He's calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don't have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think that they are saved, and that they're going to be with us in heaven.

Do you have a guess who might have said it? (Hint: It wasn't a Quaker) I'll put the answer in a comment.

You're in charge of the house

I have seen numerous movies and TV shows where the parents say to their teenage son or daughter "you're in charge of the house while we're gone", setting up the inevitable plot in which the teen makes a wreck of the house and tries to get it all cleaned up before the parents get home. Obviously being "in charge" of the house is not a license to wreck it or have one's way with it.

What called this to mind was the notion that we as human beings have a special God-given dominion over the Earth and the creatures living upon it, and that we can do with it what we like. When I remember that "the Earth is the Lord's", it reminds me that like the partying teen, we are still responsible for taking good, responsible care of our house.

J.S. Rowntree on Gospel Ministry

I was reading a book about Lewis Benson recently, and in a chapter written by Joseph Pickvance, he mentioned two chapters from John Rowntree's works that Lewis had recommended to him These two chapters had to do with the work of gospel ministry in the Society of Friends. It was written around 1908 and contains some great insights about how things were then, as well as in George Fox's time.

One of the interesting things to me was that early in Friends' history, ministers would meet together each week and plan what meetings they would attend on the following First-day. This was to ensure that the work of the ministry was spread out amongst the various meetings.

One thing I often hear about is how, from the beginning, men & women had essentially an equal role in ministry, yet I find signs in Rowntree's writings that it wasn't quite as rosy as I had pictured. In looking at some of the schedules for what ministers would visit where, it is mostly men - Rowntree includes a replica of one such schedule that shows only one woman on the list. Another chart showing the decline of ministers (based on how many have died) does show that about 3/5 were men, which isn't that bad a ratio. One of the most disappointing items with respect to women that Rowntree presents came from the minutes of the Second Day Morning Meeting on 1st Month 10, 1700:

This meeting finding that it is a hurt to Truth for women Friends to take up too much time as some do in our public meetings, when several public and serviceable men Friends are present, and are by them prevented in their services. It's therefore advised that the women Friends should be tenderly cautioned against taking up so much time in our mixed public meetings. Benjamin Bealing to give a copy of this minute to Sarah Plumley and Margt. Munro, for them to communicate to other women Friends, and that it may be prevented for the future.

You can read Rowntree's works on Google Books, or if you just want the two chapters Lewis Benson mentioned, I have reformatted them with LaTEX and created a PDF, which is here. You are welcome to use the PDF in any way you like. If you want the LaTEX source, just ask.

Oh, don't be frightened by the first paragraph of the chapter on "Gospel Ministry In The Society", the rest of the chapter is not nearly that obtuse.

Evangelism vs. Proselytizing

I have had a number of threads occupying my thoughts lately, and this morning a new contrast between proselytizing and evangelizing seems to have brought them together. I hope that I can present them without making a huge knot.

In a previous post, I quoted the oft-stated "Quakers don't proselytize", and made the point that Liberal Quakers do proselytize, but it is not about their faith but instead about issues like peace, equality, economic justice, etc. The traditional peace testimony is that we live in the "virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars", yet it seems that our efforts in peacemaking don't involve trying to bring people into the virtue of that same life and power, but rather trying to achieve an external peace, rather than an internal one.

When I read Fox's epistles, there is a constant emphasis on dwelling in the light (keep in it, stay in it, dwell in it, walk in it). Isaac Penington conveys the same message with "Give over thine own willing, give over thine own running, give over thine own desiring to know or be anything, and sink down to the seed which God sows in thy heart". My understanding of the importance of everything deriving from the Light within has been ever-deepening.

In the post where I talked about "Quakers don't proselytize", I suggested that it wasn't the proselytizing that was wrong, but WHAT we were proselytizing. Again, it goes back to trying to achieve the results in others without the spirit that provides those results in us. I have come to understand that I was wrong, and that the statement "Quakers don't proselytize" is true - or at least should be true if we are acting rightly.

I have known conservative Friends who push Christ on people - that the Light is Christ, and you must believe that in order to be a Quaker. This is another form of proselytizing, one that is much more common in the greater Christian community. There is a passage in Matthew where Jesus asks the disciples "who do you say that I am?" and Peter replies "You are the Christ, the Son of God", and Jesus replies "You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!" Similarly, Paul writes that "none can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit". To me, that means that one's emphasis shouldn't be on trying to get someone to make theological statements about the nature of that inward Light, but to help them turn towards that Light, and let it reveal its nature to them.

So what I am getting at with proselytizing, is that it is by definition "the attempt to convert a person to another opinion or religion". But if we hold firm to our understanding of the working of the Light of Christ, it is not us that does the converting, it is the interaction between that Light and the other person.

Another thing that has been growing on me, especially since the FGC Consultation on Gospel Ministry is the importance of evangelism - and for me, I feel that I am slowly coming under the weight of a concern in this respect. Let me just clarify a couple of words here. First, evangelism means "spreading the good news" (it derives from the Greek word euangellion, eu- for good, and angellion for message). Gospel is an old English word that also means "good news", so "Gospel Ministry" is also "Evangelical Ministry", and is "Spreading the good news".

So what is the good news? This is a point of difference between Quakers and modern Christians, because for many Christians, the good news is "Christ died for our sins". For Quakers, however, the good news can be summed up by George Fox's statement that "Christ has come to teach his people himself". Lloyd Lee Wilson also offered a good version at the recent consultation, which I can't do justice to, but was essentially that "the Kingdom of God is at hand, that it is immediately accessible". Even 2000 years later, this is still news to a lot of people.

Now, if I am to be consistent with a call to heed the Light and do only what we are led, I can't really say "we need to go evangelize". Maybe that's what some are called to do, maybe others aren't. I can say, however, that we need to be open to it. When we find ourselves proselytizing - when we have that earnestness to make someone think as we do, we need to ask if it really from the spirit or from our own egos. When we shy away from talking about our faith, we should ask ourselves whether that is also our ego trying to shield itself, or whether it is the spirit telling us that the time isn't right. We need to listen to know when the time is right. I think that is much harder to do if you aren't open to the possibility of being called to evangelize. In our openness towards evangelism, though, we also need to keep in mind George Fox's words "you will say Christ saith this, and the apostles say this, but what canst thou say? Art thou a child of Light and hast thou walked in the Light,and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God?"

Few words, deep ministry

Yesterday in meeting for worship, two Friends spoke with such simplicity, yet it touched me deeply, and it just felt like there was no need for other words.

It was simply:
Praise the Lord!


Amen! ... Praise his name