One of the most remarkable aspects of the Occupy Wall Street movement has been its use of consensus decision-making as the basis for a “leaderless” activist community. In New York and elsewhere, the movement employs a complex process – including hand gestures, procedural rules and a whole constellation of facilitators, each charged with a particular …
“Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness; and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations one against another; but praying one for another, and helping one another up with a tender hand…” – Isaac Pennington, 1667 During my studies at Earlham School of Religion, I was part of an …
In our emphasis on the life of the Spirit, we as Friends sometimes fail to give sufficient attention to the goodness of God’s creation, and the truth that we are embodied creatures. We are created by God to be not only spiritual, but physical. Just as the Word was made flesh in the person of …
“…the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, becasue it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built upon the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the …
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but …
…let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:24-25We are profoundly affected by the communities we are a part of. If we spend …
I have been informed on numerous occasions that I am a rather serious person. Occasionally this comes as a compliment, but generally it is a statement of vague concern. Often, the implication is concern for me personally (“I hope you do not spend your whole existence without ever relaxing and enjoying life”). Other times, the …