I‘m definitely a child of my post-modern generation: I tend to recognize multiple valid perspectives on any question; I experience truth as dynamic, changing in its expression depending on context; and I am suspicious of black-and-white, either/or thinking. Yet, I also follow a man who makes some pretty black-and-white truth claims. I have faith in …
My life can get pretty over-scheduled. From the moment I wake up until late in the evening, many days it seems that there’s no real end to my personal work treadmill. If I’m lucky, there are at least pauses along the way for me to catch my breath. This has become the new normal. Many …
In the early days of the Quaker movement, Quaker evangelists swept through the British Isles, the Continent of Europe, across the Atlantic to the American colonies, and even as far as the Muslim lands of the Middle East. The Valiant Sixty went out from Swathmoor Hall, determined to spread the good news of the risen …
I recently spent almost a week in western Massachusetts at a gathering called Quaker Spring. Quaker Spring was conceived as an entirely unprogrammed gathering, where our whole agenda would be Spirit-led, each day’s program being composed in the morning by a small steering group, aptly named the listening committee. The concept of the gathering is …
I often wonder what it would take to develop communities that live up to the Quaker ideal of being a gathered people. What if we truly prioritized our life together as disciples of Jesus? Rather than assuming that we would move to another city if offered a higher paying job, what if we submitted that …
As a teenager, I always loved a good fight. I got a huge adrenaline rush from hashing out Very Important Issues with peers and elders alike. More importantly, I believed that having honest, open, and sometimes brutal discussion was the way to find the truth. My preference for direct speech was near-absolute, even when it …
Dear friends, This past month has been very full! I’ve visited friends in Philadelphia, and family and friends in Kansas, on top of my usual work routine. I have also felt called into an increasingly intense schedule of visitation with individuals and families here in the DC area. I have often been tired lately, but …
Read more “Unleashing Our Spiritual Gifts – Micah’s Ministry Newsletter #54”