I first became a Quaker because of my own personal experience of God. I knew many people who talked about God, but I was always a doubting Thomas – I needed to see and touch for myself before I could believe. And God, with great mercy, granted me this. God showed up in my life, …
Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. – 1 Peter 5:2-3 Much of …
“Is Capitol Hill Friends a ‘programmed‘ Meeting?” A visitor to the William Penn House asked this yesterday. We explained that Capitol Hill Friends has an hour of unprogrammed worship, but that we also eat dinner together, read the Bible and sing. It makes sense that some Friends around here might imagine that we are a …
“Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” – John the Baptist, Matthew 3:9 There are few things more dangerous than the comfort and hardness that overtakes a community with a proud heritage. The …
One of the most obvious features of the early Quaker movement was its emphasis on the spiritual reality of the Holy Spirit, preferring it to outward forms and holidays that the Church had long observed to call attention to these spiritual realities. In seventeenth-century England, these forms were abused horrendously, with the state church demanding …
So many today are totally turned off by institutionalized faith. For many years now, “spiritual but not religious” has been a popular mantra. Many of us are interested in a life of faith, but not one that is connected to a particular community or tradition. The Emergent Church movement has borne the marks of this …
[People] are told they ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are they to do? The answer is the same as before. Act as if you did. Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, ‘if I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?’ When …