4-14-19 - What Really Happened on Palm Sunday?

What Really Happened On Palm Sunday?

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

April 14, 2019

Luke 19:29-40 (NRSV)

29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying,

“Blessed is the king
    who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
    and glory in the highest heaven!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

Palm Sunday has always been a special day for me.  It actually was the day as an infant that my parents took me to church to be baptized.  Something that today as a Quaker has a completely different meaning for me than it did while growing up.  And in many ways, my understanding and view of Palm Sunday has dramatically changed as well.  As a child, Palm Sunday seemed a celebration.  Much like we did this morning with our children, there were Palm Branches waved, people sang songs of “Hosanna!” and “Blessed is he comes in the name of the Lord.” At my childhood church, it was always like going to a parade.    

As a child I loved going to parades, not just because of the candy they threw out from the floats, but because of all the joy and happiness it brought to our town.  Like my oldest son, I was not fond of sirens and loud honking trucks, but for that one day, I put up with it. 

As a child, I don’t remember being taught about parades being about patriotism or showing our military might or honoring our veterans, or even reminding us that we are part of the “best country on the planet.” Maybe because my growing up years were right after we ended the Vietnam War and that was not the focus then.  

But while living in Oregon, just a few years ago, I came across some unexpected tension while at a parade. In our local parade in our little town of Silverton, we had all the usual police officers on their bikes and in their cars, fire engines, military from each branch of service, flags and lots of pomp and circumstance.  But at this parade just before the veterans passed us, were a group carrying a banner that read, Silverton People for Peace. They also carried signs much like the Friends Committee on National Legislation one’s that read “War is not the Answer” as well they had crafted a large peace dove made of white fabric that several people helped guide and fly over them as they walked.  Ironically, several people around us, including people that attended our meeting sitting with us, spoke negatively about their presence – almost as though they had no right being part of the parade. 

That day, I realized that even fun things from my childhood have deeper meanings.  That what we celebrate and believe may be different from what others celebrate and believe.  And why we have parades in our towns or country may be for reasons that I may differ on or may simply be ignorant of.  

Well, I remember that year thinking about all of this when Palm Sunday came around.  It had me taking a deeper look at what all was going on and just what was really happening.  Like my view of parades as a child, I had a happy, celebratory, even fun view of Palm Sunday, but as I began to study what was really going on it was much more than that. 

Now, I don’t want to pop anyone’s bubble, but I do want to give you a better picture of what all was going on and what Jesus was trying to do. 

Several theologians, scholars and writers, like Debie Thomas, Marcus Borg, and Dominic Crossan, who I will be sharing some of their thoughts this morning, have helped me see that Palm Sunday was really a subversive act – or what we might call a protest more than a parade, or celebration.

Here is what we may not know about the story that will give us some insight.  In the book, “The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teaches about Jesus’ Last Days in Jerusalem” by Borg and Crossan, they talk of two processions that entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday.

“Every Year, the Roman governor of Judea would ride up to Jerusalem from his coastal residence in the west, specifically to be present in the city for Passover – the Jewish festival that swelled Jerusalem’s population from its usual 50,000 to at least 200,000.

The governor would come in all of his imperial majesty to remind the Jewish pilgrims that Rome was in charge.  They could commemorate an ancient victory against Egypt if they wanted to, but real, present-day resistance (if anyone was daring to consider it) was futile; Rome was watching.

Borg and Crossan’s describe the procession this way,

“A visual panoply of imperial power, cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold.  Sounds: the marching of feet, the creaking of leather, the clinks of bridles, the beating of drums.  The swirling of dust. The eyes of the silent onlookers, some curious, some awed, some resentful.”

 Debie Thomas (Parade or Protest? 03/18/18) goes on to say,

“According to Roman Imperial belief, the emperor was not simply the ruler of Rome; he was the Son of God.  So for the empire’s Jewish subjects, Pilate’s procession was both a potent military threat and the embodiment of a rival theology.  Armed heresy on horseback.”

So to get a better picture of what was going on, from the West came Pontius Pilate entering with all the pomp and circumstance, the military adornment, and in the typical Roman imperial way.  It reminds me of the pictures of Hitler’s army being paraded in Germany, or for that matter Darth Vader’s stormtroopers all lined up awaiting the Emperor’s arrival in Return of the Jedi.

While across town at the East gate came Jesus in one of the most anti-imperial, anti-triumphant ways.  Jesus had planned out this entire counter-procession.  He made the arrangements for what Crossan notes was, “the most unthreatening, most un-military mount imaginable: a female nursing donkey with her little colt trotting alongside beside her” (the opposite of a military horse in every way). Jesus knew exactly what he was doing.  This was political theater at its best and it was intended as a mockery of the pomp and circumstance of the Romans. Jesus was taking his plan from the Prophet Zechariah who predicted the entering of the king “on a colt, the foal of a donkey” and this king would be a non-violent king who would “command peace to the nations.”

Without the other processional, we are left a little confused by what Jesus was actually up to.  It seemed out of character for Jesus.  Actually, the Bible never says if the people knew what he was up to.  

Yet Debie Thomas says,

“I suspect they did not.  After all, they were not interested in theater, they were ripe for revolution.  They wanted – and expected – something world-altering.  An ending-to-the-story worthy of their worship, their favor, and their dusty cloaks-on-the-road. But what they got was a parade of misfits. A comic donkey-ride.  As New Testament scholar N.T. Wright puts it, what they got was a mismatch between their outsized expectations and God’s small answer.”

There is also one other thing we may miss or don’t understand at the end of this story and our text form this morning that is very important to the impact of this unique entry of Jesus.  Not only was he making a mockery of the Roman government, from our text, he had also caught the attention of the religious leaders.  It says, “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

I have seen all kinds of Christian paraphernalia in my days with “Let the rocks cry out!” Or “If you don’t speak up then rocks will have to do the job.” My boys even had a cartoon series called “God Rocks” with characters that sang “rock songs” along with bad digital animation. 

But again, there is so much more in this phrase of Jesus.  Unlike this event being aimed at the Romans, at this point Jesus is speaking to his people, the Jews. The Pharisees would have know exactly what he was talking about because of their location. 

Now, I first came to understand why Jesus spoke of the stones while watching the movie Schindler’s List.  If you have ever seen the movie, at the end after the credits, a steam of Jewish people, that Schindler saved from the atrocities of the Holocaust, are seen in the year the film was made, walking single file and passing Schindler’s grave and putting a stone on his grave marker (so many stones that the entire grave marker is covered).  It is such a sacred and moving moment at the end of the movie. Yet in my ignorance, I simply thought it was a beautiful gesture.  I didn’t realize its deeper meaning until one day, back when we were living in Michigan, I pulled into a Jewish cemetery by our home.  As I drove through, I saw that each of the markers were covered with stones, not flowers like in typical Christian cemeteries. 

You may remember in the Old Testament, people took rocks and made altars, and that has become what is called “Placing an Ebenezer” to remember a location or place where God had done something special.  But as I began to research more about Jewish rituals, I found that placing stones on graves specifically goes all the way back to the Temple days in Jerusalem. I read on a Jewish education site the following, 

During the times of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jewish priests became ritually impure if they came within four feet of a corpse. As a result, Jews began marking graves with piles of rocks in order to indicate to passing priests that they should stay back.

The Talmud mentions that after a person dies her soul con­tinues to dwell for a while in the grave where she was buried. Putting stones on a grave keeps the soul down in this world, which some people find comforting. Another related interpretation suggests that the stones keep demons and golems from getting into the graves.

Flowers, though beautiful, will eventually die. A stone will not die, and can symbolize the permanence of memory and legacy.

Because of what Oscar Schindler did, his family was given special permission to be buried in the Catholic cemetery at the base of Mt. Zion outside of Jerusalem’s wall. Just North of his grave is one of the largest and oldest Jewish burial sites in Jerusalem. It sits outside the East Gate and lines both sides of the road to the Mount of Olives. 

Now, if you were paying attention to our scripture reading for today, Jesus’s triumphal entry began with a descent from the Mount of Olives. And his path to the East or “Golden” Gate would lead directly through (in his day and still today) one of the largest Jewish cemeteries. 

The scene would have had Jesus saying, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out” while completely surrounded by piles of stones on graves.  And not just those graves, but layers and layers of graves that go back to what some consider the beginning of time. 

Can you imagine what all those layers of stones had witnessed, what stories they could tell, what truths that went to the grave with Jewish and non-Jewish people alike could be revealed.  He was saying to the Pharisees, these stones could tell the truth about who I am and why I am here.

So why was Jesus jabbing at the Roman Government and the Religious Leaders in such stunning and theatrical ways?  And what was Jesus’ trying to accomplish with all of this.

I return to Debie Thomas who gives us an explanation worthy to ponder, she says…

I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that Jesus' political joke hastened his crucifixion.  He was no fool; he knew exactly what it would cost him to spit in Rome's face.  Like all good comedians, he understood that real humor is in fact a serious business; at its best, it points unflinchingly to truths we'd rather not see. 

For those of us who struggle to reconcile the role of God's will in the death of Jesus, this story offers a helpful but troubling clue: it was the will of God that Jesus declare the coming of God's kingdom.  A kingdom of peace, a kingdom of justice, a kingdom of radical and universal freedom.  A kingdom dramatically unlike the oppressive and violent empire Jesus challenged on Palm Sunday.

So why did Jesus die?  He died because he unflinchingly fulfilled the will of God.  He died because he exposed the ungracious sham at the heart of all human kingdoms, holding up a mirror that shocked his contemporaries at the deepest levels of their imaginations.  Even when he knew that his vocation would cost him his life, he set his face "like flint" towards Jerusalem.  Even when he knew who'd get the last laugh at Calvary, he mounted a donkey and took Rome for a ride.

                                                            From Parade or Protest? By Debie Thomas

Today, you and I are called to declare the coming of God’s Kingdom by how we live. Since our beginnings as Quakers, and as George Fox himself taught, the kingdom of the Son of God, the kingdom of justice, mercy, peace, and freedom — is within us as a seed, a living potential, because Christ the Logos, the light that enlightens everyone; that which can be known of God is within us in just that way. 

And that means we too are being called like Jesus to expose the ungracious sham at the heart of the human kingdoms surrounding us.  We too are called to hold up a mirror to ourselves first, and then the governments, authorities, and religious organizations of this world.  That is what it means to follow in the footsteps of Jesus….and that is what Palm Sunday was and is all about.

Are you living your potential as one who is called to bring forth the Kingdom of justice, mercy, peace, and freedom?

How might you help to expose the human kingdoms surrounding you? 

4-7-19 - Life That is Truly Life

 Life that is Truly Life

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

April 7, 2019

I Timothy 6:6-19 (MSG)

6-8 A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough.

9-10 But if it’s only money these leaders are after, they’ll self-destruct in no time. Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.

11-12 But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.

13-16 I’m charging you before the life-giving God and before Christ, who took his stand before Pontius Pilate and didn’t give an inch: Keep this command to the letter, and don’t slack off. Our Master, Jesus Christ, is on his way. He’ll show up right on time, his arrival guaranteed by the Blessed and Undisputed Ruler, High King, High God. He’s the only one death can’t touch, his light so bright no one can get close. He’s never been seen by human eyes—human eyes can’t take him in! Honor to him, and eternal rule! Oh, yes.

17-19 Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.

For those unfamiliar with Paul’s first letter to Timothy which was just read, it took place during what we call Paul’s fourth missionary journey.  He had instructed Timothy to care for the church at Ephesus while he went on to Macedonia.  When Paul realized that he might not return to Ephesus in the near future, he wrote this letter to Timothy as a charge to his young assistant.  The charge was a resistance to false leaders and teachers as well as a directive to live by example the true life (what I like to call “the resurrected life) amongst the growing Ephesian church and ultimately the world.

I believe Paul’s charge to true life is a perfect place to begin our transition to the Easter season, which is all about LIFE! Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and what many Christians recognize as the beginning of Holy Week.  Even though many pause to remember Jesus’ death and all the activities that led up to his execution, as people of hope, we continue to seek life and resurrected living.  I imagine if Paul was here with us today, he would have some queries for us – and I am sure Paul would have a charge for us as well.  So, let me begin by asking some queries that I think Paul might have wanted to explore (I have put these on the back of your bulletin for this morning).

Regarding contentment   

·        How many of you are content with yourself and your life?  How content are you?

·        Are you being yourself before God and before others?

·        Are you one person here this morning and another as you walk out the doors?

Regarding your beliefs:

·        Do you believe things that others don’t even know you believe?

·        Do you withhold your beliefs because of what others may think of you?

·        Inside are you greedy? ...lusting? ...jealous? …materialistic? …simply wanting more?

Take a moment to sit with those and mind the Light… [Pause]

Those are not queries we often ponder, nor are they easy queries to contemplate.  Rarely do we take the time for this type of reflection, but I think more and more it is needed if we are going to be effective in in making a difference in our lives and world. 

William Barclay picked up on this in his commentary on the text for this morning. He says,

“The word here used for contentment is autarkeia… By it they meant a complete self-sufficiency.  They meant a frame of mind which was completely independent of all outward things, and which carried the secret of happiness within itself. Contentment never comes from the possession of external things.” – William Barclay

But doesn’t our world tell us that happiness comes from having the most toys? Or the best job? Or the best education? Or the newest car, house, tv, computer, etc.?  the best __________ fill in the blank?

The commercials we watch or hear are all about outward things fulfilling us and making us content.  The reality is – none of these things fully bring true contentment or life.

I have become aware over my years in ministry and especially working in a college setting that people today connect contentment with being successful.  If I am successful, then I am content.  Or that is some way success creates contentment – but does it really?

My friend and fellow Quaker minister, Philip Gulley says,

“We have become so accustomed to defining success in material terms that we have failed to appreciate the other facets of life that enrich and sustain us.  Think for a moment how we venerate material wealth and those who hold it.  Why is a person who accumulates pets considered mentally ill, while a person who accumulates money is seen as a role model? The first person is diagnosed with compulsive hoarding syndrome and treated with therapy and drugs, while the wealthy person is lauded for his or her skills in investing and viewed as a success.”   (Living the Quaker Way)

This is exactly what I believe Paul was trying to engrain in Timothy’s heart and mind in the text for today. 

Now, taking this one step further and specifically looking at this through our Quaker faith, I have come to realize that our contentment in life is directly related to our “integrity.” Integrity is one of our Quaker SPICES (Simplicity, Peace, INTEGRITY, Community, Equality, and Stewardship).

In the book, “Living the Quaker Way” which I have used often to help teach Quaker principles to those seeking a new way, Phil Gulley points this out about integrity…

“Integrity does not present one face in public and another in private. 

It delights in transparency, having nothing to hide.”

Take a moment and ask yourself: Am I being my true self before God? Or am I hiding my true self from God…from my neighbor?...even myself?

[Pause]

Why we often hide is because of the lusts of our heart.  As our scripture text read, lust for these other things (money, material things, successes, etc.) “bring trouble and nothing but trouble.”

Those who desire these things: significantly, the desire for money is far more dangerous than the money itself – and it isn’t only the poor who desire to have money or be rich, it is also the rich who want more riches.

Desires stem from the inner life – from what is brewing inside our minds and hearts. Thus, the reason, we need to continually be reflecting on and being aware of what is going on inside ourselves – because soon it could become action, or words, or literally part of our outward life.  It almost can’t be containing.  It begins bringing trouble and often does not stop.  We can become obsessed, gripped, consumed by our inner desires and lusts – and that is before we ever act outwardly on them.

Our text goes on to say that this could lead to “losing your footing in the faith completely and living to regret it bitterly ever after.”  It can eat us alive – stealing life and leaving us regretting our life.  Why is that?

Because the desire within us – changes us.  It causes us to hide from who we really are.  It splits our life in two and slowly sucks the happiness right out of us.  No longer ca you be satisfied, instead you need something more…and more…and more…just like an addict who needs another hit, and alcoholic who needs another drink, a hoarder who needs another material thing…

Now, Paul knew that Timothy (as well as you and me) needed some reassurance and help.  Thankfully he had more to say to young Timothy (and us) in our text:

First, he warned about lustful leaders desiring money…and then he turns quickly to give us the opposite perspective. Paul tells Timothy to turn 180 degrees and flee the proud arguments of those who misuse scripture and who suppose that we should follow God just for what we can get out of it.

He says instead of this life of lustful desires, instead…

Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses. (vs. 11-12)

Paul was presenting Timothy (and us) – another way…a better way.

This life is not about personal gain, success, accruing material products, or even money…no this life is about so much more. 

Its about becoming fully human and fully alive!  I love the words Eugene Peterson uses to express this…

Wonder         awe inspiring, astounding, or surprising.

Faith               confident or unquestioning belief in the Truth

Love               affection and concern toward another person.

Steadiness    direct and unfaltering; sure.

Courtesy       willingness or generosity in providing something needed.

These are the traits of people who are becoming fully human and fully alive! – but it doesn’t stop there.

Paul says to “seize the eternal life” – what I call the resurrected life – NOW!  The life we are called to in this present moment. A way of living that brings people and situations back to life – that resurrects, that eternally changes, and breathes life back into the world around us. 

And Paul emphasizes that Timothy will not do this alone.  This life he embraced was surrounded by other “witnesses” to this same life. 

We too are witnesses of this life – and that means we too must seize this resurrected life.  We too are being changed as Timothy.  Paul said,

“I charge you before the life-giving God….keep the command…don’t slack off...” Live like Jesus!  This is why Paul wants us to know our inner life – it is where we meet the present Christ who has shown up in our lives, who gives us the LIGHT to share, who might not be physically seen, but is dwelling within each of us. 

And Jesus’ life was the example for how to live this life.  He stood up to leaders and false teachers of this world, he resisted the lustful desires for wealth, power, and success and sacrificed his own life to show us a better way, a resurrected life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, and courtesy.

After laying this foundation Paul says,

“Tell those rich in the world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves

and so, obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow.”

Paul is reminding Timothy that if he wants to live this life that he has been called to, he must RESIST and “to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage.” And how does that happen?  Paul again says the riches from God come when we…

·        Do Good

·        Be rich in helping others.

·        Be extravagantly generous.

If we do these things, Paul says, “they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.” 

One of the greatest things I have learned since becoming a Quaker is the importance of our connectedness and responsibility to others – or as Paul put it – doing good to others, helping others, and being extravagantly generous to others.  It is more than me, myself, and I.  This is part of our ongoing inner reflection and personal awareness.  When we go inward to become aware it should affect our outward actions. 

I like the definition in Living the Quaker Way:

“To be a Quaker is to always see oneself in relation with the world,

answerable not only to God but also to humanity and to history.”

May that be so for us this morning.   Let us now join together in a time of waiting worship.

3-31-19 - The Importance of Women Ministers to the Apostle Paul and the Spread of the Early Church

The importance of women ministers to the Apostle Paul and the spread of the early church.

Beth Henricks

March 31st, 2019

Bob, Sue, Lewis and Sam are in Chicago this weekend viewing potential colleges for Sam.  Being that its March 31st and the ending of Women’s History Month, Bob asked if I would share a message with you today.  First off , I was never aware that March was women’s history month so I did a little research and found out that it has its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed and the President authorized  the week of March 7th 1982 as Women’s History Week.   Five years later in 1987 Congress passed the resolution authorizing the President to proclaim March of each year as Women’s History Month and every President has done this since.

This got me thinking about the many women in my life that  have been so important to me in my development and particularly my spiritual development.  Some of them have personally been in my life, some of them have passed away and many of them are from right here at First Friends.  There are also many women from our history as Quakers that have deeply impacted my relationship with God and how I try to live out my transformation in the world.  Jamie last week identified some of our important women in our Quaker history including Alice Paul and Margaret Fell.  For me, Lucretia Mott was the most significant influence in my embrace of Quakerism.  She was born in 1793 and grew up in Nantucket Maine in  a whaling town where all the men were gone out to sea for months at a time and the women ran the businesses, the churches and the town.  Lucretia saw  the effectiveness of women in many different roles when given the chance.  With this background she became a minister of the gospel and traveled widely in Quaker circles giving vocal messages and becoming a significant leader in the suffragette movement. 

Reading about these Quaker women in leadership and significant ministry roles drew me to the movement and I knew I wanted to be part of a faith community that recognized and supported women in developing all of their gifts.  The Quakers did this right from the start in the 1650’s.  It was incredibly radical back then (and still radical in some denominations and churches today).  But why?  Why have women not been recognized as leaders, teachers, ministers, administrators in the church for so long?

When I took a New Testament class at Earlham last year I did a lot of study on the apostle Paul and the important role women played in spreading the good news of Jesus and setting up new congregations. 

Paul included women in the work and worship of house assemblies and ministry and they seemed to be a part of his team of apostles.  He broke social and political ground by incorporating women into leadership and teaching roles in the early church and seemed to live out his bold statement that Carol read for us in Galatians 3:28, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

But there are a couple of troubling passages that are attributed to Paul that seem to take a giant step backward in understanding the role of women in the church and have been used as a weapon to diminish and silence women as teachers and leaders.  One of the most problematic passages is from I Corinthians 14: 34 – 36, “As in all the church of the saints, women should be silent in the churches.  For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says.  If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home.  For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.  Or did the word of God originate with you?  Or are you the only ones it has reached?”

How do we reconcile the actions of Paul in regards to women in the early church with these verses? 

In the book, The Role of Women in the Church, the Pauline Perspective,  author John Toews says that “The starting point for interpreting the Pauline texts regarding the role of women in the church is Paul’s over-arching theology of the church.  The purpose of God’s saving activity in Jesus is, for Paul, the creation of a renewed community of God’s people, the eschatological people of God.”   Paul declared this equality among all in Christ Jesus in several passages. (I Corinthians 12:4-26, II Corinthians 5:16-17, II Corinthians 8:13-14, Philemon 1:15-17).  Paul believed that faith in Jesus transcended race, sex and religion and it does seem that he tried to implement this theology in the life of the churches he established. 

It is very clear that Paul had female workers in his house churches as he referenced them in his writings.   Wendy Cotter in her book Women’s Authority Roles in Paul’s Churches says that  "It is “generally uncontested that certain women in Paul’s community exercised authority, and that this authority extended over men as well as women.”  He names six of them with some specificity in his writings in our New Testament and in the naming of these women, he does not identify them in terms of their relationship to any man but addressed them in their own right.  He offered encouragement and praise for their leadership in the assemblies that he is addressing with his letters.   

Prisca is named in I Corinthians 16:19 and Romans 16:3 as he sends greetings from Prisca and Aquila with their church in their home (I Corinthians 16:19).  This assembly of believers is likely a church in Ephesus since Paul indicates he is writing from that city (I Corinthians 16:8).  It is interesting that Prisca is named ahead of her husband.  She is mentioned again in Romans 16:3 with Aquila as Paul offers his thanks to them for risking their lives for Paul’s life.  Paul asks all of the churches of the Gentiles to offer their thanks to this couple.  

Apphia is mentioned in Philemon in Paul’s salutation calling Apphia his sister.  Philemon is named as a fellow worker and Archippus as a fellow soldier, yet it is Apphia that is named as sister giving her the equivalent of naming Timothy as his brother.   

Chloe is named in I Corinthians 1:11 by Paul indicting that Chloe’s people have reported to Paul that there were quarrels in the assembly between brothers and sisters.  Clearly if Paul is talking about “her people” she is a women that is well known, connected and of influence in the Corinthian community.  There had to  be some credibility to her name because why would Paul take care to identify his source as he does, and then proceed to address the difficulty with no hint of doubt about the accuracy of the report?

Euodia and Syntyche  are named in Philippians 4:2-3 with an urging for both of them to be of the same mind as the Lord.  He asked a loyal companion to help these women with whatever conflict was between them.  He identified both of them as individuals that have struggled beside Paul in the work of the gospel and he connects them with Clement as co-workers whose names are in the book of life. 

 Phoebe is introduced in Romans 16:1-2 as a sister and a deacon at the church in Cenchreae (centrea).  Paul also described her as a benefactor to many including him.  Wendy Cotter in her book states that “Since Paul knows no one in Rome and there is not a sizeable Jewish community to which he could attach himself, he relies on the wealthy and influential Phoebe to pave the way in Rome and stimulate their desire to finance his Spanish mission once he arrives.”    Paul asked the Roman community to help Phoebe in whatever she may require from them.

All of these writings of Paul give us evidence of his appreciation of women in ministry and his understanding of their value as leaders, teachers, and hosts and welcomed their contributions to spreading the gospel.  Paul’s goal was to share the gospel to as many people as possible and he saw women contributing to this goal. 

So how do we now connect Paul’s message in I Corinthians 14: 33-36 concerning women?

There is much debate among Biblical scholars  about this text.  Many scholars offer  the possibility that this passage was not part of Paul’s original letter and was added later by an editor to address church order and the desire of the more established church to reduce and diminish the influence of women.  Because why would Paul write these words when his actions were so different? 

In I Corinthians 11, Paul addressed the issue of head coverings for women while praying or prophesizing.  Paul indicated that it would be a disgrace for a woman to pray or give a prophecy without a head covering.  So how could Paul three chapters later in his letter prohibit women from speaking in the service?  Doesn’t this completely contradict his prior statement?

Craig Keener in his book Paul, Woman and Wives proposes that “Paul’s solution, like the Corinthians’ problem, is appropriate to a specific cultural context, and that it thus does not apply to every conceivable situation we face today.”    There was disorder in the service and Paul is addressing this specific concern related to proper order for the service in Corinth.  Keener argues that Paul does have a general principle in mind which is that people should not disrupt the worship service and that these two verses are not transculturally binding.  Keener advocates that these verses remain specific to the Corinthian situation and should not be taken as instruction for the church today.

There are clearly many questions about the authority these three verses should have on the institution of the church today.  Paul’s actions in the early days of the Christian movement cannot be dismissed by clutching to these few verses that have questionable authorship as a way to silence and diminish the important role that women play in the ministries of the church.  However, it is clear that after Paul’s death, the order and structure of the church became dominated by the social mores and culture of the times and the Christian movement that was radical and new in its beginnings changed significantly as time went on. 

So the catholic church has kept women in a diminished role.  Many fundamentalist churches have kept women in supporting only roles or allowing them to be teachers of children.  Even denominations  that allow women to be ordained as ministers  lag behind in actually hiring the women to lead a church.  I am so thankful to be part of a faith community and denomination that has accepted and encouraged women to be ministers and leaders right from the start.  I affirm the belief that women  can have the same fervor for the  gospel of Christ as men.  And that our churches need women in leadership roles today to help make the church vibrant, relevant and alive to a hurting world where the message of God’s love is so needed.

As we enter our time of waiting worship, I encourage you to reflect on the women that have touched us in our walk with Christ.  What have you learned from these women and what do we still have to learn?   

3-24-19 - Jaimie Mudd - Speaking Truth to Power: Women's Voice and Quaker Ministry

 Speaking Truth to Power: Women’s Voice and Quaker Ministry

Jaimie Mudd

I am blessed to share worship with you this morning. Although I have relied upon developing and maintaining a relationship with God through worship with Friends or walks in the desert wilderness, space for speaking with God in public worship was not always open for me. I remember when I was 7 years old and visiting my brothers in seminary, then slipping off, tiptoeing into the chapel. All was still and no one was there. I wanted to serve communion, union with God, in the hushed space, with the afternoon light slanting through the windows, a vaulted roof and silent, empty pews.

I spoke the sacred words to share the Bread of Life and waited for a thunderbolt to strike me down, for surely God did not allow women to officiate in the Church. Or did God? There was no thunderbolt, but I could see no future for my longing to serve people in the Catholic church. This early memory of spiritual nudging to serve was central to responding to a call to attend seminary at Earlham School of Religion. I spent many years developing skills in listening, counseling, conflict resolution and community organizing.

Even then I had stirrings that would eventually find expression when I joined our tradition of Quaker women, who also had struggles, became humbled and found living waters to fuel standing up for equality and equity. Quaker women have a long history of opening their hearts to the Light, to invite and embrace the guidance from Christ Jesus to show them the way of things and to encourage them in all their brilliance, in their shadows, in all their errors and in their capacity for compassion and reconciliation so that they brought living waters to others.

Choosing courage, choosing to admit our errors, choosing to speak truth has deep roots in our society. There are some shared characteristics that can be noticed when reflecting on this choice to speak, characteristics such as Humility, persistence, resilience, love and trust come to mind. I’ll share a bit about women who have influenced my own journey of speaking in ministry.

Alice Paul was one of our lesser known Quaker leaders whose work on behalf of equality for women was a model of persistence, resilience and blind spots. A vocal leader, she helped secure the passage of the 19th amendment to the US Constitution and continued her work- authoring the Equal Rights Amendment in the 70’s.

Alice Paul was devoted to the work of equal rights and she is a model of persistence and resilience. When she needed to search more deeply for a thought, she would pause…and wait, allowing the words to emerge within her and then continue speaking. Alice Paul spent much of her life enabling other women to speak on behalf of equality for women. This can come only through our own personal prayerful examination of the roots of inequality and a deep listening for God.

Author Vanessa Julye quoted African American Quaker historian, Emma Lapansky, who describes a way forward that asks friends to persist in our regular examination of ourselves, to continue to “follow our spiritual light” so that we can continue our own struggles for living our lives in the Light. (Julye 2009)

Early Friend Elizabeth Bathhurst pointed to the power of deep listening to God as the pathway for living in the Light, she said, “The Seed, or Grace of God, is small in its first Appearance, even as the Morning Light; but as it is given Heed to, and obeyed, it will increase in Brightness, till it shine in the Soul, like the Sun in the Firmament at its Noon-day Height.” (EB 1655-1685)

Yes, the seed is small and we all struggle, and it is through struggle that spiritual nurture and moral work can be realized. We can live in the Light through combining a well-seasoned clarity of our personal and communal ethics, our shared virtues, our love of people and trust in God. This work asks us to walk humbly, to live in the intersection of faith and ethics.

The Samaritan woman in our reading this morning was astonished that Jesus was speaking to her at all. His boundary crossing seems to know no limits. In his day Jews and Samaritans did not get along and men did not speak to a lone woman. In this story this woman is startled at his speaking. She invites Jesus into a deep theological discussion, and he surprises her when engages her in this discussion.

Our nameless woman at the well is even more surprised that Jesus sees her, even more surprised when he knows her story (a complicated story at that) and is frankly astonished when Jesus offers her a new way to know God. Then to top it off, he invites her to drink of living waters. Jesus ups the risk-taking game when he responds to her spoken hope that “the Messiah, when he comes, will explain everything to us.” Jesus says, “I, the one speaking to you, I am he”. Thus, emboldened with a direct encounter with the reality of God in Jesus, and justified by faith, this woman leaves her jar (a valuable item at that time) and goes forth to tell the multitude that Jesus is near. She is, perhaps, the first to spread this good Word and bring many to seek Jesus. One gap in the story is what happens after she stepped out to speak to her community. What might have happened to her? Perhaps she was commended by her people and her partner for bringing this news, later perhaps she was persecuted along with so many of the early Christians. But as Jesus demonstrated, speaking truth, bringing the truth of God’s immediate presence in our lives is one hallmark of faithful living regardless of risk.

We know that, often, there are consequences for free and bold speaking. I have faced displeased leaders, and explicit threats to my employment by standing up for environmental justice in poor neighborhoods in Phoenix, Arizona. My ministry at that time was to stand alongside those who felt they were not able to be heard and to support their request for fair housing and a clean air and soil.

In Nazi Germany, when Dietrich Bonhoeffer brought sermons expressing his understanding of Jesus’s teaching, he was eventually jailed and executed for his ministry. Today he stands as a model for Christian ethics and witness, speaking truth to power. We live in a tender time. We have many edges that we are walking. Certainly, we can see the challenges facing men and women even today; when we speak up we risk everything from our ability to earn a living to risking the physical safety of ourselves and our families.

Recently I spent a month on an interfaith pilgrimage in India. I met Sumaira Abudlal, a Muslim woman living in Bombay. She leads a campaign raising awareness of sand theft from river banks in India. There is a worldwide shortage of concrete today. Armed bandits in India come in the dark of night to gouge out the banks of rivers and streams to steal sand…the results destroy small farmers land, access to clean water and endanger homes. Sumaira has taken evidence of this thieving to the supreme court in India and environmental agency despite receiving death threats. She persists even after having her car run off the road. She remains resiliently emboldened through love and grace.

Why risk Bold speech?

In my experience the main draw for me has been witnessing both the love and justice that is the living water of Jesus’s being. There is confusion between humility and speaking truth to power. But what I understand of our faith is that we are all called to be tenderhearted truthtellers. This combination is a creative synthesis of standing up to support basic human rights for freedom and dignity. Jesus modeled this combination and the woman at the well embraced this synthesis. She allowed Jesus to see her, to love and to guide her. Jesus loves us today! We are held within the Divine and the Divine lives through us, speaks through us. We are made in love, to be love and speak love. When we are attuned to the Holy Spirit, this divine love wants to speak and shine through us. This love can only shine through us when we pray with humility. It is for us to open our hearts and minds to the presence of God.

In the story of the woman at the well we see the author of John riffing on timeless themes and sacred imagery- Jesus, a traveler taking risks, entering a bold, loving, cross cultural conversation. This is an illustration of Jesus leading by being an example of bold boundary crossing of social conventions- he is speaking with a stranger, and what’s more, a woman who has a “past”. Then, instead of receiving drinking water from this nameless woman a reversal occurs so that Jesus offers living water to her! He gives her what no one else can, total love and acceptance.

These metaphors of water permeate the bible, in this story water at the well is an invitation to dwell in the sacred and to drink from streams of living water. Our woman at the well becomes a nameless prophet. Leaving her jug behind, there is no need for the receptacle since she has become a receptacle of the great I Am. She hurries off to witness and testify to the truth of Jesus as the Way. She must have expressed her experience so beautifully that the community came to see Jesus themselves- this became an encounter that lasted for two days where Jesus taught the Samaritan people, changing their lives forever.

Women speaking boldly, prophetically is part of our Quaker heritage. Margaret Fell, certainly was an advocate for women bringing the good news of Jesus. When writing to Cromwell (imagine the danger she faced?!) she offered these thoughts:

“Thus, much may prove that the Church of Christ is a Woman, those that speak against the Woman’s speaking, speak against the Church of Christ, and the Seed of the Woman, which Seed is Christ; that is to say, those that speak against the Power of the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord speaking in a Woman, simply, by reason of her Sex, or because she is a Woman, not regarding the Seed, and Spirit, and Power that speaks in her; such speak against Christ, and his Church”

Margaret Fell went on to draw from our reading today -John:4 in her bold speech:

“Again, Christ Jesus, when he came to the City of Samaria, where Jacobs Well was, where the Woman of Samaria was; you may read, in John 4. how he was pleased to preach the Everlasting Gospel to her; and when the Woman said unto him, I know that when the Messiah cometh, (which is called Christ) when he cometh, he will tell us all things; Jesus faith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he; This is more than ever he said in plain words to Man (that we read of) before he suffered. (http://dqc.esr.earlham.edu:8080)

Margaret was an example of loving presence, humble, resilient, and persistent, clear in her offer to the world of the loveliness of eternal waters wrapped up in plain speaking, teaching all that men and women are both essential containers of this living water.

We have a history of ministry which comes from the deep well of faith, enabled by centuries of women speaking with faith and truth to power with love. As we turn to a time of silent worship, I invite you to open your hearts to our loving God and, if so led, speak from the well of your faith.

3-17-19 - Becoming a Living Servant

Becoming a Living Sacrament

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

March 17, 2019

Luke 24:13-35 (NRSV)

13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” 25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us[f] while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Back before I was a Quaker, and when I was first working on becoming ordained as an Anglican Priest, I was encouraged to read a short little book by a Roman Catholic Priest, Michael Scanlan, who at the time was both the president of a college and a nationally known leader in the Charismatic Renewal Movement happening throughout the United States. Since I had grown up in liturgical and sacramental churches, I thought the subtitle of the book wasn’t that interesting, “Encountering Jesus in the Sacraments.”  But that subtitle and ultimately the book ended up becoming rather key to my spiritual growth and development. And to this day, yes, even as a Quaker, this 119 page book, that centers around the story Eric just read, still speaks deeply to my soul.

Now, you are probably wondering, “Why is this the case when Quakers/Friends seem to have issues with Sacraments – at least those with physical elements?”  Well, in all reality, I believe there are some common misconceptions about Quakers and Sacraments.  One of our own Quaker theologians, Paul Anderson, points this out in a pamphlet called, “Meet the Friends” that was one of my earliest introductions to Quakerdom. It reads,

“Friends believe in the sacramental work of the Present Christ so strongly that they refuse to reduce it to an outward symbol or ceremony.  Sacramental reality is incarnational, not formalistic, and this is a Christian testimony the world still needs to hear.”

Anderson goes on to give a very popular definition of the word “sacrament” which you may have heard in Sunday School or when studying this concept on your own.  I heard, all the time growing up, that a sacrament is…

“an outward and visible sign of an invisible and spiritual reality.”

Anderson added, “A Sacrament is not that spiritual reality, but it points to it.”

In Scanlan’s book he gives a fuller definition that I think speaks even more to us as Quakers. He says,

“A Sacrament is a visible sign of God’s desire and pledge to deepen his relationship with us. It promises the gift of grace we seek: healing, nourishing, cleansing, freeing, consecrating, blessing, empowering us to accept his reign in our lives and deepen our covenant with him and his people.”

For many people moving away from physical elements like bread and wine, water and oil, may seem radical or even heretical (that would have been the case for me growing up).  But as Anderson and Scanlan  are helping us see, sacraments are much deeper than the symbols that we use to represent them.

I can say for me personally, the experience of the sacraments came in phases.  I often explain my journey to Quakerism by saying, “As a Lutheran, I grew up with two sacraments – The Lord’s Supper and Baptism, when I became an Anglican I had seven – adding Confession, Holy Matrimony, Confirmation, Ordination, and the Annointing of the Sick, and now as a Quaker, well, everything has the potential of becoming a sacrament.  It really comes down to what Anderson says,

“The root of the matter involves identifying the most effective means of communicating the grace and power of the Present Christ.”

And I believe that starts with our very lives being a sacrament – the visible sign God is deepening his relationship with us and that we are bringing healing, nourishment, cleansing, freeing, blessing, and empowerment to those around us in our world. That is why as followers of Christ we talk about being “Living Sacraments” – meaning we live our life as though it is a sacrament.

To me this makes “meeting Christ in the sacraments” very personal.  As Quakers, we often speak of “that of God in everyone.” George Fox said it this way,

“And this is the word of the Lord God to you all…be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, island, nations, wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people and to them. Then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that God in everyone.”

  I believe George Fox was calling the early Quakers as well as us today, to be “living sacraments” in our world – so not only could they meet the God in us, but we as well meet the God in them.  Ponder this query…

What if we approached our neighbors, friends, and even family as if they were sacraments? 

That their lives would bring healing, nourishment, cleansing, freeing, blessing, and empowerment. 

And what if we thought of ourselves as Living Sacraments to our neighbors? 

Author and teacher Henri Nouwen began to recognize this tension in his own life. Listen as I read what he wrote in his Latin American journal and book, “Gracias!”

“More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.” 

To me, that is living sacramentally.  And that is exactly what we see Jesus doing in our text for today.  Jesus was “Living Sacramentally” on that road to Emmaus.  Just look at Jesus’ actions:

1.     Jesus came up and walked beside them – joined them right where they were. Jesus was physically joining them on the Road to Emmaus.

2.     Jesus asked a question, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” He joined them on the road and then joined their conversation.

3.     Jesus even let the fellow travelers share their grief – he heard them out.

4.     Jesus even askes some tougher questions which lead to him teaching and helping them understand. So much so, Jesus – a complete stranger to them on that road to Emmaus – is requested to stay with them.  This is a huge indicator that Jesus had gained their trust. 

5.     Finally, Jesus begins to eat with the travelers. It harkens me back to what I just read from Henri Nouwen,

“But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.” 

This was Jesus’ way of being a “living sacrament” to them.  He was giving grace and bringing healing through the way he presented himself to them. He allowed them to come to the knowledge of who he was for their benefit – to bestow an extra grace on them.  He wanted them to have “their eyes opened” not just physically, but spiritually, and emotionally as well.  He used ordinary ways – just as he call us to do, today.

I can’t speak for you, but I have on many occasions been walking, talking, eating, fellowshipping with someone when all of a sudden I sensed my eyes were opened to something greater.  Some call those “God moments” or “God encounters” but the reality is that when we engage each other – each and every time we have the potential of having our eyes opened and meeting God.

·        Maybe that conversation with your neighbor will lead to some healing in your life – that is a living sacrament.

·        Maybe that hug from your parent or child will be the blessing after a long day or week – that is a living sacrament.

·        Maybe that book your friend suggested you read will give you the empowerment to stand up to abuse or neglect – that is a living sacrament.

·        Maybe that friendly greeting you gave the checkout person at Kroger will give them hope – that is a living sacrament.

·        Maybe that phone call just to say “hi” to a distant relative or friend will make someone’s day – that is a living sacrament.

And the list could go on…

But the reality is that conversations, hugs, books, dinner parties, friendly greetings, phone calls, all can be visible signs of what God is doing through you – as well as to you through others.

So that leaves us with some queries to ponder this morning, ask yourself:

·        Are my eyes open to what God is doing in and around me?

·        Do I recognize the “Living Sacraments” around me all the time?

·        How am I being a “Living Sacrament” to those in my midst?

3-10-19 - Hold in the Light

Hold in the Light

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

March 10, 2019

I have had several things on my mind this week.  As we concluded our busy weekend last weekend and were just about heading to the store to get our week’s groceries on Sunday evening, Sue and I were stopped in our tracks reading a very difficult Facebook post about a dear friend and member of our former meeting in Silverton, OR.  She had recently just retired to begin traveling with her husband but had not been able to beat some sickness that she was currently fighting. She thought it was related to her asthma. But after going to the doctor, she was put in the hospital with Stage Four cancer and a grim outcome.  Her cancer had already spread quickly from her uterus, to lymph nodes, and even to her lungs. Sue and I were in shock to say the least. This woman has been part of our lives in profound ways and we have been part of her life in so many ways, as well.

Then on Friday morning, my day off, I read another Facebook post that our friend Joe Lynne passed away.  Only 6 days from going into the hospital.

Sometimes life doesn’t make sense.  A Facebook post announces a fatal diagnosis and people (including me) begin to post about “thoughts and prayers.” 

I need to be honest, I have come to prefer the Quaker phrase “holding you in the Light.” It seems to command more substance than just sending “thoughts and prayers” which often seems to lack sincerity or at least sound hollow in our current day and age. No words fully grasp what you are trying to say in these moments.

Now, for many, “holding someone or some situation in the Light” is simply keeping it in their thoughts and prayers, but when looking deeper at the meaning of this phrase, I found it to resonate in my own soul and cause me a deeper spiritual exploration.  

The New York Monthly Meeting writes this about the phrase, “Hold in the Light.”    

To “Hold in the Light” means to ask for God’s presence to illumine a person, situation, or problem, whether in concern or thanksgiving.

I spent several days this week trying to find the history behind this Quaker phrase, but I came up empty handed. I even asked a couple weighty Friends and professors I know, and they are now on the search to find it’s origin. The closest I came was in an article from Friends Journal which stated,

“The metaphorical image of ‘holding’ someone ‘in the light’ didn’t appear until a 1969 poem by Barbara Reynolds which included the couplet: ‘First take your thought, this baby thing/ And hold it to the Light.” (it wouldn’t become common in prose for another decade).”

Even my weighty Friends were not sure if that late of a date is correct, but I have learned in the research that many of our Quaker phrases are modern additions but sound as though they could be foundational. 

I remember when I first had someone tell me they were “holding me in the light,”  it honestly took me back to when our oldest son, Alex was born.  When we brought him home from the hospital he was a bit jaundice and the doctor recommended we, “hold him in the light” to allow the light to heal him. I didn’t get that beautiful metaphor for this spiritual principle as a young parent, but I am starting to now.   

I find for someone unfamiliar with this Quaker terminology, it causes them to wonder or even try and imagine this Divine Light. 

If you look at early Quaker spirituality, you find that the image of light often represents the mysterious presence of God (much like it often does in Scripture.)

Like Quaker Edward Burrough (one of the Valient Sixty) who said,

“All that dwell in the light, their habitation is in God, and they know a hiding place in the day of storm; and those who dwell in the light, are built upon the rock, and cannot be moved, for who are moved or shaken, goes from the light, and so goes from their strength, and from the power of God, and loses the peace and the enjoyment of the presence of God.”

Or George Fox, himself, who said simply,

“The first step of peace is to stand still in the Light.”

John 1:15 actually says, “God is Light.” And there are verses that describe God as the “Father of Lights” and “Light of the World,” or even God as a sun and shield.” Quakers have multiple ways to describe this light – everything from the Holy Spirit, the Inward Light, the Spiritual Christ in You to even “That of God in Everyone.”

Yet, to hold someone or a situation in the light, I believe is to seek to bring that person into deeper contact with the Divine Presence or Present Teacher. Some Quakers imagine the person for whom they are holding in the light to actually be bathed in a beautiful, gentle light, or picture them surrounded with a halo-like quality or aura.

Obviously as followers of Christ, the scriptures use the illustration that Jesus is the Light of the World and that his Spirit “illumines” our lives and brings us into Truth.

So, for me personally, when I hold someone or a specific situation in the Light, I imagine God’s grace, love, joy, wisdom and peace engulfing and surrounding their life and situation.  That is what I thought last Sunday evening when I was reading the Facebook post about our friend from Oregon.

A Quaker from Ann Arbor Friends Meeting put it this way,

“I like to think of ‘holding in the light’ as being ‘holding in Love.’  The Light to me represents God’s love and some of its qualities, and so when I think of holding someone in the Light, I picture them surrounded by visual, bright Light, but also surrounded by something with warmth and a soft texture. In the Psalms there is reference to being born up on the wings of an eagle, and I like the image of an eagle’s wings as part of God’s love. The wing can be powerful, strong, and uplifting, but on the ground the wing can encircle us in a warm and comforting way. Thus, I envision someone being held in brightness, warmth and softness.”     

As an artist who sees painting as a spiritual discipline and form of prayer, I can really relate to the visual nature of holding someone in the Light or in Love – the colors, the textures, the images all speak to how I sense that “holding” taking place. It also reminds me of this beautiful poem by Rumi:

“I know you're tired but come, this is the way...

In your light, I learn how to love.

In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you,

but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.”  ― Rumi

This morning, I want to pause a couple of times in my sermon to give us an opportunity to practice this:  Let’s take a moment right now and practice holding some people or groups in the Light or in Love. Close your eyes and allow yourself to imagine…  

·        Someone that you know who needs to sense or feel the presence of God in their life right now.  (Like our friend in Oregon.)

·        Or maybe you want to hold a group or a specific ministry or service organization in the Light – maybe our gathered meeting this morning..

·        Or maybe you want to consider holding yourself in the Light.     

[Pause]

I don’t know about you, but often holding oneself in the Light is the hardest to imagine or even do.  As I facilitated the conversation for the pastor’s last week at our WYM Pastor’s Conference, I mentioned how we often do not take the time we need to inwardly process our own thoughts and beliefs. And that means we probably don’t take much time to hold ourselves in the Light – to be held in Love – to ask God to illumine our own lives, problems, and situations.  Please understand this is not a selfish act – no, rather I believe it is an essential act.  

Our scripture text for this morning is what I consider a verbal expression of what may go through one’s mind as we hold ourselves in the Light.  The text is a Psalm of David.  Many times, I find David’s writing as though he is holding himself in the Light and seeking the presence, attributes, and love of God.  As David often does, he shows us just how hard it is to enter the presence of God and get our own selfish thoughts and needs out of the way, so we can truly enter into the presence and hear the voice of God.

In the Matthew Henry Commentary it says,

“It is probably that David penned this psalm [31] when he was persecuted by Saul; some passages in it agree particularly to the narrow escapes he had at Keilah (1  Sa. 23:13), then in the wilderness of Maon, when Saul marched on one side of the hill and he on the other, and, soon after, in the cave in the wilderness of En-gedi; but that it was penned upon any of those occasions we are not told.  It is a mixture of prayers, and praises, and professions of confidence in God, all which do well together and are helpful to one another.” [and that sounds like David is trying hard to hold himself in the Light.]

Now, holding yourself, someone else, or a situation in the Light is more than utilizing a wrote prayer or formula.  Sometimes those are helpful when we don’t have words, but often when we don’t have words we need simply to hold that situation in the presence of God until something further is revealed.  When I consider holding someone/thing in the Light it is (just as Matthew Henry put it) a mixture of all sorts of things - of prayers, praises, and professions of confidence in God and I don’t know about you, but for me there is often some doubt, frustration, even first shaking at God and big questions from the depths of my soul. 

Let’s take a look at one of David’s moments of holding himself in the Light – I think you will see his interesting “mixture” coming forth. 

To make it a bit more personal or relatable, I would like to read Psalm 31 from a modern translation titled Psalms/Now by Leslie F. Brandt.

As I read this, try and imagine holding yourself in the Light and allowing these words to express or bring to the surface your own personal feelings, images, or thoughts – if it helps, close your eyes.  I have included in your bulletin a copy of this Psalm that I will have you look at in a minute.  For now, just listen to the words and let them speak to your condition.

Psalm 31

I am up a blind alley, Lord.

The props have been knocked out beneath me.

I feel as if I’m grappling with the wind.

            for some support or security.

I’ve been pulled up short, Lord.

Now, I realize how much I need

            something or someone

            beyond and above myself.

            To give stability to my tenuous existence.

Maybe it was Your doing, Lord.

It is Your way of bringing me back to home port,

of correcting my focus

and reassessing my goals.

I return to You with empty hands, Lord.

You know well, my sorry plight.

I did not find that secret treasure,

            that pearl of great price.

The bright lights that beckoned

            only led me astray.

I became entangled in the bonds of self-service.

Everything I touched turned to dust in my hands.

I despise myself today, Lord.

Even those I thought my friends

            Turn their faces from me.

There is no place to go, nothing to cling to.

I can only come back to You

            and cast myself on Your loving mercy.

You are my God.

You have never let me out of Your sight.

Even when I strike out on my own,

            You pursue me and hold on to me.

I’ve stopped running, Lord.

From this point on

            I will dedicate my hours and days

            into Your loving hands.

 I seek only Your guidance

            and the grace and strength

            to carry out Your purposes.

Restore me, O God,

            To Your program and design for my life.

Thank You for taking me back, Lord,

            for renewing my relationship with You.

I seek now to walk in Your course for me.

I shall abide forever in Your steadfast love.

I will proclaim Your praises

            and live out Your Purposes.

Enable me to be faithful to You.

            whatever the consequences,

            and to celebrate Your love

                        and communicate it to everyone around me.

As I said before reading this Psalm, there is a copy of it in your bulletin this morning.  I would like you to take it out now, read over it to yourselves. Take a moment to further process and hold yourself in the Light in lieu of these words. 

Ask yourself…

What speaks to me?

What is God trying to say to me?

How am I entering the presence of God and holding myself in the Light?

[Pause]

Now that you have had some time to process this, I would like us to look at the last section of this Psalm.  Just as we seek to reflect and hold ourselves in the Light.  I want to encourage you to do the same for First Friends. We are a Beloved Community – a people trying hard to seek awareness both personally and spiritually.  I have said this on several occasions lately, “I believe something special is happening at First Friends.” And I sense more than ever we need to hold First Friends in the Light and Love of God as we go forth with those purposes. 

To help us do that, I have changed the last section of Psalm 31 to be from us as a gathered body.  Yes, we need to do some personal work to be brought into the presence of God, but we also need to do some communal work as well.

Think about this, what if these words were our commitment to holding First Friends in the Light through the coming months and years, as we grow and learn, and continue to be a solid voice and face of Quakerism in Indiana?  

Just listen again as I read…

We’ve stopped running, Lord.

From this point on

            We will dedicate our hours and days

            Into Your loving hands.

We seek only Your guidance

            and the grace and strength

            to carry out Your purposes.

Restore us, O God,

            to Your program and design for First Friends.

Thank You for taking us back, Lord,

            For renewing our relationship with You.

We seek now to walk in Your course for us.

We shall abide forever in Your steadfast love.

We will proclaim Your praises

            and live out Your purposes.

Enable First Friends to be faithful to You,

            whatever the consequences,

            and to celebrate Your love

            and to communicate it to everyone around us.

Will you stand and join me in reading this together aloud. 

3-3-19 - Scout Sunday

Scout Sunday: A Scout: A Friend

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

March 3, 2019

(Please Note: This Sunday, Pastor Bob received permission from Steve Chase to share the following letter which appeared in both Friends Journal on Nov. 25, 2012 and is “Letter 1” in Steve’s book, “Letters to a Fellow Seeker: A Short Introduction To The Quaker Way.” Steve makes a connection to his Scouting Days, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Beloved Community and wraps it into a beautiful way of introducing one to the Quaker Way. After Pastor Bob read the letter, he introduced the “That of God” Medal from the Friends Commission on Scouting which was then presented to one of our Scouts – Adam Cordray.)    

Letters: My Journey to the Quaker Movement

By Steve Chase

Dear Pat,

It was great to bump into you last week at Union Station in D.C. What a happy surprise after all these years. I also loved our talk. As brief as it was, I was touched by how quickly we started speaking about the deeper spiritual concerns and yearnings in our hearts these days. I am very happy to answer your questions about the Quaker movement, which has been my primary spiritual home for over 40 years now.

To begin, let me share a little about how I first started attending Quaker meeting as a teenager. I was not born into a Quaker family. As a child, I sometimes attended local Episcopal church services with my mom, and I also occasionally went to other churches and synagogues with various friends and neighbors. None of these religious services or communities ever fully engaged me, however. My strongest spiritual identity growing up was as a Scout. You may laugh, but for many years the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts were the closest things I had to an ongoing spiritual community.

I loved the weekly Scout meetings, the simple rituals, the service projects in between meetings, the time spent camping outdoors, and the regular fellowship and fun I had with other Scouts and with the volunteer Scout leaders who guided us. I also loved the Boy Scouts’ core values; they mattered to me. Being a Scout meant that I had pledged to be trustworthy, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, thrifty, brave, moral, and reverent. It also meant doing my duty to God and country. Those were things I took very seriously and still do.

By 1968, I was 13 and, through my mother’s encouragement, I had already found a model in Martin Luther King Jr. with his call for a nonviolent revolution to end racism, materialism, and militarism in our nation. As I saw it, my duty to God and country was to help our nation become what King called a “Beloved Community” of peace, justice, and equality. It turned out that my scoutmaster did not see it that way.

Our difference of opinion came to a head one hot summer day when our troop was in the town square of Galesburg, Illinois, for our annual Boy Scout Jamboree. As I finished my scheduled tasks that morning, I noticed a small, silent peace vigil at the edge of the square with folks holding up signs opposing the ongoing U.S. invasion and occupation of Vietnam. I had never before seen anyone stand up against the war in my town and I was torn. I wanted to join them, yet I also felt some fear and hesitation about walking over and taking a public stand smack dab in the middle of my town.

In that moment of indecision, I thought of King’s daring speech at the Riverside Church on April 4, 1967. In that fateful speech, which I heard about from my college‐age brother, King first voiced in public his opposition to this unjust war. He called on all hesitant people to follow him now and end their own silence about the war. Given that King was my hero, I decided to follow his example on that hot summer day in Galesburg. So, I screwed up my courage to walk across the town square and join the silent peace vigil. It was my first overt act of social activism, and I was glad to have taken this step. I was no longer just admiring King; I was following him. This felt good and right to me.

My sense of inner peace was short lived, though. Almost instantly, my scoutmaster spotted me standing in my uniform as part of this silent peace vigil, and he was furious. He ran over, grabbed me, and physically dragged me out of the vigil line. He started shaking me by the shoulders and yelling at me that I was a “communist,” a “traitor,” and a “disgrace to the Boy Scout uniform.” He shouted that I was no longer welcome in his troop and that he would make sure no other troop in town would ever let me join. He then abruptly pushed me away and stormed off. I don’t think now that his action represented the views of the leadership of the Boy Scouts of America, but I had no way to know that then. I stood there stunned and abandoned. Blessedly, an elderly woman from the vigil came up to me, put her hand on my arm, and said, “Young man, I’m sorry that happened to you. Just know that you will always be welcome at a Quaker Meeting.”

At home, later that same day, I asked my mom about the Quakers and she shared with me what she knew about the Religious Society of Friends. She also told me that as much as my Dad disapproved of religion, he was a financial contributor to the American Friends Service Committee. She said he admired both their peace advocacy and their international relief work. My mom also said that it would be fine with her if I wanted to attend a Quaker “meeting for worship” instead of going with her to our regular church services the next day.

Later that night, I worked up my courage for the second time that day and called the number in the phone book under the listing “Galesburg Friends Meeting (Quakers).” I was touched that the woman who answered the phone was as welcoming as the woman at the vigil—even though I was a 13‐year‐old kid! I asked her where and when they held their services and what to expect. She gave me the address and said that the Quakers in Galesburg sat silently in a circle expectantly waiting to be touched and guided by the Spirit of God, which many of them often called the Seed, the Light Within, the Inward Christ, or the Inward Teacher.

This woman also said that their worship started when the first person sat down in the room and “centered down” into silence. The rest of the worshipers joined this person in silence until all were assembled. She added that anyone who felt moved by the Spirit during the meeting would stand up and offer a vocal message or a song to the whole group, then sit back down, and the group would return to silence. She said there was no pastor or priest, and anyone could be moved to give ministry, including men, women, and children. I had never heard of a worship service like this before, and I loved the sound of it.

I also asked this woman what Quakers believe. She answered that the core Quaker belief was that every man, woman, and child on this planet has the spiritual capacity to experience directly God’s love, presence, and guidance in their lives, and that if we open our hearts to this sacred Light Within it can transform our personal lives, our families, our communities, and our world. She said that over three hundred years experience of attending to the Light Within had taught Quakers the value of encouraging each other to lead lives of integrity, simplicity, equality, compassion, stewardship, and community activism for peace and social justice. She called these the “Quaker testimonies.” I loved that answer, too.

Well, the next day I went to my first Quaker meeting for worship with a group of seventeen or so Galesburg Quakers. We sat together in a big living room belonging to one of the local members. It was odd at first, but I found it both challenging and exhilarating to sit quietly in the deepening silence, open to the touch of Divine Presence. Sure, my mind wandered a bit, and I was not really sure what I was “supposed” to be doing, but pretty soon I actually felt something happening inside of me that I had never experienced in any religious service before.

I felt actively engaged in deep spiritual seeking, and sometime during that very first meeting for worship—and many times since—I felt as if I was directly breathing Spirit in and out, directly breathing compassion and wisdom in and out, directly breathing love and justice in and out. This experience was immediate and powerful. I was not just thinking about what other people in the past had said about God or religion. Instead, I felt profoundly moved by glimmers of direct connection and attunement to the Spirit, the Inward Teacher that the woman on the phone had mentioned.

As we all sat together in the prayerful silence, a few worshipers stood up at different times and offered brief spoken ministry. I particularly remember that the woman who talked to me at the peace vigil spoke haltingly, but movingly, about how the call to defend the Vietnamese people nonviolently from our government’s violence was an outward expression of our deep inner faith as Quakers. She felt it was God’s will that all the faithful in our country should take up this task even more strongly than we had to date. I felt particularly stirred by her heartfelt ministry and loved the fact that in the Quaker movement, women were encouraged to be ministers. I knew my mom would approve.

After a little over an hour of silence and short vocal ministry, the Galesburg Quakers closed their meeting for worship by shaking hands. I was welcomed as a newcomer and one person, who described himself as the clerk of the meeting, made a few announcements. We then got up and talked informally over snacks in the dining room. Somebody mentioned to me that not all Quakers met in people’s houses and that most Quaker meetings around the world had built simple meeting houses for their congregations. Another woman spoke up and said that she had worshipped both in meeting houses and living rooms, and she most enjoyed the intimacy of the small “house meetings.” Another Quaker said her favorite meetings for worship were the ones she had attended that were held outdoors.

I asked my new acquaintances if there was anything I could read to learn more about the Quaker movement. One man took me to the meeting’s “library,” which was a couple of shelves in the living room. He pulled out a copy of a book called Faith and Practice. He explained that it was an anthology of many different statements about the Quaker movement written by different Quakers throughout history, and that it also included a lot of recent material about Quaker practice written by a committee of the Illinois Yearly Meeting, the regional association of Quakers that included the Galesburg Friends Meeting. He explained that most yearly meetings around the world create their own guidebooks, which are reviewed and updated every twenty to thirty years as part of a spiritual consensus‐building process within each yearly meeting. As he put it, “We believe in continuing revelation.”

While reading this book at home later, I found a particularly interesting section called “Advices and Queries,” which included a list of questions designed to help Quakers think more deeply about their own day‐to‐day faith and practice. It addressed personal conduct, home and family, environmental stewardship, vocational choices, social responsibility and community engagement, and peace and reconciliation. It also addressed how we prepare for meeting for worship and how we engage in the spiritual life of the meeting community. To me, all these questions seemed like some of the most important questions we could possibly ask ourselves.

The “Advices and Queries” also included a set of questions about personal spiritual life that went something like the passage below, which is taken from my current yearly meeting’s book of Faith and Practice:

Do you live in thankful awareness of God’s constant presence in your life? Are you sensitive and obedient to leadings of the Holy Spirit? Do you seek to follow Jesus, who shows us the way? Do you nurture your spiritual life with prayer and silent waiting and with regular study of the Bible and other devotional literature?

Now, I did not yet know what my own answers to these questions were, but I was intrigued about reflecting on each of them as part of my spiritual journey.

I was particularly struck by the query about following Jesus. I had always thought that being a Christian meant believing a specific set of doctrinal beliefs about Jesus so you could go to heaven after you died. But all these Quaker questions focused on our lives here and now, and none of them mentioned any specific belief that you had to hold about Jesus to be a Quaker, except that his life “shows us the way” and it is wise to follow in his footsteps.

Just a few days earlier, I had followed in Martin Luther King’s footsteps, and King, in turn, was certainly following in the footsteps of Jesus in his work for peace and justice. I now felt somehow closer to the source of something wonderful and powerful, something I could read and think about, but also something I could now directly experience, just as I seemed to do in my very first Quaker meeting for worship.

While there was much more to think about and to learn, of course, I already knew that I loved the experience of Quaker worship, of sitting in silence with other seekers trying to be open to wonder, possibility, love, challenge, guidance, and deep inner peace. Returning to this little band of Galesburg Quakers each week for group worship was a spiritual practice that nourished and excited me. A couple of years later, when I read a book by Robert Barclay, an early British Quaker theologian, I found that people had been having experiences like mine for over three hundred years. As Barclay put it:

When I came into the silent assemblies of God’s people, I felt a secret power among them, which touched my heart, and as I gave way unto it, I found the evil weakening in me, and the good raised up, and so I became thus knit and united unto them, hungering more and more after the increase of this power and life, whereby I might feel myself perfectly redeemed.

While I might have said it a little differently in 1968, my first experience of Quaker worship was astonishingly similar to Barclay’s.

I now look back on my first Quaker meeting for worship with deep gratitude. It felt like coming home. This, I said to myself early on, is my spiritual community and this is my spiritual path. Today, as a member of the Putney Friends Meeting in Vermont, I still feel the same. In my decades of participating in silent Quaker worship, I have found that it is often possible for those present to become aware of a divine love and spiritual fullness that far transcends ordinary existence. This sense of living communion, in turn, has a way of healing, transforming, and guiding our daily lives.

The intimacy, openness, and mutual responsibility of our way of worship also influences our character as a spiritual community. We regularly come together for more than meeting for worship, as powerful and as central as that is in our spiritual lives. For example, at Putney Friends Meeting, we describe ourselves on our website as “a Quaker congregation that meets in Putney, Vermont, for worship, fellowship, education, and activist support.”

We eat potlucks together, delight in our kids, offer them creative religious education, have intimate conversations that matter, share our faith journeys, read and discuss books together, watch movies or bring in speakers, organize healing circles, and go together to larger Quaker gatherings. Some of us join nonviolent action trainings to prepare to commit civil disobedience in an attempt to persuade the State of Vermont to close an aging and leaking nuclear reactor nearby. We cry and laugh together, share our joys and concerns, rent out our meeting house at very low rates to a network of home schoolers and AA groups, and at our business meetings, we discuss if, when, and how we should put solar panels on our meeting house roof.

Quaker congregations like Putney Friends Meeting are participatory, volunteer‐run, spiritual communities led by committees and coordinated by rotating officers as well as by our monthly business meetings. These meetings are open to the entire community and are held to discern together the will of God in our affairs. Our decisions reflect a spiritual unity that we can all acknowledge, rather than a count of votes. This radical approach to “church government” is very common in the Quaker movement. Ours is a first‐hand, do‐it‐yourself faith community. This is something I have long treasured about the Quaker way.

I hope this helps answer your question about how and why I began my spiritual journey to the Quaker movement. Is there anything else you are wondering about? Does any of this resonate with you?

Affectionately,

Steve

2-24-19 - Becoming a Beloved Community

Becoming a Beloved Community

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 24, 2019

Acts 2:42-47 (NRSV)

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Last week during Waiting Worship, our Friend Mary Blackburn mentioned something that I have been considering for quite some time. The query that I have wrestled with is “How can we build the “Beloved Community” in our midst? 

Now, if you are unfamiliar with the term “Beloved Community” it is part of the greater dream or vision that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught and spoke of until his death. 

At the King Center in Atlanta in the plaza where Martin and Coretta are buried the wall declares this vision, it states:

“The Beloved Community is a realistic vision of an achievable society, one in which problems and conflict exist, but are resolved peacefully and without bitterness.  In the Beloved Community, caring and compassion drive political policies that support the worldwide elimination of poverty and hunger and all forms of bigotry and violence.  The Beloved Community is a state of the heart and mind, a spirit of hope and goodwill that transcends all boundaries and barriers and embraces all creation. At its core, the Beloved Community is an engine of reconciliation. This way of living seems a long way from the kind of world we have now, but I do believe it is a goal to accomplish through courage and determination, and through education and training, if enough people are willing to make the necessary commitment.”

As Mary shared last week, for her and David experiencing the Beloved Community has come over time.  It is not something automatic, it takes work, it takes being willing to get out of our boxes, to educate ourselves, and seek community together with others who may be different than us. That is not easy. We like our comforts. 

It is easy to become myopic in our world, to focus on our own success, and miss those around us.  Technology ever increases this polarization and unawareness of those around us – not just the African American community, but anyone outside of our boxes. Our history, both American and in the Church, shows we have neglected many different groups of people over the years from Native and African Americans, to Women, to LGBTQ, to people with AIDS, to different ethnicities, religions, ages, and even people with physical disabilities and special needs.  

As I started to really ponder the query, “How can we build the Beloved Community in our midst? I started to realize this concept was not something new for Quakers.  The Beloved Community has and continues to develop among us as Quakers today in many and various forms.

That may be because back in 1681, Quaker William Penn had a similar vision. One that many debated and some thought was elitist, but just maybe it was a manifestation of what we would call the Beloved Community today. 

King thought of his as a “realistic vision of an achievable society” where Penn considered his an “Holy Experiment.”  Now, I think you can see by what I read regarding King’s vision, and how I mentioned before that King was heavily influenced by his right-hand man, Bayard Rustin’s Quaker faith and belief in nonviolence, where King’s understanding of the Beloved Community developed. Whether or not King admitted this, I believe the Beloved Community was very much based on Quaker principles.  Actually, I might even go as far as to say the Beloved Community is a concept who’s foundation is built on the Quaker S.P.I.C.E.S. of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship.

Penn’s Holy Experiment, on the other hand, which I remember in my history books was presented as idealistic, is not much different than how some people treat King’s Beloved Community, today.  Actually, if you study Penn’s Holy Experiment in Pennsylvania, you will find a lot of similarities to King.  Penn may have been the Martin Luther King Jr. of his day.

·        Penn was all about fair treatment of people, especially the Native Americans and the land that belonged to them.  

·        Penn was for religious freedom as well. Penn wanted everyone to worship as they chose. Pennsylvania drew a variety of people of ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds together for the first time in America.

·        Penn also wanted to reform the prisons of his day, just as King’s legacy has taken up this mantle in our day and age to end mass incarceration and the death penalty.        

·        Penn, like King, believed everyone needs to be educated – girls and boys alike.  For Penn, in his day, most children were illiterate, especially girls.  This was a radical step to educate everyone.

·        Penn wanted work for everyone.  At one point, Pennsylvania became known as “the best poor man’s country” because of the accessibility of occupations and jobs for all people.  When King was assassinated he had just launched his “Poor People’s Campaign” working to eliminate poverty and hunger in our country.  

In 2018 for the 50 anniversary of King’s death, Rev. William Barber picked up the mantle of the Poor People’s Campaign and relaunched it. Interestingly enough, the campaign was a national call for moral revival to unite tens of thousands of people across the country to challenge the evils of systemics racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation, and the nations distorted morality.  This sounds very familiar to what Penn had set out to do in his day as well as the continued legacy of King. 

But if we are going to really get back to our roots, we have to see both Penn and King’s experiments and visions as coming out of another vision. This was a vision that the Early Quakers, especially George Fox, wanted to see recovered. Fox called this the “original Christianity.”  It was a return to the Apostle’s teachings (which were directly drafted from the life and teaching of Christ) and often emphasized our text for this morning from Acts. What I believe is one of the earliest manifestations of the Beloved Community that both Penn and King would have known and referenced.  Just listen again to these scriptural foundations:

All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

This vision of the early church would lay a foundation that we would continue to hone and wrestle with for centuries to come.  We would even call it by multiple names, from the Kingdom of God, to the Peaceable Commonwealth, to the Peaceable Kingdom, to the Beloved Community. 

Quaker Catherin Whitmire, one of my favorite Quaker Writers, points out that a

“central piece to the gospel is that of the Commonwealth (traditionally called Kingdom) of God. Jesus refers repeatedly to this peaceable Commonwealth as being near and even says that it lies within us. Most of us have already experienced the immediate presence and peace of God’s Commonwealth at the most human and personal level when holding a newborn child, watching a seed sprout from the earth, or looking into the calm immensity of a starry sky.  In addition to our personal experiences in families, neighborhoods, and communities, we are aware of that peaceable Commonwealth when responding to a neighbor’s call for help, receiving consolation from a friend, supporting a colleague, or settling a serious disagreement through open and loving dialogue…Jesus says that while this Commonwealth is present now, it is also part of the future and still needs to be built.  So the paradoxical truth of the peaceable Commonwealth of God is that it is both here now – and it is our life’s work to create it! “

So if building this peaceable Commonwealth or Beloved Community is our life’s work as Catherine has pointed out, what are some specific things we can do to build this type of community in our midst.  I turn at this point to Greg Elliott, who serves as the Friends Relations Associate for American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia. He has wrestled with how we are to be about creating the Beloved Community, today.  He points out that…

”when we first come together, we carry with us our conditioning about race, gender, class, truth, God, peace, and so much more. This conditioning has been passed down for generations.  Our conditioning is so deep within us that we are often unaware of it. If we wish to acknowledge and free ourselves from the myths, lies, and toxic beliefs that plague us, we need a community to help us do it.”  

To build the Beloved Community we need to start with a smaller community to help us build it.  I believe that community for us is First Friends. 

Elliot also points out that to build this community we must deal with our past and current need to colonize and build empires. Something Jesus sought to bring liberation from.  He says, “The historian William Appleman Williams defines empire as

“the use and abuse, and the ignoring, of other people for one’s own welfare and convenience.” 

This is what the early church, William Penn, and Martin Luther King Jr. were addressing.    

So how do we begin?  Elliot says our work is three-fold. He says it starts with…

1.     Decolonizing the self – We engage in the ongoing process of transforming the poison of our imperial, oppressive society into medicine. We learn about our country’s oppressive past and present, acknowledging our relationship to the matrix of domination, grounding our sense of self in non-colonial identities. We rediscover an Inner Light/Spirit that cannot be colonized, embracing liberation histories, realities, and theologies, and finding the courage to do the work that is ours to do.

Decolonizing the Self is exactly what I talked about last week when I gave my own personal journey.  I have had to and continue to decolonize myself and seek ways of liberation from my history, my reality, and my own understandings of theology. And that has led me to see the work I and I believe we need to do.

2.     Decolonizing our communities – We engage in the ongoing process of healing together with like-minded, like-hearted souls, always widening the circle, inviting people in, and transforming our communities. We move from explicitly or tacitly supporting systems of domination to actively healing from their negative effects and supporting alternatives and movements led by communities most impacted by injustice.

Once we take our own personal inventory and begin the process of decolonizing ourselves, then we can move our efforts into community.  First Friends is a place where this can happen.  We can engage in an ongoing process of healing together by dealing with our past and moving into our future. Folks, we are like-minded (not cookie-cutter people of faith), we are like-hearted souls, and we are always working to widen our circle of influence. Over the past few years we have opened our doors wider in this place and learned to embrace more of the community – and I believe that is transforming, healing and changing us for the better.  And lastly… 

3.     Co-creating the Beloved Community – We engage in the ongoing process of re-building our relationship to all of life around us, fostering trust and accountability with communities most impacted by injustice. To accomplish this we commit to accompaniment and followership, staying in it for the long haul, getting out of our meetinghouses and our comfort zones, and co-creating the Beloved Community...

You and I, and First Friends for that matter is a place that is Co-creating the Beloved Community. This is why I am wanting to partner with other organizations, connect to other faith communities, even become a Meetingplace where we are sent into our neighborhoods, workplaces, and such, with the needed tools to make an impact. 

My hope for First Friends is that we simply don’t become a place of comfort for people to gather and socialize, but it becomes a place to re-energize, refill, and prepare ourselves for engaging this world.  It’s a difficult journey, but as history has shown, it continues to be our destiny. 

So whether we call it a Peaceable Commonwealth, the Kingdom of God, a Holy Experiment, or the Beloved Community.  The truth is, we have work to do.  Work I believe our world and country desperately need. 

What decolonizing work do I need to do in myself?

What decolonizing work do we need to do at First Friends?

2-17-19 - Opening My Eyes

Opening My Eyes

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 16, 2019

Mark 8:22-26

22 They came to Bethsaida. Some people[d] brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” 24 And the man[e] looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus[f] laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Then he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.”[g]

Mark 10:46-52

46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher,[g] let me see again.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Please Note: The following contains my own personal story.  Each of us has our own story that we need to process, especially as it pertains to race. My intent in sharing was to help us be more open to tell our stories and begin to dialogue around issues of race in our own communities, families, and at First Friends.  This is not an easy conversation and remember that one sermon does solve or conclude the conversation.  This is a conversation starter if anything. Read it or listen to it with grace.

This has been a very full week. I have had an overwhelming amount of positive conversations, discussions and dialogue about last week’s celebration of Black History Month and the racial tensions in our country. As well, I have sensed a deep desire from so many of you that the race conversation must continue at First Friends.  As part of my exchanges this week, I was asked several questions, but one had me really processing.

How as a white man did you become so passionate

about racial issues in America?

I know many of you have heard bits and pieces of my story, but this morning, I am going to be vulnerable and open another window into my own personal journey. I believe it is important to share our stories to give permission and help each other process our stuff.  Back on Friends Education Fund Sunday last year, I openly shared a bit of my “coming to racial awareness” story. There I talked about my profound experience at the King Center in Atlanta in 1998 and my realization that I had not been taught the full picture of history especially as it pertained to African Americans in our country.  But as I have continued to unpack my story, I have realized the Holy Spirit was preparing my heart for that moment from my earliest days.

Let me return once again to when I was about 5 years old.  If you remember from a previous sermon, my mom was in charge of our church’s Vacation Bible School program.  It was at that summer’s VBS that I had played “what do you want to be when you grow up” charades and let everyone know that I wanted to be a pastor for the first time.  But even before I had that experience that week of VBS, I took a bus ride with my mom to pick up some children in a place called, “Riverhaven” on the outskirts of my hometown of New Haven, Indiana.  I remember my mom being a bit uncomfortable with us going to this neighborhood. I, on the other hand, was just excited that I was getting to ride the bus, since morning Kindergarten students didn’t ride the bus.

The bus driver drove us out of town to this unmarked neighborhood. As the children who lived there heard the bus, they came running knowing we were going to take them to VBS.  It wasn’t just their excitement that was burnt into my young mind, it was something else.  Today, I would call it the deplorable conditions that these children and their families were living in.  Most houses had no front doors and their foundations were made of mud and dirt. Many of the children were white, but some were brown skinned.  I think this may have been my first experience seeing a person of color in my very white small town. 

I don’t think my little mind could wrap itself around the fact that most of these kids would hop on a bus for a momentary reprieve from the hard life they lived.  These kids did not go to school, they did not have cars, and the way they took cookies and Kool-Aid at our snack break was as if they had not eaten all week – which today I realize was probably true. 

Growing up, I heard often of “those people” in Riverhaven. 

I also heard often of those type people possibly making it out and moving into another neighborhood in my town. That would often be vocalized, “those people are going to bring the property values down.”  I heard this so many times growing up that at times I was worried that one of these “outsiders” would actually move into our neighborhood.  For some reason these “outsiders” were introduced to me as bad. 

If you were a person of color, or a person of extremely low means, or if you had a mental disability, and were walking around my hometown, you were labeled, watched, and people talked about you. This was before official Neighborhood Crime Watch Programs were enforced, but believe me, they were happening.

In my own neighborhood or subdivision (what I grew up calling “the addition”), which I am pretty sure was 100% white, we talked about “the bachelor” that probably was gay, the white trash who needed to clean up the cars in their yard, and the lady we called, Old Gypsy.  What I realized over time was that you don’t need to have persons of color in your neighborhood to be racist. 

As with most people in my small town, we had relatives and friends who lived close enough that I could ride my bike to their houses.  There were determined ways for me and my friends to go to avoid certain houses with questionable people.  Even though our small town was almost 100% white, when the doorbell would ring at my grandma’s house, she would use the phrase that combined the n-word and “knocking” together.  I always quickly looked out to see if there were actually black children outside running – there never were.  As I grew older, I met some of those kids on her block and yes, I did some ringing and running as well.   

Grandma also used the n-word to describe any car with curb feelers or loud radios.  On many occasions when traveling through certain parts of town, we had to lock our doors and roll up our windows.  Sometimes, we even went out of our way to avoid certain parts of town that were deemed dangerous or where “those people” lived.

I stayed pretty sheltered throughout grade school having little to no interaction with people of color.  Actually, it was almost impossible with the systems that was set up, both in my neighborhoods and my Christian School.  

I was taught to see people of color as entertainers and athletes.  And as I have said before, I did not know their history because my books – even those at the Christian school avoided talking about it. 

It wasn’t until my high school days that I would again be presented with another issue directly related to race.  My family and I had started to attend a different and much larger and affluent church. They had a large youth group that went on big trips during the summer.  On one of the trips, I met a young woman of color and we became friends. I did not see her as any different from any of my other friends.  We talked a lot even though she was a bit shy.  Actually, on the way home from our destination we sat together and talked the entire time.  As with all fun youth group trips, there were lots of photos taken (even though this was pre-smart phones).  After returning, I was sharing with my grandmother the photos of the trip.  I will never forget her words as she looked at my photos.  “Who is the colored girl?” I said it was a friend.  Then she said to me, “You aren’t interested in a colored girl, are you?”  I didn’t show it, but I was shocked, but also confused.  Why was that an issue.  It must have bothered me enough that I really didn’t pursue the friendship, but what it did do was cause a new tension in my heart and soul. 

For numerous reasons, I ended up leaving that church, and started attending a church on the Southside of Fort Wayne.  Ironically, in a neighborhood where if I was driving through, we most likely would have locked the doors and rolled up the windows.  I was introduced by some friends to a much more diverse group of peers.  Soon, they became my new youth group and often I would have this new group of youth over to my house. I didn’t worry about what my neighbors thought. But I am sure they were talking.

Even though I was experiencing more diversity, it was causing me as a high schooler to deal with more than just issues of race. For the first time, I was even questioning some of the beliefs about my church.  

·        Why didn’t my church ordain women? Weren’t we created equal? 

·        Why did my church seem to be Republican? Wasn’t God neither Democrat or Republican? 

·        Why were people who believed differently than my church seen as wrong? or unacceptable? especially people from other factions of our denomination.

·        And why did it seem everything was focused on purity?

There were other questions, but I think you get the point. 

By this time, I had heard the call of God and was heading to college to study for the ministry.  At the time, my theology had taught me that people needed to be “saved” (and that I was part of the work) …being saved from what though, that was the question?  All my past experiences left a division in my soul and I was feeling torn in so many ways.  I was being called into a ministry that seemingly was out to give people answers, to tell them their place, and ultimately help them know if they were in or out, accepted or not, heaven or hell bound.  Forgiveness and grace had kind of taken a back seat. 

I went off to college with this all swirling in my head.  Knowing what little I knew about what then was called, “Inner City Ministry.”  I just assumed that was something that I would be called to and told my program director that is what I wanted to focus on at college.  With much grace and a smile on his face, he said, well Bob you might want to get involved with a church in the “inner city” before you make that decision. 

So in my naivete that is what I did.  I contacted the only African American pastor, I knew at the time, Pastor Russell Belisle. He had been a teacher at my high school, but I had never had him for a class. He had just started pastoring St. Philip Lutheran Church on the south side of Chicago.  I called him and told him my hopes.  And he agreed to a plan where I would bring a group of students from the college to his church once a month on a Saturday for a neighborhood children’s ministry.  My thought was that we 10 or so white students were bringing hope and help and salvation to this Black “inner-city” congregation. 

Boy, was I so very wrong.  Everything I was taught growing up was being shaken at its core.  Nobody was talking about who was in or out.  We were welcomed with open arms by the black community.  I remember distinctly, Pastor Belisle asking me one Saturday to help him teach a lesson on Philip and the Eunuch.  His church was named after St. Philip but more importantly I was to focus on the Eunuch from Ethiopia.  First of all, I wasn’t too familiar with this story, and second of all, I thought what an unusual story for us to teach kids.  How about Noah and the Ark or Jesus feeding the Five Thousand?  No, it would be Philip and the Eunuch.  Then Pastor Belisle brought out a painting of Philip and the Eunuch to help illustrate the story.  The painting depicted the Eunuch rightly as a black man from Ethiopia. Quickly I glanced around the fellowship hall to find I was surrounded also by a Black Jesus, and a Black Lord’s Supper.  This was the first time I had experienced Black Religious Art and it had a profound experience on me and continues to be reflected in my own art today.

My eyes were beginning to open to much more than bringing hope, and help, and salvation. I was being invited to become a student and I was the one receiving hope, help, and a new sense of salvation that was helping me deconstruct what I had been taught, seen, and had experienced.  I realized more than anything I had so much more to learn. 

Now folks, it would still be almost 10 years before I would find myself standing in the King Center Museum in Atlanta, GA listening to Dr. King’s “I Have Been To The Mountaintop” speech the night before his assassination, wiping away tears and being overcome with the realization that I am just as guilty of the attrocities against African Americans in this country as those spoken of in that museum.  Whether by my unawareness or my compliance, I have to admit I have racism in me. I was raised with it all around me. This realization has left me uncomfortable for quite some time.  I think it is as writer Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove says, “I am a man torn in two.”  

What I have come to realize is that not only do I live in an ever-more polarized world, but I also have a polarized heart.  And I would go one step further an agree with Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove, the gospel of Jesus Christ that we follow is divided and polarizing in our country, as well.  At times it has been used to teach freedom and at other times it as kept people in bondage – or as Jonathan Wilson Heartgrove calls it, “Slaveholder Religion.”

Even though I don’t completely know his reasoning, maybe actor Liam Neeson is to be more of our example than our whipping boy.  He too seems to be a man torn in two by his own racism.  But I can relate and maybe you can, too.  I have to admit that I have had racist thoughts or wanted to harm people that have hurt people close to me. The truth is we have to deal with our own stuff and confess and even repent of our unawareness and compliance to make a change.  It starts with me.

As Pastor Belisle told me on the phone this week, after he called me in response to an email I sent him to catch up since our days working together at St. Philips in Chicago. He said, “Liam Neeson’s comments bring hurt feelings, especially to those of the black community.  But our job is to work on moving from hurt feelings to embracing grace.”  He also added, “Never forget, forgiveness is a process. It doesn’t happen over night. But it is what the church has to offer the world right now.”  

As an article that was shared with me this week about the polarization in our world concluded,

“A world with no mercy or grace is an ugly world indeed.

And we’re building that world for ourselves, brick for crick.”

To me that is just the juncture where we as Quakers and Followers of Christ have something to say and live out. But like my own journey has proven over and over. Often I am BLIND to what is really going on.  I am missing the bigger picture.  I am stuck in the polarization.  I am worked up on being a “savior” when I actually need one.  

That is when I read a short section in Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove’s new book, “Reconstructing the Gospel” titled “You have to Want to See.” 

I would like to end with reading this to you.

At the center of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ message is framed by two stories about blind men receiving their sight.  These stories serve as a window through which Jesus’ healing and teaching are revealed.  Like a refrain in a well-crafted poem, they sum up the heart of Jesus’ message.

Through these stories, Mark asserts that the gospel is about learning to see, which, in its own way, speaks to our most basic problem.  Sin is a kind of blindness.  In order to show us, his readers, what we cannot see on our own, Mark invites us to observe how Jesus restores sight to two blind men. 

The first man is led by the hand, as blind people often are, to Jesus. Word has gotten out. Jesus can make the blind to see again.  Taking this unnamed man by the hand, Jesus becomes his guide. He walks him to the edge of town, spits on his eyes, and asks, “Do you see anything?” (Mark 8:23).

Yes, the man can see people.  But by his own account “they look like trees walking around.” (Mark 8:24)  His sight is blurry. So Jesus touches him a second time, and he sees everything clearly. 

Two chapters later, Mark introduces a second blind man, Bartimaeus. This time, the one who cannot see is shouting, “Have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47). Because he cannot see, he is willing to break protocol – to face the rebukes of those who tell him to sit down and shut up – because he wants to see. No one leads Bartimaeus to Jesus.  He throws off his cloak and runs to him. 

And there before the crowd – before the whole audience of Mark’s life work and the good news about Jesus – Jesus askes Bartimaeus the most basic questions of the human heart: “What do you want?” (Mark 10:51). This is the question Jesus has been trying to get his disciples to grapple with. They’ve seen his power.  They’ve believed his message.  They’ve left everything to follow him.  But “what good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Jesus asks them (Mark 8:36).

What do you really want?

Before encountering Bartimaeus, Jesus has responded to a rich young ruler.  After the tragic encounter with the young ruler Jesus tells the disciples, “Many who are first will be last, and the last share be first” (Mark 10:31). And then, when they think they’ve turned from worldly success to pursue a seat beside their Lord in his coming kingdom, Jesus challenges them again: “Whoever want to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10:44)

            What do you really want?

Baritmaeus isn’t just answering this question for himself.  As Mark tells it, he’s answering for the disciples and the crowds and the religious leaders – for all of us who are blind, even if we don’t know we cannot see. 

What do you want? Jesus asks him.

“Rabbi, I want to see” (Mark 10:51).

Of all the prophetic words in Scripture, Bartimaeus’s simple confession may be the most damning of slaveholder religion and its habits, which have been passed down to us.  If we are honest to God and ourselves, we have not wanted to see.  Far too often, we have chosen blindness, even refusing the hands of friends who reached out and tried to lead us to the one who could restore our sight. 

Our racial blindness is generational and multilayered, folded in among all that is true and good about our faith.  There is no easy way to be freed from it….I cannot autocorrect in real time for the very blindness I’m trying to recover from.  I’m like Bartimaeus, running toward Jesus, hands out to catch me if I trip and fall in the darkness that surrounds me.  Still, I find hope in the way this gospel story shows us that all freedom begins with us wanting it. 

You have to want to see. 

The desire itself is the interruption that can save us.  As long as we sacrifice ourselves to a false sense of duty – fighting for what we already know to be good and true – we are captive to the spirit of men who help keep other people captive.  But if we let our guard down – if we can but allow ourselves to be present with the real people in our lives, we can learn to want new things.  All desire is bodily.  If we can sit down to eat together, we can take in not only the food we long for but also fellowship we so deeply need.

In the early 1800s…a young white boy named Levi Coffin watched people who looked like him march enslaved African Americans down the road in front of his house.  These men had run away to freedom, Coffin later learned, but the laws of the United States allowed slave catchers to capture and return them to bondage.  Coffin was troubled by what he saw, and he never forgot it.  Following the Jesus he first met in a Quaker meeting house outside of Greensboro, North Carolina, Coffin went on to devote his life to abolition, becoming the unofficial “President of the Underground Railroad” before his death in 1877.  By grace, Coffin learned to see. 

What I am saying to us this morning, is I am still learning to see.  Each day opens up my eyes to more of the story and my place in it. I need forgiveness. I need to repent. And I need to admit I have often been blind and I continually need to learn to see better. How about you?   

What do you really want?

Do you want to see?

What can you do to learn to see better?

2-10-19 - Lasting Impact of Quakers of Color

Lasting Impact of Quakers of Color

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 10, 2019

Romans 12:15-18 (NRSV)

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

I have to say, this has been a full week of racial tensions and some difficult remembrances in our country.

Starting last Sunday evening with a rather boring Superbowl filled with all types of racial tensions and controversies - everything from the halftime show to the national anthem.

Then on Tuesday, we were reminded of the death of Trayvon Martin who would have turned 24 yrs. old that day. The anniversary of his unnecessary death in 2012 sparked a new level of racial tension in America that continues today. The anniversary of his death will be later this month on Feb. 26. 

And then on this same day acclaimed and beloved actor Liam Neeson appeared on Good Morning America and shockingly confessed to anchor Robin Roberts that 40 years ago he had sought to confront and commit violence against random black men after learning that someone close to him had been raped. This bringing the cancellation of his red-carpet event for his upcoming movie and many people asking for him to be removed from current movie rolls and past work.

On top of these issues, we have endured a non-stop barrage of breaking news all week about white leaders in prominent positions of our government wearing blackface and KKK hoods and dressing as black entertainers in their younger years. 

What a week, as we are to be celebrating Black History Month. To me it simply shows why we have such a need to educate ourselves and take time to remember and celebrate our African American sisters and brothers.  If you weren’t aware (or did not read my “As Way Opens” this week,

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of blacks in U.S. history. The event grew out of “Negro History Week,” the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating black history. (History Channel)

Also, this week, Progressive Christian writer, speaker, and coach Kerry Connelly got my attention when she posted a photo of her “Top Ten Ways White People Can Celebrate Black History Month.”  All ten were convicting, but number 7 really hit me,

“Ask your faith community to stop ignoring race.”

Race is not an easy issue to address – just look at this week’s news if you don’t believe me. But as Quakers, a fundamental tenant of our faith is the equality of ALL people.  As many of you in this room know, we at First Friends have some “skeletons in our closet” from our history that at some point we are going to need to address and finally reconcile - and that will not be easy.  We cannot simply continue to tell our versions of our tainted history in private thinking they do not hinder our relationship with people of color within and outside of our Meeting. Simply put, we have work to do.

So, as for today, we are supposed to be celebrating our black sisters and brothers and learning about and from their stories.  That is why today, I have chosen to introduce us to six significant African American Quakers in American history. 

A few weeks ago, when I was teaching our Affirmation students, I asked for them to share with me the names of historic Quakers who embraced their inner lights and lived out an understanding of “that of God in everyone.” After many of the famous names (George Fox, Lucretia Mott, Levi Coffin, Margaret Fell) were shared, one student exclaimed, “How about Martin Luther King Jr.?”  Even though we included King because he embraced many Quaker values, it caused me to recognize how significantly our list was lacking color.  Ironically, one of my favorite Quaker’s of color was Bayard Rustin who was Dr. King’s righthand man.  You may have heard his name, but today, I will be introducing you to Quakers Cyrus Bustill, Paul Cuffe, Bayard Rustin, Barrington Dunbar, and Vera Green. All Quakers of color who have made an impact on our world.  Let’s begin with…

Cyrus Bustill (info from https://www.fgcquaker.org/resources/african-american-quaker-profiles)

Cyrus Bustill was born enslaved in Burlington, New Jersey in 1732.  His father sold him to Quaker Thomas Prior, a baker who taught Cyrus his trade. Cyrus was one of 104 Africans liberated by Friends in Burlington Quarterly Meeting from 1763-1793.

Cyrus became a successful baker and operated his own baking business for many years.  In 1787 after moving to Philadelphia, Cyrus became a founder of Philadelphia’s Free African Society. His entire family was actively involved in the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia. After building his own home, he also created a school for African American children in 1803.  

Under the care of Friends at Arch Street Meeting where they attended, Cyrus married Elizabeth Morrey, the daughter of Satterhwait, a Delaware Indian, and Richard Morrey, the son of the first mayor of Philadelphia.  They had eight children together.

On April 29, 2000, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated a state historical marker on the site of Bustill’s neighborhood at Third and Green to commemorate the Underground Railroad.  The Bustill family is one of the oldest African American families in the United States, and members of the family still live in Philadelphia.  We hope to visit the neighborhood and marker while in Philadelphia with our Affirmation Students this summer.

Paul Cuffe (info from https://www.fgcquaker.org/resources/african-american-quaker-profiles)

Paul Cuffe was born in Cuttyhunk, Massachusetts in a family of ten.  He taught himself mathematics, navigation, and other seafaring skills.  He became wealthy through whaling and trade in the Americas and Europe. He started his shipping business at the age of 16 during the Revolutionary War.  He also built boats during the war with his brother, David. Together, they smuggled merchandise through British blockades. 

Paul saw education as a means of liberation and began fighting for equal rights in many ways.  He taught other young black men the science of navigation and skills of a merchantman.  In 1800, he bought his own gristmill and a century and a half before his time urged mills to include African Americans in the planning stages of organizations.  He and other black men protested taxation on his father’s estate on the grounds of no taxation without representation. 

Even though he had a long involvement with Friends, Paul did not join Westport Monthly Meeting until 1806 when he was 49.  He dressed in the manner of Friends, wearing gray along with the wide-brimmed black hat.  In 1810 Paul shared a leading he had to establish a trading community in Sierra Leone that focused on trading goods instead of humans.  The Meeting approved his journeys and helped him establish this system of commerce in Sierra Leone.  Paul became well respected among Friends and became a leader at Westport Monthly Meeting.

Bayard Rustin (info from www.afsc.org/story/bayard-rustin)

Bayard Rustin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on March 17, 1912. He had been raised to believe that his parents were Julia and Janifer Rustin, when in fact they were his grandparents. He discovered the truth before adolescence, that the woman he thought was his sibling, Florence, was in fact his mother, who'd had Rustin with West Indian immigrant Archie Hopkins. 

Throughout his early years, Bayard became more and more engaged in the plight of African Americans in America. He found ways to combine the pacifism of his Quaker faith, the non-violent resistance taught by Mahatma Gandhi, and the socialism espoused by African-American labor leader A. Philip Randolph to get the attention of many people. During World War II he worked for Randolph, fighting against racial discrimination in war-related hiring.

Throughout the 30, 40’s and 50’s Bayard, as a Quaker, worked with American Friends Service Committee. It all started with a training AFSC put on at Cheyney State Teachers College that he attended while a student at the historic black college. By 1941 he was the sole black member of the AFSC delegation.  Together with the Fellowship of Reconciliation and AFSC, Bayard traveled around the country to address racism, colonialism, and conflict resolution.  Bayard was even among a group of men who authored AFSC’s influential document “Speak Truth to Power” which called for nonviolent alternatives to end the Cold War (which was a major part of my doctoral dissertation).

Sadly, Rustin was often punished for his beliefs. During the war, he was jailed for two years when he refused to register for the draft. When he took part in protests against the segregated public transit system in 1947, he was arrested in North Carolina and sentenced to work on a chain gang for several weeks. And because he was openly gay, he was arrested for practicing his sexuality in a public way – an issue that, at this time, sadly kept him in the background of the civil rights movement.  Later after the civil rights movement, he would become a strong voice for gay rights in America.

In 1947, Bayard organized the “First Freedom Ride” to challenge segregation, and by 1950 was seen as an expert organizer of human rights protests in America and England. Rustin met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and in 1955 began working with King as an organizer and strategist. He taught King about Gandhi's philosophy of non-violent resistance and advised him on the tactics of civil disobedience. He assisted King with the boycott of segregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama in 1956.

Most famously, Rustin was a key figure in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at which King delivered his legendary "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963.

Throughout the decades, Bayard was a powerful voice for equality that moved audiences. His activism would remain inextricably linked to his Quaker values and upbringing.  Bayard believed as he said, “We are all one, and if we don’t know it, we will learn it the hard way.”  To this day, I consider Bayard Rustin a “Triple Threat” fighting for civil rights, gay rights, and nonviolence.

Barrington Dunbar (info from https://www.afsc.org/blogs/acting-in-faith/black-power%E2%80%99s-challenge-to-quaker-power)

Barrington Dunbar was born in British Guyana and educated in the United States. He devoted his life to social work, as the director of settlement houses, camps for refugees, and other such services. He joined 57th Street Meeting in Chicago and later was active with 15th Street Meeting in New York City.

Much like Bayard Rustin, Barrington was committed to both black liberation and Quakerism. Yet he was on the other side of the movement.  Instead of the non-violent movement of King and Rustin, Barrington was on the Black Power side of the moment which was often associated with a violent rhetoric and alienated his pacifist friends. 

Barrington left his mark when he wrote an essay, “Black Power’s Challenge to Quaker Power” which was included in his book, “Black Fire: African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights” published by Quaker Press in 1968.

Barrington’s work challenged people to see the violence that operates in White Communities and highlighted the necessity of doing anti-racism and social justice work as an extension of the Quaker belief of that of God in everyone. 

Barrington believed that Quakers/Friends who have experienced love in the fellowship of the “gathered community” can demonstrate to the wider community what love can do in the following ways – these are just as relevant in our world and meeting today:

1.     We need to nurture the Inner Light—the source of the phenomenal power of the eighteenth-century Quakers. “Quaker Power” can be as effective as “Black Power” in speeding up revolutionary changes.

2.     We need to listen in love to the black people of America and to submit ourselves to the violence of their words and actions if we are to identify truly with their anguish and despair.

3.     We need to understand, to encourage, and to support the thrust of black people to achieve self-identity and power by sharing in the control of institutions in the community that affect their welfare and destiny.

4.     We must invest our resources—money and skill—to provide incentives for black people to develop and control economic, political, and social structures in the community.

5.     We must support the passage of antipoverty legislation leading to programs that will remedy the deplorable economic and social conditions existing in urban ghettos.

6.     We must oppose racial injustice wherever it is practiced: in the neighborhood where we live, in our places of business, and in our contacts with the wider community.

And finally…

Vera Green (info from https://www.fgcquaker.org/resources/african-american-quaker-profiles)

Vera Green was born in Chicago, Illinois and she too was a member of 57th Street Meeting of Friends (like Barrington Dunbar).  She attended William Penn College where she studied sociology and psychology.  She has a sociology degree from Roosevelt College in Chicago, a Master’s in anthropology from Columbia University, and in 1955 began work in international community development with the United Nations.  She had a passion for international human rights.

In 1969 at the height of the Civil rights movement, Vera, an educated black woman received a doctoral degree in anthropology from the University of Arizona. This degree took her on to fieldwork in the Caribbean Island of Aruba.  She was one of the first African American anthropologists to study ethnic relations in the Caribbean. 

Vera sensed a call to help people of Color around her disbelieve in their inequality that the world was telling them that they shouldn’t be allowed to hold important job titles or be scientifically inclined.  In 1973 Friends General Conference asked Vera to study “the problems of, and possible approaches for attracting more Black members” to the Religious Society of Friends.

Some of Greens observations were that African Americans knew little about Quakerism.  The attractions were patience, casual dress, lack of ceremony, and general Quaker understanding towards humanity.  “Peaceful,” “passive,” and “passive resistance” was less engaging as it was associated with submissive demands of enslaved people in order to survive.

After a long battle with cancer, Vera died on January 17, 1982 after making a lasting impact on the world on anthropology and the Religious Society of Friends.  She continues to encourage Black students and professionals today even though she is gone.

My hope is that this little history lesson introducing you to real Quakers of Color has helped us honor and remember the significant impact that African Americans (and especially these Quakers) have had on our society and world. 

I want to close this time and move into our time of Waiting Worship pondering the following queries posed by Barrington Dunbar to Friends Meetings (which you will find on the back of your bulletins this morning:  

·        How can “Quaker Power” speed up “revolutionary changes” in our community? How might it play a role in transforming systems of oppression?

·        How can we show “what love can do” for racial justice?

·        Is First Friends more than a “social club” for people with “common interests”? Who or what might be missing from our “beloved community”?