8-23-20 - The Grace of Simplicity

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

August 23, 2002

Proverbs 13:7-17 (MSG)

7 A pretentious, showy life is an empty life;
    a plain and simple life is a full life.

8 The rich can be sued for everything they have,
    but the poor are free of such threats.

9 The lives of good people are brightly lit streets;
    the lives of the wicked are dark alleys.

10 Arrogant know-it-alls stir up discord,
    but wise men and women listen to each other’s counsel.

11 Easy come, easy go,
    but steady diligence pays off.

12 Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick,
    but a sudden good break can turn life around.

13 Ignore the Word and suffer;
    honor God’s commands and grow rich.

14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,
    so, no more drinking from death-tainted wells!

15 Sound thinking makes for gracious living,
    but liars walk a rough road.

16 A commonsense person lives good sense;
    fools litter the country with silliness.

17 Irresponsible talk makes a real mess of things,
    but a reliable reporter is a healing presence.

Last week, I talked about finding gratitude in those “priceless moments” and honing-in on our priorities during this ongoing pandemic.  As I allowed my own words to speak to my condition this week, I found myself being drawn back to our Quaker S.P.I.C.E.S.

Since many of the distractions and selfish ambitions have taken a back seat during the pandemic, I believe more of the essentials have been allowed to arise and retake their prominence in our lives.  Suddenly, we are seeing the importance of empathy, character, integrity, and morals in our world, again.

Yet, one subject that I have been noticing more and more taking center stage very quietly and almost unnoticed is simplicity. Something we as Quakers consider one of our distinctives.

Now, some may think the pandemic has forced us into a more-simple life – but this just may be for the better. 

In my preparation for this sermon, I found a plethora of instances where people were talking about the importance of simplicity during this ironically complex time. 

One article stated that it would be in simplicity that we would “find some sort of salve, some kind of security as the crisis rages on.” 

For me personally, one of the first things that drew me to be among Friends was its counter-cultural appeal. It was Quaker Richard Foster’s book, “Freedom of Simplicity” that caught my attention early on.

Please note, it was not the early Friends dedication to plain dress or speech that caught my attention, which has almost completely become a historical artifact in our day, but rather the “grace of simplicity” that Foster described that drew me in.  Foster wrote,

“People need the truth. It does them no good to remain ignorant. They need the freedom that comes through the grace of simplicity. And if we are to bring the whole counsel of God, we must give attention to these issues that enslave people so savagely.”

Simplicity is both a counter-cultural and grace-filled response to our comfortable lifestyles that have removed us from being able to see our neighbors, creation, and often the Divine in our lives. 

The “salve and security” that simplicity brings is not just for me, personally – but when I embrace simplicity – it impacts my enslavement and that of my neighbor.     

Foster says this is a call for prophetic simplicity in our day. He says, 

“We need voices of dissent that point to another way, creative models that take exception to the givens of society.”

And why…because…

“Simplicity enables us to live lives of integrity in the face of the terrible realities of our global village.”

When you and I embrace a simpler life, it begins to affect the world around us, because we begin to remove our selfish ways and personal naval gazing and embrace the empathy and concern for the needs and deficiencies of our neighbors and creation. 

If we want to truly build God’s beloved community here on earth, we must embrace simplicity, admitting that our excess, and the continued pursuit of it, continues to divide us from each other, from our planet, and from our spiritual lives.

A simple life is one that can focus on what is truly important. Or as American Friends Service Committee points out…

In contemporary terms, Friends try to live lives in which activities and possessions do not get in the way of open and unencumbered communication with others and with one’s own spirituality. Clearing away the clutter makes it easier to hear the “still small voice” within.

Richard Foster urges this clearing so we can better hear – he says,

“And so I urge you to still every motion that is not rooted in the Kingdom. Become quiet, hushed, motionless until you are finally centered. Strip away all excess baggage and nonessential trappings until you have come into the stark reality of the Kingdom of God. Let go of all distractions until you are driven into the Core.”

Richard Foster may again be prophetic for our time. He has just described what I sense we are experiencing or beginning to experience during this pandemic.  The pandemic is causing the excess baggage and nonessential trappings to expose our core.

Now, this may seem a bit overwhelming at first, but just like when I clean out my garage – it is not the doing that is the hard part – but rather it is getting started.   

So, to help us start this process of considering the impact of simplicity in our lives, let me return to an earlier point. I mentioned that the pandemic has forced simplicity on us.

Nathanael Yellis makes an important comparison. He says, 

“Being forced to live a calm lifestyle could be frustrating;

CHOOSING to live simply is freeing.”

Yellis then gives us some practical queries and categories to consider when trying to choose or embrace a more calm and simple lifestyle. He points out 5 major categories to consider: Environment, Time, Money, Parenting, and the Arts with a few queries to get you thinking.

I know I have found these very helpful as I have been pondering my own simplicity and its impact during this pandemic.  

Let’s begin with regarding your ENVIRONMENT: value what’s local.

Ask yourself…

• Where do I live or want to live?

• How can we live most of life near that place?

• What kind of commute is sustainable?

Second, consider your TIME: value presence.

Ask yourself…

• With whom do I spend time? Why?

• How much extra time do my commitments cost?

• What could I insource?

• What kind of job allows the time I need elsewhere?

• Am I on devices too much, and if so, would a digital disconnect help?

(yes - even during a pandemic where this is our main communication, it may be a needed aspect of simplicity for you and others).

Third, consider your MONEY: value generosity.

Ask yourself…

• How can I make my resources available to others?

• How can I keep spending low?

• Which investments now will pay off later?

• Does my spending reflect my overall priorities? 

Four, for those PARENTING: value slow growth.

Ask yourself…

• What’s the right amount of unstructured time for my kids?

• How can I keep commitments light to preserve the calm they need for open-ended exploring and curious learning?

• Where does all the technology distract from what’s good?

Fifth, consider the importance of the ARTS: value mastery.

Ask yourself…

• What tasks completely immerse us (where do we experience flow)?

• Outside of work, what could I create or produce?

• Do my leisure time reflect my values?

• Where do I achieve quality?

Please note, while there aren’t “right” answers to those questions, there are certainly wrong ones.

Our answers need to support our Quaker values and our commitments need to enact those values.

As with any forced prioritization, the stuff you say no to may be the most indicative. The energy comes from answering these kinds of questions overtly, rather than by assumption.

To close, I want to end with the final thought from San Francisco Friends School. I feel it sums up nicely what I have been saying.

Simplicity is a balm to contemporary anxiety,

allowing all of us to engage in the joys

and challenges of the present moment.

Now we will enter a time of waiting worship where we will put up the queries that I shared from Nathanael Yellis for you to ponder.

8-16-20 - The Priceless Life-Giving Way

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

August 16, 2020

Scripture: 

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (ESV)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

Last week on Wednesday, Jan Gildner and her husband, Jim, stopped by the office.  It was good to see them from a distance, but as we talked briefly, it was something Jan said that has kind of lodged itself in my mind this week.  She said, “During this crazy time of the pandemic, I have been working on gratitude.” 

Now, knowing Jan, that made complete sense for she exudes gratitude, but for many in the midst of these difficult times the virtue of gratitude has disappeared or been forgotten – and for many that seems just fine.  

I know for me, as I tried hard to seek “new perspectives” this week, I began realizing just how much I have taken for granted - my health, my travel, my socializing, my ability to simply have a cup of coffee with a friend.  I admit, for too long, I have taken a great deal for granted that the pandemic has brought back into reality. 

Ironically, it is when these things are stripped away that we start to appreciate the things that we do have.

I sense these past 23 weeks have begun to change us. Things that we used to think of as insignificant are now much more important and even necessary.  

The freedoms we once had have slowly eroded and we have been left with very little physical contact, very little social interaction, and in its place has been put a screen, whether on our phone, our computer, or through your TV.  

Let’s be honest…sometimes a hug would be nice rather than people waving their hands furiously trying to tell you that you need to unmute on Zoom. 

Two years ago, in August, I was working, as I am currently on the fall sermon series and plans for the upcoming holiday season.  That August I was planning to kick off September looking at what it means to be a “Slow Church.”  And we spent the entire fall, learning to slow down. 

Learning to slow down has been a key to survival during this time – especially as so much has come to a halt or been canceled.  The pandemic has literally forced us to embrace a much slower and intentional life, whether we like it or not. 

This forced slow down, as Christopher Lamb says, “is an antidote to rampant consumerism and a transactional culture where everything can be bought and sold.”

He concludes that our culture is being exposed for believing everything has a price, but not everything has value.

It is almost like we are living (in real time) one of those Mastercard Commercials from the late 90’s.  Remember, they listed off several items you can buy giving the prices (tickets to the big game $65, two hot dogs and a large drink $35, and a baseball with his favorite player’s autograph $50) and then concluded with some social interaction that could not be bought (the conversation with my son during the game – priceless).

I guess what I am trying to say is that what I am learning during this pandemic is that the “priceless” things should have been the ordinary and normal things all along. 

Yet because of our privilege, because of our means, because of our consumeristic lifestyles, we have simply bought our experiences for way too long.  And I sense the emotions those Mastercard Commercials invoked are becoming a daily reality during this pandemic.

• Waiting and watching that flower bloom in your garden – priceless!

• Cuddling your child on the couch while watching a movie – priceless!

• Watching the stars appear in the night sky from your backyard while holding your partner’s hand – priceless!   

Folks, we have the opportunity to live the “priceless” now – but are we taking it for granted?

And when we experience those priceless experiences, a gratitude begins to arise again in our hearts.  A gratitude for all the people we miss seeing and interacting with, for those we love and care for, for those special moments.

No longer can we obsess about buying things, going to certain places, even “keeping up with the Jones’” to make us happy. 

I love what the popular spiritual writer, Timothy Radcliffe says about gratitude. He says,

“We may think that gratitude is a feeling. It is much more than that. It is simply living in the real world, in which everything is a gift from God, ‘the giver of all good things’,” he tells me. “Someone who thinks of things as fundamentally to be bought and sold and owned is living an illusion."

If you think about it, when we stop seeing everything as a gift from God, and simply relying on the idea that everything can be bought, sold, or owned, life simply becomes a transaction,  people become objects, and life becomes anything but priceless.     

It is said that our trials often come to show us a deeper truth about ourselves and help us be a gift to our neighbor.  Or as our scripture for today says,

“He consoles us as we endure the pain and hardships of life so that we may draw from his comfort and share it with others in their struggles.”   

Folks, I know this may seem an interesting connection, but I don’t think it is an irony that we are in a pandemic and also having racial unrest in our country.  The pandemic is exposing our illusions (which some may refer to as the “American Dream”) where we have believed for far too long that everything can be bought, sold, or owned for a price.

It has exposed our narcissistic nature and our willingness - and even desire - to buy our fame, fortune, love and even friendship.

And let’s be real honest, the pandemic has exposed the “illusion baggage” we have been carrying in this country from years - believing that actual human beings could be bought, sold, or owned for a price – instead of being gifts from God and equal to all. 

Just maybe, Covid 19 is not the travesty we first thought, but rather a reality check of our values and morals - especially the issues we have continued to sweep under the rug and refuse to address like racism, our consumeristic and narcissistic desires, and our buying into a an American Dream that is both selfish and unbiblical.    

This week, a friend posted the following on Facebook. It is a quote from Indian author Arundhati Roy, who said,

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different.  It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. 

We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us.  Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it. 

What Roy is trying to emphasize is that, for us, the pandemic is causing people to finally assess what is important, to count their blessings, to become aware of what they believe, the issues they stand for and against, and the baggage they carry -- because let’s be honest -- in all reality the pandemic pays no respect to wealth or status or the American Dream.   

Even though in Paul’s day he was not dealing with a Pandemic, he was dealing with a culture that was very similar to ours.  He too addressed the need to break from our past, name and address our deeper issues, and turn to a better way.

Paul said it rather straight forward and did not “sugar coat” it for those reading his letter to the Galatians. I believe he gives us a picture of what it looks like when we are unwilling to give our values and morals the priority they should have in our lives.

Just listen to how Euguene Peterson translated Paul’s words for us from Galatians 5:19-21…

19-21 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

Now, if we just stopped there – we could say Paul just exposed both the Galatians in his day as well as describing, extremely well, the world we live in today.  Yet, Paul was not finished…he gave a warning…

This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.

It seems Paul has been warning the Galatians for some time, just as many prophets in our day have been sounding warnings of what this all could lead to as many simply ignore.

But as any good teacher, Paul doesn’t just condemn and point a finger, but also provides an alternative - a much more hopeful picture.  A picture we need today.  Paul says…   

22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.

We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.

We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

What Paul just described is an embracing of the Fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Folks, this isn’t easy, especially with all that our world is throwing at us currently, but if we are willing to take this prolonged pandemic and

• embrace a slower pace,

• take time to become aware of our condition,

• cultivate the Fruit of the Spirit,

• and find opportunities for gratitude in our midst,

we will endure, we will begin to see the gifts we are being given, and the counter-cultural nature of God’s life-giving way will expose the death-producing ways of our world. 

Now, as we enter a time of waiting worship, here are some queries to ponder this week:

1.     What is something that I thought insignificant before the pandemic, but realize is very important to my life, now?

2.     What has the pandemic exposed in me that I need to work on this week?

3.     How am I embracing God’s life-giving way and not the death-producing ways of our world?

8-9-20 - Seeking New Perspectives

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

August 09, 2020

Romans 12:2

Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete.

Good morning, Friends. It is so good to be with you again in the comfort of your own homes. I hope this finds you well and staying safe.   

As the pandemic has held on and the summer has so quickly come to a close, I have found myself struggling with perspective. 

It seems for the past 22 weeks (yes, 22 weeks – can you believe that?) we have been forced (for lack of a better word) into a rut. For me it is kind of like the movie Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray’s character Phil Conners, finds himself re-living the same day over and over. 

Yet for me, it is not just a day, but seems more like reliving a week over and over.  My house, my yard, my computer screen, even my neighborhood walking paths have become unchanging aspects of my life. 

It is almost like I need to rearrange the furniture, hang different paintings on the walls, close the computer, and drive to different neighborhoods to take my walk. 

As Robin Roberts said on Good Morning America the other morning, we have been doing this for so long now – its “Happy Blurs Day” – each day blurs into the next.

I know many of you are feeling the same way, because this is our current reality.

Well, this week, our son, Sam, asked if we could go to Newfields.  Just his prompting had me excited about the possibilities of both new scenery and new perspectives.

Knowing that I had not had a chance to interact with their latest exhibit, “Edward Hopper and the American Hotel” (which I had been looking forward to) I picked up and began to read Gail Levin’s detailed biography, “Edward Hopper an Intimate Biography.”

In the biography, Levin dedicates a chapter to Hopper’s time studying in Paris when he was twenty-four years old.  I sense in his own words, Edward was a bit homesick, engaged with his art but desperately needing a new perspective.

Levin makes a point to show how Hopper sought these new perspectives.  He was known to sit in lobbies of hotels, street cafes, wine shoppes, as well as, the many museums Paris offered sketching for days at a time. 

Yet instead of speaking of these beautiful places and experiences in a letter back to his mother in Nyack, NY, he described  ascending to the roof tops of buildings and being almost obsessed by the roof lines, hundreds of pipes, the chimney pots, and the colors he saw from above.

He also shared about spending time at the ends of streets and under overpasses. 

I began to realize that the reason Edward Hopper’s paintings have had such appeal over time – even though their subjects are of very ordinary scenes – is because Edward was willing to give us a different perspective than most artists of his day.

He wasn’t willing to live in a rut, to live from one perspective or view, to stop seeking that new angle. It was his curiosity. It was his passion. It was his way of helping us see what he wanted us to see.

Well, after fellowship hour last Sunday, Sue, Sam, and I ventured out with our masks on to Newfields (btw: they do a great job of social distancing and cleaning their space) and we experienced the Edward Hopper exhibit up close.  It was evident in the many pieces we encountered that Hopper sought these new perspectives.

One specific painting caught my attention.

Interestingly enough, while at the exhibit, I did not take a photo of it because I found it one of the most unusual and uninteresting pieces. But for some reason (I believe because I am reading his biography) it has been burnt into my memory and I cannot get it out of my mind. I may have to go back and look again.

In 1935, Hopper named the piece “House at Dusk”.  Here is stock photo of the painting.

If you notice, it is one of those views from the rooftop that Hopper sought. The more I have studied it the more I have learned about who Hopper was, how and what he saw, and his ability to focus on details that most people would never find alluring.  

So, why am I sharing this little art lesson with you this morning?

I guess it began during our most recent yearly meeting sessions when Colin Saxton presented the Friday evening Quaker Lecture.

In this important lecture (that I believe everyone in our meeting should hear – and thus have posted it on our Facebook pages for you), he shared about the Greek word, paroikoi in which we get our word “parish” – as in a congregation, meeting or parish. 

As Colin described the word, he talked about its paradoxical truth. First, that it implies being unique and having a distinct identity and a calling to be neighbor – or even better put - “a group of people who are different than their culture.” 

And secondly, or on the other side of this term, Colin pointed out that there was a danger in this – that danger being “parochialism” and how easily it is to take a parochial view of our faith communities - a view which has a limited outlook or is narrow in scope.

Now, as one who is a product of the “parochial school system” – I never heard this explanation or definition growing up. For me parochial meant being safe, guarded and having the right beliefs.  

But as I have grown, become more educated, and migrated to being among Friends, one of the biggest struggles I have with the faith communities of my youth is their “parochialism.”

Actually, I might even go as far as to say, this is one of my biggest issues with the American Church in general – that it has limited its outlook, become myopic, and narrowed-minded - so much that it has become almost ineffectual in our world, today. 

And I have to be really honest, it is so sad to see Quakers, now, being called out for embracing this same parochialism. It is just the opposite of what originally drew me to be among Friends.  I was drawn to a unique, distinct identity, that was called to live among and serve one’s neighbors – I was taught and still believe Quakers are a peculiar people – set apart and counter cultural.  

And to be this, I believed Friends embraced a broader outlook and willingness to see theology and faith from new perspectives, where queries are encouraged and doubt is an asset, where our Faith and Practice is fluid and moveable instead of rigid and absolute, and where God is not put in a box but is freed from the structures we have created.  

I had come to Quakerism because I was personally changing my perspectives and looking for a new perspective that made more sense to what I understood and believed.

Now folks, understand that this same concept is a reality whether we are talking about struggling with the pandemic or talking about the future of Quakerdom.

As Ed Gould wrote in an article on “changing perspectives.”

It’s part of human nature to think about oneself and focus on what’s going on around us, but this one-dimensional perspective can lead to a false sense of priorities. How do we break out from a parochial view of our lives and start to see things as they really are? 

Gould concludes it is in changing perspectives.  He goes on to share an allegory that I think is key for us this morning.  Gould says,

The famous Greek Philosopher Plato once taught his pupils by coming up with an allegory of a cave. The prisoners in his cave cannot see reality, merely a shadow of it because they are in chains. 

All they need to gain a higher level of comprehension is to see what is causing the shadows to form – to see things as they really are.

In the allegory, this would mean that the cave dwellers would need to break free from their chains. In a sense, altering our perspectives on things means breaking from our mental chains. 

To extend Plato’s metaphor in this manner is fair because a change of perspective takes effort. Most of us are happy enough to keep moving on in our lives the way we always have – especially if we feel a degree of happiness in our current situation. 

Nevertheless, unless the mental effort is made, we’ll never know what lies beyond the cave or what is causing the shadows to fall against the wall. 

In our scripture text for today, Paul is speaking to the people of Rome.  A people who had been under oppression, dealing with difficulties, even trying to find their identity as followers of The Way spelled out by Jesus. I am sure they too were in need of a new perspective. 

In the text Paul says to the followers in Rome that they must first be transformed from the inside out – but then says that this will take a renewing of your mind.

The Greek phrase we translate into “renewing” is much more robust.  It means renewal, yes, but it also means renovation, and even for some a complete change for the better. 

To renew, renovate, and change for the better is going to take getting new perspectives and a break from our parochial views that have kept us from seeing things as they really are. 

I believe this is why the Spirit often leads people to different locations to get new perspectives – just reread the Old Testament stories of Abraham, Moses, and David or see how important locations were to Jesus in the New Testament.

Or as Quakers we can go back to George Fox’s ascent of Pendle Hill in 1652. The Spirit wanted to put what was being transformed within Fox for several years into perspective – I believe a new perspective.  

It is interesting that he is led to Pendle Hill – a place Fox would have known as famous for witch trials in his day.

But atop Pendle Hill, Fox would write that he received a new perspective as he looked out over surrounding towns and out to the Lancashire Sea.

He even remarks that he takes a moment along a stream where he says he is refreshed and renewed. And with a new perspective Fox is led to gather a great people and finds clarity on where he will find them beginning to gather. The rest is history – our history. 

But let’s not leave this in a story from our past (as we too often do) making it a part of our mythology or parochial structure.  Rather may we see it as an inspiration for us to seek the Spirit’s leading for new perspectives in our own lives, at First Friends, and even in our Yearly Meeting. 

Just maybe you are like me or Edward Hopper, in need of some new perspective. That may mean this week…

• You are going to move your furniture around,

• or take a drive or walk in a park outside your neighborhood,

• or maybe you are going to ride the elevator to the top of the building you work at and look out over the city.

• Or maybe you are going to read that book, outside of the normal genre you usually read.  

• Or close your laptop or turn off your tv and listen to what the Spirit is saying instead of social media and the news.

• Or maybe you are going to read other parts of the Bible than your go-to scriptures.

I think you get my point.

We need new perspectives both physical, mental, even spiritual to help us be transformed and renewed, today. And as the scripture continues this will help us be better able to discern the path forward. 

Just maybe those of us struggling

with this pandemic or sickness, 

with the politics in our world,

with the issues around race,

with all the violence,

with going back to school,

with having faith,

with the future of our yearly meeting,

with….well…life in general…

…just maybe we need to take some time to find some new perspective, allow the Spirit to renew, renovate, and change us, so that with God’s help we can make a greater impact on our world.  

Now, let us take a moment to ponder the following queries in a time of waiting worship:

1. Where might the Spirit be leading me to gain some new perspective this week?

2. What “mental chains” are holding me back from seeing?

3. In what ways am I longing for renewal, renovation, and change?

8-2-20 - The Power We Need!

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

August 2, 2020

Isaiah 40:28-31 (The Passion Translation)

28 Don’t you know? Haven’t you been listening?
    Yahweh is the one and only everlasting God,
    the Creator of all you can see and imagine!
    He never gets weary or worn out.
    His intelligence is unlimited;
    he is never puzzled over what to do!
29 He empowers the feeble
    and infuses the powerless with increasing strength.
30 Even young people faint and get exhausted;
    athletic ones may stumble and fall.
31 But those who wait for Yahweh’s grace
    will experience divine strength.
    They will rise up on soaring wings and fly like eagles,
    run their race without growing weary,
    and walk through life without giving up.

As you probably already know, this week we have been on the Rocky Railroad and we have enjoyed focusing on something special for our children.  The themes each day have all begun with speaking of Jesus’ power. 

Last Sunday, we looked at how Jesus’ power helps us do hard things. 

On Monday, how Jesus’ power gives us hope. 

On Tuesday, how Jesus’ power helps us be bold.

On Wednesday, how Jesus’ power lets us live forever.

And finally, on Thursday, how Jesus’ power helps us be good friends. 

That last one seemed written for us Quakers. But in actuality, talking about the “Power of Jesus” is as old as Quakerism itself.

Our founder, George Fox, and the early ministers of Quakerism well understood that true religion is not in rites or church fellowship or even in true doctrine, but rather true religion is in the possession of the Life and Power of Jesus Christ. 

Scott Martin in a Friends Journal article on this, gives us a bit more background to this early and important teaching. He says,

"The Power of the Lord" had multiple meanings for Fox and other early Friends, but the most common use of the phrase was to refer to a sensible, divine power or energy.

Friends would experience this power surrounding them or flowing through their bodies under a variety of conditions, but most often at the point of convincement, when facing a trial, or during meeting for worship.

An experience of the power was often associated with some kind of involuntary physical or mental phenomenon. When seized by the power, some Friends quaked, vocalized, or fell unconscious to the floor, while other Friends saw brilliant light, had visions, experienced healing, or felt a force emanating from them that was capable of subduing an angry and hostile mob.

Wow, now that is a power we need in our current day.

One thing I heard often during last weekend’s Western Yearly Meeting sessions was that there has been and continues to be a lack of energy within our Yearly Meeting.

That instead of focusing on the life and power of our Present Teacher, Jesus Christ within and among us to change our world – we have returned to what I described during our Yearly Meeting sessions as “religious navel gazing” which focuses on those things that George Fox and the early Quaker ministers denounced as “true religion.”

I find it ironic to juxtapose this week’s VBS with our Western Yearly Meeting sessions all amidst a global pandemic. 

During our VBS, we were teaching our children one of the oldest Quaker distinctives and foundations for our faith – that God has given us the “power of the Lord” to make a difference in this world.  

A power that helps us do hard things.

A power that brings hope.

A power that makes us bold.

A power that gives us life.

A power that helps us be True Friends.

Before I decided to speak up during one of the vision sessions during Yearly Meeting this past weekend, I found myself for the first time in a while, literally quaking.

Now, I have to be honest and admit, I was refusing to speak what I believe God was nudging me to say. 

Instead of speaking, I began to write-out some notes to hopefully ease this quaking, but it only made it worse. By the time I finally sensed I had to speak up, one of my legs was shaking so bad under the table that I had to hold it with my hand as I finally spoke.

Now, I knew I was going to say some hard things.

I also knew there were many in our gathering desperate for some hope.

I sensed a need to be bold.

And as God led me to speak – I recognized a glimpse of life emerging - as others felt moved to speak up as well.

Now, I have had these experiences on several occasions and heard many others share their similar experiences even within our meeting, but when we begin to recognize the power of God flowing through us – I believe we then may begin to see things change – first within us and then around us.

Even though listening, discernment, silence, and proceeding slow are all very Quakerly and extremely important, sometimes we need to simply believe that the power of the Lord is flowing through us and giving us renewed life in the present moment.

For several months now – even before the pandemic – Beth and I have been contacted by Quakers across our country wanting to know what is different about First Friends.

Often, they speak of our energy, excitement, and willingness to be bold and address hard issues.  They talk about how what they see happening at First Friends gives them hope for the future and the life we exude.

Just maybe it is because together, WE are tapping that power and Divine energy and presenting a “true religion” to our world as George Fox and the earliest Quakers sought. 

Just maybe it is because we are working hard to instill in our children, our youth, and our adults the power they have to

To do hard things.

To seek hope.

To be bold.

To come alive.

And to be true Friends.

And please know – it is not just the pastors or leaders of First Friends alone – as I tell people all the time – what makes First Friends an alive and exciting place is not our building, not our resources, not even our heritage – it is the people we have currently in this moment that want to embrace that divine power and go out and change our world.  So…

Let’s keep doing hard things.

Let’s keep seeking hope.

Let’s keep being bold.

Let’s keep coming alive.

Let’s keep being Friends. 

And let’s just watch and see how our lives, our community, our yearly meeting, and even the world change. 

Before I read the queries for this morning, I want to take a moment to thank Beth Henricks for “doing hard things” by taking on the challenge of a “virtual” Vacation Bible School and her ongoing dedication and commitment to our children at First Friends.    

Thank you to our amazing office administrator and amateur videographer and video-editor-extraordinaire, Rebecca Lopez, who spent an enormous amount of time putting together such quality videos for our VBS. We are so blessed by her willingness to make this experience way beyond our expectations.

Thank you to my dedicated wife, Sue, for providing your teaching skills and excitement in each day’s Imagination Station.

And also, thank you to my partners in comedy, Jim Kartholl (Cam Track) and Bill Heitman (who played Ananias). You bless us all, and especially our children. Thank you.

Now, let us take a moment to enter into Waiting Worship:

1.     How am I tapping this Power and Divine Energy in my daily life?

2.     What “hard things” do I need God to help me through, currently?

3.     How might I be bold and bring life into my world this week? 

7-19-20 - The Marathon of Our Life

Sermon by Beth Henricks

Scripture: Galatians 6:6-10

I was cleaning out my car recently and I came across a memory document that our beloved Helen Davenport wrote in 2004.  During her memorial service, copies of this were available for us to take.  I took one then and glanced through it at the time but came across these pages of the details of Helen’s life in my trunk and gave it my full attention and read  a fascinating historical picture of the Great Depression and WWII through Helen’s eyes. 

In Jon Meacham’s book The Soul of America – The Battle for our Better Angels he describes the depression in 1932-1933 “consuming the United States, creating public anxiety and eroding trust in the most basic institutions.  America seemed on the cusp of a violent break from the ancient regime of democratic capitalism.  Would the nation save itself?”  It is eerie to think about this in context of what we are facing today.

Helen was born one year before The Great Depression hit in 1929 and her early childhood was greatly impacted by these depression years as she wrote, “things came to a standstill for a number of years.”  Helen was raised by two strong Quaker parents and much of their life revolved around their Quaker faith community Abbington Friends in Philadelphia.  Helen’s family survived the many years of depression by being frugal  - conserving and preserving. Helen’s mom spent the summers canning fruits and vegetables for the winter.  Hand me down clothes were the norm.  Fortunately,  Helen’s father never lost his job as a traveling salesman, but he would be gone for 2-3 weeks at a time. 

Helen remembers there were hobos  (Helen’s term for these folks in great need) that would come around their home begging probably because her mother was a soft touch.  She would offer them a sandwich and give them a few coins.  Helen often came home from school and someone she didn’t know would be eating a meal on their back porch or in the kitchen during winter.  They couldn’t understand why they came to their house so constantly but discovered later that they had signed the house in some secret marking that only the network of hobos would know.  But then the family had the house painted and the hobos stopping coming and realized that they must have painted over the sign.

The depression lasted for years and changed every element of life and impacted everyone that experienced it or had parents that experienced it.  I am sure we have heard similar stories from our parents and grandparents.   It was the length of the depression that hit me in a new way  of my thinking as we are faced with our own pandemic crisis today. For eight years folks suffered, were out of work, hungry, displaced, a completely altered way of life.  And yet today after five months in this crisis, we are complaining about not going out, wearing masks, social distancing and pushing to open all of our schools with in person instruction.  It sometimes seems like our current culture does not want to experience sacrifice or do what is best for our collective community. 

Helen’s story continued remembering a big trip to Canada in 1941 as the depression years were easing in the late 1930’s.  Canada was already involved in the war and Helen’s father commented that the US will be involved in this war before the year would be over.  Immediately when they returned from the trip her dad bought new tires for the car, a case of coffee and other things that might be in low supply during a war.  When rationing became common place, the govt asked everyone to declare what supplies they had, and Helen’s parents were honest and declared everything they had purchased so they were restricted in their purchases for the war years.

It is pretty incredible that after 8 years of misery, the United States became involved in WWII for 4 years.  Of course, there was great debate at the time about the United States remaining isolated from this conflict or entering with allies to defeat the German regime.  During these years so many supplies were rationed – meat, oil, gas so many common day items and folks were not allowed to purchase these things even if they had the money to do so.  Individuals were encouraged to purchase war bonds to support the collective war effort.  Once again almost every facet of normal life was altered.  I remember my mom sharing that she went to work for a factory supporting the war effort for three years as there were no men to do this work – most of them were in the military.

It is hard to imagine living through so many years of a depression and then 4 years of war.  There must have been such panic, such fear, such anxiety, such weariness – the same words we use to describe our current situation.  But it seems like the idea of sacrifice for family and community was embraced differently back then.  Helen really had no idea the level of sacrifices her parents made because they never spoke about their choices as sacrifices.  Instead they modeled the values of what are most important in life – love for each other, love for their family, love for their community.  This generation that endured the Great Depression and WWII is called our greatest generation.  Maybe it was the experience of long-term pain and the sacrifice that so many were willing to make for their neighbors that embedded character and values of love and shared community.

We have all heard the famous words of FDR during this time of post-depression and active involvement in war – we have nothing to fear but fear itself (the words actually come from Henry David Thoreau).  It seems like fear abounds now in every corner of our existence – a deep sense of fear about our future.  I recently read a survey that one of the reasons for our high anxiety is that we feel as Americans that we’re entirely on our own.  This survey indicated that we don’t trust our leaders to protect us.  We feel like we have to make our way through a dangerous world not united as a community and feeling like we are all in this together, but that each of us is scrambling to determine how we can be safe and keep our families safe.     

How do we stop our fear for our future?  Jesus speaks into this a lot in his ministry and the New Testament is full of teachings and leadings about living this kind of life.  The followers of Jesus were to have “faith in the assurance of things hoped, for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Jesus always calls us to a new way of living and loving.  The call is to abandon that old way of life – not to have things get back to a perceived normal but to live in the Spirit and in a community of love, care, sacrifice and more concern for others than for oneself. 

It seems to me that our real culture war is one of immediate satisfaction, relationships that aren’t deep and significant, lack of community, a sense of selfishness and entitlement and seeking the easy path.  We want instant gratification.  With the availability of easy credit, we buy things that we don’t have the money for and figure we will just pay it off down the road.  If we don’t feel well, we want pills or treatments that will make us better now.  In the face of a crisis like the one we are experiencing now; these values will not sustain us or bring about the beloved community. 

Friends, I have always disliked messages from a pastor that speak about the idea of our life being a marathon.  I guess because I have heard so many trite sermons that suggest this idea and talk about running for the prize.  That we must embrace the Christian life as a marathon, preparing our bodies for this so that we can achieve eternal life.  Paul’s well-known verse in I Corinthians 9: 24 says, “Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete  in such a way but only one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may win it”.  I do think Paul is suggesting that we need to model our life in the way of Christ and follow the teachings of Jesus to win the prize.  But it is clear to me that most of us really want a sprint race – we want to get to the finish line in a hurry and achieve our satisfaction and prize.  There is something about this teaching that connects with what we are currently facing.  We must as a country and as a world understand that this deadly disease will not be defeated in a sprint and we must brace ourselves for the marathon.  So how do we do this?

I love what Howard Thurman wrote in his autobiography With Head and Heart, as a way to face my fears – he says, “I felt rooted in life, in nature, in existence.  When the storms blew, the branches of the large oak tree in our backyard would snap and fall.  But the topmost branches of the oak tree would sway, giving way just enough to save themselves from snapping loose.  I needed the strength of that tree, and, like it, I wanted to hold my ground.  Eventually, I discovered that the oak tree and I had a unique relationship.  I could sit, my back against the trunk, and feel the same peace that would come to me in my bed.  I could reach down to the quiet places of my soul, take out my bruises and my joys, unfold them, and talk about them.  I could talk aloud to the oak tree and know that I was understood.”

Bob’s message last week about contemplation and prayer is a practice that will be a balm for our soul as we prepare for the marathon.  We need to be out of the daily barrage of news and into a spirit of presence and healing and love so that we will be fully present in this world and run in this marathon.

We need to care for each other, reach out to each other and find every reason to call or zoom  or social distance with our communities.  This will sustain us for the marathon. 

We need to stand up for justice and safety and sacrifice – this will give us purpose for the marathon.

We need to study and read the lives of Jesus, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, John Woolman, The Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu and so many others, and we will be inspired for the marathon.

The very last paragraph of Helen’s reflections  says that it was humor and love that carried them through the dark and hard times. And those of us that knew Helen, knew her as one of the most kind, loving and encouraging persons we have ever met.  If I wanted to model a Quaker and Christian life in all its aspects – it would be Helen.  Let us laugh and love and sit under an oak tree this week and invest in the practices that will sustain us in this marathon.

As we enter our unprogrammed worship, please consider the following queries:

• What are the practices I need to do to sustain me in this marathon?

• What might I be willing to sacrifice?

• How do I face my fear for the future?

7-12-20 - Contemplating: Waking Up

Contemplating: Waking Up

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

July 12, 2020

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (MSG)

16-18 So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.

This week, I have found myself leaning heavily on the mystical side of my Quaker faith. I have desired more time in meditation and silence, and I have noticed a dire need for contemplating my condition and the condition of my world.

I believe a lot of this has to do with the ongoing isolation and my own internal struggles and fear of the pandemic, the weight and tension of the conversations I have been engaged in about race, religion, and politics, and as a faith leader, husband, father, friend, and neighbor, how I am trying hard to lead with integrity while making a difference in my circles of influence.    

If you happened to have read my “As Way Opens” article this week in our Friend to Friend newsletter, you would have read my admission to wrestling with not making the needed room for healing from the unexpected during these difficult times. 

And I am not the only one who is struggling and has become more contemplative during this time. I would say many of you watching have a lot you are contemplating and trying to figure out.

Let me just say, this is not a bad thing. 

Sure we can become so preoccupied with all that is going on or all that we think we need to be doing and literally miss what God is trying to show us, but more often when we take the time to contemplate we begin to learn something new about ourselves and even God. 

Ronald Rolheiser in his book, “The Shattered Lantern” actually defines contemplation this way. He says,

“Contemplation is about waking up. To be contemplative is to experience an event fully, in all its aspects.” 

I find this definition rather interesting in light of our current condition. This is why taking time to process, dialogue, and contemplate is so important, right now.  It allows us to wake up and experience life more fully – to see new perspectives and question our old assumptions.

In many ways, the pandemic, the racial unrest, even our political season, is forcing us into a more contemplative posture – to wake up to realities that impact our lives, the lives of our neighbors, and especially our own faith and religious communities.

It is in entering this contemplative posture that we are being opened up wide to our lives, our histories, our beliefs, and our values.  And for many, this is really uncomfortable and difficult.  I admit when I go into those times of contemplation, like this week, it is not easy – a lot is being processed and many questions arise.

As Adele Ahlberg Calhoun puts it in her “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook,”

“Contemplation invites us to enter into the moment with a heart alive to whatever might happen. It is not just thinking about or analyzing an event or person. Contemplation asks us to see with faith, hope, and love. It asks us to seek God and the “meanings” threaded through our days and years, so that our experience of being embedded in the…life of God deepens and grows.”

There we are dealing with the “unexpected” again, or as Calhoun states it, “whatever might happen.” Isn’t this our current condition?  For months now, we have been living with not knowing what might happen – and it looks as if that is how the coming months will proceed as well.

Even if we are not, by nature, contemplatives, I sense we may be needing in this season of our lives to embrace this posture. Actually, we may be over due, as Calhoun puts it, in opening ourselves to the unseen world, to entering into the “being” instead of just “doing” of life and becoming alert to the transcendencies in ordinary things. 

Since the 1980’s the great prophet, Ferris Bueller, has been trying to warn us, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

In some ways the pandemic has exposed our lust for experiencing more and the fast-paced desire to do and produce. Before the pandemic, slowing down seemed not an option, performance and achievements were our goal, and time for contemplation seemed like a bother or an unwanted or useless interruption that could simply be missed.     

On Sunday afternoon, Sue and I participated in a listening group in Carmel outside of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church. On a normal Sunday, I would have probably still been at the meetinghouse, but the Pandemic afforded us this opportunity. Socially distanced and wearing masks, we sat in a circle with a diverse group of individuals – most of whom were contemplating the unexpected racist words of a faith leader from their community. In slowing down and allowing space for contemplation we were each entering that moment with a heart alive to whatever was going to happen. For about an hour we saw faith, hope, and love expressed in beautiful ways. No matter what racist words or actions had taken place, we were waking to the possibilities and coming alive for the benefit of black lives and the full Kingdom of God.

Maybe the pandemic is slowing us just enough to have some good and lasting effects on our world. Maybe it will afford us the opportunity to wake up and begin to experience life more fully as God intended it to be. 

Now, as a student of spiritual formation, I feel it is important not only to preach and teach, but also give opportunities for us to begin developing that contemplative posture.  To do that, I want to teach you a simple spiritual exercise that I have utilized for many years now.  It is called, “Palms Down, Palms Up.” 

To help you follow along, I will read the directions, but they will also appear on the screen for you to follow along.

First, sit comfortably with both feet on the floor and your hands on your lap.  [Pause]

Next, breathe deeply and relax. Intentionally place yourself in the presence of your ideal image of God. [Pause]

Now, turn your palms down and begin to drop your cares, worries, agendas and experiences into God’s hands. 

Let go of all that is heavy or burdensome in life, currently.  Remember to relax and breathe deeply. [Pause]

When you have given your cares to God. Turn your palms up on your knees. [Pause]

Open your hands to receive God’s presence, word and love.  Just listen. [Pause]

When you feel prompted to end, take a moment to share your experience with God.  You may also find it helpful to journal or artistically express your experience. [Pause]

Later, today, I encourage you to return to this experience and look for what is awaking in you.  You may want to ask yourself.  “What in my life do I need to experience more fully?”

In conclusion, I want to leave you with one last thought – another definition of contemplation – this one from Richard Rohr. He says,

“Contemplation is an alternative consciousness that refuses to identify with or feed what are only passing shows.” 

In the coming weeks and months, take time to contemplate, take time to wake up, take time to enter into a place where you can come alive (as I talked about last week) and you will not be distracted or swayed by the passing shows you will experience.  

Now, as we enter a time of waiting worship, take a moment to contemplate the following queries:

1.     How do I respond to the word, contemplation?

2.     Am I “waking up” to new understandings during this difficult time?

3.     How does my spiritual journey and relationship with God affect my contemplation?

7-5-20 - Called to Rescue and Make Alive!

Called to Rescue and Make Alive!

Indianapolis First Friends

Pastor Bob Henry

July 5, 2020

Psalm 27:7-14 The Message (MSG)

7-9 Listen, God, I’m calling at the top of my lungs: “Be good to me! Answer me!”

When my heart whispered, “Seek God,” my whole being replied,

“I’m seeking him!”
Don’t hide from me now!

9-10 You’ve always been right there for me; don’t turn your back on me now.

Don’t throw me out, don’t abandon me; you’ve always kept the door open.

My father and mother walked out and left me, but God took me in.

11-12 Point me down your highway, God; direct me along a well-lighted street; show my enemies whose side you’re on.

Don’t throw me to the dogs,
those liars who are out to get me, filling the air with their threats.

13-14 I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness in the exuberant earth.

Stay with God!
Take heart. Don’t quit.

I’ll say it again: Stay with God.

Good morning, Friends and happy Independence weekend.  Lately, as I have reflected on the July 4th holiday, I have found myself wrestling with all that our history presents and the inconsistencies that the people of this nation experience in regard to our independence. Instead of celebrating independence, I have sensed lately a need for a more dependent posture and a continued need for the rescue from oppression. This morning, I am sharing a previous teaching that I believe flows from last week’s message and gets to our deep need for being rescued so we all may live life free and to the full.

There is much in our world today that is crying out for a rescue. Actually, the Bible itself is full of imagery of God’s rescuing, liberating, or saving people from literal storms at sea (which I discussed early on in this pandemic), to one’s own struggles and hardships that get in the way of truly living.

For most of us, we remember a time when we needed to be rescued. Times when we literally cried out that God would come and miraculously save us from some situation. Maybe that is the cry of your heart right now. 

God rescue me from this Covid-19 pandemic. 

God rescue me from this political year. 

God rescue me from the racial unrest. 

God rescue me from the people who disagree with me on Facebook.

I think you get my point.  

As I have been thinking about summer and the 4th of July, I am often taken back to memories of camp as a kid. Yet, not all memories are great. Actually, one of the earliest memories of needing to be “physically” rescued was my first time at camp when I was in 5th grade. If you have heard this story, bear with me. 

One afternoon at free time, my fellow camper and I went swimming. It was popular back then to play “Chicken” where one person gets up on the shoulders of another and then tries to stay up while two other friends try and knock them down. 

It is really “King of the Hill” in the water.

Since I was a little bigger than my friend, I quickly put him on my shoulders and we waded out into the water. We were doing rather well, we had won a couple battles and lost only one.

I noticed as we wrestled people down we were heading further and further into deeper water. Soon just the tops of my shoulders and head were sticking out of the water.

In a flash, another team of larger boys gave my friend a huge blow to the chest and down we started to go. Now, we had been warned to stay away from the floating dock, but as we fell my friend locked his legs firmly around my neck. He went below the water and ended up caught under the floating dock.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion. I quickly opened my eyes to see the sunlight above me and about 6 inches of water in between. I tried hard to push my friends legs up and over my head, but he continued to push me down.

I wanted to cry out for help, but I couldn’t. I immediately became scared and started to flap my arms. And then suddenly in one fell swoop, the lifeguard blew her whistle, jumped in the water and pulled us out.

I had taken in a lot of lake water, but I had been rescued. The lifeguard had saved my life.

This incident has been burned into my memory. I can almost remember it as if it happened yesterday. It still gives me an uneasy feeling just retelling the story.

But even more, as I recall that experience, I realize it is much like many of the other times I have needed rescued in my life.

Some of the same basic things I wrestled with when I was at camp needing “saved” continue to be relevant, today.

• Like, those times when I think things are under control – when I seemed to be “winning in life,” yet don’t notice that in reality things are actually spinning out of control around me or in the lives of my neighbors, or

• Those times when the weight of my friendships or relationships have such a deep impact on my life that I don’t understand their complexity and find myself needing to be saved from them, or

• Those times I sense the warnings – sometime recognizing them and at other times completely ignoring or missing them – only to find myself crying out for help, or

• Those times when I seem to experience life in slow motion – life passing before my eyes, having me wondering what I am to do and how I will get out of this, or

• Those times I try hard to cry out for help, but find myself reluctant or unable because of pride, fear, or even privilege – and life quickly takes me down.

Folks, needing “saved” can take on many faces.

And I know when all of those elements come together, they often form the perfect storm – and its then that I have been found in deep despair needing rescued. Crying out to God or anyone who would save me.

I think it is safe to say, we all at times need to be saved.

We need rescued.

We need liberated from those things that oppress and keep us from truly living.

One of the themes that seem to reoccur throughout human and biblical history is this need to be rescued. For some people of faith, that is all religion is about – being rescued from this planet and the suffering here.

But if we go back to the very beginning of the Bible to what scholars believe is where the story of “salvation” or being rescued began – we find the book of Exodus and the rescue from Egypt.

It was Rob Bell in his book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians where I first began to wrestle with what was actually meant by being rescued, liberated, and saved. Rob says,

“Egypt, the superpower of its day, was ruled by Pharaoh, who responded to the threat of the growing number of Israelites in his country by forcing them into slavery.

They had to work every day without a break making bricks, building storehouses for Pharaoh.

Egypt is an empire, built on the backs of Israelite slave labor, brick, by brick, by brick.

But right away in the book of Exodus, there is a disruption. Things change. And the change begins with God saying...

‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people...’

‘I have heard them crying out...’
‘I have come down to rescue them...’”

Now, this is a familiar story that continues to play out throughout our history.

The children of Israel under the oppression of the Egyptian regime, is the story of of the

• First Nations people in America

• Africans who were brought here enslaved.

• Women suffragettes who 100 years ago this year stood up and made their voice heard.

• LatinX families in cages on our borders.

• The LGBTQ and Stonewall Generation who have been standing up for 50+ years.

• All the refugees fleeing oppressive regimes around the world.

• But it is also the story of the South Africans during apartheid,

• The Jewish people in Nazi Germany,

• The people of Rawanda and Darfur during genocide,

• The Syrians, and the people of Gaza...oh...and the list never seems to end...

Each oppressed people have cried out to be rescued, from the drowning bondage, the slavery, the abuse, the oppression that kept them from truly living.

Each has and still wants to be saved, liberated, rescued, and free.  The cries continue on our streets today, as protests, marches, peaceful demonstrations hold up the voices of the oppressed. 

It is as Dr. King once said, “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.” 

And just like that original story from Exodus...God did not simply intervene and change the course of history with a wave of his hand (yes, at times, I believe there were miracles that took place).

But most of the time, God sent a human (one of us) filled with God’s transforming Light to intervene. Just like I believe that lifeguard was sent to rescue me in 5th grade God sent a deliverer named Moses to the people in Egypt.

And if we look carefully at history, God has been sending Light-filled humans to intervene throughout time. From…

Nelson Mandela

Elizabeth Fry
Galileo
Leonardo da Vinci
Mother Theresa
Abraham Lincoln
Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King Jr.
Susan B. Anthony
Gandhi
John Woolman
Harvey Milk
Billy Jean King
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Albert Einstein
Cesar Chavez
Sitting Bull

And the list could go on and on...

God has been raising up ordinary people to intervene, recue, liberate, and help save our neighbors all along.

The reality is, as Rob Bell points out,

“God needs a body. God needs flesh and blood. God needs bones and skin so that Pharaoh will know just who this God is he’s dealing with and how this God acts in the world. And not just so Pharaoh will know but so that all of humanity will know.”

I don’t need to explain this much, you know there have been and currently are many “Pharoah’s” in our world, which, I believe, God is in need of a body to resist and begin the liberation process for those oppressed.

God is calling women and men to be raised up, to bring the Good News, the hope of liberation, and rescue to the people of our world.

This is what I said last week about who we are – we are people who embrace the transforming power of love and the power of nonviolence.  When we strive to live this out in our daily lives – not in extraordinary ways but starting with our interactions with family, neighbors, fellow community members – we can begin to make a difference. 

People are slaves to many things today.

Maybe someone watching is being called to embrace the transforming power of love and free someone from the oppression of judgement, verbal or physical abuse, or even a Facebook troll.

Maybe someone is being called to embrace the transforming power of love and rescue a friend who is a slave to technology, their work schedule, personal isolation, pornography, or an addiction that is destroying their life.

Maybe someone is being called to embrace the transforming power of love and save a friend from that unhealthy relationship, family member, boss, political ideology, or racist conviction.  

Again the list could go on and on...

As Rob Bell states,

“It’s as if God is saying, “The thing that has happened to you – go make it happen for others. The freedom from oppression that you are now experiencing – help others experience that same freedom. The grace that has been extended to you when you were at your lowest – extend it to others. In the same way that I heard your cry, go and hear the cry of others and act on their behalf.”

I think too often we pray or cry out expecting a miracle, or for God to “magically” intervene, and while we are fervently praying or crying out and waiting for a miracle, we are missing our call, our opportunity, our moment where we become the hands and feet of Jesus to our neighbor. Folks, I believe God is wanting to utilize people like you and me - who have needed rescued, liberated and saved ourselves.

Like a life preserver, God wants to use us in his saving process.

I remember once teaching a college class and a student challenged a classmate on her fervent prayers. She said, “You say you continue to pray the same prayer each morning hoping for a change and looking for God to intervene...but have you ever thought that your prayer is a crutch not allowing you to be God’s instrument in the situation? Just maybe God wants to answer that prayer through you.”

The American Church is obsessed with the phrase “Jesus Saves” – but if we are going to see that transformation taking place in the lives of our neighbors, I think we need to go one step further and ask ourselves…

How does Jesus save?

How does Jesus rescue us?

How do we experience the rescue?

It might take a life guard jumping in the water to physically save you.
It might take a teacher educating you.
It might take a friend willing to say “no” to you.
It might take someone reminding you that you are loved.
It might  take a welcoming smile.
It might take a person to stand up for your rights.
It might take a person willing to sacrifice their life to get your attention.

Did you know that in the original Aramaic language of Jesus’ day, there was no word for salvation – or “being saved.”

Salvation was understood as a bestowal of life, and to be saved was “to be made alive.”

Civil Rights leader, theologian, and philosopher, Howard Thurman, was a man who understood oppression, who understood what it meant to be rescued or saved in the truest sense – to be made alive. He said,

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go and do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

I am telling you – if we turned off the news and turned to our neighbors and actually came alive and lived out of that transforming power of love – I sense the world would be a way better place – we would bring “salvation” to our neighbors (they too would come alive)!

Also, please hear me on this, I strongly believe if there is ANY oppression in this world, there is still work to do...and as Quakers whose distinctives flow out of equality, peace, integrity, and community we have an obligation to respond.

God is calling us to join the rescue effort.

God is calling us to be liberators of the oppressed!

God is calling us to find ways to lessen the oppression so all people can live together in peace.

So that ALL people can come alive to their full potential.

Quaker Rex Ambler put it this way in Rediscovering the Quaker Way,

“When we open ourselves to the truth of our life, our self-deceptions and denials are revealed, including the false image we have of ourselves, and at the same time we discover the true self that lies behind these images. We discover who we really are, not isolated and apart from others, but one with them, and with life itself. This awareness awakens a great feeling for life, and for others, that we can only call love...We are able to act out of love, that is, out of warm respect for other people and other creatures, so that we want spontaneously to help them and not harm them.”

I am so glad that lifeguard jumped in the water and saved me and my friend. I am so glad that God has called people throughout history to rise up and help our world come alive in the truest sense. And I am happy for people watching today who are being raised up to help, save, rescue, liberate, and bring alive their neighbors, family and friends…because folks, God is wanting to use you in his great plan of salvation, starting TODAY!

Now as we enter a time of waiting worship, ask yourself the following queries...

• How am I coming alive in this world, today?

• In what area do I need rescued, liberated, or saved?

• Who do I know who is living oppressed and needing rescued – that I am being called to join God in helping?

6-28-20 - Nonviolence: The Heart of the Matter

Nonviolence: The Heart of the Matter

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

June 28, 2020

Micah 6:8 (MSG)

8 But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

As we have been working hard on creating our Peace Church Alliance – I have found myself having quite a few conversations about the Quaker’s nonviolent response in these turbulent times. It seems in every conversation whether about the racial unrest, the violence that has taken place, the ugly political scene, and even, the toll the pandemic and isolation is having on our mental health, at some point I am returning to non-violence and our Quaker peace testimony.

Sadly, too often today the nonviolent efforts that are happening go unnoticed by the news outlets because they are hard to sensationalize and get people to have a response. But as of late, I have started to notice side conversations beginning to happen which are talking about nonviolence, peace, and its importance in these difficult times.  And that gives me hope that as Quakers – we have something to offer our world – and that it might be time to again speak up with our lives and voices.   

It has been over a decade since that pacifist-progressive-Mennonite friend (I talked about last week in my sermon) introduced me to the nonviolent way. As I allowed him to mentor me, I found myself becoming more and more uncomfortable with the way I was educated, the things the church of my childhood had taught me, and how easily it was for me to accept violence and other beliefs that were counter to the teachings of Jesus – often in the name of religion or some denominational dogma.  

I was quickly realizing that violence was becoming more than an outward physical reaction and was often deeply rooted in many parts of my faith which I had never carefully examined.

I also realized something was happening within my own heart at multiple levels, and I knew that I needed to ask some serious queries of myself in relation to my own views and what I actually believed. 

This in many ways started a crisis of faith or what some may call a “dark night of the soul” in my life.   

As I said last week, it was in this crisis time (around many issues) that I headed into that year of diversity training at Huntington University and my first classes as a doctoral student at George Fox Evangelical Seminary.

I love how God often prepares the soil of our lives before getting ready to plant new seeds into our lives.

Most of you know, I became a student of nonviolent heroes (who I quote often) such as Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Merton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, John Woolman, and many more. 

Yet, it was specifically in my study about Gandhi’s influence on Martin Luther King Jr.’s spirituality where I began to hone my understanding of nonviolence and its importance at the core of my life. 

At the time, I had no clue that it was the work of Bayard Rustin – a Quaker and nonviolent activist who influenced King in learning about Gandhi.  Over the coming years I would begin to see the importance of the Quaker testimony of Peace and how nonviolence could influence the world for change.

As I began to study the concept of non-violence the following quote from Gandhi, in a book edited by Thomas Merton titled, “On Non-Violence” caught my attention. Mahatma Gandhi says,

Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our very being. . ..

If love or non-violence be not the law of our being, the whole of my argument falls to pieces. . ..

Belief in non-violence is based on the assumption that human nature in its essence is one and therefore unfailingly responds to the advances of love. . ..

If one does not practice non-violence in one’s personal relations with others and hopes to use it in bigger affairs, one is vastly mistaken.

To begin seeing the seat of nonviolence as my heart, started an evolution in my soul. In many ways, I was learning (and for that matter continue to learn each and every day) that the condition of my heart was key to how I respond to my world.

This was a little different than just saying I had the love of Jesus down in my heart, like I was taught in Sunday School.  

This was saying that it was more than just an acknowledgement or belief. For the first time, I sensed the need to take care of nurturing my heart, finding inner peace, and connecting to my inner light to help me become a more peaceful and non-violent presence in this world.

I had to own up to and admit that some of the violence I experienced in this world – I actually caused (and still do) – and it stemmed from my own soul (and still does).  

It is clear from the conversations that are taking place currently in our communities, neighborhoods, and on the world stage – until we deal with the violence in our own hearts – the violence is going to continue. 

This is where the issues of today are still our problem – not just bad choices of people in the past.  You and I sadly perpetuate the violence when we don’t take a moment to look inside and admit our own violence and its impact on those around us.  We can’t deal with systemic racism, injustice, or violence until we first wrestle with the personal violences within our own hearts.

Gandhi wrestled with this as well. Not only did he begin to see non-violence (or as he named it Satyagraha) as inseparable from our being, he also saw it as desperately important to the future and shalom (peace) of humankind.

Unless we found the seeds of nonviolence in our own lives, the world was not going to get any better.

I have mentioned this before, but it should be reiterated here – On many occasions, Gandhi mentioned that he developed his ideas about Satyagraha (nonviolence) in large part from the New Testament teachings of Jesus.

Gandhi considered Satyagraha a way to synthesize Jesus’ teaching about peace and non-violence into the life of the individual.

He believed that non-violence came through embracing the qualities Jesus lived out in his life – such as: 

• loving our enemies,

• seeking truth,

• experiencing personal transformation,

• being people of virtue,

• and having a religious faith

all things that Jesus had lived out in his life and had said should flow from our hearts.

If you remember, on one occasion, Jesus goes out of his way to make a point with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law about where our thoughts, beliefs, actions, and what we say and believe are rooted…Jesus said it bluntly in Eugene Peterson’s version of Matthew 12:34-37 – he said…

“You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard.” (MSG)

The importance of the condition of the heart was something that Martin Luther King Jr. also learned from Jesus.  Bayard Rustin helped nurture those beliefs by encouraging him to study Gandhi during the difficult days of the Civil Rights movement.

King knew that retaliation or violent means were not what should flow from the heart and if they did it would only make things worse.

Rustin showed King how Gandhi was leading sit-ins, walk-outs, and marches in India with non-violent methods and King adopted the same perspectives for his movement. 

The key for both of them was to make sure their heart was centered and in the right place.  This is exactly what I have been hearing as I have participated with other faith leaders in peaceful demonstrations, prayer vigils, and Juneteenth celebrations in the last few weeks.  Over and over the focus has been on how our current work flows from the same non-violent tradition that Rustin, Gandhi, and King modeled and lived.     

King realized nonviolence and nonviolent resistance were better responses to what he was facing – and like many today, there was push back and disagreement.   King also realized that to do this work meant to go deeper and see what was behind the outward violence – something many people are calling our politicians, teachers, and leaders on today.  These are deep rooted systemics problem that are going to take time and a non-violent approach. 

For Martin Luther King Jr. going deeper and seeing behind the violence meant to start within himself.  King said this,   

“Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.”

King’s views changed dramatically as he internalized an ethos of nonviolence and allowed his responses to flow from that centered space.

I believe, King, Rustin, and Gandhi all realized that nonviolence transcends our outward actions and must be rooted in our hearts where true love is found, and nonviolence has its beginnings. 

Gandhi said it this way, 

“Nonviolence, which is a quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.”

Nonviolence was not simply a body of knowledge to learn or be taught – it was something that as I said a couple of weeks ago when talking about the Beloved Community which must be lived.  If it is planted deep within each of us and is cultivated and nurtured it will become a way of life.

Martin Luther King Jr. broke down nonviolence into six principles that clearly show us how nonviolence must stem from our depths starting with them being a way of life…take a moment to allow them to speak to your current condition…

Principle 1: Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.

Principle 2: Nonviolence seeks to win friendships and understanding.

Principle 3: Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people.

Principle 4: Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and transform.

Principle 5: Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.

Principle 6: Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.

This is how King saw the Beloved Community growing into something beautiful – by starting within oneself and making this a way of life. 

In our text that Beth read for this morning, another prophet, the prophet Micah said it this way implying a nonviolent approach…

8 But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

Or as you may be more used to hearing it…

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

What God wants of us resonates with Gandhi, Rustin, King, and I believe Quakers as well.  It sounds simple, but it is the foundation for building an “ethos of peace” in our world. 

Our hearts should be filled with the desire to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with our God – and that, I believe describes a nonviolent spirit.  

Folks, love is nonviolent.

Love is peaceful.

Love is kind.

Love is what binds us to one another. 

And when that is what is found in our hearts, we can understand better King’s words….

“Love is a force by which God binds man to Himself and man to man. Such love goes to the extreme; it remains loving and forgiving even in the midst of hostility. It matches the capacity of evil to inflict suffering with an even more enduring capacity to absorb evil, all the while persisting in love.”

This, as Quakers, is who we are.  I love how it is stated in our Quaker Testimonies on the American Friends Service Committee site:  

In renouncing war and violence, Friends embrace the transforming power of love and the power of nonviolence, striving for peace in daily interactions with family, neighbors, fellow community members, and those from every corner of the world.

This is who we are – people who embrace the transforming power of love and the power of nonviolence.  When we strive to live this out in our daily lives – not in extraordinary ways but starting with our interactions with family, neighbors, fellow community members – we can begin to make a difference. 

American Friends Service Committee has offered some queries for us to ponder regarding nonviolence and our current times. As we enter waiting worship, take some time to ponder these as we wait and listen.

1.     How can I nurture the seeds of peace within myself, my community, and the world?

2.     How can I be more open to seeking the goodness in people who act with violence and hatred?

3.     How can I increase my understanding of nonviolence and use it in all my interactions?

6-21-20 - Originator of Light

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

June 21, 2020

James 1:16-18 (MSG)

16-18 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

When I first arrived at Huntington University as the Assistant Director of Campus Ministries thirteen years ago, I was asked to lead an in-depth Bible Study for the students on campus every Friday for the entire year. 

After discussing what books of the Bible, I would consider studying, I told my campus ministry team that I was thinking of facilitating a study on the book of James. 

At first the team was excited but then paused as if I was going to say something more.  Finally, one person asked, “James is a very short book, what other books are you going to cover throughout the year?”

Now, I had decided every Friday we would simply take a word by word explorative journey through the book of James - unheard of, for such a short book. 

But I knew the book of James held a lot to discuss and ponder, and I looked forward to the challenge. So, for about two thirds of that school year I met in an auditorium with a couple hundred students every Friday.

It was one of the most engaging and challenging studies I have ever attempted. And yes, we only studied the Book of James.  

I share that story, because in some ways, teaching that class was a centering time for me before entering a very interesting time of life. 

You see, not only was I a husband, a father of three young boys, and now, a member of the campus ministry team at a Christian college, I had just come through a difficult time of church planting as well as church closing in the Anglican Church in the Detroit area.

We had just moved to Indiana from Garden City, Michigan, and we would continue to own our house in Garden City for the next two years because of the recession.

At this time our young family of five was forced to live with my parents in New Haven, Indiana. Not only was this a very difficult time, the things we had gone through were teaching us to see the world, our faith, those around us, and even God in a new Light.  

As I mentioned I was entering a very interesting time.

By the end of that year and study on James I was considering starting doctoral studies at George Fox Evangelical Seminary, and Huntington University had decided to enter a year focused on diversity and issues of race.

Upon arriving at Huntington, I had been asked by the university to create a Facebook profile – not knowing that this would be my new way of communicating to the college students for the rest of my time there.  How time flies – I also remember I did not own a smart phone when I started.  

I also found myself moving away from being an Anglican priest, and a new friend and colleague in my life, a progressive Mennonite was teaching me about pacifism, the living/historic peace churches, and nonviolent resistance. 

Not long after this, my family and I would join a group of peace-minded friends each week to discuss and encourage each other in this work. Still, this was all yet to come. 

So, let’s return to that Bible Study…

One Friday, we had a rather packed auditorium – I think it was because students needed to get their chapel credits and it was the end of the semester. 

Yet that morning, I started our class with a blank large white board on the stage.  To engage the students, I asked them to name words that described God.

For the next several minutes, we filled the board with a plethora of words from loving to wrathful and everything in between. 

I then asked the students where they learned those descriptors and they shared the typical places – church, Sunday school, parents, VBS, etc.… 

I then made what I thought was a natural transition to the text we were to discuss (which happens to be our text for today).  So, I read,

16-18 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

Immediately a hand went up…and I called on a young man who had attended every Friday and always engaged in the conversation in a meaningful way. 

This week, I could see he looked rather disturbed.  He then said, “I have a hard time with these verses.  My dad left my mom when I was young and has nothing to do with me or my family.” 

At that point you could hear a pin drop.  He then went on to explain how he has struggled with the view of God as Father.  As with all good discussions, immediately hands went up and we started a much deeper conversation. 

For some God must be male.

For some God must be a parent figure.

For some God had to be a disciplinarian, and yet… 

For some God seemed absent much like this young man had explained. 

Emotions raised quickly, and for the first time I went and grabbed a chair and sat on the stage just listening. 

For several minutes, students aired out the issues they had with their dads or parents, others defended the views they had been taught by their churches, and some just sat very silently. 

What all this was landing on was one word from our text that for them was such a strong and polarizing word – Father.

Now, there was a good chance that I was the only father in that auditorium that day, but as I listened to the students talk, I began to think about my own views of God and being a father. 

Even though I have a caring, quiet and rather passive father who I can relate to my understanding of God, it was clear from the student’s angst and frustration this was not the case for everyone.

Actually, for these students, the father descriptor and metaphor seemed almost problematic. Either God was not living up to their understanding of being the proper father in their life or their physical father was not living up to be a godly example.

Interestingly enough, for the next several years, I personally began wrestling with the idea of God as father, but it wasn’t until about four years later that I returned to this particular scripture.

I, like many of my students, and many other Christians had focused so much on the role of the father and its example for earthly fathers (such as myself) that I completely put the focus on a standard that was too high to humanly attain. No wonder so many of my students had wrestled with this. 

As I started my doctoral studies, I was introduced to feminist, Black, progressive, and other unique and challenging theologies and spiritualities – and that included the one I landed within - Quakers.

I believe it was because of that conversation on fathers at Huntington University that I began to notice how often Quakers referenced the “Father of Light” in our teachings, as well as, early and current documents.  This description is referenced in our own faith and practice and seems to be a rather Quakerly descriptor of God.    

I probably should have seen it when reading our scripture for today – the way Eugene Peterson translated this text is almost speaking directly to Quakers.

Peterson’s translation of James’ words even starts by addressing his dear “Friends” and then he gives a warning.

Don’t get thrown off course.

But let’s be honest…that is so easy to do whether reading scripture or just trying to process life. That is exactly what my students did 13 years ago – they had been thrown off course by struggling with their own images of father.

Yet, I see it still happening during this crazy time of Covid-19, racial unrest, politics, 24/7 media.  We can easily get off course. We too can get hyper focused and miss the bigger point.  But what is that bigger point?

If we continue in our scripture, we might see a completely different picture. 

Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven.

The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.

Let’s be honest - we all love receiving gifts – especially desirable and beneficial ones – but what if we were thrown off course and were missing the gifts before us.  What if instead of seeing what God was offering, we were caught up in thoughts or beliefs that were throwing us off course?

The weeks following that conversation with the students, I did an exegetical study on what was meant by the descriptor “Father of Lights.”  Boy, was that a study.

God is Light.

God is the creator of light.

God is the creator of the heavenly lights.

And then I read God is the author or originator of the Light.  The Light God has placed in each person.

Father was both a patriarchal and humanly way of translating what should have been more appropriately author or originator of Light. That light which is found in each one of us. 

That light as Peterson so poetically described is “cascading down” from the Originator of Light – through or over what is it cascading? – YOU AND ME.

What James was trying to say was one of the most beautiful and Quakerly things in scripture. The Originator of Light, who is not deceitful, not two-faced, not fickle is cascading through each of us – it is the Light within us. 

The Light that helps us dispel the darkness of our world. 

The Light that helps make us better fathers and mothers, neighbors, friends.

The Light that, if we connect to it, will help us not be deceitful, two-faced, fickle…and we could probably continue to add even more relevant descriptors like racist, homophobic, misogynistic, narcissistic, abusive, arrogant, naive, and the list goes on.

And James goes on to say, “He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.” Let me restate it to make a bit more sense for our current condition.

The originator of Light has given us life (birthed the light within us) and has shown us how to live. When referencing the True Word – James is talking about Jesus who has taught us the way to live this Light Life.

And finally, James makes the point that each and every one of us (no matter if we are Fathers, Mothers, Children, Neighbors, Friends) are special to the Originator of that Light within us all.  Let us seek that Light in everyone we meet as well as in ourselves!

To help us continue to process these thoughts, I have some queries for you to ponder as we enter waiting worship:

1.     What descriptors of God do I have the hardest time relating to? And why?

2.     What has “thrown me off course” and not allowed me to see the good gifts of God in my life?

3.     How might seeing the Light of God “cascading down” through my life and the lives of those around me help me to value each person in this world? 

6-14-20 - Turning to One Another: The Beloved Community

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

June 14, 2020

1 Corinthians 12:14-18

14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

It has been almost a decade since first reading the book, Turning to One Another, by author and activist Margaret Wheatley. In it she wrote a rather prophetic word that is still speaking clearly today. She said,

“Our twenty-first-century world is descending into aggression, fear, and separation. War, genocide, violence, slavery, pandemics, poverty, natural disasters – all these are commonplace in this new century, despite most people’s deep longing to live together in peace.”

The answer Margaret poses later in the book sounds simple... we need to “turn to one another” and realize that we need each other more than ever. 

I often wonder, especially lately, if we realize this truth - that our world is not complete without each and every person in it? Together we make it whole.

These last few weeks, I have seen a great deal of hope in the midst of all the unrest.  Conversations have begun, perspectives have changed, and education is happening. The stories are no longer just someone else’s history – they are ours in this moment. 

And I am hopeful because I am seeing people turning to one another.  

The Apostle Paul echoes this important truth that we need each other in his letter to the Corinthians which Beth just read. I want to read it again, this time, from The Message Version to give it a bit more relevance and impact.

14-18 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together.

If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so?

If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body?

If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell?

As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.  (1 Corinthians 12:14-18 MSG)

But sadly, Paul’s vision was not the same vision of many in the world, in our country especially, and even in the Church.  For that matter, it was a radical idea in Bible times – let’s be honest, there are many “amputations” throughout our scriptures and due to our scriptures – from the descendants of Ham cursing the entire Black race to Jesus being crucified by Jews indicating reason for a holocaust.  

The reality is that throughout history, too many have thought that some “parts” of the body we could do without.

And it was more than them not being elegant, embellished, and beautiful, even though these were issues when it came to skin color, eye shape, hair types, clothing choices, and many other comparisons.

In reality, it came down to the fact that one set of people deemed another group unworthy, inferior, or simply less-than and thus “amputations” were accepted and never rarely questioned.  

Entire people groups in our own country have been treated as less-than, inferior, unworthy, and removed from or moved outside the body and we have created systems to do just that.

From the natives on this land whom we forced ourselves upon and then displaced…

To the Africans we brought here to work enslaved for us…

To the Asian Americans we put into camps during World War II and more recently have blamed for Coronavirus…

To the LGBTQ people we have labeled, refused, and led to higher rates of suicide…

To the LatinX families separated in cages on our borders, currently. 

And please note…this is only a surface list…our amputations are many.  

It seems clear that the current condition in our country is an outcome of a moral and spiritual failure. And I believe that failure began with our willing complicity in “amputating” curtain people groups from among us.     

Those words of Margaret Wheatly, “Turn to one another” rings a prophetic voice, once again. As people of faith we must admit we are not complete until every single groups matters and that deep longing to live together in peace becomes a reality.

Or what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. exclaimed as “The Beloved Community.”

If you have read any major work by Martin Luther King Jr. you will have read about his belief in the “The Beloved Community.” Even though first coined by the philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce, King popularized the term and invested it with a deeper meaning which has captured the imagination of people of goodwill all over the world.

For Dr. King, The Beloved Community was not a lofty utopian goal of a rapturous image of the Peaceable Kingdom where lions and lambs coexist in idyllic harmony - which we have to admit many Quakers hold dear while refusing to take little action toward.

Rather, The Beloved Community was for King a realistic, achievable goal that could be attained by a critical mass of people committed to and trained in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence. As Quakers, it seems this should be a natural fit. 

Dr. King’s Beloved Community has become something some Quakers and many other people of faith around the world have begun to embrace, promote, and strive to create. Yet many are still wrestling with what all it entails and the work it is going to take. 

Just listen as I read the description of the Beloved Community.

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 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 that can be accomplished through courage and determination and through education and training, if enough people are willing to make the necessary commitment.

Now, if you carefully note, The Beloved Community is about living out our Quaker S.P.I.C.E.S. in real-time. This community is where simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship come together to make the world a better place.

It was Quaker Bayard Rustin who taught Dr. King to value nonviolence and positive peace (not passive peace) and helped instill in him that even though conflict is an inevitable part of the human experience, conflict could be resolved peacefully and adversaries could be reconciled through a mutual, determined commitment to nonviolence.

No conflict, he believed, need erupt in violence. And all conflicts in The Beloved Community should end with reconciliation of adversaries cooperating together in a spirit of friendship and goodwill.

Currently, I am sure some of you who are watching, are thinking, this is a far reach…but I must ask, “Is it really?”

The difficult place we must begin is with ourselves.  As King pointed out, this is a way of living – which is going to take you and me doing some soul searching and admitting where we have amputated people, cultures, races, family from our own lives. And then asking why?  

I have had to painfully reflect on those in my past and even those currently whom I still find myself deeming unworthy and inferior – those I am willing to ignore just because it is too difficult to try and understand. A LatinX friend of mine recently posted on Facebook something that really hit me,

White privilege is being able to turn off the news because everything is too chaotic and controversial and these issues don’t really affect you.    

Yep, I am guilty. 

It also means we have to turn to one another and have the difficult conversation of how we can make a change together.

Sue, Sam and I had one of these conversations with our neighbor the other day. For about an hour, our neighbor, a woman of color in her 60’s shared her experience of the pain of racism in our country. Our conversation quickly turned into a listening session as she told us of her story and gave us an education.

This is also exactly why we are promoting a combined effort between our living or historic peace churches. Together, we are able to commit in a more unified way to nonviolence and have a greater voice for what King outlined - peacefully reconciling, cooperating, and ending the violence we see in our world.

But let’s be honest, these are just first steps.

Several years ago, a friend I was staying with for a conference at his church shared with me how Quaker principles and values had been instrumental in developing his church’s direction.  In his explanation he shared with me his churches commitments that grew out utilizing Quaker principles. He said, at his church they are committed to 6 foundational areas:

1.     Roots  

2.     Journey

3.     Wholeness                          

4.     Community                         

5.     Serving                                 

6.     Celebration                        

But he wasn’t done.  He then gave each of the six commitments directions.

Roots (Looking Backward)

Journey (Looking Forward)

Wholeness (Looking Inward)

Community (Looking Withward)

Serving (Looking Outward)

Celebration (Looking Upward)

Not only are these 6 foundations excellent for developing a ministry’s purpose, I think they are integral to developing the Beloved Community. Obviously, I do not have the time to unpack my thoughts on each of these foundations right now, but, I share them as a way to proceed with our processing during this difficult time.  

To help us begin this process, I have created some queries to ponder in the coming days based on these 6 foundations.

1. What historic roots (whether in my country, my church, my family, my community) are important to re-examine, be educated on, and teach to help benefit the development of the Beloved Community?

2. What journey do I need to take (and who must I ask along on the journey) to form a better expression of the Beloved Community?  In moving forward what might I have to leave behind or what might I have to take along?  Where might I need to get out of my box? 

3. When looking inward, where am I not whole? What or who am I missing? What would make me a more healthy and vibrant expression of the Beloved Community? 

4. Is community being developed in my life and ministry and am I becoming a faithful presence to the communities in which I participate, currently? 

5. Who am I really serving? How much of my serving is self-serving? In looking outside myself and our meeting, who truly needs to be served? 

6. How am I celebrating and finding joy with others? Am I able to see the reasons for giving thanks, remembering, and appreciating all people and their stories? 

Let us now take some time to ponder these queries and how we will engage important conversations this week.