10-31-21 - Quaker Worship (Part 6): A Leading to Act(ivisim)

Quaker Worship (Part 6): A Leading to Act(ivism)

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

October 31, 2021

Good morning, Friends, and welcome to Light Reflections.  This morning we are on our 6th installment of the Quaker Worship Series.  Our text for today is Isaiah 42: 1-4 from the Message:

42 1-4 “Take a good look at my servant.
    I’m backing him to the hilt.
He’s the one I chose,
    and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.
I’ve bathed him with my Spirit, my life.
    He’ll set everything right among the nations.
He won’t call attention to what he does
    with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt
    and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant,
    but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.
He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped
    until he’s finished his work—to set things right on earth.
Far-flung ocean islands
    wait expectantly for his teaching.”

A couple years ago, I met Friend Dwight Wilson at our Yearly Meeting Sessions.  He was sharing his testimony as well as his passion for social justice and the psalms he wrote to highlight issues of peace and justice in our world. I had a long talk with Dwight after I presented on Quaker Civil Rights activists, Bayard Rustin, and Barrington Dunbar during a panel discussion. Our conversation that day began a distant friendship that has continued to develop over these last two years. 

This past Wednesday evening, I received a short Facebook Messenger Message from Dwight.  It said simply, “I hope autumn is treating you well, Bob.”  In the ensuing correspondence, I found that Dwight was writing from a hospital bed. 

After telling him of the slow arriving of autumn here in Indiana, I took a moment to thank him for his friendship, the psalms he has written, and his weekly posts on jazz music albums that have both impacted his and my life.  After thanking me, he shared that just a few hours before sending me the message he was told he was going to need emergency surgery.  Dwight made it clear this was not going to be a routine surgery – actually, later I found out he is suffering from bladder cancer.  I ask you all to hold Dwight in the Light as he takes this difficult journey.  Just yesterday, I heard that Dwight was at home but with a long recovery ahead.

I was hoping last year to have Dwight come to First Friends and share two of his unique calls to action – one being holding babies at the local hospital and second his prophetic psalms for peace and justice. Yet with the pandemic and now his diagnosis, it may be a while before we have the privilege to hear from him in person.

As I was preparing for this 6th installment of the Quaker Worship series, I wanted to begin with something Dwight actually wrote about the history of Quaker Social Action.  Just listen as Dwight lays a foundation for what he labels a “Social Justice Testimony”:     

George Fox, who is often considered “the founder” of the Religious Society of Friends, said with certainty, “There is one, Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy condition.”  Contemporary Quakers often refer to this inward and eternal One as “that of God in everyone.”  All Quaker testimonies spring from this belief in the sacredness of the whole of creation.

Despite the above, many people in the 21st Century are only familiar with the Quaker peace testimony.  In the first centuries of Quakerism such a view would have been impossible. There are numerous Quaker testimonies including in alphabetical order, anti-racism, community building, equality, integrity, love, optimism, peacemaking and social justice. 

They are as interrelated as the ecological system of an orchard.  One can describe such an orchard by beginning on either side, but arbitrary choice should not lift the value of west above east or north above south.   Each testimony deserves its own serious contemplation.

Quakerism values Jesus’ reported summation of the Law of Moses, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 

In 1661, more than five years before he allegedly told William Penn to “carry your sword as long as you can” and only nine years after his personal search had become a movement, [George] Fox wrote an essay entitled, “The Line of Righteousness and Justice Stretched Forth Over All Merchants and Others.”  The theme throughout, based on Jesus’ dicta, was to treat each person justly.  In this essay Fox stated an oft echoed theme, “Do rightly, justly, truly, holily, equally, to all people in all things.” 

The first century of the Religious Society of Friends’ existence, in both England and the Americas, saw hundreds of early Quakers beaten, imprisoned and, in some cases executed for their beliefs.  The long-standing commitment to social justice has not waned.  The pursuit of social justice is a requirement in and out of season; during true peace or when violence is as far away as Afghanistan or as near as our next-door neighbor’s bedroom.

Personal perspectives on justice have been known to change with one’s degree of comfort.  In response to this phenomenon, the 18th century Quaker, John Woolman offered guidance when he said,

“Oppression in the extreme appears terrible, but oppression in more refined appearances remains oppression, and where the smallest degree of it is cherished, it grows stronger and more extensive.”  Without social justice there is no peace. 

As Dwight points out, from the beginning of our faith, Friends have been guided by our beliefs known as our “testimonies” of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship (or what some like to call our S.P.I.C.E.S.)  

The belief that everyone is equal, alone, has often put us at the forefront of social justice initiatives, such as the abolition movement, the women’s rights movement, the desire to make education and healthcare available to all, prison reform, Civil Rights, and much, much, more.

Today, Quakers and groups founded by Quakers, continue to work for social, political, economic, and environmental change as much as their ancestors did.  We see it within our own meeting with Right Sharing of World Resources and our stamps program, Indiana Friends Committee on Legislation and its lobbying work at the State Level, Friends Committee on National Legislation at the federal level, Quaker Earth Care for the environment, Quaker Voluntary Service at the community level, and then there is Recycle Force, Mid-North Food Pantry, working with refugees,  and I could go on and on. 

But sometimes when we start ripping off that list of organizations, we quickly just assume someone else is acting and there is no need for us to get involved. This is where I believe we need to connect our activism and social justice work to our worship. 

As most of us know, the Quaker Faith has always been known as a “quiet faith,” by many people, but it also comes with a practice of acting with conviction, and a belief in being open to the Spirit’s leading as I have already highlighted in this series.

Christine Duncan-Tessmer, the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s General Secretary, points out that Quakerism represents a ‘both/and’ outlook.

She notes there “are prayerful worship spaces in the Quaker Faith, where reflection will feed action, that can represent an infinity loop between action and doing, and stillness and centering. They both need each other.”

There are “so many ways of being in alignment with God…at times like this, when there is so much stress and strife and concern…that space of being in worship and being able to connect to the…flow of all life among us is a really important part of being whole…”

This is what we mean when we state that Quaker worship is about reconnecting to the whole – not just a part.  Friend Noah Baker Merrill has been teaching for some time on “Reclaiming the Ministry of the Whole.”  Noah says this tension to act and engage must be shaped within the worshipping community.  He says,

“There’s something about the dynamic tension, as the lion of my fierce inward leading meets the lamb of my meeting’s genuine engagement. I surrender to the sense of the meeting, and the meeting surrenders to its responsibility to help me grow in faithfulness…There’s an Iraqi saying about community that it’s not the finger that matters most, but the hand and the arm behind it. It takes a meeting to raise a ministry.”

It takes a local meeting, like First Friends to raise up people who will act on where the Spirit is leading, yet as a society or community, we just don’t send people out on their own. We must also build a framework for their support and ongoing encouragement, clearness committees to help them discern, and the gathering of new opportunities for us to serve and advocate for our neighbors in the present moment.

Did you know that part of the early Quaker Movement was a committee that was solely established to care for Friends in this manner? It was called The Meeting for Sufferings.

Even though it has evolved overtime, it was established to provide for the time-sensitive needs of imprisoned Friends and the activists who arose from the local meetings who suffered for the Truth.  Since activism and social justice were so foundational among early Friends, early Quakers often found themselves imprisoned for being vocal for how the Spirit was leading.

Early Quakers knew the toll this work would take on their movement and its individual activists as they worked to make significant change in the world.  The Meeting for Suffering was a place to gather as a worshipping community for the specific purpose of empowering Friends to respond quickly, meaningfully, and effectively to their world.  It provided support, feedback, and a learning environment for the entire community to become adaptive and swift in their work. 

WOW! It seems almost unreal in our day to read that last statement.  If there is one huge struggle among Quakers today – it is with responding quickly and becoming adaptive and swift in our business and activist work.

I wonder what would happen if we dedicated one Sunday each quarter as a “Meeting for Suffering” at First Friends. Where we could hear from the activists in our midst.  Where we could support them, hear their stories, be empowered by them, and be educated on the challenges they face.  As well, where we could place them and their work humbly before the Divine for transformation, teaching, love, hope, and freedom.  And where we could discern with them on how together we can make a difference in our community, state, nation, and world as a society of Friends.

To close this 6th installment on Quaker Worship, I want to return to something I have been pondering for the last several years.  

Quaker Activist George Lakey paints a familiar picture to our current day when talking about the founding days of Quakerism.  He says the Quaker Faith was “born in the middle of a civil war” in the mid 1600’s.

He even described a period of revolution–with the English wars and the beheading of Charles I – against which he says the Quaker faith grew. Friends were “politically active but not in a partisan way. We had social change goals, social justice goals, that we were pursuing in the midst of a very chaotic situation.”

Well, we could easily say that our county currently is in the middle of a modern civil war and a quite chaotic situation.  Some would even describe our day as a period of revolution. Our wars may be different, but we must continue to seek the leading of the Spirit and help raise up activists, supporters, and encouragers for social change, social justice, and better world. 

I think it is clear – if we were birthed in this type of environment and now are living within it, again – well folks, this is our time!  We got this!  We just need to return to our roots and activate! 

Green Street Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, went as far as to develop testimonies for Social Justice and Activism which they use within their Meeting and gathered worship to help remind them of their purpose.  I would love to see First Friends adapt these as a commitment to our own work for social justice and activism.  Let me just read these as we close:

• Quakers aid the non-violent efforts of the exploited to attain self-determination and social, political, and economic justice. This mission often requires persuading exploiters, some of whom may be Quakers, to change their ways, not only for the sake of the exploited, but also to strengthen their own goodness.

• We seek both to bring to light and to counteract or expunge structures, institutions, language and thought processes that subtly support discrimination and exploitation.

• We examine our own attitudes and practices to test whether we contribute as much as we ought to social, political, and economic justice.

• We encourage others to adopt consensus decision-making that is Spirit-led.

Now, as we enter waiting worship, let us humbly present ourselves before the Divine for transformation, teaching, love, hope, freedom, and the nudging of the Spirit to act.  To help you process, I offer you the following queries:

-         How am I embracing a “both/and” outlook of worship and activism?

-         In what ways do I need to “reconnect to the whole” and be proactive in creating a supportive community at First Friends, that encourages those led by the Spirit to act?

Dia de los Muertos/ Day of the Dead Prayer

Spirit of Life, whom we know best in our own loving and being loved, hold us as we remember those we have loved, and those who have loved us. May our gratitude sparkle in our lives, may our tears lubricate our souls. Help us to know that we are not alone in our grieving, and help us also to come to that peaceful place in which we can take what we learned from those who have gone before us into our own lives. Remind us that we, too, are mortal; and that the only enduring legacy we leave is the love that shines through our lives.

Amen.

Benediction

Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world as your love would have it: 

a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor; 

a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them; 

a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect; 

a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love.

Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, Amen. 

10-24-21 - Quaker Worship (Part 5): The Cult of Comfort

Quaker Worship (Part 5): The Cult of Comfort

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

October 24, 2021

Isaiah 42:16 (New Revised Standard Version)

16 I will lead the blind
    by a road they do not know,
by paths they have not known
    I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
    the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
    and I will not forsake them.

This week we return to part 5 of our Quaker Worship series. As I was putting this series together and considering the Quaker way of worship, I found myself wrestling with a common topic – that being idols and cultish behaviors – which honestly have a lot in common. 

As I began my research, I was reminded that many fundamental Christian groups consider Quakers part of a cult. (Actually, I have personally been questioned by other Christians about this very thing.)  Even in one listing of cults, Quakers are included in a category with Mormons and the Jehovah Witness.  As well, some groups consider our view of there being “that of God in our neighbors” as idolatrous.

But as I began to look closer, I cross-referenced the concepts of cults and idols and something very important rose to my attention.  That being the cult or idol of comfort. 

Brett McCracken in an article on this subject says that Christianity’s greatest idol today is also one of its most subtle and insidious – that being COMFORT.

If you go to a church conference or even to a lecture or talk that is addressing the church of today, at some point you will hear the presenter address the need for the church to get out of their “comfort zones.”   

The problem is you and I continually expect life to be easy, to be comfortable, but this desire is misplaced. And often this comfort in a Quaker Meeting can easily be translated into unnecessary structures, rigid rules, hoops to jump through, and a great deal of personal preferences.

It also can mean certain subjects are off limits, and that can even translate into only being willing to worship beside and with those who look exactly like us.

Folks, that is not comfort. That is a path to death.

In seminary, we studied this idea of “comfort idolatry” or what some called the “cult of comfort” which I believe has become very apparent within churches and Meetings today.

Now, much of this can be blamed on our overly consumerist mindsets that seem to frame everything in our lives – including our spiritual lives – in terms of expressive individualism, self-fulfillment, and bettering yourself.  

Let’s just admit it – our comfort can be rather selfish – especially when looking at it within an Empathetic Worship Community. 

So, what specifically does comfort look like within the worshipping community?

To help with this, I will reference some ideas Brett McCracken lays out in his article on the subject for our specific condition at First Friends.

Let’s start with what he labels the “comfort of the familiar.” 

If you have ever found yourself in the pews or tuning in on-line and finding it unbearable to sit through another Meeting for Worship because “This isn’t how my Meeting does it,” that is a problem.  The comfort of the familiar is idolatrous and even cultish when anything unfamiliar is de-legitimized.

As Quakers, we believe in the importance of being open to new leadings of the Spirit, yet too often we assume we have arrived at the one, true, gold standard for how we do Quaker Worship when we feel comfortable with the familiar.

For example, the familiar can be seen in everything from where we sit each week during worship to the exact amount of silence we feel we need during waiting worship. 

Also, when the familiar becomes about creating a “gold standard” for our worship experiences that meets our needs, it is easy to avoid learning from others outside our particular tribe. 

As Quakers, who believe in “that of God in ALL people” there is a lot we can learn from those outside our tribe, which includes both our faith and culture. 

I appreciated how last week Beth shared a perspective from our friend, Rabbi Brett, on how Jews understand the story of Jonah. I love learning in Seeking Friends from a Catholic Priest, and I love hearing stories of the impact of our Muslim and African American friend, Daud, who journeyed with us for several years here at First Friends. 

We need to continue to invite and welcome people from different cultures, backgrounds, and faiths to enter our pulpit and tell us their stories, so we do not get caught in the cult of the familiar.

This also can be applied regarding music styles. Our strong opinions about worship-music styles present a great opportunity to challenge the cult of comfort.

Instead of folding our arms or sending off an email in protest when we don’t like the music or how it is played, just maybe we need to take a moment and dive ourselves into the worship - even if we do not like it.  We are an empathetic worshipping community and that means we will have a variety of different perspectives, likes, and dislikes within our Meeting.

I appreciate Eric Baker’s hard work at creating a balance each week with a variety of different styles of music from contemplative songs, to hymns, to spirituals, and many more.  Folks, this is no easy process in creating a flow and common theme to our worship while utilizing a variety of music styles. Our hope is that everything you experience in Meeting for Worship will come together to help you fully process and reflect on the subject for the morning and throughout the week.   

I believe our worship should reflect our community.  We all have different types of music or even instruments we like or dislike. 

I assume there is a percentage of people in this meeting who love hip-hop or rap music, and then there are some who can’t stand it.  Once on an Urban Plunge with college students from Huntington University, Sue and I visited a Hip-Hop Church in Chicago where there was no organ or piano, but rather a DJ.  I am not saying this is for us, but I am wondering what it might take to get us out of our comfort zone and have a fuller experience of worship.

In Silverton, I asked a young female seminary student to come preach one Sunday. As with anyone I invite, I asked her to share with us what the Divine was teaching her. I wanted to hear her story and unique perspective. Even though this young woman came across as a bit timid and shy when first you met her, I also knew that she had another side.  She was a very talented Slam Poetry Artist.  I asked if she would share with us a piece of her poetry.  Just before she preached, she came down off the platform, raised her voice, and began one of the most stirring Slam Poetry performances I have ever experienced.  Talk about making people uncomfortable.  Her raw emotions, going from soft tones to loud yelling, and the full experience of her body movements had people caught off guard.  

Afterwards, some people shared that they were not sure if Slam Poetry was appropriate for Meeting for Worship, but they also claimed they felt this way because Slam Poetry was out of their comfort zone. 

I was proud of our Meeting in Silverton for not getting up and leaving.  Sadly, in my 26 years of ministry, I have had on occasion people get up and leave when they do not like what I am preaching or sharing.

This is because, when comfort is a chief value in our worship, it’s easy to justify leaving Meeting for Worship the minute it becomes uncomfortable. 

·        Yes, sometimes the pastor is going to say something too political, edgy, or just too challenging.

·        Yes, sometimes the organ is going to be too loud.

·        Yes, sometimes the children’s message is going to go too long.

·        Yes, sometimes a fellow Friend is going to say something out of place during waiting worship. 

·        And yes, these are all things I have heard at First Friends.

And yes, we must remember that we are all human.

What I am hoping is that each of us will take the challenge to stick around or stay tuned in and really listen, bear with one another, allow ourselves to be a bit uncomfortable, and even take some time to reflect on what is being said throughout the week. 

Show up to meeting even when you do not like something or when you don’t feel like it.  As the writer of Hebrews warned, “Do not neglect meeting together” because it is what gets us out of the cult of comfort.  When we leave or when we tune out, it is more about our personal comforts than it is about us as a community. 

And the same is true when we withhold our gifts, talents or financial contributions from the Meeting simply to make our point or get our desired outcome. That is manipulation and when it happens we are buying into the cult of comfort.

I ask that, TOGETHER, we stick with it – don’t quit the minute things seem to get hard, challenging, or uncomfortable.  I believe God has given us each other to work through the challenges and has even called us to grow together as the body of Christ.

Interestingly, the cult of comfort often breads rigidity in our spiritual lives – often it creates an unwillingness to change, a nostalgia in “how things have always been done,” a hesitance to uproot when the Spirit nudges. 

That is why one of the greatest responses to the cult of comfort is to deliberately cultivate a FLEXIBILITY in the way we approach our worshipping community.

Brett McCracken shares some suggestions for being flexible which I have adapted to our situation.  Like…

·        Don’t be so over-scheduled that you can’t spend quality time with people after Meeting for Worship. Choose to stick around for Fellowship Hour, make plans to go out to lunch with someone after Meeting for Worship, or make plans for during the week to call or meet someone you want to get to know better.

·        Don’t be so tied to your specific ministry area, leadership position, program, or committee, that you aren’t able to jump in and serve where the Spirit leads. 

·        Don’t become a fan of specific leaders within the Meeting – we never know when the Spirit may lead them in new directions.

But rather we need to be flexible and ready when opportunities arise. And we need to be willing to sacrifice our comforts and the familiar when the Spirit nudges.

I want to conclude this 5th installment of the Quaker Worship series with a story.  It may be an unlikely story for a Quaker to share – but I believe it is a warning for us if we are unwilling to get out of our cult of comfort.

There was a story about an American POW captured by the Japanese during WWII.  He was a spy and was sentenced to death by the Japanese army.  Before carrying out the sentence, the Japanese general gave the spy a strange choice.  He told the American that he could choose between a firing squad and a big black door. 

The spy thought about the choice and after a few moments chose the firing squad and the sentence was carried out. 

The general turned to his assistant and said, “They always prefer the known way to the unknown way.” 

The assistant asked the general, “So, what is behind the black door.” 

The general replied, “Freedom.  Behind the big black door is a passageway that leads outside but only a few have been brave enough to see what is behind that door.” 

Even though the firing squad was anything but a comfortable choice, for that American, it was better, it was more comfortable, than the unknown.

As I said earlier in this sermon, following our comfort can be a path to death.  I don’t think that is what you or I want. 

Actually, I hope every worship experience at First Friends, whether Meeting for Worship in-person, virtually, unprogrammed worship, or Monday meditation, could be viewed as a “big black door” awaiting us to open it unto the transformation, teaching, love, Hope and yes, FREEDOM, the Divine is offering us in worship.  

And even more, I hope that we will take the time to become aware of our comforts and when we are buying into the cult of comfort or the idolatry of comfort, we begin to look outside ourselves. This way we can join our fellow Friends in the journey together through that Big Black Door to Freedom! 

Now, as we enter a time of waiting worship, let us humbly present ourselves before the Divine for transformation, teaching, love, hope, and freedom.  Here are some queries for your to ponder during this time.

·        Where have I bought into the “cult of comfort” in my worship at First Friends?

·        How am I cultivating flexibility in my spiritual life for the benefit of our worshipping community?

A Prayer For Oneness- Karem Barratt

We rest in you, Spirit of Life.
We place in you our feet, our legs, our torsos, our arms, our shoulders, our heads and allow you to support all that we are.
We rest in you, Spirit of Life, and give to you our worries, our fears, our doubts, our hopes, our joys, our pains, our anger, our love, our hate, and allow you to take in all that we are. 
And as we give all that we are, we find the place of truth, stillness, still, eternal where you and we are one.
We breathe in, deep, deeply, down, up, all that we are, as we stand on our toes at the edge of the universe, in oneness.
And all that we are expands, until forever. Amen.

Benediction :

May the God who shakes heaven and earth,
whose Spirit blows through the valleys and the hills;
whom death could not contain and
who lives to disturb and bring us life; 
bless us with the power to endure,
to hope and to love. Amen.

10-17-21 - Jonah, the Reluctant Prophet

Jonah – The Reluctant Prophet

Jonah 3:8-10, 4:1-4

Rediscovering Jonah by Timothy Keller

A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament by Bruce, Birch, Walter Brueggemann, Terrence Fretheim, David Peterson

Jonah The Reluctant Prophet Monologue by Rabbi Brett Krichiver

Friends, I participated in a faith community press conference recently in the Indiana Statehouse to share our concerns to the Indiana Congress about how they draw voting districts.   Our faith event included ministry leaders of many faith traditions and I was taken by something Brett Krichiver, Rabbi at the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation shared.  He mentioned the story of the prophet Jonah as a sacred text read during Yom Kippur every year that focuses on repentance.  Brett talked about Jonah as a fascinating character in the Old Testament who was afraid of God’s call and ran away because he didn’t want to be successful in his message of prophecy to the people of Ninevah.   This was not what I remembered from this story as I always thought Jonah ran away and was swallowed by a fish because he knew how difficult the call was from God and didn’t want to face it and was afraid.  So, this idea that Jonah ran because he was afraid of being successful intrigued me and I was interested in digging deeper to understand its message.

Most of you have heard the story of Jonah from Sunday School.  How God told Jonah to go to the people of Ninevah and tell them to repent and turn towards God.  Jonah doesn’t want to do this and instead gets on a ship with other sailors, and they experience a tremendous storm on the sea.  The sailors have a meeting to figure out who on this ship is causing this storm and all eyes are on Jonah.  They don’t know him, where he comes from or what God he serves.  Jonah says he is a Hebrew and worships the Lord God.  He knows his disobedience is the cause of the storm and he tells the sailors to throw him overboard.  The sailors are scared to death of dying at the sea and yet they also don’t want the blood of an innocent man on their hands.  They begin to franticly row to shore but the storm is too intense, and they make no progress.  At this point they do throw Jonah overboard and then enter prayer and repentance to the Lord God (even though they were not Hebrews).

A whale swallows Jonah whole and he stays in the belly of the fish for 3 days.  The fish then vomits Jonah onto dry land.  God calls out again to Jonah to get up and go to Ninevah and speak repentence to the people.  Jonah reluctantly makes the journey and declares Ninevah will be destroyed if they don’t repent. His prophecy is undoubtedly the most efficient prophecy on record, if we measure amount of behavior change based on the number of words spoken.  Jonah’s prophecy, in Hebrew, is only five words long: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be destroyed.

 Surprisingly all the people and the leaders and the King ask for repentance and turn to God.  And God decides to spare Ninevah.  Jonah is not happy about this decision and is mad at God and sits at the edge of town waiting to see what happens to the city.  God made a bush to come over to shade Jonah and he was thankful to be out of the hot sun.  But then God sent a worm that attacks the bush, and it withers and dies.  Jonah just wants to die.   God says to Jonah in the last verse of the book, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night.  And should I not be concerned about Ninevah, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand person who do not know their right hand from their left.”

To give some context to help us better understand this story, most scholars believe this book was written in the post-exile period (after 539 BCE).  In the book A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament authors Bruce Birch, Walter Brueggemann, Terrence Fretheim and David Peterson agree with the description of post-exile period because the people of Yahweh could return to places they had been forced to leave earlier in the century.  But the post exile period has never ended because the Jewish community had been spread out to many places after the Babylonian exile far outside of their original land.  The diaspora of the community was far reaching.  There were many questions they were asking themselves.   Who are God’s people when they live in such disparate places?   How should Israel organize itself to be Israel?  Does Israel desire a King (or submit to the authorities in the places they live) or a Messiah, a spiritual leader to be anointed?  Must they worship only Yaheweh as they lived among many communities with multiple Gods.  Do they have to be born into the community or can they convert to it?  The Jonah story appears within the context of this wrestling with identity in the Jewish community.

Jonah is a great example of satire, and the writer identifies Jonah as an anti-hero, a reluctant prophet, a prophet that did not follow God’s leadings, ran away from the call, became angry at God with the outcome and yet God still is able to use him. 

The book of Jonah is very different than the other prophetic books which focused on repentance of Israel and Judah. Most of them had little success to turn the Hebrews away from their wickedness and back to their covenantal obligation to God.  Jonah on the other hand is sent to the people of Ninevah, non-Hebrews, who were known to be evil and ruthless and enemies of Israel.  He was able with few words to turn the entire community and leaders to God. What a contrast to see Jonah’s success with the people of Ninevah versus the other prophets and their failure to change the hearts and minds of the kings of Jerusalem.

In this book that bears his name, only Jonah is named, and only Jonah acts badly: the four other groups of characters—the captain, the sailors, the people of Nineveh, and their king—all seem to be eager to do the right thing.  What kind of prophetic story is this?

This is a book about God’s justice and mercy and mystery. God would save the wicked city of Gentiles in Ninevah and yet allow the temple to be destroyed in Jerusalem.  In the NRSV commentary it says, “ In this story we encounter a God who is indeed concerned about social justice but who, in the mystery of God’s ways, permits the sovereignty of the divine heart to overrule the requirements of divine justice.”

 Jonah is such an unlikely prophet – most prophets offer insight, foresight, predictions, compassion and courage.  Jonah does not encompass any of these characteristics.  He also operates without energy and without initiative, he seems passive and willing to die when things don’t go his way.  He sounds like someone we might call depressed today. 

It also seems like Jonah’s faith is not as deep as his allegiance to his race and nationality.  This story leaves us with so many more questions than answers.  But it seems to speak at its deepest level that God is a God of mercy and compassion and embraces individuals and communities beyond what is comfortable with us.  Some of these people and communities we don’t like, we don’t agree with, are different than we are, not part of our tribe, and we believe are evil.  And God saves them!

Another twist to think about.  If Jonah doesn’t want God’s covenant to extend beyond the Jewish community, why didn’t he pray to God to destroy the non-Jewish sailors on the boat and save himself?  Jonah actually acts to prevent these gentiles from being drug into his quarrel with God.  He tells them to throw him overboard because he knows he is the problem.  Jesus references Jonah in Matthew 12:38-41 when scribes and Pharisees asked for a sign from Jesus. He says the sign given is from the prophet Jonah.  Jesus connected the 3 days Jonah spent in the belly of the fish with the 3 days that the Son of man will be in the heart of the earth.  And the people of Ninevah repented at the prophecy of Jonah and Jesus then tells the scribes and Pharisees that they are seeing something greater than Jonah in front of them.  How interesting for Jesus to connect his ministry with that of Jonah, such a conflicted prophet. 

I like what Tim Keller says in his book, Discovering Jonah, “Is this book about race and nationalism, since Jonah seems to be more concerned over his nation’s military security than over a city of spiritually lost people?  Is it about God’s call to mission, since Jonah at first flees from the call and later goes but regrets it?  Is it about the struggles believers have to obey and trust in God?  Yes, to all of those – and more.  A mountain of scholarship exists about the book of Jonah that reveals the richness of the story, the many layers of meaning, and the varied applicability of it to so much of human life and thought.”  “The book of Jonah yields many insights about God’s love for societies and people beyond the community of believers; about God’s opposition to toxic nationalism and disdain for other races; and about how to be in mission in the world despite the subtle and unavoidable power of idolatry in our own lives and hearts.”

I want to close by reading a part of a monologue that Rabbi Brett gave several years ago taking on the role of this complex and multidimensional character Jonah,

At first, I ran.  For the centuries that followed I have asked myself this single question – what was I running from?  Did I honestly believe that God could not follow?  Could not see?  Did I imagine it was possible to hide?  But I ran.  Perhaps I ran to something more than I was running from God.  Away from the Land of Israel, certainly, but towards the sea, towards freedom, justice?  I don’t know what.

But I knew in that moment it was justice I sought.  Not talk or sermons or explanations or riddles.  I wanted cold, hard and deserved justice.  The hatred swelled up inside of me like a stone, heavy and cold until I could not contain it.

Here’s the thing.  Last night I had a strange dream.  I dreamt the future.  I saw that these Assyrians who rule Nineveh now,
will one day destroy my people and take the Temple.  And God asks me to give those people the same chance of redemption that Israel would receive?   Something inside me just broke.  As a young man I tried to follow the commandments as best I could.  I heard the passion of the prophets and I wished to be as strong and courageous and clear.  I waited patiently when the day would come, I would be called myself, as the prophets of old were called, to fulfill my destiny and speak in God’s name.

So, when this dream came, I knew it was time.  I knew that God would not let this terrible tragedy come upon God’s beloved people.  I knew that Nineveh would be punished.  Could it be, I thought, that I would have the great honor of saving my people by cursing the Ninevites?

“The word of God came to Jonah the son of Amittai and said, ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim judgement upon it; for their wickedness has come before Me.”

          I started to pack almost immediately.  I knew this journey would be difficult, Nineveh is a very large city, the King not known for treating guests politely.  I would likely be captured, even tortured.   These are not Israelites, I reminded myself.  They do not have the same, special relationship with God, the same ritual of Teshuvah, I doubted they would even be smart enough to hear God’s word if I shouted it at them.

          But something stopped me suddenly. My half-packed bag dropped from my hand.   Suspicion grew in my head and suddenly I grew dizzy.  If God wanted to destroy a city, certainly he would not send a prophet at all.  I know the Torah; I have studied it my entire life.  I remember the tale of Abraham and his cousin Lot.  I know that God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and stopped only to inform Abraham of his Divine plan.  There was no announcement, no way for them to escape justice.  Only Lot in his righteousness was spared.  And even then, they had to sneak him out moments before Judgement Day arrived.

          Why would God give these non-Chosen, temple destroying, Assyrians even a moment’s notice before wiping them off the earth?  And why must I be there when it happens?  Something just didn’t add up, and before I knew it, my bag still only half-packed, my feet took me away from Nineveh, away from Jerusalem, away from my homeland and God’s special chosen place, running towards the sea, running away from God.

          Sometime along the way these words formed in my head, “I will not stand by and watch Jerusalem’s captors kneel and bow down before my God.  I will not offer them a chance to repent and be forgiven.  I will protect my people.  I will show God that He can’t just go around forgiving everyone.  I will remind God that there is true evil in the world, and it deserves to be punished.  This is the justice I demand of God; I deserve that much!”

Friends, as we enter a time of unprogrammed worship, I ask you to consider this story and your place in the narrative. 

Are we like the Ninevites, ready to listen to God’s word and change our ways?

Or are we like Jonah, demanding justice for others even as we plead for mercy for ourselves.

What prophecy is God calling to you today?

10-10-21 - Quaker Worship (Part 4): Empathy

Quaker Worship (Part 4): Empathy

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

October 10, 2021

Good morning and welcome to Light Reflections.  We are so glad you joined us this morning as we continue our series on Quaker Worship.  Today’s scripture is from 1 Peter 3:8-9 (from The Voice version)

8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded and show sympathy, love, compassion, and humility to and for each other— 9 not paying back evil with evil or insult with insult, but repaying the bad with a blessing. It was this you were called to do, so that you might inherit a blessing. 

For several months now, I have been reading about a trend that is making significant headlines across our country. That trend is something called “leadership empathy.” 

One of my former student leaders at Huntington University posted an article this week that emphasized this by claiming the future to be leading by empathy more than power, greed, or status. 

What I found most interesting is that this leadership trend is being driven by millennials (those born between the early 1980’s through the early 2000’s).  If you weren’t aware, during the pandemic, the Millennial Generation became the largest in the workforce, which also means they are now driving the workforce.

I find this interesting since Millennials are the first generation statistically not having a clear connection to the organized church. 

Ironically, we at First Friends are currently finding a surge in millennials – which is clearly not the trend in the church universal, right now – and has not been a trend among Quaker Meetings whose average age is 65+ years old.  We should be keenly aware that something is happening in our midst.

Having three millennial sons, who work in millennial managed work situations, the concept of leadership empathy is clear.  Both Sue and I have said we could learn a lot from this model.  Sue mentioned how teaching has lost its empathy in our country – especially during the pandemic – but also over time as education has become more political and business driven.

Sadly, I must agree. And when listening to my fellow pastors across the country each week – it is clear that empathy is often missing within many Meetings and churches, today.

This is when I began to realize and consider how significantly important empathy is to a Quaker Worshipping Community. 

But before I get too wrapped up in developing this idea, let’s start with defining what is meant by empathy.  In the article my student shared, it said:

Empathy is complicated, and many people don’t understand exactly what it entails. It’s more than being “nice,” and it’s much different from sympathy. An empath [someone who practices empathy] is someone who understands what another person is going through by looking at the situation from their perspective…Think about someone who really took time to help you grow. They were most likely an empath. 

Much like in the business leadership environment, empathy within a religious community is becoming aware of the fellow spiritual seekers we gather with, acknowledging their unique and often complex worship and communication styles, as well as acknowledging that they have lives separate from what is seen when gathered together.

An empathetic worship environment is to create a place where the gathered community is able to communicate about stresses, challenges, and uncertainties about their faith, about the Divine, and even about their involvement in the Local Meeting.

Someone who studied in detail the Millennial Generation within the church before she unexpectedly passed away from Cerebral Edema in 2019 was Rachel Held Evans.  She said,

Most young adults I know aren’t looking for a religion that answers all of their questions, but rather a community of faith in which they feel safe to ask them.

What I believe Rachel was seeking and trying hard to promote and create was more empathetic worship communities. 

Asking questions is also an important part of the overall worship experience – as Quakers that is why queries are so essential to our community and faith.

Encouraging religious seekers such as you and me to ask questions and look at our faith as something we can fully explore rewards everyone (no matter their generation or age).

Yes, at times we will need to wrestle with and provide space to explore answers or outcomes but embracing an empathetic worship community also means offering people space to use their curiosity and creativity to inspire new ideas and understandings about the Divine they may have never thought of. 

This will mean that an Empathetic Worship Community does not accept the phrase, “We have always done it that way.”  That is the one single phrase that has killed Meetings and churches throughout the ages.  It kills the curiosity and creativity, lacks empathy, and does not inspire future hope. 

Every year in America we publish a list of the top 10 phrases becoming insincere, useless, or cliché.  “We have always done it that way” should be #1 on a similar list for the universal church.

Some others we could put on this list would include:

“Everything happens for a reason.”

“God will never give you more than you can handle.”

“Let go and let God.”

“You just need to pray about it.”

Oh…and there are so many more.

And sadly, when those phrases fall short – as they always do - we quickly look for an answer or response instead of empathetically sitting with each other and the issues and seeking the “why” behind them.  

The reason I consider empathy as essential to building a Quaker Worshipping Community is because worship puts our attention on others.

It is, as I have been saying for the past 4 weeks, to humble us before the Divine for teaching, transformation, love, and hope, SO THAT we may experience the empathy of the Divine and in turn share that empathy with our neighbors within whom we believe God resides. 

In some Quaker circles they have another phrase they use to describe empathy within the worshipping community – they utilize,

“listening beyond words.”

It is clear when reading the lives and actions of the early Quakers that they were very interested in empathy.  Just look at how the majority of them viewed women, slaves, First Nations people, and their fellow Friends. 

In T. Vail Palmer’s book Face to Face: Early Quaker Encounters with the Bible, Palmer makes the case that a deep valuing of empathy played a major role in early Quakers’ interpretation of the Bible.

Instead of power, position, or status, they interpreted the Bible in light of an empathetic spirit that was commanded by Jesus when he focused on Loving one’s neighbors as their selves.

From our very beginning, Friends developed explicit practices for fostering empathy, because even though humans have a capacity for empathy, that does not mean we necessarily pay attention to it. 

Quaker practices that get to the “why” like “listening beyond words” opens the way for people to develop deep insights into each other.

Empathetic interactions then build connections between people at levels much deeper than perceived judgments and basic information – or what we could say is “getting beyond the surface issues and doubts of faith and community.” 

Let’s be honest – attending church is considered one of the most superficial times in the week for people – they come pulling themselves together, yelling at each other all the way to the Meetinghouse door, and then almost like Disney magic they enter through the doors on Sunday morning - only to pull off the perfect ruse for an hour or so.  I know some of you did it this morning.  And probably some others are watching at home because they couldn’t pull it together. 

It’s time we entered the Meetinghouse – warts and all.  Seeking to delve beyond the surface of our lives.

So, how do we “go beyond the surface,” “listen beyond words” and become a truly empathetic worship community?

I want us to begin by focusing on what I will label the Three “A’s” of Worship.

Attitude

Attention and

Adjustment

I first came across these when studying active listening in a psychology class.  I have adapted them to help us consider what I will call this morning “Active Empathetic Worship.”

Let’s begin with “attitude.”

Worship must always begin with having the right attitude.  Whether you are coming to Meeting for Worship, a small group study, or a committee meeting (remember, all are considered worship among Friends), take a moment to decide if you’re emotionally open to the conversations that may ensue whether with the Divine or with your neighbor.

Also, ask yourself if you are able to devote your attention to what God or your sister or brother may say or ask of you? 

It’s also important to leave your bias at the door and come in with an open mind and heart for where the Spirit may lead.

This leads us to “Attention.”

Worship among Friends demands our undivided attention so that we can hear from God and our neighbor.  This is not easy, folks.

When we bring our distractions to worship, we may not be able to have the empathy necessary for others or even ourselves.  Our distractions then become distractions for our neighbor’s worship as well. 

Ask yourself how you might eliminate the distractions so you can be fully present in worship, to God and to your neighbor’s needs?

And the final “A” stands for “Adjustment.”

One major aspect of Quaker Worship is becoming silent, entering a humble posture of deep listening, and then seeking a way to respond to what speaks to one’s condition. 

This means always being open to the fact that things may not go as we may anticipate or desire. Thus, to fully worship and respond, we may need to make some personal adjustments. 

I find that having empathy for my neighbor often begins with an adjustment in my own heart – I must get myself out of the way before I am able to speak to the condition of my neighbor or hear from the Divine.

Early this week, I posted a thought to start our week from Leslie Jamison on my Facebook page – it happened to be on empathy.  It received a lot of interaction, and I had many conversations about it.  I believe Leslie is speaking to just what I am talking about here:

Empathy isn’t just something that happens to us—a meteor shower of synapses firing across the brain—it’s also a choice we make: to pay attention, to extend ourselves. It’s made of exertion, that dowdier cousin of impulse.

Sometimes we care for another because we know we should or because it’s asked for, but this doesn’t make our caring hollow. The act of choosing simply means we’ve committed ourselves to a set of behaviors greater than the sum of our individual inclinations.

This confession of effort chafes against the notion that empathy should always rise unbidden, that genuine means the same thing as unwilled, that intentionality is the enemy of love. But I believe in intention, and I believe in work. I believe in waking up in the middle of the night and packing our bags and leaving our worse selves for our better ones.

In this worshipping community – whether during a Meeting for Worship, a fellowship activity, within a committee, or when just having a cup of coffee with a fellow Friend,

·        Are we paying attention?

·        Are we extending ourselves?

·        Are we choosing to commit ourselves to a higher way?

·        Are we aware of our attitudes, attention, and need for personal adjustments?

To close this teaching on building a Quaker Empathetic Worship Community, I turn to the words of Quaker Poet and Abolitionist, John Greenleaf Whittier, who said,

I’ll lift you and you lift me, and we’ll ascend together.

Together may we at First Friends ascend in empathy and love for God and one another.

Let us now enter waiting worship and ask ourselves those queries I just read:

·        Am I paying attention?

·        Am I extending myself?

·        Am I choosing to commit myself to a higher way?

·        Am I aware of my attitudes, attention, and need for personal adjustments?

Our God

We pray for Empathy –

seeking to understand: ideas, people, situations, ourselves, our faith, our hopes,

seeking, exploring the why of life, the why of who we are.

seeking - because we know that only by seeking, do we go beyond ourselves, to where    answers reside, answers that we had never considered. And we are enriched, by becoming more whole.

We pray that we would be Vulnerable –

open to being influenced to new ideas, new possibilities. Lives enriched with new experiences, horizons, things we thought not possible.

Surprise us, our God

We know change causes us to be vulnerable; as we become less capable of adapting, changes seem greater as our limits become more apparent, our abilities seem in decline simple things, small changes take on greater magnitude. 

Keep ideas, possibilities, dreams, hopes, growing in and around us. So that change is not an inhibitor, but stimulation into new life. Cause our attitude to change to be invitational, not to create whirlwinds in our lives, but measured growth

Keep us Curious about life, exploring and discovering, growing into understanding, more of the mystery of life as we walk with you author of life, and our guide.

As we seek these things for ourselves, we pray that they become realities for those around us. Use us as channels of understanding, influence, curiosity, to help others grow. We take our part in your creation more fully when we offer ourselves to others and to you.

Use us, we pray.

Place people in our path that will cause us to grow and whom we can help grow. The things we desire, we pray for those whom we find difficult to love, as well as those close to us.

Lord, lead us into wholeness, whatever that may be, Amen.

Benediction:

Lord, as we leave this Meeting for Worship, grant us the wisdom to see the good in each person we meet. Grant us the empathy to understand their life situation and respect them enough to extend loving support, while sharing Your love with dignity.  Allow us, Lord, to recognize opportunities to stand with others, friend to friend this day. Amen

10-3-21 - Resilience and Hope: Drawing Strength from Our Quaker Faith

Resilience and Hope: Drawing Strength from Our Quaker Faith

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

October 3, 2021

Good morning and Happy World Quaker Day!  I am so glad you joined us for Light Reflections.  Today, our scripture passage is from Romans 5:3-5 (from the Message version):

3-5 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

In a world still suffering from so much, it makes total sense that for World Quaker Day we would be considering resilience and hope and drawing strength from our Quaker faith. 

Throughout the pandemic, we learned firsthand about resilience and finding hope.  And part of that learning, was realizing that as Quakers we are inherently resilient and people who believe deeply in hope and a better tomorrow. 

Yet this week, I began to ponder what it was, about hope specifically, that was unique among Quakers.  Because for most of us, whether Quaker or not, there is always something deep inside us longing for something we don’t currently have – something we hope for.

So, as I often do, I decided to research hope from a Quaker perspective and explore its many dimensions. Quaker Kate Davies, a member of Whidbey Island (Wash.) Meeting and author of Intrinsic Hope: Living Courageously in Troubled Times, seemed to be the perfect expert to help shed some light on hope and give us something to wrestle with this morning. She wrote an article for Friends Journal called, “A Quaker Perspective of Hope” which I will quoting from throughout my sermon.

Davies begins by defining two different types of hope – extrinsic hope and altruistic hope. 

She defines extrinsic hope coming from a sense of dissatisfaction or the perception that there’s a problem, combined with the desire for whatever we believe will make us feel better or resolve the dilemma.

For example, if I say “I hope to lose weight,” I am dissatisfied with my weight; I am identifying a problem and am wishing for a specific solution.

Extrinsic hopes can often be selfish, or they can also be self-less and concerned for the well-being of others.  This is what Davies labels altruistic hope. 

Quakers are known historically for having altruistic hopes.  Even during a deadly pandemic, Quakers did not lose hope but continued to make their voices known.

Quakers throughout the world showed their altruistic hope during the pandemic by continuing to seek an end to discrimination and racism, working to end poverty, addressing homelessness, educating on climate change, pollution, and the consumer society. 

Even in the midst of suffering and struggle Quakers show resilience and continue to hope for a just, peaceful, and a sustainable world where we all equally may live together in unity.

Davies says that these altruistic hopes are usually regarded as more worthy or virtuous than self-centered ones, so it’s even easier to expect that life should give us what we hope for.

I don’t know about you, but if life is inherently good, shouldn’t it comply with our well-intentioned wishes for others?  

I think we have bought into this thinking on many occasions – especially during the last couple of years.  We hoped and even expected things to change, but they didn’t.

This is because life just doesn’t work this way.

Davies points out that our altruistic hopes may be extremely noble, but this is no guarantee they will be fulfilled any more than self-centered ones. This can be very discouraging and cause us to lose hope over time.

Folks, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with extrinsic hope, sometimes it is what helps us cope with difficult or painful situations, and sometimes it gives us a goal to focus on.

This explains why extrinsic hope is so common.

Just think about it: Davies says,

“…whenever you have an extrinsic hope, it gives you something to look forward to, something to anticipate with pleasure. But this type of hope is always accompanied by the fear of not getting what we hope for, and by disappointment, sadness, anger, and other unpleasant emotions when we don’t get it. These difficult feelings are indicators of unmet expectations, and they come up often because there is a lot we cannot control in life.”

This has been made extremely clear over the past couple of years.  If there is one thing that has continued to be the center of attention, it is our lack of control and the disappointment, sadness, anger and deep-felt emotions that have accompanied that lack of control.

This is because a dissonance has arisen between our extrinsic hopes and our inability to attain them making it inevitable that we will experience this lack of control and its corresponding emotional reactions. Davies says,

“The gap between what we hope for and the way life actually is ensures these emotions. Even though our extrinsic hopes may be extremely noble and altruistic, the more desperately we want to attain them and the more specific they are, the more emotional suffering we will experience when life doesn’t go our way.”

Therefore I believe currently we are seeing a mounting frustration and unsettledness in our personal lives, in our Meeting, and in our world.

So, what does Quakerism have to say to this situation, especially since we are saying we are a resistant people full of hope. 

To see this, we must return to the dictionary and look past that first definition of hope (desire, expectation, and fulfillment) and land on the second which is based on faith.  

Davies points out that this type of hope is about trusting life without the expectations of attaining particular outcomes. It is a hope which has an unshakeable faith in whatever happens and the human capacity to respond in a constructive and hopeful manner. 

This is a positive, but not necessarily optimistic, attitude to life that does not depend on external conditions or circumstances.

Davies calls this “intrinsic hope” because it comes from deep inside us.

Former president of Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel said in his book, Disturbing the Peace that hope

“…is a dimension of the soul, and it’s not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation. . . It is an orientation of the spirit, and orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons.”

Just maybe then, intrinsic hope could be seen as that of God in everyone; the inner light; the quiet, still voice; and the experience of the Divine within.

I am starting to think that this message really fits into the worship series we have been working through for the last 3 weeks.  Because intrinsic hope must be part of our worship and our worshipping community.

As George Fox advised in an epistle to Friends in America some 20 years after his 1656 counsel,

“Hold fast the hope which anchors the soul, which is sure and steadfast, that you may float above the world’s sea.”

Fox is making the point that intrinsic hope is about accepting the waves and storms of life, and working with them.

It is about aspiring to something rather than expecting it.

It is about seeking possibilities rather than anticipating the worst.

With intrinsic hope, you and I can aspire to see an end to discrimination, racism, poverty, homelessness, and so on, and we can aspire to help create a better world, but we don’t expect life to conform to our wishes any time soon.

Davies says,

“Intrinsic hope says yes to whatever happens—whether we like it or not—because if we lose hope and give up, then all the gloomy predictions about the future will become a reality. And if we dwell on our extrinsic hopes, we will continue to feel sadness, despair, and anger whenever life does not give us what we want. But if we can live from intrinsic hope, we will be able to stay positive and engaged even in the darkest of times. And in doing so, we can influence whether there will be a viable future for our children, their children, and all future generations of life on earth.”

In one of my favorite books, Practicing Peace by Catherine Whitmire, she quotes another of my favorite quaker mystics, Thomas Kelly. 

I believe his worlds perfectly describe intrinsic hope and could have literally been written during our current times. Let these words conclude our thoughts today and help us lean into intrinsic hope and our Quaker faith to make a difference in our world.  

In such a world as ours today, no light glib word of hope dare be spoken. . . . Only if we look long and deeply into the abyss of despair do we dare to speak of hope. . . We dare not tell people to hope in God . . . unless we know what it means to have absolutely no other hope but in God. But as we know something of such a profound and amazing assurance, clear at the depths of our beings, then we dare to proclaim it boldly in the midst of a world aflame.

Now, as we enter waiting worship, let us umbly present ourselves before the Divine in expectant waiting for teaching, transformation, love and HOPE!

To help us process these thoughts Friends World Committee on Consultation has provided the following queries:

·        How do you understand resilience and hope? Is this different from your Quaker neighbor?

·        What elements of your Quaker faith enable you to have resilience and hope?

·        How does being part of an international Quaker community help provide you with strength?

9-26-21 - Quaker Worship: Community (Part 3)

Quaker Worship: Community (Part 3)

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

September 26, 2021

Good morning and welcome to Light Reflections.  Today, we are continuing our exploration of Quaker Worship by looking at community.  Our text for this morning is Hebrews 10:22-25.  

So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

A few years ago, I decided I was tired of the word “community” in religious circles.  I went as far as to write an article that showed up in a couple different media sources about my evolving understanding.  The article began with me saying,

“Community" is a buzzword today. It is overused, misused, confused and rather annoying at times. I used to think it seemed pretty elementary, but when done religiously, I find it much more complicated. If asked, we probably all would have a slightly different idea of what good community looks like.

Now, I am sure if we took a moment right now and each shared our definitions – we too would have a wide range of understandings of just what community is to each of us.  

Actually, it was in my exploration of the idea of “community” that my understanding began to evolve.  In the article, I said…

Personally, I’ve had a few misconceptions about what constitutes community, one being the idea that everyone should be “best friends."

When I have pictured good community in the past, I usually think of myself in a group of really great friends. We get together on an autumn evening, have a cookout, talk about the “deep stuff," all the while making light of the greater mysteries of life.

Obviously, in this scenario of good community my happiness is very important.

If I am experiencing true community, I know that I am pleased with the way things are going. My friends are always looking out for me, I feel supported, and I am comfortably content.

Over time, I have realized I was wrong about what constitutes true community. I have decided that one of the best, and most difficult, ways to live in community is to spend time with people who are not exactly like me (and maybe not my friends).

Knowing the way the Divine works, it is most likely that God doesn’t encourage fellowship with one another for the sole purpose of our own satisfaction. God probably has something for us to learn through community.

This is when I started to look at scripture.

For instance, in Romans 12:4-5 it states,

4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

This shows how even though we are all part of the same body, we all have different roles. We have each been given gifts that we are to use for unique purposes. As people who are hopefully striving toward similar goals, we should appreciate one another’s unique gifts.

Instead of thinking that everyone should do things the way that we would, we are to appreciate the diversity that God has placed within the body.

Once I realized this beautiful aspect of community, I thought I was content, until I found Ephesians 4:2-3.

Paul is talking to the Ephesians, again about being united as a body. He urges them to recognize each other’s individual callings. He also tells them to

“be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

I don’t know about you, but I am really good at knowing when others need to make an effort to be humble or patient. I can point out when someone should be better at bearing with me in love.

And, honestly, my Inner Light or Inner Christ often convicts me about playing my part as well.

But what hit me when reading this passage was the command to “make every effort."

I may be completely justified in the fact that I do just enough, but have I done all I can to be united with my sisters and brothers?  That changes things a bit.

Perhaps the Bible encourages us to love one another and to be united because it helps us take the focus off ourselves.

I cannot control how other people respond to me.

I cannot make them be what they should.

All I can do is what I have been asked.

And uncomfortably for me, I have been asked to do a lot. I am asked to get my attitude right, no matter what the other person is doing.

I am to love at all times.

This love for others – whether or not they love me back – is part of my responsibility in encouraging a worshipping community.

Part of what a worshipping community teaches us is to slowly and sometimes painfully begin to think about others, to forgive others (as Mary Blackburn reminded us in our in-person waiting worship last week), and to bear with one another.

That means taking the focus off ourself is about being part of a worshipping community. This is another aspect of that positioning I spoke of two Sundays ago where we place ourselves in a humble manner before the Divine so we are able to be taught, transformed, and loved. 

Yet too often I cocoon myself within my community.

I use my desire for fellowship with other people as an excuse to ignore those who do not want to live in the manner of Friends or the way of Christ. This quickly can become a country club environment or maybe for us a “secret society.”

Isn’t this the opposite of what we are supposed to be doing as a worshipping community?

Community is less about a great group of people who can make me feel loved and important, and more about how I can try to love those around me, and in turn, how together we can show God’s love to those around us.

Quaker Rex Ambler in his book, “The Quaker Way” has a chapter focused on Meeting Others.  By meeting together and opening up to one another in a worshipping community, he says “we find strength and insight, and a basis for action” – but he also says “it means we take a responsibility for one another.”

As worship has become more about styles and preferences as I discussed a couple weeks ago, taking responsibility for one another has become lost. 

As he closes out this chapter Rex specifically talks about worshipping together in community.  He says,

Our practice of coming together once a week to sit in silence [or Meeting for Worship] makes sense ONLY IF we have learned to do that during the week and have gotten to know the people we sit with in ordinary, everyday interactions. 

How well do you know the people you worship with at First Friends? How much are you willing to let them know? These are important questions and I believe are the crux of what it means to be a part of a Quaker Worshipping Community.

This is because being a worshipping community is a holistic experience that incorporates both a responsibility for one another and a desire to get to know one another in a more holistic way.  

Folks, this means a Quaker Worship Community will be asked to take risks. 

Quaker Marty Walton in “The Meeting Experience: Practicing Quakerism in Community,” says,

“We cannot stay in safety, hidden behind walls of private thoughts, with aloof smiles on our faces…When we move beyond our protective barriers, lift up our shroud of privacy a bit, and begin to ask each other real questions and engage each other in honest searching, we inevitably discover how very different each of us is. We are confronted with experiences both delightful and confounding.”

Not only does worshipping in community challenge our understanding of each other, but as it states in Quaker Faith and Practice,

“Worship is our response to an awareness of God. We can worship alone, BUT when we join with others in expectant waiting, we may discover a deeper sense of God’s Presence.”

A few years ago, I may have been ready to throw out the word, “community,” but folks, the more I look at it in light of worship, I realize it is essential. 

New England Yearly Meeting has this statement in their Faith and Practice that I would love for us to affirm at First Friends.  It sums up what I have been trying to say in this sermon about being a worshipping community.

Just listen to how they describe the Worshipping Community in the Manner of Friends.

“The nature of their purpose and quest as Friends binds members of a meeting and of the whole Society into an intimate fellowship whose unity is not threatened by the diversity of leadings and experiences which may come to individual Friends.

To share in the experience of the Presence in corporate worship, to strive to let Divine Will guide one’s life, to uphold others in prayer, to live in a sense of unfailing Love, is to participate in a spiritual adventure in which Friends come to know one another and to respect one another at a level where differences of age or sex, of wealth or position, of education or vocation, or face or nation are all irrelevant.

Within this sort of fellowship, as in a family, griefs and joys, fear and hopes, failures and accomplishment are naturally shared, even as individuality and independence are scrupulously respected.”

That is the definition of a Quaker Worshipping Community.

So, how might we at First Friends work on continuing to develop this worshipping community in our midst?  Let me give us some suggestions (some of these we may already be doing – but they are always good reminders for us to consider):

1.      Start from what each of us knows from our own experience.

2.      Foster deep, satisfying worship.

3.      Encourage Friends to seek and respond to the Inner Guide (Light, Christ)

4.      Practice careful use of Quaker process in conducting business.

5.      Encourage regular attendance at both meeting for worship and meeting for  business.

6.      Welcome newcomers and help them integrate with the group.

7.      Encourage social networks based on friendship, work, hobbies, or shared  activities such as music-making.

8.      Provide a variety of small group activities.

9.      All contribute financially as able.

10.  Work together on maintaining the meetinghouse or on service projects.

11.  Provide opportunities where Friends can share deeply with one another.

12.  Take individual leadings to the meeting for discernment.

13.  Support one another.

14.  Hold one another accountable.

15.  Actively mentor people into positions of responsibility.

16.  Provide opportunities for spiritual sharing and growth.

17.  Provide opportunities to learn more about Quakerism so that there is a  common understanding among Friends of what we’re about and how we do things.

These are just a few ways we can begin to build a better worshipping community at First Friends.  I hope you will find ways this week to engage some of them.

Now, as we enter waiting worship this morning, I ask that you take some time to think through your involvement with the worship community at First Friends.  Ask yourself:

·        Where am I taking a risk as part of this worshipping community?

·        Who are the people that are not like me that I need to engage at First Friends to build a stronger community?

·        What can I do this week to enhance and/or participate within the worshipping community at First Friends?

9-19-21 - God Is Love - Quaker Worship Part 2

God is Love – Quaker Worship Part 2

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

September 19, 2021

I John 4:7-8 (the New Revised Standard Version)

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

When I was a child, I attended a Lutheran Grade School and every day we would start the morning with devotions (except on Wednesdays when we all met in the church for all-school chapel).  I remember one day during devotions my Third-grade teacher, Miss Heber, talking about God being Love.  

At first this was a weird and new concept for my Third-grade mind.  Just the phrase “God is Love” had me staring out the window and contemplating just what my teacher meant.

How can God be a feeling?  Wasn’t love between two people?

Love must be more than what I had originally thought.  But to jump to God being love was almost too big to wrap my head around (somedays it still is).

I can honestly say, I think that day, during the morning devotion, was the first time my mind began expanding on just how I see God and what it means that God is love. 

It was clear Miss Heber struggled to help us understand, just as any teacher who tries to teach the expansiveness of the Divine to young minds.  But in some aspect, she also narrowed things down greatly by defining God as simply love.  In the coming years, I would add a lot more to my definition of God and complicate my understanding.

A few years later, I found myself in Confirmation Class, still with a lot of questions and still wrestling with the idea of God as love.  In Confirmation, my pastor taught me about another word for God’s love – that word was agape. 

We were told that agape was unconditional love – and this was the love we spoke of when we talked of God.  My pastor also taught us there were three other types of love,

Storge or Affection

Philia or Friendship

Eros or Romantic 

And finally

Agape or Charity

My pastor said that this Agape Love was what God gives us so that we can love our neighbors.  Now, there was another new thought to add to my wondering mind. 

Again, I had to ponder.  So, God is love and God gives each of us his love so that we can share that of God with our neighbors.  And when we love – then we are connecting with the Divine in a very personal way.   As our scripture for today said, “everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”

C.S. Lewis expounded on these four loves, in a teaching by the same title, adding to agape love – sacrificial love.  Being willing to lay down one’s life for another – some calling this the ultimate act of worship or grace.  Thus, Jesus’ death by crucifixion at the hands of the religious and political authorities became the ultimate act of Divine love.   

Also, during Confirmation, I was introduced to further attributes of God.  God might be love, but God is also, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.  This complicated things even further for me. 

At first, I took it at face value – God is everywhere, all knowing, and all powerful.  But as I tried to grasp this, I realized this made for a rather scary God – and love then takes a backseat to a God more like the ones we see in Greek Mythology.

But as I started to think about this, I realized if God is love then this breaks down when we start to apply these attributes to the Divine.  James Burklo enlightened me on this matter when he explained this about God being Love.

“Love is the generative and creative force of the cosmos, so it is omnipresent.  But it makes room for unpredictable possibilities, so it is not omniscient.  Love is the essence of existence and of consciousness: it is powerfully attractive, but it is not omnipotent.  Love is personal, so we use personal terms to express it.  But we don’t ask love to solve our problems for us.  Prayer is not about asking God to intervene on our behalf.  Rather, it is our cultivation of cosmic consciousness, a discipline of paying compassionate attention to ourselves and others.  It is the practice of de-centering our small- “s” selves and recognizing unconditional love – which is the Christ – at the core of our being.  In prayer, we let divine love guide us into action to meet the needs of ourselves and others.”

When looking at God as Love in this manner, it begins to shape our understanding and give us a context for how this applies to what I am talking about in this sermon series about worship. 

As Quakers we talk about expectantly waiting – and for some that often includes what we have universally come to know as prayer – what we may define as making a spiritual connection with the Divine. 

Worship and Prayer go hand-and-hand because when we make this connection, we are raising our consciousness within ourselves and learning to embrace agape (unconditional love) first at the core of our being (our Inner Christ or Inner Light) and then learning to sacrifice our own wants and desires to let the divine love guide us into action in meeting the needs of those around us. This was illustrated beautifully in the life and ministry of Jesus.

Quaker worship then places us humbly before the Divine to be taught, transformed, and LOVED, SO THAT we can become a CONDUIT of God’s teaching, transformation, and love to our world. 

Quaker Worship then is a full immersion into this Divine Love and holy compassion.  (Let me repeat that phrase). Quaker Worship then is a full immersion into this Divine Love and holy compassion.

It becomes the core of our worship.  Even Jesus when asked about what was most important spelled it out by focusing on LOVE. 

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

The Apostle Paul also narrowed it down to LOVE when he wrote to the Corinthians and said, “13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

I encourage you this week to take your Bible off the shelf, crack it open, and spend some time reading through the New Testament. And when you come across the word God – replace it with the word “love.”  And really look at those places where the writers of scripture spoke about love.  I sense you will find a new perspective. 

Since that devotion in third grade, I have continued to expand my understanding of God.  That seed that was planted about God being love has continued to blossom and grow.

I find the authors of scripture continue to call us back to this Divine Love. If we are willing to place ourselves before this Love and take it seriously it results in a long list of significant consequences and possibilities.

These three words, “God is Love,” are not just a statement about God, but they sum up the meaning and purpose of our worship and even our human existence.

Embracing a God of Love opens us up as a conduit of a more compassionate, mindful, and in the true meaning of the word, progressive form of Christianity and Quakerism.

Again, James Burklo helped me begin to put words to this Divine dilemma that I have been wrestling with since I was a child.

·        If God is love, then God is something we do, more than somebody or something we try to believe in.

·        If God is love, then God is a relationship, and not with some Guy with a long beard somewhere up in the clouds, or some other kind of supernatural entity.

·        If God is love, God is nothing to fear.

·        If God is love, when we really love someone – even of another religion, or of no religion at all – God is in that relationship, blessing it.

So, these three words wipe away all the theological debates about science and common sense versus religion. These three words sweep away the problem of evil, the perennial conundrum of how an all-powerful God could love people while allowing horrible things to happen to them.

Don’t get me wrong, Love is extremely powerful, but it is not directive. Love does not force anybody to do anything, nor to force anything to do anything to anybody.

·        If God is love, then God is omni-attractive, not omni-potent. 

·        If God is love, then prayer is not about asking God for favors.

·        If God is love, then prayer becomes the contemplative experience of divine love.  (That sounds extremely Quaker.)

·        It is the practice of love through compassionate attention to all that is. And this is the purpose of human life. Through billions of years of cosmic unfolding and evolution, we frail creatures have come into being for the purpose of reflecting attentive awe and wonder back at the universe.  That is the purpose of worship.

We’re here to let our jaws drop in amazement at each other’s existence (and that of God or Love in one another), and to be wonderstruck with loving attention toward all that exists.

When we are in this state of awe, we are doing God. We are practicing God. We are communing with God. We are worshipping the God that is LOVE.

I know many of you watched the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, but one of the most controversial aspects of the wedding was actually the sermon (as a pastor I loved that so many people were talking about the sermon at such a high profile event). It may go down as one of the most talked about wedding sermon’s in history.  Bishop Michael Curry opened his sermon with these words. 

The late Dr Martin Luther King Jr once said, and I quote:

"We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will make of this old world a new world, for love is the only way."

There's power in love. Don't underestimate it. Don't even over-sentimentalize it. There's power, power in love.

If you don't believe me, think about a time when you first fell in love. The whole world seemed to center around you and your beloved.

Oh there's power, power in love. Not just in its romantic forms, but any form, any shape of love. There's a certain sense in which when you are loved, and you know it, when someone cares for you, and you know it, when you love and you show it - it actually feels right.

There is something right about it. And there's a reason for it. The reason has to do with the source. We were made by a power of love, and our lives were meant - and are meant - to be lived in that love. That's why we are here.

Ultimately, the source of love is God himself: the source of all of our lives. There's an old medieval poem that says: 'Where true love is found, God himself is there.

Love is in this place this morning if we are willing to place ourselves before it to be taught and transformed. And when we leave this place, we can take this worship of Love and become a conduit of it to our families, our neighbors, our workplaces, and to the greater world. 

Now, as we continue this exploration of worship in the manner of Friends, let us again enter this time of expectant waiting in a humble manner – opening ourselves to Love for teaching and transformation. Here are three queries for you to ponder. 

·         What ideas or attributes of God have not been helpful in my faith journey?

·         How might embracing God or the Divine as Love help me both worship and respond to my world?

·         How will I pay compassionate attention to myself and others this week?  

Opening Prayer:

God, whom we know to be Love, we humbly position ourselves before you in this Meeting for Worship. Teach, transform, and fill us with your love this morning. Speak to our condition, make your presence known to our Inner Lights, and help us to sense a desire to share Your Love with all we meet. May we be the conduit of your Love to our world.  Amen.

Benediction:

In The Name of Love

In the Name of Love, we have come.
In the Name of Love, we are here.
And, in the Name of Love we will go.
Knowing in our Hearts and in our Souls
that what we have experienced is truly Divine.

- Dennis Yount (Died of AIDS in the early 1990s)

9-12-21 - Quaker Worship: Letting God Teach & Transform Us

Quaker Worship: Letting God Teach & Transform Us

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

September 12, 2021

Good morning Friends and welcome to Light Reflections.  This morning’s scripture text is from Psalm 95 (from the Message Version).  

1-2 Come, let’s shout praises to God,
    raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!
Let’s march into his presence singing praises,
    lifting the rafters with our hymns!

3-5 And why? Because God is the best,
    High King over all the gods.
In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns,
    in the other hand grasps the high mountains.
He made Ocean—he owns it!
    His hands sculpted Earth!

6-7 So come, let us worship: bow before him,
    on your knees before God, who made us!
Oh yes, he’s our God,
    and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.

7-11 Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks:
    “Don’t turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising,
As on the day of the Wilderness Test,
    when your ancestors turned and put me to the test.
For forty years they watched me at work among them,
    as over and over they tried my patience.
And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked!
    ‘Can’t they keep their minds on God for five minutes?
    Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?’
Exasperated, I exploded,
    ‘They’ll never get where they’re headed,
    never be able to sit down and rest.’”

For the next several weeks, we are going to explore worship in the manner of Friends.  Worship is a loaded subject because we get caught up in the “how’s” of worship, rather than the “why’s.” 

In our American culture, worship has evolved to a set of types, the facilities it happens within, or the emotions in which it is expressed. 

If you take a moment to explore what Quakers believe, you will most likely find a definition such as this:

“Quaker worship is designed to let God or the Divine

teach and transform the worshippers.”

Once that is said, the following paragraphs will then begin to define our types (programmed or unprogrammed), our facilities or where Meetings for Worship take place, and the emotions or ambiance that make up the worship experience. 

Please note, these are very important aspects that make our worship experiences unique as Quakers, but before we get into unpacking those distinctives, we must first ask ourselves the question behind the question:

What is worship at its core?

If you go to Webster’s Dictionary for an answer you will find:

“The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.”

That is very basic and simply stated, so maybe we need to go to the Bible to help us see other perspectives. This can be where things start to get complicated. 

If we look in the book of Romans:  

Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Let’s write that down…offering our bodies as living sacrifices = true or proper worship.

And then in 1 Corinthians 10:31 Paul goes on to say, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

Ok…so anything we do can be considered worship.  That is getting much closer to our Quaker understanding since the Divine has the ability of teaching or transforming us in just about any life situation or experience we find ourselves in – not just within an hour on Sunday, Monday or Wednesday night, but literally anywhere and anytime. 

Now, if you and I were to go out on the streets and ask our neighbors or friends or even relatives who actually attend a church, what worship is - most would not talk about sacrifice or doing things to the glory of God, or placing themselves before the Divine for teaching or transformation, but rather they would talk about…ready for it…music styles. 

During the 80’s and early 90’s the American church made a shift in what worship meant.  Worship began to split around styles – some churches began to embrace camp-style music or a more bohemian style of folk music.  This led to pianos and organs being replaced by guitars and synthesizers, and choirs replaced by worship teams.  This was based mostly on preferences.  Some still preferred, even at times theologically could make a case for one side or the other. 

When I was in college we learned about and even debated the “Contemporary Christian Music” movement’s influence on worship experiences and discussed what was labeled “the war on worship” which was all about styles and what individuals felt was proper or not.  Again, it was only preferences.  We read book after book on it, Christian Book Stores were filled with worship manuals making their cases, and music preferences soon became synonymous with the word, worship.  

I remember many church meetings when I was first in professional ministry that revolved around the preferences of worship music – everything from sacred and classical to rock and roll and hip-hop. And yes, just like still today, we even lost people over their preferences on multiple occasions.   

At one point in ministry, I held the title: Director of Contemporary Worship – which the only difference between the service I led in the gym and the one that took place in the sanctuary was the style of music played – every other part of the service was identical.  I remember, people would call the church and ask us “What is your worship like?” 

Just think about that question…how would you answer that for First Friends?  What is our worship like? 

Each of us may have a completely different take on this because that question is about our preferences more than about worship.  Our worship should be about positioning ourselves before God, not our preferences.   

For my first 15 years of my ministry, worship was solely defined by music and style – and then soon was added emotion and ambiance. 

As I made my way to become an ordained pastor, the new thing in Christianity was what was called Passion Worship and the accompanying songs with repetitive choruses.  Raising of hands and closing your eyes became popular, the showing of raw emotions accompanied this movement, and soon it all was mainstreamed onto our radios with Contemporary Christmas Music – which gave us worship albums to play in our cars and on our CD players, concerts became worship experiences with everything from people passing out and being overwhelmed by Jesus - to altar-call style revivals.  We had seen this before in America starting after the Civil War. Even venues for worshipping together began to change – warehouses, coffee houses, concert venues, even bars were becoming the places where “worship” happened. 

I find it ironic that back in Martin Luther’s Day – hymn tunes often came from songs he sang in the bar, new lyrics were added and voilà some of our most beloved hymns, like “A Mighty Fortress” were created. 

Now, I can go into great detail about this transition to worship being all about music, because I lived it, and some of you in this room did as well, but it has always been one of the biggest reasons I sought out the Quakers. 

When I first experienced Friends, worship was not about music styles (actually the first Quaker Worship I experienced had no music at all, facilities were not an issue - they met in a home, and emotions and ambiance were not that important – it was about the Divine, it was about expectant waiting, and entering silence (something foreign to almost all of my prior “worship experiences.”   

I was taught that it was not about anything I did, prepared, or experienced, per say, but rather what God or the Divine was doing in our midst.  

I was taught how Quaker worship is about letting God or the Divine teach and transform the worshippers in any aspect of life.

When worship becomes about what I want, then it quickly digresses to be about styles, emotions, even the places where it must happen, instead of intentionally placing oneself before the Spirit of God for teaching and transformation.

And honestly, that could happen anywhere.  It doesn’t need a facility like a sanctuary or meetinghouse.

One of the most beautiful places I have ever worshipped was on the Oregon Coast during my doctoral work.  I and a couple of friends headed to Cape Kawanda.  We climbed the rocks, became still, and allowed the spirit of God to speak to us.  We had no liturgy, no music, no building, no agenda.  We placed ourselves on top of a large rock facing the winds coming off the oceans and felt the mist of the ocean as it beat upon the rocks below us.  I and my company of friends sensed awe, fear, and even renewal in that moment, because we willingly placed ourselves before the Divine.

But I didn’t even need that beautiful place to have this experience. I have been driving in my car with the radio off, and the Spirit of God has begun to teach and transform me…it can happen anywhere.

I try and consider this every time I enter through the side door of our Meetingroom on the First Day for Meeting for Worship.  I try to ask myself - Am I expectantly waiting (as we Quakers like to say) for my Present Teacher or the Spirit of Christ to teach me and transform me this morning?   

If I truly believe in that of God in my neighbor, I have a plethora of possibilities that the divine may choose to speak to me through.  It could happen as I am greeted by someone, during the singing or playing of a special song or hymn, a child’s answer during the children’s message, the way someone reads scripture, I have even found that as I am preaching, God uses my own words to speak to my condition…the important question is am I allowing God to teach and transform me in this moment? 

The word most translated into worship in the Bible simply means “bowing down” getting into a humble position.  That is an eye-opener right there.  

Even Jesus is a bit cryptic in his most direct words on worship when he says,

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.”

Wait…what?  Worship happens in Spirit or as in the Greek pneuma. 

This word pneuma describes the vital spirit, soul, or creative force within each of us – it points to what we Quakers would call our essence, something separate from the body that determines our will, actions, and decisions. For us Quakers this is what we may describe as our Inner Light or that of God within us.  

Thus, when we worship in Spirit or humbly position ourselves to be open to the teaching, leading, and transformation of God, we are usually doing inner work and learning from those around us. 

Folks, worship is not about rituals, traditions, a physical building, or music…but rather it is about the spirit within the temple of our own bodies and its interaction with that of God in and around us. 

What then flows out from those special connections are our personal expressions of worship and this is where our preferences come into play.  We are each unique.   

We might express ourselves through singing, through dancing, through poetry, through creating, through gardening, through activism, through teaching, through painting or drawing, through practicing medicine, through cutting stamps, through smiling, through sitting in silence, through having coffee with a friend, through making a meal, through a vocation, through being a parent or student or friend, through…you fill in the blank! 

We each may choose completely different ways to express our worship.  That is the diverse beauty we offer each other – and remember, it stems first and foremost from putting ourselves in a place to connect that of God in and around us. 

I hope this is starting to make some sense.  There are many aspects to worship that are so important.  Next week I hope to explore another aspect of worship – what I will call a full immersion in the Love and Compassion of God.

Until then, let’s take a moment to enter waiting worship. Here we choose to humbly place ourselves before the Spirit of God for the possibility of being taught and transformed. To help us center down, here are a couple queries to consider.

·        What do I consider worship? What misconceptions do I have?

·        This week, how might I humbly let God, or the Divine teach and transform me?

9-5-21 - Endings and New Beginnings

Endings and New Beginnings

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

August 5, 2021

John 3:3-12 (New International Version)

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 

Along with this weekend being known for celebrating labor in our country, it is also well-known for considering endings and beginnings. 

For us folks in the Midwest, the summer is officially coming to a close and fall is upon us. Another year of school has begun, and the future seems a bit in the air.  We thought we were coming to the close of the pandemic, only to find the variants raising the numbers of cases and us beginning to explore new ways to move forward safely. 

Another aspect of considering endings and beginnings that I often find myself in conversation about is the views of completion or closure.

We have had a couple important memorials this past summer and one of the topics I would overhear people talking about was finding closure.  But it is not just at memorial services that we seek closure – it is also in a variety of things from our current and political past, our religious upbringings, to even the interactions on our Nextdoor community apps.

Even more, I sense the pandemic has left us yearning when it comes to closure. Even though there is such a desire to get back to the said, “normal,” we are learning to work with and embrace what I might call a “holding pattern” or “wait-and-see mentality.” 

Often in religious circles we talk of “new beginnings” and the importance of “ending well” – sometimes, maybe to our detriment, because it takes our focus off being in the present moment.

Yet I find endings and beginnings also to be very spiritual times. Take for instant a baby being born, a wedding, the start of a pilgrimage or spiritual journey, or a death of a loved one, a retirement, even the ending of a bad habit or addiction.   Not only are many of these milestones in life, but they also have a deeply spiritual component. 

In the world we talk about these times being marked by transition – while in the religious world we might use the world transformation instead.  A transformation often implies that an ending becomes an opportunity for a beginning.

These transitions or transformations define the journey of our souls. I believe they are the tools the Divine uses to shake us, regardless of our age, sexual orientation, social or financial status, back onto the journey of self-discovery and Divine connection.

These transitions or transformations can abruptly remove the props we use to hold up our self-image and help us be more vulnerable to those around us. And yes, they also can mark a time of deep confusion and even identity crisis.

I sense we at First Friends are in a time of transition or maybe better yet transformation.

It is clear in many areas we are at times deeply confused and maybe even having an identity crisis. We have begun to reach the end of the way “we have always done things” and are seeking new ways to do the ministry and business of the Meeting.

This is no easy task – simply because it means we must admit we are arriving at an ending…and at the same time must have our eyes open for the possibilities of new beginnings.

If there has been one thing that the Pandemic has taught us at First Friends– it is the fact that we have an ability to transform – even to start something completely new and be successful. 

I am just going to put it out there, but I sense one of the biggest deficiencies in the Quaker world as a whole is the lack of transition or transformation. 

Often, we buddy up with American Christianity and talk of being “born again,” but sadly, it is too often, simply a being born again to the same old thing we did before – lacking new life, energy, momentum, and possibility.  

Jesus says to Nicodemus, “No one, can see the Kingdom of God unless one is born again.”  To see the “Kingdom of God” is just another way of talking about experiencing and participating in the dynamic reality of God’s life and will in the present moment.  What we have become confused about is that Jesus was talking about being “born again in this life, not some life to come. 

If anything, transformation should be about being birthed anew in the present moment so there can be new possibilities and opportunities now!

I think this was what Jesus was trying to help the Pharisee Nicodemus understand. And just like Nicodemus, this is so relevant for our individual lives.   

Let’s be honest, we are not that bad at beginnings, are we?  You and I love to do something new or get a chance to begin again.

But it is the endings that are much different.  Endings have a history, they have baggage, they come with a comfortability with the way things are currently and to end them would mean that scary word - change.

Folks, endings can be devastating and difficult (even painful) for a variety of reasons, most of which we never identify because we’re too caught up with the ending and not what is behind why something is ending or needs to end.

Too often the ending becomes all that we can see – thus the ending becomes an end in itself, which leaves us grieving and lacking the ability to see the new beginning being birthed.

I have learned over my many years in ministry that most people struggle with not being able to comprehend that an “end” is almost always an opportunity for a new beginning.

When I used to teach at Huntington University, I taught a capstone class that was to prepare students for an ending – that being their undergrad college career.  We did a lot of examining where all they had been over the last four-plus years. As well as what they had learned, and how the experience had affected them. 

Early on I would dedicate a class to evaluating what they would want to change about their college experience.  Most would start with a phrase like,

“If I could go back and be a freshman again…I would do...” or

“If I would have known this…I may have chosen to respond this way…” or

“I didn’t realize it was me that needed to change…”

I would take that one experience and turn it around to discuss stepping out of the bubble of college life. How this ending would be an opportunity to make new beginnings as they step out.  It was always an amazing discussion, often tears were shed, but hope was instilled in them that a new beginning was possible.

What if we at First Friends considered taking this year as a Capstone Class for our journey together as a community of faith? 

Maybe we could look back on just the past 65 years since we moved into this building and ask ourselves, where have we come, where are we currently, and where do we want to go? 

I sense we might realize we need to bring some things to and end and find and embrace new opportunities to be birthed anew.   

If our Weighty Friend, Dan Rains left us with one major piece of wisdom about endings, it was that the end always begets new beginnings of some sort.   

I have really been thinking about this and asking myself how I can learn to see a beginning being formed in whatever end I experience? I believe to do this as a community, it must first start with a personal exploration.

Craig Lounsbrough in an article titled “The End is Only a Beginning in Disguise” has some answers to help us.

He says, to see those new beginnings out of our endings, we must first admit we do not want to lose something.

Craig says,

Quite simply, we tend to hate endings because many of our endings involve things that we don’t want to lose. Sure, there are many things that we’re glad to get rid of, but many times some ‘thing,’ or some person, or some life-phase played such a role in our lives that we can’t imagine going on without it. Or we feel that its end has come far too soon, and we are bereft of everything we could have gotten out of it, or it out of us.

What we end up doing is seeing the loss within the agenda that we had created for that thing, or that person, or that life-phase, and we’ve not recognized a larger agenda that’s simply playing itself out so it can play other things in.

Second, Craig says we fear that whatever we’ve lost can never be replaced.

There’s an immediate sense that losing something demands that it be replaced. There’s that sense where we don’t want to disturb the continuity of our lives and the rhythm that we’ve created. Things have been disrupted, sometimes dramatically so, and we want to stop the disruption by immediately replacing whatever it was that we lost.

What we tend to miss is that replacement only serves to perpetuate the repetition of the past, where creating space for something new creates space for something fresh. And it is out of something fresh that this journey of ours is so often refreshed.

Third, Craig says we like to glorify the end.

Since we have to tolerate endings, we want them to be good and even glorious. We want an end to have some meaning to it, that whatever is ending was meaningful and possibly spectacular while it was around.

We can’t hold on to that which we’re losing, but we can make the end grand and glorious to the point that the memory of it will always stay with us. There’s nothing inherently wrong about bringing something to a close in a manner that’s respectful and celebratory, unless this becomes our one and total focus.

Fourth, Craig says we fear that an ending might be a failure.

What if whatever it is that ended wasn’t really supposed to end, but it did because somebody screwed up somewhere? What if this really wasn’t the time? What if this loss really was grossly premature and achingly unnecessary? What if this loss was due to my stupidity or poor timing or lack of insight or lackluster commitment? What if this loss was the product of someone’s blatant failure?

Sometimes losses are so unexplainable and seemingly irrational that we think this way. And it may well be that the loss did not have to happen, and maybe should not have happened at all.

Yet, life is big enough and has ample room to take the most tragic mistakes and weave them into the most wonderful of opportunities if we let it do so. An ending is only a failure if we choose not to tease out the manifold lessons in the ending.

Fifth, Craig says we fear that there will be no new beginning.

So, what if this is an end and nothing more than an end? What if nothing emerges from whatever it is that we’ve lost? What if life doesn’t go on, or there are no opportunities beyond this, or it all dies here?

We often wonder will the road run out, will an irrevocable end eventually come, and will there be no place to go because the future simply won’t exist and the past is forever gone.

Yet, it is looking at the nature and fabric of life, and in the looking realize that things always find a way to go forward because there is always a place to go forward to.

As we look at the endings and beginnings of our own lives and how we respond to them.  I sense we will begin to understand the need for this coming and going. Or this emptying out and filling up. Some may label it an uprooting and a planting.

As fall is upon us here in the Midwest, we are going to see visibly this ending in nature.  I am already seeing it in my backyard.  It is part of the cycle of life.  The coming of spring heralds a resurgence arising out of the debris and decay of fall – what we might even call a resurrection.

As Craig says, “It is a message woven into the most intimate fabric of creation where nothing ends because an end is only a beginning in disguise.”

So over the next several months, I want us to really think about the endings in our personal lives, as well as in this Meeting.

• Are we preparing ourselves for something new to be birthed amongst us? 

• What new beginning might we have the opportunity to embrace if we prepare ourselves?

• And how are we responding to the endings happening around us?

  • Are we holding on to them? 

  • Are we fearing them?

  • Are we glorifying them?

  • Are we seeing them as a failure? Or…

  • Are we worried there will be no new beginnings?

8-29-21 - Get Outside and Connect!

Go Outside and Connect!  

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

August 29, 2021

Good morning, Friends!  It is so good to gather outside to celebrate Funday Sunday! The scripture text I chose for today is from Psalms 96:11-12 (from The Voice translation).  It speaks of the creation praising the Divine or Eternal.  I encourage you to close your eyes as I read and still your hearts. Listen to the nature around us as communicates wisdom and hope. 

11 And so, let the heavens resound in gladness!
    Let joy be the earth’s rhythm as the sea and all its creatures roar.
12 Let the fields grow in triumph, a grand jubilee for all that live there.
Let all the trees of the forest dig in and reach high with songs of joy before the Eternal.

I was thinking the other day about when our kids were younger. What brought this to mind was driving by the park at the end of our street and seeing about 6 middle school children scattered throughout the park all on their smart phones.  It looked as if something had frozen them in time. 

I thought of how both Sue and I would say to our kids – alright, time to turn off the devices and go outside to play!  Go out and have some fun. 

Sure, they were often playing with toys or building with Legos, not always on devices when we said this, but there was something about getting up and going outside to play that was different and important. 

And it would not matter if it was a beautiful day like today or in the middle of winter with snow – it was about going outside that was the key.

If you really think about it, we make the outside part of our play throughout life.  When we go on vacations, go for walks, even when we play sports or exercise, we make sure to get outside. 

For me, I love spending time in nature and I love to play in nature, whether it is enjoying the beach, walking a trail, sitting by a waterfall, laying in a field at night to watch the stars. 

I have always loved playing in nature. But often that is as far as we go. We stop with the playing.  We utilize the nature, sometimes abuse the nature, but rarely do we connect with the nature in a spiritual way.  

Just maybe we will never get to really enjoy the play until we make a connection to the Creation around us.

My daily walk was changed a year or so ago when I saw a tree that I had never noticed right off the path that I walked each day.  I had passed it on numerous occasions, with my ear buds in my ears listening to a book or podcast and never seeing it (hmmm…maybe I am no different than those middle schoolers in the park).  My sole goal was getting my walk in, NOT connecting to nature. 

Yet that day, it was like the tree called out to me.  Immediately I stopped and turned off the book I was listening to.  That’s when I started to make a connection.

I noticed how the tree was overwhelmed at its base by a large invasive vine.  It had become so thick that the tree was struggling too fully live.  My first instinct was to try and remove the vine, but it was so incredibly thick and intertwined that I knew with my hands that I would not make any progress.  I became a bit frustrated because I did not want to see the tree get suffocated by the vine. 

Yet, as I stood there in my frustration, it was almost like the tree was asking me to look deeper or that it was becoming a mirror reflecting back to me the struggles of my own life. 

Suddenly, I was realizing that I was connecting with this tree in a special way.  It was showing me more than I at first realized. 

Just at that moment the sun came out and I glanced up from the base of the tree, following the trunk up to the branches and leaves.  That is when I realized that even though that invasive vine was surrounding the tree, the tree still found a way to thrive and grow.  Above the vines it was lush and full of color and life.

So many applicable lessons the Creation was trying to communicate and teach me in that moment.  

Kris Abrams calls these moments of clarity and connection – “accidental encounters with nature.”  I wasn’t seeking a profound experience that day when I left my house for my walk, but it happened.

That tree took on an entire new meaning for me and still today I never miss taking a moment to look at it when I pass it on my walk.  And yes, it has continued to teach me new things over the last year or so. 

Most of the time, we don’t stop, we don’t go any further, we don’t make the connection.

Kris Abrams says that is because “mainstream culture exerts tremendous pressure to prioritize the surface rather than the spiritual and we revert to exercising or socializing, using nature as a sort of grand gym or café” all the while missing all the deeper ways it could enhance our experience.

The day that tree “spoke to me” I realized I made a shift from an accidental spiritual relationship with nature to a more intentional one.  I found it was not so much me “going out to play” as it was me “going out to connect.” 

Thus, the reason, I am glad we outside in these beautiful meditational woods for worship today.

Now, I know many of you have shared with me connections you have had while in nature.  How spending time on your back porch, at these mediational woods, even in a local park can help you transcend the urgency of the moment, slow you down, and help you sense the presence of God more directly. 

Even one of my mentors and professors used to tell us of how he had a profound encounter with a set of birds on his porch birdfeeder that he believed was the Divine’s way of teaching him how to be a better father.  

But I also know for myself and for many others, taking the time to connect with God through nature does not come easy.  So, this morning, I thought I would offer you six suggestions that have helped me deepen my experience with God through nature. 

What I have realized, is that It’s not enough for us adults to simply tell ourselves “it’s time to go outside and play.”  And maybe that’s because we should be saying to ourselves “it’s time to go outside and connect.” 

Here are some suggestions that have helped me from Kim Abrams.

1.     Make a Commitment

This is often the biggest hurdle to getting outside and making a deeper connection.  You and I both have said it, “But it is too hot, today.” “It’s raining.” “I am too busy.”

Much of this is what Kim names mind clutter.  Our mind is working against us – and that might be due to not getting outside and connecting more with nature.

Hoping to organically spend time in nature may be our hope, but with our lives these days, it probably will not happen. 

To develop a spiritual relationship with nature begins by committing to spending this time in nature.  That may be once a day, once a week, or even more depending on your schedule. 

After the long pandemic and being cooped up inside, we have what I call “nature atrophy” – the use of nature and its effectiveness has declined because of its underuse this past year and half.  

2.     Create time alone in nature

When we are with other people, we tend to talk to each other, and even when we are not, we often put on headphones that do the same.  I sometimes now find myself going out for a walk without my ear buds in, my phone silenced, and all alone.

As Quakers we must be reminded how silence and solitude go hand and hand.  It was Quaker Richard Foster who taught me that solitude amplifies the other disciplines,  the environment around us, and allows us to achieve a greater focus, a greater ability to see just what God is trying to say to us. 

Even if you are planning to spend some time with others in nature – make an agreement that you will set-apart some time for solitude – and agree to share how you connected and what you learned.

3.     Find a good place

Don’t complicate this.  I probably never would have picked to stop at that tree on the path, if I didn’t allow it to speak to me.  You do not need the “perfect place” or the “same place” every time. 

4.     Sit Down

Yes, you may have a spiritual experience in nature while walking, running, or climbing, but you may need to stop and sit down to help align your focus.  Sitting down breaks the cycle or rhythm you have been in and helps promote you to see, hear, smell, and experience new things.

5.     Relax & Observe

Spend a moment taking in your surroundings.  Try and notice little details as well as the larger lay of the land.  Connect through all your senses – hear, smell, feel, and allow yourself to enjoy the experience.  Then when you have relaxed a bit – ask yourself a query:

What drew me to this specific place?  

Really take a moment to fully explore that query.  It wasn’t for a couple days after I experienced that tree overcome by the vine that I realized why I was drawn to it.

And finally…

6.     Communicate.

Being raised in a Western Culture, this may be the hardest to grasp.  In our Western ways we are quick to say that tress, rocks, flowers, dirt do not have a soul or spirit.  But I think if we look at it in another way, it may help.

It is interesting, how often we talk about God communicating with us through nature – God sent that bird, or that sunset, or that rainstorm - so why can’t we communicate back, or have a conversation with the means God uses? 

I find words or thoughts appear in my mind, and they aren’t the ones that I would come up with on my own.  Sometimes a quiet awareness or idea arises, and then you can try to articulate it with words to help you remember it better.

For me this is just what happened when I started to notice that tree with the vines.  I started to relate to the tree because I too was feeling overwhelmed.  That feeling came into my mind and I began to look at what all the tree was wanting to communicate to me. 

Personally, I was probably feeling so overwhelmed that I needed that tree to “call out” to me.  I might not have heard a person, a friend, even my wife.  But then it was like the tree, without saying a word, communicated with me and helped me understand, helped me see there was hope and helped me know I could still thrive and grow.

So, this morning, I would like you to take these 6 suggestions and spend some time allowing God to use nature to communicate to you and for you to communicate back. 

Once again, let me read those 6 suggestions – you may also find them in your bulletin this morning:

1.     Make a commitment

2.     Create time alone

3.     Find a good place

4.     Sit down

5.     Relax and Observe…and

6.     Communicate

For our time of waiting worship, I want to encourage you to spend some time connecting with nature in these beautiful woods. You may want to move your chair or sit by a tree, or simply stay in your current place.  Enter this time with an openness to how God may speak to you through nature and see what you are being led to communicate back.