2-6-22 - What Are You Looking For?

What Are You Looking For?

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 6, 2022

Good Morning and welcome to Light Reflections.  Today’s scripture passage is from John 8:31-32 from the Message version.  

Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.”

As I spoke of this week in our weekly newsletter’s opening article, “As Way Opens,” each January I set aside some time for personal reflection.  Part of that reflection as a Quaker is asking myself some basic queries. 

In the “As Way Opens” article I spoke of the query “Who am I?” and how I must cultivate the discipline of listening to the sound of, what Howard Thurman called, “the genuine” inside myself so I could truly make a difference in the world.

Today, I want to move to another query I asked myself during this time and share some of the insights that were raised by several different teachers as I processed this query. 

The query I would like for us to consider is “What are you looking for?”

Just sit with that one for a moment.  “What are you looking for?”

This is not a new question – since the beginning of time people have been looking for something.  The Bible also is clear that the Hebrew people were looking for something – they had been looking for what they called a messiah, one who would come and save them from the injustices perpetrated by their enemies or the suffering in the world.  

I believe people are still seeking messiahs today – some person or divine being that will come and relieve them of their struggles and suffering.  All we have todo is watch the news and we will find someone wanting to be saved from Covid, from injustice, even from the stupidity or insanity of our fellow neighbors or family members.   

Many of the Hebrew people in Jesus’ day believed that they’d found the kind of savior that they were looking for in Jesus. 

But in a weird twist of events, Jesus refused to be the kind of messiah that they were looking for. Jesus refused to lead them in an armed revolt against the Romans.  Instead, Jesus called them to a new journey or what the Bible labels a new “way.” 

Like I spoke of a few weeks ago, Jesus entered a world that was embracing Empire by bringing a message that renounced empire, violence, hatred, and greed; a path that demanded non-violent resistance, love of enemy, and care for the poor and marginalized among them. 

Actually, Jesus’ way for many would not be an easy journey – even Jesus said one would have to count the cost of living this message in the world.

Thus, in the Gospel of John we see early followers of Jesus, retelling the story of Jesus in ways that recast him into the role of the Messiah that they preferred. 

Isn’t this just what we do still today, we like to create God in our own image to make it easier to swallow the message.  We twist stories, seek different angles, even conform to specific doctrines or creeds to make our neighbors fall into order with us – if everyone believes and acts the same way it must be easier, right?

Again, I ask, “What are you looking for?”  

Rev. Dawn Hutchings, a progressive Christian pastor and writer says,

“Jesus refuses to be the kind of messiah that we want. Jesus calls us not to believe in him, but follow him, follow him to passionately non-violently resist injustice, follow him by loving our enemies, follow him to care for the poor and the marginalized among us…Jesus lived and taught a way of being human that spoke directly to our common humanity and called us to walk a path that would lead humanity to a new way of being in the world. 

But what are we looking for? Are we looking for a different kind of Messiah than one who will not save us from our troubles?”

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to hear author, philosopher, and radical theologian, Peter Rollins tell a story which I believe illustrates this longing very nicely. Pete told of an 

“Old Buddhist parable that tells the story of a young woman who gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. But after only a few weeks the child dies and the woman is distraught.  She wraps the child’s body in linen and then she wraps the child’s body to her own, and she goes in search of someone, of anyone who could resuscitate her child. She goes to faith healers, and witch doctors.  She talks to the tribal elders. But nobody can help.

Finally, one of the elders says, “You know it’s rumored that high up in the mountains, away from everyone, there’s a holy man who is so close to the DIVINE that he can even raise the dead. 

Now perhaps this is a myth, or maybe he is long since dead, but there’s no one here who can help you. If you are that desperate, maybe you need to go in search of the holy man.

And so, she does. She packs a few provisions, and she goes up into the mountains to find the Holy Man. After a few days, she comes across a small hut in the middle of nowhere, beside a crystal-clear lake. She knocks on the door. 

After a couple of minutes an old man comes to the door.  She begins to weep.  She says, “I don’t know if you’re the one they talk about and I don’t know if you can help, but my child is dead, and I must have her back.”

Well, the old man takes pity on her and he says, “I am the one you’re looking for and I can help. But I need to concoct a potion and the potion requires ingredients and one of those ingredients is a handful of mustard seeds taken from a home that has not been touched by the black sun of suffering that has scorched your life. Go down to the village, find me the mustard seeds, and then return.

And so, she does, she goes down to the village and she goes from house to house. But she cannot find one family that has not been touched by suffering, death, and loss. Yet, as she listens to the stories of other people’s suffering and as she’s able to speak of her own, she gradually comes to terms with the loss of her child and is able to bury her in the Earth.”

The Holy Man never offered the woman salvation from her troubles, but neither did he send her away without hope, instead the Holy One creates a space where the woman is able to engage other people’s stories and is able to speak her own until she is able to mourn and to let go and to heal. 

We all want to escape our suffering and our difficulties; we all want to be saved from the ups and downs of life in this world. But if we want to find freedom, to find joy, to find love, to find life, we must engage our humanity.

Folks, I am going to be really honest, Jesus is not what we are looking for if we are looking to escape our humanity. 

If anything, Jesus leads us into a DEEPER humanity.

When we reflect upon Pete Rollin’s story, we see ourselves carrying around our own treasured images of the DIVINE. We see ourselves holding on to the God of our own creation, hoping against hope for a Messiah who will breathe life into the lifeless image that the god of our childhood has become. 

How many of us have spent years looking for the magic mustard seeds, so we don’t have to give up our illusions? 

I ask us again, “What are we looking for?”

So many of us are just looking for “salvation” from life – what I like to call the Calgon Theology (it may date me a bit – but most will remember the commercial – “Calgon, take me away!”)

Jesus isn’t about escapism. Nothing he did was about escapism. Instead, Jesus is a savior who leads us into life with all its various twists and turns.

Instead of the magic that most religions today are trying to sell, Jesus is offering us life itself.

So again, what are you looking for? 

Do you want to be saved from life in the world or do you want to live life? 

I have come to realize that Jesus is the kind of savior who sends us out to look for mustard seeds in the midst of the living. We may not find what we are looking for. But what we do find empowers us to let go of our illusions and live fully, deeply, and completely.

Jesus’ way of being in the world was not an easy path to walk, there is no salvation from our troubles, only hope, hope that as we journey together, we might find LOVE. 

The LOVE which nourishes, grounds and sustains us in this marvelous life that each of us has been given.  And that is a message and life we can embrace!  

Now, as we enter waiting worship, I want us to spend some time with the queries presented in this message. Ask yourself?

·      What am I looking for?

·      Am I looking for the “magic mustard seeds,” so I don’t have to give up my illusions? 

·      Do I just want to escape this world, or learn to really live in it?

1-30-22 - Do We Need More Love or More Wisdom?

Do We Need More Love or More Wisdom?

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Associate Pastor Beth Henricks

January 30, 2022

24-26 He told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.

27 “The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’

28 “He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’

“The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’

29-30 “He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’”

I was taken by a post of Richard Rohr near the end of 2021.  He wrote “On the last day of the year, I generally withdraw to pray. A few years ago, I asked myself: What should I pray for this year? What do we need in these turbulent times? Naturally I was strongly tempted to pray for more love. But it occurred to me that I’ve met so many people in the world who are already full of love and who really care for others. Maybe what we lack isn’t love but wisdom. It became clear to me that I should pray above all else for wisdom.

We all want to love, but as a rule we don’t know how to love rightly. How should we love so that life will really come from it? I believe that what we all need is wisdom. I’m very disappointed that we in the Church have passed on so little wisdom. Often the only thing we’ve taught people is to think that they’re right—or that they’re wrong. We’ve either mandated things or forbidden them. But we haven’t helped people to enter upon the narrow and dangerous path of true wisdom. On wisdom’s path we take the risk of making mistakes. On this path we take the risk of being wrong. That’s how wisdom is gained.”

This really set me back as I often pray for more love in our world, more love for our community, our families and friends, more love for our enemies.  Jesus said that we must love our enemies as ourselves.  I’ve always looked at this as a commandment to embrace self-love and compassion because if we don’t have this, we can’t love anyone else.  And I still believe that.  Self-love is crucial in our journey. 

But maybe even more than love which seems like it could be a more fleeting emotional response, we need to pursue wisdom.  Wisdom within ourselves as a way to deeply experience God, our neighbors and our world. 

When we are children, we usually don’t think our parents are very wise.  We feel like they are old fashioned and out of date and their words of wisdom seem limiting in how one wants to pursue life as a young person.  But as each of us lives through the pain, the heartbreak, the joy, and the fullness our parents words often echo back into our minds, and we realize the depth of wisdom that they had.  

How do we acquire wisdom?  I’ve asked a number of folks and I hear the words time and experience again and again.  We need to go through a lot of experience, pain, heartbreak, joy, darkness and light though our years to come to a limited place of wisdom.   But does age dictate experience?  I have experienced much younger folks that have great wisdom – and some older folks that don’t seem to have much wisdom at all.

Both the Old and the New Testament offer great wisdom for us to explore and embrace.  The book of Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes and Job include kernels of wisdom and guidance to shape our lives.   The great rabbis of the Jewish community spend a lifetime reading, reflecting and experiencing to share the wisdom of the truths held in the Bible.  I’ve become a fan of Dwight Wilson, Quaker writer, minister and activist.  He has a book called Modern Psalms in Search of Peace and Justice and he gives his own version of Psalms of wisdom, and I share Psalm 40 from the book :

On my road to nowhere, I turned back.

In the moment of enlightenment, You were there.

As I matured, I realized that during my lost period You had been within,

Calling in a still, small voice unrecognizable by those who choose not to hear.

Forgive me my overbearing pride even as you forgive those who learned self -hatred,

thus despising gifts that You had awarded.

Society teaches that one from my background is best seen as an outcast.

Thank You for your unedited praise messages far beyond pages, screens, factories, offices, shelters, courtrooms and prisons.

I hear them validating my essence, clearing the way for each wounded return.

Of course, the greatest wisdom teacher in all of the Bible was Jesus.  Rohr shares that “Jesus came to teach us the way of wisdom. He brought us a message that offers to liberate us from both the lies of the world and the lies lodged in ourselves. The words of the Gospel create an alternative consciousness, solid ground on which we can really stand, free from every social order and from every ideology. Jesus called this new foundation the Reign of God, and he said it is something that takes place in this world and yet will never be completed in this world. This is where faith comes in. It is so rare to find ourselves trusting not in the systems and -isms of this world but standing at a place where we offer our bit of salt, leaven, and light. It seems so harmless, and, even then, we have no security that we’re really right. This means that we have to stand in an inconspicuous, mysterious place, a place where we’re not sure that we’re sure, where we are comfortable knowing that we do not know very much at all.”

Cynthia Bourgeaut describes how Jesus guides us to wisdom through Metanoia in her book, The Wisdom of Jesus.  “Metanoia, usually translated as repentance literally means to go beyond the mind or into the larger mind.  It means to escape from the orbit of the egoic operating system, which by virtue of its own internal hardwiring is always going to see the world in terms of polarized opposites and move instead into that nondual knowingness of the heart which can see and live from the perspective of wholeness.  This is the central message of Jesus.  This is what his Kingdom of Heaven is all about.  Let’s get into the larger mind, he says.  This is what is looks like.  This is how you do it.  Here, I’ll help you….” (pg 41)

This idea of Metanoia and moving out of our ego minds into the knowing of our heart and living in wholeness seems to be a key to wisdom.  And the path to this knowing is by kenosis which is emptying ourselves of our ego and embracing the Divine that brings a completeness to our being. I think much of Jesus’s target of his wisdom is not the Pharisees as we usually believe but it’s our own ego mind.  When Jesus was tempted in the desert by the Devil at the start of his ministry, he had to face his own ego and took the path of kenosis and emptied himself completely to God.     And became our wisdom teacher.

There is so much wisdom in Jesus’ teachings and parables.  Take some time this afternoon to read through the Beatitudes again in (Matthew 5:1-12).   It is chock full of wisdom and really turns around the system of opposites, rewards and punishments and how we set our goals and intentions for each one of us.    There is also such wisdom in his parables.  Parables are proverbs but even more than that in the way Jesus utilizes them.  Bourgeult shares  “His parables are much closer to what in the Zen tradition would be koans – profound paradoxes (riddles, if you like) that are intended to turn the egoic mind upside down and push us into new ways of seeing.” 

The parable that we read today is an example of this paradox.  A field of wheat was planted but an enemy came and sowed weeds in the wheat field.  So, when the plants grew there was wheat and weeds together.  When the slaves that worked the field asked if they should pull up the weeds the owner said no because in pulling up the weeds there was no way to not pull up the wheat also.   Let both of them grow together until harvest.  Jesus is describing this as the kingdom of heaven.  Sounds like the wheat and the weeds live together.  We have both wheat and weeds inside each of us.   Another paradox that turns my ego brain upside down.

I have been participating in the gathering on Thursdays each month that reflects on the gnostic gospels and discussing these writings that were part of the early Jesus followers. We have started to review some of the gospels like Thomas, Mary and others that are not included in the closed Biblical canon that we read.  It’s been fascinating to consider these other writings.  As preparation for the class, I have also started reading the book After Jesus Before Christianity by Erin Vearncombe, Brandon Scott and Hal Taussig for The Westar Christianity Seminary.  These authors explore what the early followers of the Anointed One were called in the first and second century.  The early followers were not a monolithic group but a significantly diverse group with different practices, stories, organizational structures and beliefs.  They did not call themselves Christians which is a term that came later likely to brand them as threats to the Roman Empire.  For most of them Jesus was a teacher, and they became students. “Drawing on this association, he is also called Wisdom, because he personified the wisdom characteristic of teachers.  This identification is also more nuanced and more clever than being smart, but it also names a divine figure  in Israel’s holy writings.  Sophia in Greek can mean a wise divine figure as well as the quality of being wise.  The Greek noun Sophia is also feminine, opening up other ways of imagining Jesus.  Calling Jesus Sophia, a feminine divine term, is very different from the patriarchal vocabulary normally applied to Jesus.  Likewise, the followers of Jesus, the wise teacher, are the “wise ones” or potentially the “wise women”, given Wisdom’s gendered identity.” (pg 26)

The Gospel of Thomas is an interesting book that has 114 short sayings, not much of a narrative but  offers much wisdom to us. I share the 22nd saying from the book with you:

When you are able to make two become one, the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, the higher like the lower, so that a man is no longer male, and a woman, female, but male and female become; when you are able to fashion an eye to replace an eye, an form a hand in place of a hand, or a foot for a foot, making one image supersede another – then you will enter in.

How do Quaker’s practice wisdom in their faith communities and their spiritual journeys?  I have observed many wise people in this Meeting and in other Quaker circles and one of the most important aspects to witnessing wisdom is by listening.  I think for Quaker’s wisdom begins with silence. First, we listen for that still small voice of God inside us and then we listen to each other.

Quaker wisdom is also about letting our lives speak. 

I appreciate Robert Lawrence Smith, the longtime head of school at Quaker Sidwell Friends in Washington DC writing a great little book titled A Quaker Book of Wisdom.  In the opening chapter he describes his dad’s writing of 4 generations of Quaker that were physicians in small towns in New Jersey.  “There were no Nobel laureates in my mother’s family.  Although generation after generation of the Stokes family produced doctors, there were no secretaries of state, five-star generals, literary luminaries, glamorous movie stars, bank robbers, long-distance swimmers or counterespionage agents.  No one the media would consider newsworthy….Rather my father was providing a record of men and women who lived active, useful lives, and who gave to their nation and their communities the best that was in them.” (xi)  Sounds like men and women living lives  of wisdom, consistent action, nothing earth shattering or exciting but letting their life speak.

I invite you to enter a time of reflection and unprogrammed worship.  Please consider the following queries:

How can I follow my path to more wisdom?

What wisdom can I receive from unlikely places? 

Where do I need to empty myself to allow more of the Divine wholeness inside of me?

1-23-22 - In the Beginning Was the Conversation!

In the Beginning Was the Conversation!

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

January 23, 2022

Good morning and welcome to Light Reflections. This morning our scripture text is a familiar one from John 1:1-5:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

As I mentioned in “As Way Opens” a couple of weeks ago, I started 2022 reading devotionally the book, “Church of the Wild” by Victoria Loorz.  There are many great things that I could preach on from this book, but one chapter specifically struck me and had me rethinking and even deconstructing some of my former theological understandings. 

It is not too often these days that I read something that has me engaged in the way that Chapter 6, In the Beginning was the Logos, has had me these first few weeks of 2022.

In this chapter, Loorz is focusing on the phrase, In the beginning was the Word. This is a statement we have all read or heard for most of our lives from the very beginning of the Gospel of John.

I have taught on this poetic text, preached sermons on it, even spent hours writing papers on the theological constructs that come from the idea of Jesus being the “Word” or as in the Greek it reads, “Logos.”

Where it hit me was when Loorz began her research on the word Logos.  I love doing research on words and phrases, part of my education has been all about this research as it is very important work for pastors when trying to interpret the wisdom of the scriptures. 

Yet, what I had been taught all my life, I have realized had taken, somewhat, for granted.  If there was one interpretation that I accepted as true without researching, it was “In the Beginning was THE WORD.”  “The word” was the given and proper English translation of the Greek word Logos – at least that is what I thought and had been taught for most of my education.   

Loorz helps give some background to the origin of the word logos and its interpretation over time. She says,

“Logos was first used in a cosmological way by Heraclitus of Ephesus, a Greek philosopher in the 15th Century BCE.  He used the word logos to articulate a kind of intelligent life force embedded in and interconnecting all things, ”a divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning.”  

Loorz points out that Heraclitus developed one of the most revolutionary concepts – the idea that all things are one – or what they now label “unitary Nature” or an indwelling unity behind the diversity in existing things.”

“Logos is the principle or power that shapes all and creates all things, immanent and embedded in all that exists…[It is] the relationship between all things, holding them together.”

She points out that this is a concept that many great thinkers throughout history have connected with – just calling them by different names.

Thich Nhat Hahn calls it “the web of interbeing.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer calls it “sacred reciprocity.”

David Whyte calls it “the conversational nature of reality.”

Quantum scientist David Bohn calls it “implicate order.”

Even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a way of describing this logos.  He called it an inescapable network of mutuality, which he said was tied in a single garment of destiny – meaning whatever effects one directly, affects all indirectly.

And not only great thinkers but all the great philosophies of the world utilize this idea of logos.  From the Stoics to the Chinese, to even the Persians – this concept of logos is a universal concept that almost all philosophies teach and embrace. 

So…what about the Christian faith of which we ascribe? 

I remember when I was in undergrad college in River Forest, Illinois.  Sue and I would frequent a store in Oak Park, Illinois (which has since sadly closed). The name of that store happened to be Logos. It was an eclectic store – filled with Bibles, Christian Contemporary Music CDs, and religious trinkets. 

In many ways, it was very much like the old Family Christian or Lifeway Stores, but there was a difference. Mixed in among the books on the shelves were books from other religious philosophies and trinkets from other religions. 

On occasion, the students at our Christian college would get upset and seek ways to question the owners for their confusing selection of items. I remember one student even saying, “The store is called Logos – it is clear that it should be all about Jesus – because Jesus was the Word.”

Until around the fourth Century, most theologians and translators translated the Greek work logos into Latin not English, because Latin was the official language of the church at the time.  Logos in Latin was translated as sermo. 

Here is the surprising thing.  When you and I hear the word sermo – we immediately think of the word sermon.  Thus, it is easy to think why they would translate it into English as “word.” 

Yet, the reality is that sermo does not mean word, but rather a manner of speaking back and forth – or simply a conversation. 

Sermo’s root is sero which means to weave and join, it is the intimate living of life together, living among, and all in intimate conversation.

The Apostle John wanted to connect to this understanding when he wrote his unique and much more metaphorical and poetic gospel.  Many believe John was trying to be culturally relevant in how he saw Christ. He wanted to identify Jesus with the logos – this divine indwelling through which all things were made.  

Early theologians and philosophers would have understood what John was trying to do saying logos had a relational dimension or force.  It was a metaphor or descriptor for the embodiment of Christ’s work – not the person of Jesus himself.

This is more like when we distinguish between the President of the United States and the Office of the President of the United States. One is about the man, Joe Biden, and the other is about the actions, the work, the impact, the legacy of the position.

I consider Logos for us to be like the Office of the Greater Conversation Relationship with our neighbors, the divine, even the natural world around us. When describing Margaret Wheatley’s idea of “turning to one another” and embracing the need for and conversation with each other, I was inviting us to tap into this greater office of conversation and relationship.

This means logos is bigger than just the person, Jesus.  It is more about the title we give Jesus, that being, the Christ.

In Seeking Friends we have been wrestling with Richard Rohr’s latest work, “The Universal Christ.” Where he speaks directly to the difference between Jesus and the Christ. Rohr says,

“Christ, as such, is not precisely a religious principle…but a life principle – the ubiquitous confluence of matter and spirit.”  Christ is not Jesus’ last name, but the title for his life’s purpose.”

What Rohr and Loorz help us see is that Christ is about radical solidarity. Christ is the conversation happening between everyone and everything.  Christ is not the word, but the conversation. 

Just listen again to our text from John 1 which I read earlier – but this time let me replace “word” with conversation.

In the beginning was the Conversation, and the Conversation was with God, and the Conversation was God. This was with God in the beginning. Through this conversation all things were made; without it nothing was made that has been made. In this conversation was life, and that life was the light of all mankind…

The conversation became flesh and made its dwelling among us. 

Just let that sink in for a moment.

Christ is the sacred conversation that links everything together.

I once taught a class to mostly freshmen at Huntington University.  It was an Introduction to Christianity class and a required course.  As part of the curriculum I included a talk by Rob Bell, who many of my Evangelical students considered a heretic. Ironically, this talk was more a science lesson than it was a religion or theology lesson.

During Rob’s talk he shares about how everything is made up of smaller and smaller things.  All which must be in relationship with one another. This he says is the interconnection of all things. 

At our molecular or subatomic state we are made of particles that have to be in relationship, or as some scientists say, in an ongoing conversation with one another to survive. Conversation and relationship is literally what we are made of.  

As we would watch Rob’s talk many lightbulbs would began going off in the heads of my students.

Hmmm…they would wonder…then begin to make the connections first in the scriptures. 

·        Where two or three are gathered – there I am in the midst of them. 

·        A cord of three strands is not easily broken.

·        Three is the magic number… (well, you get it). 

When we “turn to one another” as I said a few Sundays ago and strike up a conversation with each other, our conversation becomes as Loorz points out, “a holy space of exchange: a space in which I release some of what I used to think and be, in order to include you. And we both are changed.”

As Quakers we can embrace this understanding because when the God in me, meets the God in you, we two are changed.  It is when we don’t acknowledge the God in our neighbor that we begin to break down the relationship and stop the vital communication.

So why do we not translate logos as word, today, instead of conversation?

Because since the 4th Century, the Patriarchs have been intentionally translating it to the Latin word verbum instead of sermo. Verbum is a noun meaning word, where sermo is a verb meaning conversation. 

Since language not only describes things, but also produces culture, the Patriarchs decided that controlling the religious world meant defining it by nouns or what we would call things. Soon a successful life was about the pursuit of things.  This is known as empire.

It is into this male dominated empire of things that Jesus of Nazareth is born.  A man who comes with a revolutionary message that was all about resisting empire.

Jesus came from the Hebrew people whose language is verb-based and who focuses in great depth on the relationships between all things. The Hebrew people were not about trying to define the substance of God – instead they were more about relating to and pleasing God. 

Actually, God was considered a verb to the Hebrew people – “I am who I am” (or as it should be more appropriately verb-translated “becoming which will be becoming.”

As Loorz put it, “God is BEING, not A being.”

Most of American Christianity today is all about defining nouns.  We have lost the conversation.  Even me giving this sermon – from the Greek sermo – should actually be about a conversation with you – not just a lecture of sorts. 

That is why I try to offer queries that will continue the conversation throughout the week. To help us engage our religious faith in a way that taps us into the greater conversation we are all a part of – the logos. 

As Quakers, we speak of being Light Bearers, carriers of the Logos, the Tao, the spark of Divine love within us.  And as Loorz points out, “when we engage one another [when we choose to turn to one another] – the conversation between us becomes the manifestation of the sacred, moving us forward to the ever-evolving kin-dom of grace – that is the Wild Christ.”

I pray we at First Friends will work hard on embracing this logos or sacred conversation.  That we will seek to be verb-people instead of noun-people. That as we have these sacred conversations we will see the manifestation of God in our midst, in our lives, within each of us. 

It might just be a wild and unexpected ride – but first we must “turn to one another” and start a Divine conversation!

If you want to continue to learn more about this, I highly recommend you pick up “The Church of the Wild” by Victoria Loorz – It would be a great way to continue the conversation.  I am sure I will sharing more from this book in the future.

Now, as we enter waiting worship, I want to utilize some queries Victoria Loorz poses to conclude this sermon.

·        What would a Wild Christ – a Conversation who is the intermediary of love between all things…evoke in our world?

·        Is it possible to imagine the worldview of kingdoms and empires transforming into a wordview pf kin-dom and compassion?

·        How might Christianity be different if it could become a place for sacred conversation: a place to explore possibilities and express doubts and disagree, and encourage voices on the edges?

1-16-22 - Martin Luther King Jr Day Sermon by Jill Frame

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Jill Frame

January 16, 2022

Good morning, Friends. Instead of scripture today, I’d like to read to you an excerpt from “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“We who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.”

There is something about history that conveys a feeling of inevitability. 

So, it is easy to look back at Martin Luther King Jr. sitting in a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, in April 1963, pencil stub in hand, and imagine him confidently writing what he knew would be a work for the ages, words that would propel one of the most successful social justice campaigns in history and be proclaimed by presidents, recited by elementary school students, emblazoned on billboards and greeting cards.

I read some of those words to you today from King’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” to remind us that the truth is far different. In fact, the 34-year-old preacher who landed in a bleak cell on Good Friday was unsure whether the act of civil disobedience that brought him there – trumped up charges of violating a parade ordinance – had made any difference at all.

The Civil Rights movement was still young and had turned to its most ambitious target yet. Bombingham- a moniker for Birmingham at the time- was a contradiction: a fast-growing city and a town where racial segregation and the indignities of Jim Crow laws were locked in tight. Even though steel-working wages paid to blacks were half those paid to whites, they offered the best jobs around, and few were interested in rocking that boat.

Still, in January 1963 as Governor George Wallace was declaring “segregation now, segregation forever” in Alabama, King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference- or more commonly known as the SCLC- decided to target Birmingham with an economic boycott during the Easter shopping season. *Few* joined in. In fact, many middle-class blacks and about three-quarters of black clergy joined most of the whites in opposing the protests, arguing that the city should be given a chance. After all, they argued, a new mayor had just been elected and they wanted to give him some time to make changes.

According to Jonathan Rieder, a Professor of Sociology at Barnard College, and author of “Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation,” It was while sitting in solitary confinement, without food, and with very little community support, King was at one of his lowest points. 

King was panicked -- and for good reason. Three years prior, King had been jailed without other SCLC leaders in Atlanta. At one point during his imprisonment, King was put into a straight jacket and driven through the dark of night to the Reedsville prison. During the 3.5 hour drive, King was convinced he was being taken to an unknown location to be killed by the Klu Klux Klan. Now, here he was in Birmingham, once again jailed without other SCLC leaders. He was scared that the same fate awaited him in Birmingham that had in Atlanta. 

King was also depressed. One day while in jail, a trustee snuck in the Birmingham newspaper for him. King read the front-page column which was written by eight prominent (and very moderate) Alabama clergymen- comprised of a priest, a rabbi, and six protestant ministers. These clergymen might be called in today’s parlance, “white allies.” They appealed for calmness and forbearance and accused King of violence. 

After reading the column, he fell into a spiral of despair and a crisis of Spirit. 

So, let’s pause a moment and consider that appeal, framed as it was in such reasonable language. 

“Let’s just calm down now. I’m sure we can work something out.”

And there’s nothing wrong with that. Nobody likes conflict. We all want to get along, to resolve things. And that’s good.

But what happens when what appears to be “reasonableness” is just a way of masking obstruction, a way of sweeping under the rug valid complaints of injury and oppression, a way of discounting the felt experience of people who see no hope of remedy?

It’s a problem stated perhaps most famously in that ancient Hebrew scripture, the Book of Jeremiah, where the prophet complains, “I have given heed and listened, but they do not speak honestly; no one repents of wickedness, saying ‘What have I done?’ All of them turn to their own course like a horse plunging headlong into battle. . . . They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 8:5-6, 11)

TRUE THAT Jeremiah! There comes a point when we must pivot from the response that is reasonable to the one that the writer Cornell West calls, “radical,” a solution that goes to the root of the problem, that questions the most fundamental assumptions and argues for new ways of looking at the world, West argues that now nearly a half-century after King’s death we have lost sight of the radical edge of his work, of all the ways that his work questioned fundamental structures in American society and called us to larger lives.

We find the ground laid for that radical King in the “Letter from Birmingham City Jail.” And who knows? But for that front-page appeal from his critics, King may not have had the occasion or impetus at that point in his life to gather his thoughts in that way. We know he was depressed from the lack of response to the protests, editorials from national newspapers criticizing his action, and President Kennedy’s resistance to requests to help him. He was also sad at being away from his wife, Coretta, two days after the birth of their daughter, Bernice.

Ultimately though, that column ignited a fire in King, and he began writing so feverishly that some of his supporters worried for his state of mind. Wyatt Walker, a close friend, and ally went to visit King four days after he was arrested. WALKER later reported being perplexed after his visit. He couldn’t understand why King was so angered by the column. He wondered to himself, “Why is he so upset at these white preachers? This is exactly what we expected of them. We’ve got to get protests going! Let’s start focusing on liberating blacks! Why is he worried about these guys?”

All alone, King began scribbling on the edge of the newspaper, then when all the empty edges of the newspaper were depleted, he moved on to using sheet after sheet of toilet paper. His writings were smuggled out of the jail by a friend, Clarence Jones, who stuffed the writing down the front of his pants. King’s toilet paper and newspaper writings were then passed on to his 17-year-old secretary, who did her best to decipher his handwriting. For all of King’s dreams, this Letter starts out in a cry of pain and anger. 

It is here amid personal reflections on his family’s experience with racism and musing over passages of scripture that he lays down how he understands his calling to a radical activism, non-violent but centered in a love that refuses to see the separations that Birmingham’s laws enforce. You know the words: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” he writes. “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

He acknowledges that the purpose of his action is not to make peace but to stir things up: “To create such a crisis,” he says, “and establish such creative tension that a community that has consistently refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.”

Those words may sound shocking, he says, but he makes no apologies: “There is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth,” he says, and “now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.

King was released from jail on April 20th. Nothing much happened to the letter right away. It was released to the press and few newspapers were interested and it was pretty much ignored. Further, its addressed recipients never saw it until it was published months later. King’s friend, Wyatt Walker, was concerned at the lack of press attention that the Letter got, so he went to the American Friends Service Committee and they were the first organization to publish it at the end of May as a pamphlet. Christian Century published it June 12. And finally the New York Post published it. 

Today, we aren’t recalling Dr. King’s life from cradle to grave, or to discuss him preaching about the meaning of his dream. 

Today, I thought it was important to spend time really focusing on the story behind Dr. King’s now-famous letter. Let us not forget that the letter was written while King was in utter despair and was terrified for his life. He was able to hold on to the painful tension- of feeling his fury and anguish all the while refusing to create a movement. He found a constructive way to channel those feelings into this now famous letter. Let us not forget that parts of the letter had their humble origins on the edges of a smuggled newspaper and pieces of prison toilet paper. That only a small audience at first appreciated its importance. While it becomes a great document in retrospect, the circumstances of how it came into being were anything but! 

On the day that King received the Nobel Prize, the head of the Nobel committee referred to this letter specifically. He channels King when he stated, “These are words delivered to mankind. These are words for global injustice. These are words that arise from a context but they are universal.” 

Outside of the time and place in which he lived, his words stand the test of time. I hope you will take a few minutes tomorrow to read his Letter. To ask yourself how they might inspire you to take action. His words stand the test of time. 

When Dr. King was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama for participating in a civil rights demonstration, he laid out what was necessary for people to do to live in this new day and BE the new day: To reject the myth of time. I’ll give Dr. King the last words today: “It is the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills… We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men and women willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.” 

As we prepare for waiting worship, let’s ponder these queries together: 

How have you allowed the myth of time- the “strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills” to impede you from action?

Have we spent much time contemplating something “radical,” i.e., a solution that goes to the root of the problem, that questions the most fundamental of our assumptions?

How are you personally inspired by Dr. King’s dogged commitment to the writing of this letter in the direst of circumstances? How can you take action?

1-9-22 - Entering 2022 - Together!

Entering 2022 – TOGETHER!

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

January 9, 2022

Good morning and Happy New Year friends and welcome to Light Reflections.

Every year about this time, I find myself cracking open Meg Wheatley’s seemingly timeless (or maybe even borderline prophetic) book, “Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future” – a book that surprisingly celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.  It is based on a set of queries for people to ponder and discuss about the long-neglected act of communication or simply talking and listening to one another. 

I was draw back to it this week by a chapter in the current book I am reading during my daily devotional times – which had me pondering my own communication practices.

This time as I re-read through some of my notes and highlights, I came across the following quote – Meg says, 

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

I think I have read and quoted this on numerous occasions, but as the years continue to unfold, I find it more and more true.  20 years ago when Meg wrote those words she somehow could see the trajectory we were on and what we would be most in need of – living together in peace. 

In many ways, I sense 2022 should be a year of heeding Meg Wheatley’s call to again “turn to one another” and acknowledge that we need each other more than ever.

Over the Holiday break, I don’t know about you, but I was overwhelmed by how many weighty people we lost in the last couple of weeks of 2021 - from Betty White to Desmond Tutu.  It really had me reflecting on the importance of the people in our lives.

Ironically, Desmond Tutu and Meg Wheatley both had similar responses to the world in which they lived.  Desmond was heeding the warning first in South Africa and then ultimately to the world.  And his answer to the condition of the world was summed up well in one single African word –

UBUNTU - which roughly translated means “A person is a person through other persons” – or simply “I am because of who you are.”   

But to get more to the core of what ubuntu means let me share how the late Desmond Tutu described it. He said,

“Ubuntu … speaks to the very essence of being human, saying, my humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up in yours, we belong in a bundle of life….It says I am human because I belong, I participate, I share, and harmony, friendliness, community are great goods.

Social harmony is for us … the greatest good, that you and I are made for interdependence. You and I are made for complementarity.

You have gifts that I don’t have, I have gifts that you don’t have. You might almost see God rubbing God’s hands in glee, “Voila, that is exactly why I created you, that you should know your need for the other.”

Friends, one of the best places for us to experience ubuntu or where we can learn to turn to one another is right here within this Meeting. First Friends is a place which helps hone our gifts and our deep longing for peace by our interaction and care for one another. 

Just take a moment and look around you and notice the people in this room (or in the virtual space) that you need in your life, or that have made a difference in yours or someone else’s life, or that care, love, and befriend people that you may have a hard time reaching out to.

The truth is that we need each other, and First Friends provides a furtile ground for just that support and experience to blossom. All our gifts, talents, abilities, experiences, quirks and particularities are key to our identity, and yes, ultimately our unique purpose as a community of faith.  

The Apostle Paul echoes these same thoughts in his first letter to the Corinthians. He said, 

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

Or as Desmond Tutu illustrates it:

Have you seen a symphony orchestra? There is a person at the back carrying a triangle. Now and again the conductor will point to him or her and that person will play "ting." That might seem so insignificant, but in the conception of the composer something irreplaceable would be lost to the total beauty of the symphony if that "ting" did not happen.

Folks, you are here at First Friends for a reason.

We need each other. 

We need this training ground for learning to live together in peace as Meg Wheatley suggested. 

And we need this as a place to practice Ubuntu and become real and genuine people who truly love and care for one another.  

Whether Meg Wheatley a practicing Buddhist, or Desmond Tutu an Episcopal Archbishop, or the Apostle Paul from the Bible, there is something universal about this calling to one another. 

My friend and fellow Quaker minister, Phil Gulley in his book “Living the Quaker Way,” brought it even closer to home when he described another view of the church – what I hope our community at First Friends could be described as and embrace. Phil says,  

“...there is another church....It is found wherever and whenever peace, joy, and compassion carry the day...It labors not for its own glory, but for the well-being of all people everywhere.

 It rejoices when the marginalized are included. It sees in its fellow beings not sin and separation from God but potential, promise, and connection. Wherever people love, it is there. Whenever people include, it is present.

Whenever people join together in spirit of compassion and inclusion this church feels at home, for those virtues have been its priority from its earliest days. This church existed since the time of Jesus, but it’s benevolent spirit predates the Nazarene.

It is not the province of any one denomination; its adherents can be found in every movement and every faith. 

While others bluster and rant, its members go quietly and cheerfully about their ministries, determined to bring heaven to earth.

This church seeks to learn, understand, and include. It is of the world, loves the world, and welcomes all people as its brothers and sisters.  Where borders separate, this community straddles the partition, refusing to let arbitrary lines rule their conscience and conduct. They are, in every sense of the word, members of one another.  Community and compassion are their bywords.”      

That’s the type of community I want to continue to develop and nurture right here at First Friends in 2022. Right here on our property, in our communities, in our parks, our workplaces, the restaurants we frequent, WHEREVER we (the Church) find ourselves. 

This, I believe, is living within ubuntu and embracing a mentality that is willing to first turn to one another.    

Now, let’s be honest, this isn’t always that easy. People disappoint us, they fail us, they let us down. They even sometimes frustrate us and make us not want to be around them.

Just maybe when we look around this room (or we think about the people in our meeting) we are reminded of people who have not been this type of community for us.  That is also part of the challenge.  There will always be people we disagree with or that frustrate us or that we do not particularly like.  

With those individuals, it takes, on our part, some personal awareness, some education, and often some reflection and even action to stay committed.

This is where Desmond Tutu is right.  Practicing ubuntu and turning to one another also means we must learn to forgive, to listen to and allow other voices to be heard, to lay down our judgements, personal desires, political preferences, for the greater good of the community.  

My hope in this New Year is that we would commit first and foremost to turning to one another once again, to take the time to journey with those God has placed within our community, to embrace the spirit of ubuntu, and to remember to acknowledge those playing the triangle in our symphony.   

I would like to close this sermon with a poem written by a dear Quaker friend of Sue and mine, it summarizes well this call to journey together, and I think it is my favorite poem by Sarah Hoggatt. It is called The Journey Worth Taking and can be found in the book, “Spirit Rising: Young Quaker Voices” - which I highly recommend and is in our Meeting’s library. 

The Journey Worth Taking by Sarah Hoggatt

We come from far-off lands,

cultures apart, struggling to 

understand a foreign tongue,

another viewpoint, another way to live, 

to see, to hear God in different words. 

We listen, opening to new sights, perspectives, 

ways to love as we discover

we are unique parts of a greater circle, 

distinctive expressions of the Divine Life. 

Yet our voices together lift up the mountains. 

Our chorus pulses the river down the outward

flow into a world needing to hear the rushing tide. 

We are on a journey and it may not even 

matter so much where we end up, 

but that we rise up to take the voyage. 

We speak the truth of our lives, 

hear each other and are changed. 

We can love without complete understanding, 

Walking the light together while miles apart. 

If in the tension we can find

the one light we are birthed from,

the thread through our stories,

we may discover we are brothers, sisters all

of one skin, one laughter, music, lilting, free, 

if we can just find the courage to come together

And take the journey. 

Now as we enter this time of waiting worship, I ask you to ponder the following queries:

1.     How aware am I of the need for others in my life?

2.     Who may I need to “turn to” this week and listen to more intently?

3.     As a faith community, how might we at First Friends embrace a spirit of ubuntu in the coming year? 

12-12-21 - The Wisdom of John for Today

The Wisdom of John for Today

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

December 12, 2021

Matthew 3:1-12 from the Message translation:

While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called “the Baptizer,” was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”

 John and his message were authorized by Isaiah’s prophecy:

Thunder in the desert!
Prepare for God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!

John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap. He lived on a diet of locusts and wild field honey. People poured out of Jerusalem, Judea, and the Jordanian countryside to hear and see him in action. There at the Jordan River those who came to confess their sins were baptized into a changed life.

When John realized that a lot of Pharisees and Sadducees were showing up for a baptismal experience because it was becoming the popular thing to do, he exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It’s your life that must change, not your skin! And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father. Being a descendant of Abraham is neither here nor there. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a dozen. What counts is your life. Is it green and flourishing? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.

“I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

This morning, I want us to take look at one of my favorite characters in the Bible and also the Christmas story. 

No, you will not find him around the Nativity Scene at the base of your Christmas Tree. And no, he was not a shepherd or a member of the magi. Actually, by many in his day he was considered a crazy man.

John, the one we often call “the Baptist” or who Eugene Peterson translates “The Thunder in the Dessert.” (personally, I think that may be one of the coolest names in all of the Bible). That makes John sound more like a Professional Wrestler than a Bible character – and now, Thunder in the Dessert.

From his crazy wardrobe and bug eating to his nomad living, we may easily be distracted from seeing his ministry as a preparation for Peace.

This past week took a chaotic turn for us at First Friends, and much like the last couple of years, our lives have taken some chaotic turns - leaving us wondering about our need for peace. It is again clear this year that we are still longing for a sense of inner and outer peace in our lives.

The same was true in the days of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. It was a chaotic time for different reasons, but the people in his day were also heralding a cry for peace to come into their world.

As was often the case in the Bible – it took a prophet, someone who could get the attention of the people, to help focus their attention away from the chaos of the world and help them recenter on the peace that was available to them.  John was the prophet in this moment.

We have heard that his task was to prepare the way for Jesus, but it was much more.  To “prepare the way” means to create a favorable environment and to make it easy for one to come to you and operate in your life.

John was doing just that – creating a favorable environment and making it easy for the way of Jesus, or peace, to enter and operate in the lives of the people. 

To help make John’s prophetic words more applicable to our current situation, I would like to return to our text this morning and highlight some areas that may speak to our condition from John’s story.  

First, John’s message was simple – he said, “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.”

To prepare for the way of Jesus to enter our lives means we may need to make some changes.  We may have to right some wrongs, forgive someone or ask for forgiveness, or we might even have to change our perspectives and face our fears. 

This is not just an outward change – but it also may take a change of heart – or an inner change. Outwardly, living in peace may take respecting and having compassion for one another despite our many differences (which isn’t always easy), but inwardly we may need to search our own hearts and minds and seek to understand the fear and struggles within us. 

Take a moment to ask yourself this morning:  What fears or struggles am I facing currently that may need to change so I may experience true peace?

Often our fears and struggles are simply manifestations of feeling a loss of control.  In the church we often talk about surrendering to God or giving over control to the Divine. I believe John is trying to remind us that to cease power over people and outcomes in our lives is the first major step in learning to live more peacefully. 

Next our text says, “Make the Road Smooth and Straight.”

What I believe John was teaching us was that we are called to help fill in the potholes and level the walls or barriers for others to receive the Peace of Christ. 

Take a moment to consider what are the potholes or barriers in our day and age for people to find peace?

I think one of the biggest potholes in the church is holding convictions without ever considering the viewpoints and perspectives of others.  Or not being willing to accept others different than ourselves and appreciating our diversity. 

When we fail to see from our neighbors perspectives or opinions, the end result can be building walls or making potholes of discrimination, repression, dehumanization, and ultimately violence – all which are directly in opposition to peace.

The third thing I want to point out from our text may seem a bit odd for multiple reasons – it is that John dressed in a camel-hair habit tied at the waist by a leather strap.  

As Quakers who historically used their clothing to make a statement, so did John.  His dress was the way he identified with the people on the fringes of his day.  John went as far as to become one of them – he not only dressed like them, he actually moved outside the city gates where the sick, the diseased, crippled, and outcast, I spoke of last week, were sent to live. 

For you and me that may mean finding things to do in our lives where we engage different groups of people that we normally do not associate with.  It is much harder to be discriminative, repressive, even dehumanizing when we interact with people from different walks of life.  Studies clearly show that people who have racist tendencies have often not had experience with people different than themselves.

To help bring peace in our current day, it just might take building a relationship, having a conversation, even engaging a group that might be outside your “comfort zone.”

John’s wilderness journey was just that – he was a RK (Rabbi Kid). He had it made.  He grew up with the elite of society and would have had a hard time identifying with those who had been sent outside the city walls.  He would have been taught by his own father that they were unclean and should be left alone. 

Thus the reason I believe John comes down so hard on the religious leaders who come out to see him in the wilderness.  He knew they wanted control because of their positions.  Listen to what he says in our text next.

Do you think a little water on your snakeskin is going to make any difference?  It’s your life that must change, not your skin! And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as father.

John is being an advocate for those who had been taken advantage of – the actual people who lived in the wilderness where he made his home.  Also, the same people the religious leaders had used their position to oppress.

Now, this action of John may seem out of place, since most peace and conflict teachings say when communicating with other, seek to avoid being ordering, moralizing, demanding, or threatening, because these forms of communication can give rise to conflict with others who feel that you are trying to control them rather than speak with them as an equal.  This is simply because it can lead to further conflict and does not put the two sides on common ground. 

But remember – John had decided to become one of them.  In this case, he wanted to bring peace through accountability and calling out his brothers.  And that leads to one of John’s most important points from our text.

“What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? …ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out.”

This may be the most Quakerly aspect of John’s prophetic words for us, today. Bringing peace in this world begins WITHIN EACH OF US. 

John’s query is so key – “Is our life green and blossoming?”  That query gets to the core issue – it asks us to stop and listen to our lives.  This is a call to personal awareness. 

And when we respond to that call and take time to listen to that still small voice of the Divine within us, we begin to allow ourselves to be awakened (as I said last week) to the world’s needs.  Awakened to become the day dreamers, gate keepers, bridge builders, soul speakers, web weavers, light bearers, food growers, wound healers, trail blazers, truth sayers, life lovers, and peace makers as the poem I read last week said. 

So, to quickly review what we have learned from John this morning, I have prepared some queries for us to ponder during waiting worship based on his teachings:

1.    What do I need to change in my life to find peace?

2.    Where am I creating “barriers” for others to find peace?

3.    Who are the folks on the fringe I need to identify with so they can experience peace?

4.    Where am I using my position to withhold peace?

5.    Is my life green and blossoming with opportunities for peace?

12-5-21 - A Season of Awakening

A Season of Awakening!

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

December 5, 2021

​​When​ ​the​ ​light​ ​shines,​ ​it​ ​exposes​ ​even​ ​the​ ​dark​ ​and​ ​shadowy​ ​things

and​ ​turns​ ​them​ ​into​ ​pure​ ​reflections​ ​of​ ​light.​ ​This​ ​is​ ​why​ ​they​ ​sing,

Awake,​ ​you​ ​sleeper!
​​​​​​​​Rise​ ​from​ ​your​ ​grave,
And​ ​the​ ​Anointed​ ​One​ ​will​ ​shine​ ​on​ ​you.

So​ ​be​ ​careful​ ​how​ ​you​ ​live;​ ​be​ ​mindful​ ​of​ ​your​ ​steps.​ ​Don’t​ ​run​ ​around like​ ​idiots​ ​as​ ​the​ ​rest​ ​of​ ​the​ ​world​ ​does.​ ​Instead,​ ​walk​ ​as​ ​the​ ​wise!​ ​​Make the​ ​most​ ​of​ ​every​ ​living​ ​and​ ​breathing​ ​moment​ ​because​ ​these​ ​are​ ​evil times.

Many faith traditions during this time of the year celebrate what they call the season of Advent.  Since Quakers do not follow the liturgical church year, this may seem foreign to us.  

​The​ ​actual​ ​word, “Advent,”​ ​is a Latin word which ​means​ ​“coming.”​ ​As I said a couple of weeks ago, I​ ​grew​ ​up​ ​in​ ​liturgical churches​ ​which​ ​all​ ​celebrated​ ​these​ ​four​ ​weeks​ ​leading​ ​up​ ​to​ ​Christmas day​ ​as​ ​a​ ​season​ ​of​ ​preparation​ ​for​ ​the​ ​coming​ ​of​ ​Jesus​ ​and​ ​his​ ​birth​.

This included church sanctuaries​ ​arrayed​ ​in​ ​royal​ ​purples​ ​or​ ​blue​ ​for​ ​the​ ​“Coming​ ​King”​ ​and​ ​an Advent​ ​Wreath​ ​with​ ​four​ ​candles​ ​to​ ​count​ ​down​ ​the​ ​Sundays​ ​until​ ​the​ ​big celebration.

Many churches (not just liturgical or sacramental churches) observe ​Advent​ including​ ​many ​Quakers. Actually, the Quaker Meeting I pastored in Oregon celebrated Advent each year. ​

​Taking a moment to consider the season of Advent, I​ ​have​ ​realized ​it​ ​is one​ ​of​ ​the​ ​most Quakerly​ ​seasons​ ​in​ ​the​ ​liturgical ​church​ ​year​, ​because​ ​of it’s focus ​on​ ​​expectant​ ​waiting​ ​​and​ ​​preparation​​ ​-​ ​two​ ​things​ ​that​ we, ​Quakers, consider​ ​very​ ​important​ ​to​ ​our​ ​faith.

But as​ ​I​ ​have​ ​continued to ​ponder​ ​this​ ​time​ ​of​ ​expectant​ ​waiting​ ​and​ ​preparation this​ ​year,​ ​I​ ​have​ ​had​ ​a​ ​another ​word​ ​that​ ​begins​ ​with​ ​the​ ​letter​ ​“A”​ ​on​ ​my mind.

That​ ​word​ ​is​ ​“awakening.”

Sure, the religious world has had an affinity for the word “awakening” – especially with two protestant revivals focused on heightened piety called the First and Second Great Awakenings. 

Yet,​ ​if​ ​you​ ​take​ ​some​ ​time​ ​and​ ​look​ ​into​ ​the​ ​definition​ ​of​ ​“awakening”​ ​you will​ ​come​ ​across​ ​this​ ​important​ ​description,​ ​which​ ​I​ ​believe​ ​may​ ​describe​ ​this time​ ​leading​ ​up​ ​to​ ​Christmas​ ​even​ ​more​ ​appropriately.

The​ ​definition​ ​says​ ​that​ ​awakening​ ​is​ ​​“​coming​ ​into​ ​existence​ ​or awareness​.”

What​ ​if​ ​we​ ​looked​ ​at​ ​the​ ​next​ ​couple​ ​weeks​ ​as​ ​a​ ​Season​ ​of​ ​Awakening for our individual lives and the life of our Meeting?

It ​seems​ ​appropriate​ ​when​ ​thinking​ ​about​ ​Jesus​ ​being​ ​born​ ​into​ ​this world.​ ​​ ​Jesus​’ life and ministry​ ​would bring into​ ​​existence​​ ​a​ ​new awareness​​ ​of​ ​our​ ​world.

The​ ​life ​of​ ​Jesus​ ​would help ​awaken​ ​the​ ​world​ ​to​ ​a​ ​new​ ​way​ ​of​ ​seeing.​ ​It says​ ​in​ ​scripture​ ​that​ ​he​ ​was​ ​reconciling​ ​the​ ​people​ ​to​ ​God​ ​and​ ​to​ ​their neighbors​ ​and​ ​making​ ​them​ ​aware​ ​of​ ​the​ ​importance​ ​of​ ​unconditional​ ​love.

As​ ​well,​ ​this​ ​coming​ ​of​ ​Jesus​ ​was​ ​shedding​ ​a​ ​new​ ​light​ ​on​ ​things.​ ​We​ ​often refer​ ​to​ ​Jesus​ ​as​ ​the​ ​​Light​ ​of​ ​the​ ​World​.​ ​Jesus​ ​was​ ​born​ ​into​ ​this​ ​world​ ​to shed​ ​light​ ​on​ ​our​ ​dark​ ​places​ ​and​ ​to​ ​awaken​ ​the​ ​light​ ​within​ ​each​ ​of​ ​us.

What​ ​if​ ​each​ ​Christmas​ ​Light​ ​that​ ​we​ ​decorate​ ​our​ ​homes​ ​and​ ​trees​ ​with and​ ​each​ ​candle​ ​that​ ​is​ ​lit​ ​was​ ​a​ ​reminder​ ​of​ ​Jesus’​ ​life​ ​and​ ​ministry​ ​and how​ ​​we​ ​too​​ ​are​ ​called​ ​to​ ​live​ ​that​ ​awakened​ ​life​ ​in​ ​this​ ​world?

​It​ ​just​ ​might have​ ​us​ ​seeing​ ​our​ ​lives,​ ​and​ ​especially,​ ​our​ ​neighbors​ ​from a different perspective.  

This​ ​was​ ​exactly​ ​what​ ​Jesus​ ​spoke​ ​of​ ​in​ ​his​ ​first​ ​sermon​ ​in​ ​his​ ​hometown synagogue.​ ​​​Listen​ ​to​ ​his​ ​words​ ​as​ ​he​ ​quoted​ ​from​ ​Isaiah.

God’s​ ​Spirit​ ​is​ ​on​ ​me;

He’s​ ​chosen​ ​me​ ​to​ ​preach​ ​the​ ​Message​ ​of​ ​good​ ​news​ ​to​ ​the​ ​poor,

Sent​ ​me​ ​to​ ​announce​ ​pardon​ ​to​ ​prisoners​ ​and ​​​​​​​​recovery​​ of ​​sight ​​to ​​the ​​blind,

To​ ​set​ ​the​ ​burdened​ ​and​ ​battered​ ​free, ​​​​​​​​

To​ ​announce,​ ​“This​ ​is​ ​God’s​ ​year​ ​to​ ​act!”

It seems clear - Jesus​ ​was​ ​announcing​ ​an​ ​awakening!

Jesus did not just ​awaken​ ​the​ ​people​ ​of​ ​his​ ​day​ ​to​ ​see​ ​just​ ​the​ ​prisoners,​ ​the​ ​blind, the​ ​burdened​ ​and​ ​battered​ -​ ​that​ ​was​ ​only​ ​the​ ​beginning.​ ​Jesus​ ​would go​ ​on​ ​to​ ​awaken​ them​ ​to​ ​the​ ​poor,​ ​the​ ​widows,​ ​the​ ​orphans,​ ​the​ ​women,​ ​the outcasts,​ ​the​ ​neglected,​ ​and​ ​the​ ​people​ ​from​ ​other​ ​cultures​ ​and​ ​races​ ​- even​ ​the​ ​despised​ ​Samaritans​ ​or​ ​what​ ​soon​ ​he​ ​would​ ​categorize​ ​as​ ​all​ ​the gentiles​ ​(or non-Jews).

Folks,​ ​Jesus​ ​was​ ​awakening​ ​a​ ​world​ ​to​ ​God’s​ ​Kingdom​ ​where​ ​ALL people​ ​were​ ​included​ ​and​ ​respected,​ ​and​ ​loved.​

T​​he​ ​veil​ ​would​ ​be​ ​torn and​ ​the​ ​table​ ​set​ ​for​ ​us​ ​to​ ​ALL eat together around his table.​

​​​​​This​ ​would​ ​have​ ​been great​ ​news​ ​to​ ​a​ ​world​ ​that​ ​was​ ​suffering​ ​from​ ​oppressive​ ​militant governments,​ ​who​ ​thought​ ​women​ ​were​ ​possessions,​ ​who​ ​swept​ ​the​ ​sick, the​ ​diseased,​ ​the​ ​crippled,​ ​and​ ​the​ ​unclean​ ​outside​ ​the​ ​city​ ​gates.

Sadly​, most of what Jesus was working to awaken is still happening in our world, today.

·        Many still live under oppressive militant governments - thus our need to welcome the Afghan evacuees.

·        Many cultures still consider women possessions – thus our need to promote equality wherever possible.

·        And even in the United States, the poor, elderly, LGBTQ+, and so many more are still neglected and put on the back burner for care and help.      

It is evident that we need awakening still today. 

Yet,​ ​I​ ​am​ ​optimistic.​ ​I​ ​sense​ ​an​ ​awakening​ ​happening​ ​in​ ​our​ ​world.​ ​God​ ​is again shedding​​ ​light​ ​on​ ​our​ ​darkness.​ ​God’s​ ​ways​ ​are​ again ​coming​ ​into existence​​ ​and​ ​we​ ​are​ ​becoming​ ​aware​ ​of​ ​the​ ​hurt​ ​we​ ​have​ ​caused​ ​by not​ ​being​ ​able​ ​to​ ​see​ ​that of God in our neighbor.​

​The Divine ​is​ ​awakening​ ​our inner​ ​lights,​​ ​fanning​ ​our​ ​flames,​ ​and​ ​calling​ ​us​ ​to​ ​be​​ ​ambassadors to​ ​our ​hurting​ ​world.

To close my thoughts this morning, I would like to share a poem written by Naima of the spoken word performance duo, Climbing Poetree.  The poem is titled, “Awaken”

AWAKEN

we are in the wake
of a great shifting

awaken

you better free your mind
before they illegalize thought

there’s a war going on

the first casualty was truth
and it’s inside you

the universe is counting on our belief
that faith is more powerful than fear
and in that the shifting moment
we’ll all remember why we’re here

in a world where you’re assassinated for having a dream
and the rich spend 9 billion a year to control our ideas
and visions are televised so things aren’t what they seem

we gotta believe
in a world where
there’s room enough for everyone
to breathe

cause reality is made up of
7 billion thoughts
who made up their minds
of what’s real and what’s not

so, I stopped believing
in false idols of war
greed and hate
is not worth my faith

my mind’s dedicated
to justice
my soul is devoted
to love

and love is God
and God is truth
and truth is you
and you are me
and I am everything
and everything is nothing
and nothing is the birthplace of creation
and transformation is possible
and you are proof

we were born right now
for a reason
we can be whatever
we give ourselves the power to be

and right now we need
day dreamers
gate keepers
bridge builders
soul speakers
web weavers
light bearers
food growers
wound healers
trail blazers
truth sayers
life lovers
peace makers

give what you most deeply desire
to give
every moment you are choosing to live
or you are waiting

why would a flower hesitate to open?
now is the only moment
rain drop let go
become the ocean

possibility is as wide
as the space
we create
to hold it

This​ ​morning​ ​as​ ​we​ ​head​ ​into​ ​waiting​ ​worship,​ ​ask​ ​yourselves,

·        How​ ​am​ ​I​ ​preparing​ ​for​ ​the​ ​​awakening​​ happening in my life this Holiday Season?  ​

·        Who around​ ​me​ ​is​ ​being​ ​neglected​ ​or​ ​treated​ ​poorly?​ ​Who​ ​is​ ​in​ ​need​ ​of​ ​a​ ​little respect​ ​or​ ​a​ ​blessing​ ​of​ ​love​ ​during this season?​ ​Who​ ​needs​ ​an​ ​awakening?

11-21-21 - Quaker Worship (Part 8): Eucharist/Thanksgiving

Quaker Worship (Part 8): Eucharist/Thanksgiving

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

November 21, 2021

Colossians 3:15-17 (The Message)

15-17 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every

detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

This morning we conclude our Fall Sermon Series on Quaker Worship.  Very soon we will be transitioning into the Holiday season, but before we do, I want to take one last look at Quaker worship.  It just may help usher us into the holidays in a very significant way.

This past week, I was listening to a book as I took my morning walks, and the author said the following,

“I have sought to call the members of this generation into an awareness that worship means expanding the meaning of their humanity.” 

When I heard this, I paused the book, rewound it, and listened to that definition one more time. 

If worship is about expanding the meaning of our humanity, it must influence us in the present moment, not just eternally. And I believe this effect comes from a long-standing understanding in the Universal Church of worship being about giving thanks (an appropriate subject for this upcoming week). 

As most of you know, I grew up in liturgical and sacramental churches. That means, on most Sundays, we celebrated the Lord’s Supper or what those churches often called the Eucharist. 

The Greek word from which the word eucharist comes is eucharista which actually translates in English to thanksgiving. 

That is why in many churches that celebrate the eucharist or the Lord’s Supper – you may hear them call it the Great Thanksgiving.  This often confused me as a child – why are we always celebrating Thanksgiving at church – and with such micro-portions.  

The Great Thanksgiving was usually the part of the service where they moved from readings, prayers, and preaching, to consecrating the elements of bread and wine, gathering around the table (or altar), and sharing in a symbol of their common-union together. 

As Quakers, this may seem rather foreign, and it definitely is not a part of our tradition. Friends do not feel it is necessary to utilize the elements of bread and wine in our worship, yet, that does not mean that we do not have a Eucharist among Quakers. Let me explain.  

Friend Brent Bill says that Quaker silence or waiting worship is in fact our version of the Eucharist. In his book, Holy Silence, he says,

“We believe that Christ comes in a physically present way in the same way that Catholics believe that when the host is elevated it becomes the literal body and blood of Jesus.”

Thus, the famous Quaker painting, The Presence in the Midst by James Doyle Penrose which you will see hanging in most Quaker Meetings – including ours.

Early Quakers called this “experiencing the Present Christ – or the Present Teacher.” For those coming from a liturgical background, like myself, we find this explanation very helpful. 

Yet, we may not all feel comfortable with the “Jesus” terminology, some of us may be more inclined to utilize the Divine, Present Teacher, Inner Christ, Spirit, or even conscience.

Often when centering down into Quaker silence or waiting worship, Friends seek a transcendent experience with this Divine. We hope to experience what we often call a nudging of the Spirit.  At times we will find ourselves comforted and at other times we may be uncomfortable, quaking, and even draw to speak out of the silence.  We may even sense a calling to act or respond out of that silence.

Brent Bill and his wife describe an experience of this Quaker Eucharist in the following way,

“It was as if something had been lit deep inside and now shown from their faces, we saw ‘grace and truth’ reflected in the people around us…God had worked his way into the deeper parts of our hearts and out to our fingers and toes and noses.” 

As I grew up in liturgical and sacramental churches, I found the Eucharist and taking communion with elements very special and important to me – but it always seemed a private event between me and God. Even though it was called communion – the common-union was ONLY between me and God.  That did not seem enough. 

The Eucharist was to be a communal experience more like we read in the Bible with Jesus and his disciples. They came together in common-union to give thanks and then to go out and change their world.  It was more than just having a one-on-one relationship with Jesus.  

Actually, the liturgical rite I used to pray each week as an Anglican Priest concludes with words that suggest there should be even more to this communal aspect of the Liturgical/Sacramental Eucharist. I used to read in the closing prayer these words:

“…and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs, through hope, of thy everlasting kingdom. And we humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in…”

Or in more modern language…

“And now, Father, send us out
to do the work you have given us to do,
to love and serve you
as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.”

When I finally added the Quaker belief that there is “that of God in all people” to the Eucharist experience my understanding blossomed and evolved. I now could envision what Brent Bill and his wife had experienced.

God had always been present in the people surrounding me – they are truly the “blessed company” and “holy fellowship” as I said each week in my Anglican days, because they too had God within them.  

Actually, that means that if God is within them – they too can be a “means of grace” – a sacrament that connects me with the Divine.  In my heart, I realized my neighbor may be able to do that even better than a piece of bread or a drink of wine.   

I realized that I did not need the elements of bread and wine to see or experience God, rather I needed to acknowledge the Divine’s presence in those that God had already placed around me in this present moment of my life.

God had already given me all the physical elements I needed – the real query seemed to be, was I willing to see them in this way?

Just maybe, I needed to sit in silence and quiet my own thinking and desires, and allow the Divine to speak to me through those gathered around me.

What I have learned is that when you and I sit with our fellow Friends in silent worship or waiting worship – we are experiencing the Eucharist in a truly communal and sacramental way – communal together and sacramental in that God is present in each of us.

Realizing this only affirms for me why Jesus narrowed things down to two great commandments - to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself.  These were the basics for the Eucharist and for our worship together.

It also makes more sense why it would be named the Great Thanksgiving.  The thanksgiving was to be for more than just what God has done in our lives, but also for us to be thankful for what God is doing in the lives of those around us. 

This makes the Eucharist more than just a ritual we fulfill or run through the motions of doing. Rather, it is a communal experience that creates an awareness within and around us of the Divine’s influence, work, and even compassion for our neighbors, whether in our Meeting or without. 

And to encompass this awareness in the idea that thanksgiving is essential. 

Because having a heart for worship means first, we have a thankful heart – thankful for what God is doing and also thankful for our neighbor and what God is doing within them. 

It must start with thankfulness – otherwise it takes us away from true worship, having compassion, and expanding the meaning of our humanity.  Just think about it…

When we are not thankful for those whose opinions differ from ours; we criticize.

When we don’t value those different than ourselves; we ostracize.

When we aren’t respectful of other’s values, we marginalize.

Ingratitude is at the root of arrogance, hatred, and rudeness.  

Folks, it is the direct opposite of being in a place of humble worship where we seek to love God and our neighbor as ourselves.

When we are not thankful, we don’t just have a problem with our words; we have a problem with our hearts.

That is why my hope is to refocus us to see the heart of worship as thanksgiving.

Giving thanks is life-giving. It breaks down the walls that isolate us from each other and from our world. To be thankful is to see ourselves in relation to what is around us and to understand life as the blessing it is. Thanksgiving is the key to a joy-filled and worshipful life.

And if we are willing to embrace a worship posture of thanksgiving, our hearts will continue to grow softer and not harder, and we will begin to see “that of God all around us.”

So, to close, I want to return to the opening words of our scripture for this morning. Let these words be our charge each week as we enter worship and this week as we celebrate Thanksgiving.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness.

Today, as we enter waiting worship or what I would like to call Quaker Eucharist let us focus on having a thankful heart.

·        As you center down, take a moment to thank whatever you name the Divine in your life for the blessings you have.

·        Keep your ears and hearts open to the nudging of the Spirit - what is the Spirit asking of you this morning?

·        And then take a moment to look around and sense your fellow Friends (the blessed company and holy fellowship) around you.  How are they a sacrament to you in this Silence? 

11-14-21 - The Spiritual Power of Music

The Spiritual Power of Music

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Beth Henricks

November 14, 2021

Exodus 15:20-21

Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously”

Friends, today we are honoring Shawn Porter, our organist for 25 years here at First Friends.  Shawn will be leaving us at the end of the year and I ask all of you to hold him in the Light and send your thoughts of appreciation for his ministry here.  This special Sunday got me thinking about the power of music in our worship experience.  Bob has been talking about Quaker worship and its different elements over the last few weeks.  I want to today to expand on the spiritual power of music in how we experience the mystical, the Divine, its emotional bond and the movement of our heart  to God through music.  As Maya Angelou once said,  no one will remember the words we say (as long and hard as we work on the words).  People will remember how we made them feel.  That speaks to me a lot about music.  Music has this way of evoking an emotion, a time, a place, a feeling that nothing else can give us. 

I know each of you has lost someone beloved to you and don’t you remember them in the most profound way through music?  Just this weekend I was texting with my son Greg about the music his dad and my husband loved which was extensive (jazz, swing, Motown, anything with an accordion etc).  But this weekend it was about marching band music and John Phillips Sousa’s Washington March that played on my phone during yard work.  Jerry loved marching band music and every time he heard a song from Sousa, he participated in the bass drum part with his mouth.  We were both sharing about how much we missed him and the memory that music brings up to us in a profound way. 

Every time I hear a Fleetwood Mack song I immediately think of our dear Ann Panah that passed away several years ago at the age of 59 from cancer.  Music was such a significant love of her life and that love connected us to her (and still does) in the deepest way.   I’m sure that each of you could share one of these moments for someone that you have lost. Music connects us beyond this physical realm and for me this is such a part of our experience of God and worship.

Music meets a human need and finds its place in the heart of people. It is associated with the need for comfort, rest, tranquility, peace, sleep. But It’s associated with every other part of life.  Music can be high, and noble, and exalted. It can be elevating. It can be uplifting. It can raise that which is honorable and pure.  Music reminds us of who we are. It  has the power to transform our lives.  There is a great  scene in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. If you have seen this movie, you will remember that the main character, Andy Dufrain, has been sentenced to two back-to-back life terms for crimes he did not commit. He is thrown into a violent world  of Shawshank Prison where everything conspires to destroy humanity.

Andy puts one of his records on the prison record player. Intoxicated by the beauty of an aria, Andy locks out the warden and plays a portion of “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart over the prison loudspeaker. Everyone in Shawshank Prison stands transfixed by the music – a moment of intrusive beauty in a horrible place.

Andy  is tortured for his little trick. On his release from solitary confinement, Andy explains to his inmate friends how he endured being in this prison . “I had Mr. Mozart to keep me company. It is in here (pointing to his head and heart). That’s the beauty of music… so you don’t forget that there are places in the world not made out of stone, that there’s something inside that they can’t get to, that they can’t touch.” It is yours and its mine and it can bring us back to a place of humanity and grace.

There are many other movies that I’m sure all of you can think of that evoke this same kind of emotion for you.  I remember the first time I was watching Tom Hanks in the role of the attorney with AIDS in the movie Philadelphia.  There is this profound moment when Hanks’s character who is dying listens to Maria Calla’s  recording of “La Mamma Morta” from “Andrea Chénier .  It is  a scene that moves beyond his physical disease and the constraints of his body, and he achieved a mystical comprehension of being in that moment (as did his own attorney played by Denzel Washington). I will never forget how I felt watching this scene in the movie.

This power of music has been a part of the church since its  beginning.  It was an important aspect of worship in both the Old and New Testament.  As we heard today, Miriam led women in singing, tambourines and joy to express gratitude to God for bringing them out of bondage with the Egyptians (this was after the Red Sea parted and the Israelites were able to escape from the Pharoah and Egyptian army.)   The book of Psalms seems to be the original songbook of the church as praises and laments permeate throughout this book.  So many songs from our current music as well as our traditional music have their words  coming out of the book of Psalms.  II Chronicles 5:13 says “it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments in praise to the Lord, for he is good, his steadfast love endures forever, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud.”  Music was a part of the Isrraelites culture and songs were a way to praise, worship and lament to Yahweh.

We know that King David (before he was king)  would many times play his harp to calm King Saul when he was in a dark place mentally and emotionally.  There is lots to examine about this for another day, but it again speaks to the power of music to soothe our soul and bring us into God’s presence when we are scared, in the dark and afraid.

There was also much music in the early New Testament church gatherings.   Ephesians 5: 19-20 says “as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hears, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”    Colossians 3:16 says “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God.

Music in worship is a powerful emotional stimulator.  It is a gift of God. It is a common grace. We can’t imagine the world without music, the world in which we now live. 

Barbara Brown Taylor, one of my favorite writers and pastors, said that to preach is to “toss the fragile net of our words over the bone-melting music of God.” I like the image of these words and the description of how music can melt our bones and bring us into a place of the Divine.

Sometimes on Sunday we hear our name called in the music. Something stirs within us, and we, too, realize who we were meant to be. “Deep cries unto deep,” and we find ourselves surrounded by the “bone-melting music of God.”

Sometimes, music reminds us of our past. That’s especially true today as we sing several of the old hymns.  However, music also takes us into a future that we can imagine, one where love, peace, joy and care for each other and our earth is possible.  I am sure you can think of times and songs that transport you to this place of hope and promise.  Just about every important social and justice movement has music deeply embedded in their drive for change.

When I first started exploring Quakerism 30 years ago, I was attracted to the idea of unprogrammed worship and learning how to center myself to listen to the voice.  But I also knew I had to be a part of a worship service where music was included because of how music connects me to the Divine.  I know this is not the case for everyone, but it’s one of the reasons why I have loved First Friends. The fact that we incorporate music, the spoken word and silence in our community is what I had been looking for my entire spiritual life.    And we have been blessed to have some talented musicians that have offered a breadth of musical styles and songs.

One of those people is Shawn Porter.  Today we are celebrating him and honoring the 25 years of his music ministry at First Friends.  I remember the first time that Shawn came to First Friends to play the organ.  It was in December, close to Christmas and he showed up in this festive Christmas vest and played the organ wonderfully that Sunday.  Shawn started out as our organist and within several years he was playing the organ and also directing the choir.  I was part of the choir for many years, and I always appreciated his organizational skills, his amazing ability to sight read music (never seen anyone sight read that well), his sense of humor and fun, and how he embraced all of us no matter our musical talents. 

Shawn also became more than my choir director – he became my friend.  Shawn is a good friend.  I will never forget his genuine concern for me when I told everyone on a Sunday 17 years ago that I had uterine cancer.  I was having surgery the following week and I remember being in the Coffee Circle room for some meeting after Meeting for worship and when he left the meeting visibly shaken by my news  he whispered in my ear – I love you.  He meant it and I was deeply moved by his care and connection with me. 

We come from some similar religious backgrounds – Church of God and Nazarenes have a lot of similarities and we have a lot of common language from our backgrounds – as well as a love for the card game Rook (because we could not use regular playing cards as they were considered evil).  We both have been on a spiritual journey, and I have always appreciated his openness and his wrestling with some of the messages of these denominations. 

I was honored to officiate at Shawn and Brett’s wedding here at First Friends on July 8th, 2017.  It was a joy to get to know Brett and to do premarital counseling with them and appreciate the love and respect they have for each other as individuals and the positive potential for a marriage that is so the right thing for both of them.  It was a beautiful day, and the Meeting room was filled with friends, family and so many members of the First Friends community to show our love and appreciation for Shawn.

Shawn brought his musical talents and his whole being to First Friends.  He added to our spiritual experience through the ministry of music.  Shawn, we are thankful that you shared your music ministry with us for all these years and became a part of our faith community.

I close today with a poem about the power of music.

The Gift to Sing

James Weldon Johnson - 1871-1938

Sometimes the mist overhangs my path,
And blackening clouds about me cling;
But, oh, I have a magic way
To turn the gloom to cheerful day—
      I softly sing.

And if the way grows darker still,
Shadowed by Sorrow’s somber wing,
With glad defiance in my throat,
I pierce the darkness with a note,
       And sing, and sing.

I brood not over the broken past,
Nor dread whatever time may bring;
No nights are dark, no days are long,
While in my heart there swells a song,
       And I can sing.Top of FormBottom of Form

Friends, as we enter this time of silent reflection and unprogrammed worship, centering ourselves to listen for the voice, I share several queries for your consideration.

How does music move you?

What memories come up for you as you listen to various music?

In what ways do you experience God through music?

11-7-21 - Quaker Worship (Part 7): Having a Business Attitude

 Quaker Worship (Part 7): Having a Business Attitude

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

November 7, 2021

Ephesians 4:1-3 (The Voice)

As a prisoner of the Lord, I urge you: Live a life that is worthy of the calling He has graciously extended to you. 2 Be humble. Be gentle. Be patient. Tolerate one another in an atmosphere thick with love. 3 Make every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit has already created, with peace binding you together.

Back in the Spring of 2017, when we were visiting First Friends for the first time, we were invited after Meeting for Worship to attend the beginning of your monthly business meeting before going out for lunch. 

Since we were living in Oregon and had not seen our son, Alex, for several months, we made sure to fly into Fort Wayne and pick him up from Huntington University and bring him with us. 

He came to Meeting for Worship that morning with a skeptical outlook, due to factors that affected our family in our Meeting in Oregon.  I will be honest, I was using him to give me a raw perspective and knew he would be an honest indicator for what he saw at First Friends.

Alex said very little during worship other than how the name tags made him uncomfortable and how he did not like the organ.  Yet, when we were ushered into the front row of Meeting for Business in the parlor that morning, he was very attentive and listened carefully. 

I knew Alex, at his young age, had been a part of one too many Meetings for Business that had gone wrong or were not facilitated well at both the local and yearly meeting levels.  As a youth representative and leader, he found himself in the middle of the split taking place over Same-Sex Marriage that was tearing apart our yearly meeting in the Northwest. 

At the time of our visit, Dan Rains was the clerk of the meeting and had gone out of his way to make us feel welcome.  Jeff Goens, our current clerk introduced us in the Business Meeting and said we were only going to stay for the beginning of the Meeting.  

As we sat listening to committee reports and listening to the business of First Friends, Alex leaned over and whispered something in my ear I will never forget.  He said, “Well, they know how to do business.”

I remember well, Dan Rains beginning that meeting for worship by discussing how Quakers consider the business of the meeting as an extension of our worship.  I had heard this before, but sadly, due to the turmoil in our local and yearly meetings in Oregon, we had rarely experienced it.  I spent the last two years in Oregon before coming to First Friends helping guide and work closely with the clerk of our meeting at Silverton Friends to get us back to this Quaker foundation.

And even though, as Alex put it, we know how to do business at First Friends, I believe on occasion we need to be reminded and even re-taught on how we can keep our business an extension of our worship.

As I prepared for the sermon this week, I returned to what I consider the primer on Quaker Process – ironically by that same title – written by Mathilda Navias. She starts the chapter on Meeting for Business with the following quote from Paul A. Lacey and Bill Taber from their important book, “The Purpose of Meetings for Worship and Business.”  I believe it gives a solid framework for Quaker Business being a true extension of our worship – they say,

“The Meeting for business, if it be Spirit-filled and properly understood, is a hands-on, laboratory-filled experience in which the whole fellowship comes face-to-face with the Spirit’s demands for the sacrifice of time, treasure, convenience, and prejudice. When opinions differ widely and the need for spiritual discernment becomes crucial, the best are driven, as never in a meeting for worship, to seek that Spirit which can sustain harmony while waiting for the right leading. Thus, God’s work among us becomes more real and faith is both tested and strengthened in the business meeting.

From this definition, you could almost say a Quaker Meeting for Business is just Quaker Worship on steroids. 

Often in our world we connect business with “getting things done” or “dealing with issues” or “fixing those things that are going or have gone wrong,” but those are all just effects or outcomes of business practice. 

When you study Quaker Business, you find that the primary aim is to deepen the spiritual life of the community, rather than just getting things done. Therefore, you will not find Robert’s Rules of Order within Quaker Business – because Robert’s Rules of Order is a system devised solely around decision-making and finalizing things – getting things done. 

For Quakers, business is so much more - so much more fluid, so much more about process. 

To understand how we arrived at this place, we need to do a little history.  George Selleck wrote about this history in a short pamphlet titled, “Principles of the Quaker Business Meeting.  He says,

When Quaker arose in the 17th century, there were objections on the part of some to the holding of business meetings.  Some persons felt that such gathering placed undue limitations on the guidance of the individual, but the new Quaker movement was characterized by a faith that the group could be guided, as well as the individual.

The Quaker conviction that the Light of Christ is given in some measure to everyone implies both an individual apprehension of the will of God and also an understanding of God’s will mediated through the insight of others. Quakerism has always had within it a centrifugal force of individualism, but likewise there has always been a centripetal force of corporate life in tension with it.

From the fruitful interaction of these two have come the decisions of the society.  The visions and concerns of individuals prevent the society from being over-traditional and static, the insights of a gathered group prevent it from moving over-hastily in unconsidered enthusiasm.

In some ways I consider our Meeting for Business a launch pad and sounding board for greater possibilities for ministry.  What individually may happen inside each of us during worship, may have the opportunity to be honed, supported, and find wings among the corporate gathering.  

A great example of this “launching pad/sounding board” idea since I have come to minister alongside you all, was back in November of 2017, in my first 6 months at First Friends. 

I love to hear Amy Perry tell the story of sensing the Spirit’s leading during Meeting for Worship to investigate volunteering for the Right Sharing of World Resources Stamps Program.  It was clear when she came in to talk with Beth and me that following week, that this nudging put her on a trajectory for much more than volunteering. 

Amy ended up feeling led to take over the Stamps program with Right Sharing of World Resources. To continue the legacy that Friend, Brad Hathaway had begun twenty years earlier.  But Amy knew this was bigger than her personal nudge.  She knew that if she was going to take this on, it would have to be a corporate venture.  Her individual vision became the launchpad for a full-fledge ministry that impacts our community, as well as the world.

Amy’s faithfulness to follow that leading, and First Friends’ coming around Amy corporately through supporting, volunteering, and affirming her leading (I believe) have deepened the spiritual life of First Friends.

I love popping my head in to say hello or deliver the latest parcel of stamps to our faithful stamping crew on Wednesdays.  There is not only an air of Friendly fellowship and comradery, but also a sense of purpose that what they are doing TOGETHER is making a difference and changing our world.

In many churches today, business gets put before worship, and the outcome can be much different than the example I just gave.  Worship must be part of the process or maybe I should say – it must be the process. 

Our worship at First Friends, whether unprogrammed or programmed should be where the business begins. 

If Quaker Business process is about deepening the spiritual life, and inviting participants to seek God’s will and build and preserve a loving community together, then each time we come to Meeting for Worship, we are laying a foundation for our ongoing business. 

It should be what happens in this place right here that ushers us into our committee work, our monthly business meetings, even our daily interactions with our neighbors and fellow Friends. 

The integrity of the gathered community becomes more important than the decisions being made. 

Our Business is where we work to maintain loving relationships with one another, practice listening or speaking, and seek a unified sense of Truth. 

Eden Grace who served Friends United Meeting until recently has alluded to Quaker Business Practice as being more about having the right attitude over the preferred outcomes or results. 

She spelled out four attitudes Friends must utilize in their business in an article she wrote for the World Council of Churches in 2000.  I believe they are a great review for us as we enter any business at First Friends 

1. Our attitude toward God:

Eden says that when we enter into any Meeting business it should be with hearts and minds prepared to be led by the Spirit. That we seek to renew our commitment to the Divine’s leading and are willing to lay our own strong feelings and desires before God. 

1. Our attitude toward the other members:

She says, “Quaker process places a high value on the strength of the community. A Sense of the Meeting is only achieved when those participating respect and care for one another.”

Thus, it requires us to have a humble and loving spirit, imputing purity of motive to all participants, and offering our highest selves in return. This way we can create a safe space for sharing.

Our focus should be on listening carefully, respectfully, lovingly, and always listening for the presence of God through what someone is saying, knowing that there is that of God in each of us.

1. Our attitude toward the process:

She says, “[Friends] value process over product, action or outcome. That means we respect each other’s thoughts, feelings and insights more than expedient action. The process of reaching a decision yield more "results" than the decisions themselves.

Our attention to the Divine movement in the community is, in fact, the source of decision and action, so that process and outcome are ideally two sides of the same experience.

1. Our attitude toward potential outcomes:

Eden says, “We know that none of us is likely to enter the Meeting with a fully formed understanding of the will of God, and so we expect that a new way will emerge which is not necessarily identified with the position of any person or faction. "

This means a group, meeting in the right spirit, may be given greater insight than any single person." 

"A gathered meeting under the authority of God is often able to find unity in creative ways which were not considered before the meeting but which become apparent during its course. Though the process of Quaker business may take some time, at the end it can find a united meeting able to act swiftly because the action has been widely agreed.

Ask yourself, are these my attitudes when I come to Meeting for Business,  a Committee Meeting, or any business at First Friends? 

I sense when we don’t come with these attitudes in check we immediately are faced with a lack of mutual trust and respect for one another, a shyness or unwillingness to engage each other, and a disregard for what our fellow Friends may consider a leading from the Spirit. 

And when this is the case, our default in matters of business among Friends then quickly becomes difficult, we butt heads, we question motives, and personal agendas replace the process of deepening the spiritual life of the community. 

Friend, Michael Wajda, sums it up well when he says, this is

“…about looking for Truth as a body, rather than about our individual senses of truth.  We need to enter worshipfully into our meetings for business. We need to wrestle with the issues, to share our glimpses of the Truth as we see it, and then we need to let go and listen deeply until all those glimpses give us a sense of the Truth as a whole.  This takes time, patience, and surrender.

May this be true for us at First Friends.

Now, as we enter waiting worship let us humbly present ourselves before the Divine for transformation, teaching, love, hope, freedom, a leading of the Spirit, and all with a proper attitude for one another.  Here are some queries to ponder this morning.

●       What are my misconceptions and attitudes about Quaker Business?

●       What leadings of the Spirit have I had during worship that I need to bring forward to the corporate body for discernment and support?

●       How am I assisting my fellow Friends in deepening our spiritual life through Quaker Business?