Taste and See -- Day Five

I met my friend Beth today for a late lunch to do final planning for our upcoming "Art of Faith" workshop. The menu had all sorts of tempting taste treats, but I went with a simple salad and and chicken salad sandwich. Tasty enough, but ... what made the tastes memorable was not how they felt on my tongue, but rather the company I was keeping. The fellowship I enjoyed.

Which is something we often forget about when we think about taste -- we can't take the sense in isolation. It, like all our senses, involves all of us. And so the taste of salad and chicken salad at Cornerstone reminds me of Beth and the plans we've made for the workshop we're co-leading.

It was a good reminder that, for all my sensory experiences, I do not live in a vacuum -- much of my "sensing" takes place in relationship to others. And that is a gift from God.

--Brent

Quaker Wisdom for Today

I have assumed a name today for my religious principles - Quaker-Catholicism - having direct spiritual teaching for its distinctive dogma, yet recognising the high worth of all other forms of Faith: a system, in the sense of inclusion, not exclusion; an appreciation of the universal and the various teachings of the Spirit, through the faculties given to us, or independent of them.

--Caroline Fox

Taste and See -- Day Four

I went Greek today. I had lunch at Aesop's Tables here in Indianapolis. I like Aesop's -- good food, good prices, good company. And I get to visit with my old buddy Bill Brooks (we used to be apartment mates back in our New Castle days). I ordered my usual at Aesop's -- a MaryBeth salad. It's a Greek salad with tatziki and gyro meat. Lamb.

Lamb... hmmm, any spiritual connections there. Only one or one-hundred, I suppose. The one that came immediately to mind was from the gospel of John -- "Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, 'Behold the Lamb of God!'"

Behold, indeed!

-- Brent

Quaker Wisdom for Today

By the discovery of God, therefore, I do not mean anything mysterious, or mystical, or unattainable. I simply mean becoming acquainted with Him as one becomes acquainted with a human friend; that is, finding out what is His nature, and His character, and coming to under-stand His ways. I mean in short discovering what sort of a Being He really is--whether good or bad, whether kind or unkind, whether selfish or unselfish, whether strong or weak, whether wise or foolish, whether just or unjust. It is of course evident that everything in one's religious life depends upon the sort of God one worships. The character of the worshipper must necessarily be moulded by the character of the object worshipped. If it is a cruel and revengeful God, or a selfish and unjust God, the worshipper will be cruel, and revengeful, and selfish, and unjust, also. if it is a loving, tender, forgiving, unselfish God, the worshipper will be loving, and tender, and forgiving, and unselfish, as well.

-- Hannah Whitall Smith (author, The Christian's Secret to a Happy Life)

Taste and See, Day Three

...Water... Cool, Clear Water

My co-worker Nancy and I had to take a little road trip today. So, before we pulled out of the parking lot, Nancy did something that would have been unthinkable not too many years ago -- she ran to the grocery store next to the office and bought us water for the trip.

In the "old" days, we would have arrived our destination parched, unless the driver deigned to stop for a drink. Which, since I was driving, would not have happened. My belief is that once you are on the road you should not stop until you get there if it's fewer than three hours away.

So we hydrated our way to Seymour. Between sips, though, I thought about what a luxury this was -- to have cool, clear water sitting in a cup holder, chilled by the car's air conditioner, and right at hand should I want any. It kept my thirst at bay.

And I thought of all those Bible verses about thirst -- from Exodus 17 ("But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, 'Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?'") to Nehemiah 9 ("You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.") to Psalm 42 ("My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?").

And, I have to admit, that when I thought of that passage from Psalms, I felt more than a bit guilty. I could easily remember times when I could say "My soul thirsts for water, for the cool clear water God. When can I go and get some water?" (especially on hot summer days out in the prairie or on my tractor) but when is the last time I was so thirsty for God that I would cry, like the Psalmist, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"

I began to feel a little easier when I reflected that I must have that feeling more than I recognize because, for one, every Sunday (or First Day as some of us Quakers say) I do thirst for worship. I want to join fellow seekers on the way to God in a time of coming before God to learn from Him and each other. And I often leave worship feeling that, while my thirst has been partially slaked, I have been privileged to take sips from a deep well and I need to return more often.

And then I think of Jesus and the woman at the well -- "Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.'"

I say that's what I want -- living water that leaves my thirst satisfied. But then I think, I'm often too satisfied with my spiritual life as it is. Perhaps a little unrequited thirst is a good thing. A very good thing, in fact, for it keeps bringing me back to the well that never will run dry.

-- Brent

Quaker Wisdom for Today

O FRIENDS! with whom my feet have trod
The quiet aisles of prayer,
Glad witness to your zeal for God
And love of man I bear.

I trace your lines of argument;
Your logic linked and strong
I weigh as one who dreads dissent,
And fears a doubt as wrong.

But still my human hands are weak
To hold your iron creeds:
Against the words ye bid me speak
My heart within me pleads.

Who fathoms the Eternal Thought?
Who talks of scheme and plan?
The Lord is God! He needeth not
The poor device of man.

I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground
Ye tread with boldness shod;
I dare not fix with mete and bound
The love and power of God.

Ye praise His justice; even such
His pitying love I deem:
Ye seek a king; I fain would touch
The robe that hath no seam.

Ye see the curse which overbroods
A world of pain and loss;
I hear our Lord’s beatitudes
And prayer upon the cross.

More than your schoolmen teach, within
Myself, alas! I know:
Too dark ye cannot paint the sin,
Too small the merit show.

I bow my forehead to the dust,
I veil mine eyes for shame,
And urge, in trembling self-distrust,
A prayer without a claim.

I see the wrong that round me lies,
I feel the guilt within;
I hear, with groan and travail-cries,
The world confess its sin.

Yet, in the maddening maze of things,
And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed trust my spirit clings;
I know that God is good!

Not mine to look where cherubim
And seraphs may not see,
But nothing can be good in Him
Which evil is in me.

The wrong that pains my soul below
I dare not throne above,
I know not of His hate,—I know
His goodness and His love.

I dimly guess from blessings known
Of greater out of sight,
And, with the chastened Psalmist, own
His judgments too are right.

I long for household voices gone,
For vanished smiles I long,
But God hath led my dear ones on,
And He can do no wrong.

I know not what the future hath
Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies.

And if my heart and flesh are weak
To bear an untried pain,
The bruisëd reed He will not break,
But strengthen and sustain.

No offering of my own I have,
Nor works my faith to prove;
I can but give the gifts He gave,
And plead His love for love.

And so beside the Silent Sea
I wait the muffled oar;
No harm from Him can come to me
On ocean or on shore.

I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.

O brothers! if my faith is vain,
If hopes like these betray,
Pray for me that my feet may gain
The sure and safer way.

And Thou, O Lord! by whom are seen
Thy creatures as they be,
Forgive me if too close I lean
My human heart on Thee!

-- John Greenleaf Whittier, "The Eternal Goodness"

Quaker Wisdom for Today

Being orderly come together, [you are] not to spend time with needless, unnecessary and fruitless discourses; but to proceed in the wisdom of God, not in the way of the world, as a worldly assembly of men, by hot contests, by seeking to outspeak and over-reach one another in discourse as if it were controversy between party and party of men, or two sides violently striving for dominion, not deciding affairs by the greater vote. But in the wisdom, love and fellowship of God, in gravity, patience, meekness, in unity and concord, submitting one to another in lowliness of heart, and in the holy Spirit of truth and righteousness all things [are] to be carried on; by hearing, and determining every matter coming before you, in love, coolness, gentleness and dear unity; - I say, as one only party, all for the truth of Christ, and for the carrying on the work of the Lord, and assisting one another in whatsoever ability God hath given.

--Edward Burrough

Taste and See -- Day Two

Ah, a cuppa Joe. Java. Brain juice. Cup of tar. Coffee. I have that bitter brew with my breakfast each morning. I'm a pretty obsessive compulsive guy (should there be a hypen there?), so it's oatmeal and coffee seven days out of seven -- unless I'm traveling or we have company. Even then, though, there's one norm -- coffee.

This morning, though, since Beth Booram and I are doing our 30 days of tasting, I thought more about my mugful of mocha. Especially, despite the copious amounts of cream and "pink stuff" (the diabetic's sugar alternative) how it leaves an often slightly bitter aftertaste. Which made me think about words I've spoken over the years. Words that I've said that can't be taken back and leave an awfully bitter aftertaste in my soul and in the souls of those who I've spoken those words to. Words I wished -- often right after they flew from my fevered anger -- I could take back, but knew I could not. Too late. They were gone and on their wounding way. Drinking my coffee, I remembered the words of James --

"the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be."

As my mother used to say, "Brent, watch your mouth..." (The only reason she doesn't say it anymore is because I live 200 miles away and she knows it won't do any good, anyhow.)

On a happier note, I watched my mouth at lunch when I had fish and chips. Not quite what Jesus fixed by the Sea of Tiberius after the resurrection, but still they reminded me of the how Jesus called the disciples to be fishers of men. And then it raised the question, what does that mean for me today? How do I call people to Christ? What is my witness? Is it as a smug, arrogant, self-righteous know-it-all? Or as someone who models Christ-like love and compassion? Someone who's winsome? I certainly hope it's the latter.

The fish and chips are still present in my swollen belly. Yikes. Perhaps I should have had the poached salmon!

-- Brent

Taste and See -- Day One

As my faithful reader knows, Beth Booram and I are getting reading to lead a workshop on "The Art of Faith: Awakening Your Senses to the Wonder of God." What you may know know is that (you'll be very surprised) is that as a pair of writers, we are considering turning it into a book.

As part of that idea, Beth and I are both doing 30 days of taste (as opposed to 40 days of purpose?) based on the idea "Taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8) We will each keep a journal of our tasting experiences and how they impact our spiritual lives. So, as part of that journey into the senses, I decided I will keep (most of) my journal on-line.

Today, as usual, the first taste I had was Quaker oats. Yes, predictable. I am a creature of habit. But, since I was trying to pay attention to taste -- which is difficult at that hour for a person who definitely is not a morning person and whose dog was barking at critters all night long -- when the first spoonful hit my palate, I tasted not only the creamy richness of milk covered oats, but also a reminder of my own faith tradition. I am a Quaker after all -- even if I don't look anything like the man on the oats box.

I thought about our understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ as being intimately interwoven into such things as equality of all people, simplicity of life, peacefulness and resolved to live more closely and fully into them this day. And the coffee helped wake me up so I could actually be aware enough to do that.

Another taste I had during the day was water. I drink a lot of water. I'm not much into soda pop or iced tea (trying to get away from the caffeine). And the purity of the water I had (coming from a filtered source in our office's kitchenette), reminded me of the purity toward which I strive. Though I will never be as pure as the filtered H2O that passed over my palate, it reminded me of the purity of God's love for me and the hope that I have in Him.

One of the final tastes of this day was a glass of Shiraz-Cabernet blend. No, not Welches. It never fails to call to mind that Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine. I doubt that it was a blend, but who knows? All I know is the host of the wedding pronounced it "Good." As does Jesus when He looks over creation on its best days -- it is good. So I need to look for that good in all that I encounter.

This is going to be a month to savor.

-- Brent

Quaker Wisdom for Today

"…, oh, how sweet and pleasant it is to the truly spiritual eye to see the several sorts of believers, several forms of Christians in the school of Christ, every one learning their own lesson, performing their own peculiar service, and knowing, owning, and loving one another in their several places and different performances to their Master, to whom they are to give an account, and not to quarrel with one another about their different practices. For this is the true ground of love and unity, not that such a man walks and does just as I do, but because I feel the same Spirit and life in him, and that he walks in his rank, in his own order, in his proper way and place of subjection to that: and this is far more pleasing to me than if he walked just in that track wherein I walk."

-- Isaac Penington

Quaker Wisdom for Today

There is no debate among the early Quakers as to whether the seat of authority is in the Scriptures, or in the hierarchical leadership, or in synods, or in church tradition. The authority is in the gospel which is the power of God, and which is not of man nor by man, but of God and from Christ.

--Lewis Benson (Catholic Quakerism: A Vision for All Men)

Quaker Wisdom for Today

Before we can bring the message of reconciliation to the world, with, the power and the conviction that God is ever ready to forgive us, we must all be reconciled one to another. We are all Friends. But that is only a sentimental term … unless we can bring order into the House of Love; and, having studied our testimony in all its aspects, leave the things wherein we differ for further consideration, after the manner of Friends, and apply ourselves with all the capacity we possess to uniting and concentrating our efforts to set forth the way of Christ anew in a great and common international order of service... In this gathering of all who bear the name of Friend … can we not rise to the thought and the practice of a great Quaker brotherhood, organised, not to promote the Society of Friends in the world, but to serve the world of God's children by changing the unnatural anger and aversion which makes them enemies into that loving co-operation which will turn the whole world into a society of friends

-- Carl Heath. Heath was a Friend from Great Britain who was instrumental in setting up Quaker Embassies across Europe following WWI and laid the groundwork for the future Quaker United Nations Offices.

Time for a New Yearly Meeting in Indiana

I am finally ready to cave in on this issue. For a long time I have held out that, despite the troubles in Western Yearly Meeting, there was no need for a new yearly meeting. I said that to the so-called Progressives and I have said that to the so-called Evangelicals.

But I have changed my mind. I think it's time for a new Yearly Meeting here in Indiana and I think I'm just the fellow to organize it. No, I don't have any backing for this, other than my own sense of self-appointment, but that's never stopped any Quaker before (well, maybe it has in the past, but doesn't seem to be an issue these days).

To this end, I have contacted an attorney at the law firm of Dewey Cheatum and have asked them to draw up incorporation papers for a new Yearly Meeting. It is to be called "Mid-Indiana Yearly Meeting of Progressive Evangelical & Evangelical Progressive Friends." I wanted to call it Brent Bill Yearly Meeting, but the attorney (an Episcopalian by the way) said that sounded a bit pretentious and haughty and not at all God-led. So I deferred to his wisdom.

The creatures joining me in this proposal for a new Yearly Meeting are my dog Princess and Ebony, one of my cats. The other cat said she didn't want any part of it -- my own fault, I guess. I should have named her Judgement instead of Grace. I did not ask Nancy to participate.

That's because she and I use far different theological language and I didn't want a separation to be the first point of business for the new group. Besides we disagree on how a phrase in Faith and Practice should be interpreted. In Part III there's a section it says under the title "Friendly Method" that, "After due consideration, it is the duty of the clerk of the meeting to weigh carefully various expressions and to state what he or she believes to be the sense of the meeting. Action is by approval of the gathered meeting." Nancy agrees with that. I say that it's all fine and good, but the nuance of that is "approval of the gathered meeting unless they decide something that I disapprove of." I mean, let's face it, some Friends just cannot be trusted to hear the words of God in their souls or through the Bible.

Hence the need for this new Yearly Meeting.

Of course, I will -- I mean the new Yearly Meeting will -- have to write a new Faith and Practice. Here are some of the changes you'll notice:

• Removing all affiliated groups that I don't like, depending on the day and my mood and whether they agree with me or not.
• Adding "Faith and Practice" to the Biblical canon. Hey, it worked for the Mormons!
• Adding a Loyalty Oath for pastors to sign. After all, we want to have a clergy caste now -- this idea that a Quaker pastor is a member like all other members is just plain silly. We know that pastors should have to live up to standards that normal followers of Jesus (aka the laity) shouldn't have to. And besides, what's with this Quaker abhorence to signing stuff? It's not like it's a creed or swearing an oath or anything.
• Pastors only will be allowed to be part of the Executive Committee, clerks, or other officers of the Yearly Meeting. We really can't trust the "laity" to know God's will for us, now can we?
• Adding to the Rescinding of Recording portion a section about not agreeing to whatever the current mood of the Yearly Meeting (i.e. Brent) is.
  

I -- I mean the Yearly Meeting -- would have no assessments for the first year. Or probably any year thereafter, since many Meetings don't pay their share anyhow and still come to Yearly Meeting and complain. If I -- I mean the Yearly Meeting -- does institute assessments, only those people from Meetings who actually pay their full assessment will be allowed to speak. And then only if they agree with what I -- I mean the Yearly Meeting -- thinks.

There won't be any committees. There's no need for them. After all, the Yearly Meeting will all be of one mind and so everyone in it -- Princess, Ebony, and me -- will know what to do.

Oh, and the official scripture verse of the new Yearly Meeting will be John 11:35.

Well, I think those are the highlights. If you're interested in joiningg the new Yearly Meeting I invite you to come to a meeting the second Tuesday of next week. We'll be gathering at the David B. Updegraff Memorial Swimming Pool.

-- Brent

Quaker Wisdom for Today

“Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; but, for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it.”

-- William Penn

Quaker Wisdom for Today

This central affirmation, that the Light of the Christ-like God shines in every person, implies that our knowledge of God is both subjective and objective. ... But it is an equally important part of our faith and practice to recognise that we are not affirming the existence and priority of your light and my light, but of the Light of God, and of the God who is made known to us supremely in Jesus. … It is further checked by the fact that if God is known in measure by every person, our knowledge of him will be largely gained through the experience of others who reverently and humbly seek him.

--L Hugh Doncaster

Quaker Wisdom for Today

Lofty, ethereal, and intellectual knowledge of God can be obtained in may ways, but true knowledge can be obtained only by God's Spirit shining in upon the heart, enlightening and opening the understanding.

-- Robert Barclay

Quaker Wisdom for Today

It appears to me to be one important means of helping the human mind in a healthy state, that in recreations which are needful for it, it should be trained as much as possible to look to those things that bring profit as well as pleasure with them. ... Surely He who formed the ear and the heart would not have given these tastes and powers without some purpose for them.

-- Elizabeth Fry (1833)

Quaker Wisdom for Today

There is a daily round for beauty as well as for goodness, a world of flowers and books and cinemas and clothes and manners as well as of mountains and masterpieces... God is in all beauty, not only in the natural beauty of earth and sky, but in all fitness of language and rhythm, whether it describe a heavenly vision or a street fight, a Hamlet or a Falstaff, a philosophy or a joke: in all fitness of line and colour and shade, whether seen in the Sistine Madonna or a child's knitted frock: in all fitness of sound and beat and measure, whether the result be Bach's Passion music or a nursery jingle. The quantity of God, so to speak, varies in the different examples, but His quality of beauty in fitness remains the same.

-- Caroline C Graveson. Graveson was a writer and vice-principal of Goldsmiths College (part of the University of London).

Quaker Wisdom for Today

All true worship is inspired by God. The place of worship is the place of dependence, the place of wonder and of power, the place of fellowship and of communion... Worship links us to God and implies faith in a God who is in some sense personal. ... Thus the act of worship presupposes on our part a sense of dependence on God and the acknowledgment of our need of him, and this means that the element of adoration and thanksgiving should always be present in worship. Worship in Christian experience is our response to the God of Love.

-- Robert Davis

Quaker Wisdom for Today

"... the less form in religion the better, since God is a Spirit; for the more mental our worship, the more adequate to the nature of God; the more silent, the more suitable to the language of a Spirit."

-- William Penn