Nahum 2 – Nineveh is under attack. “The enemy soldiers carry red shields and wear uniforms of red. They are preparing to attack! Their chariots flash like fire. Their horses prance” (2:3).

The attackers rush to the walls of the city and prepare their battering ram. “The gates by the river burst open; the palace is filled with terror. The queen is taken captive; her servants moan like doves and beat their breast in sorrow” (2:6-7).

“Like water from a…

ESR student Anna Woofenden delivered this message at Joint Worship for Earlham School of Religion and Bethany Theological Seminary on September 14. Below is the video from the service and an excerpt:

"[A]t the end of the day, we are vessels, vessels infused with Divine Light, urging and pressing to be received and to flow through us. We are vessels that are cracked and broken, broken wide open to receive God’s ever-flowing energy and love. We…

Introductory Information for Nahum:  A poem celebrating the fall of Nineveh, the capital city of Israel’s ancient enemy, Assyria. The fall of Nineveh was seen as the judgment of God upon a cruel and arrogant nation.

The Assyrian state arose sometime in the 25^th-24^th century BC; beginning in the 10^th c. BC, it grew strong, conquering even Egypt and eventually the entire Middle East. It was eventually brought low by prolonged civil war…

As far as I’m concerned, the world could use a few more spiritual memoirs. A lot more people of faith writing about their spiritual journeys.  Fortunately, lifelong Quaker Lynn Waddington did just that during the final two years of her life. And her partner, Margaret Sorrel, labored through her own grief after Lynn’s death to bring this story to print in Staying…

Hosea 11 – “When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son . . .it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them” (11:1-3).

Hosea 12 – Referring back to the earliest origins of the Lord’s relationship with Jacob [later called Israel], Hosea says of him, “In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his maturity he contended with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed;…

The Chasm between the Activist and the Contemplative

I can’t remember the name of the blog, but last year I read about a Meeting that decided to have a structured sharing between those who spoke often at Meeting for Worship and those who remained silent.  As I recall the two groups were paired and given time to express their views of Meeting for Worship.  As one might expect, those inclined to be speakers at Meeting for Worship had a lot to say, while those who inclined to…

Chapter 9 of Minding the Light: Our Collective Journal is now available online and attached as a PDF file below.  For this chapter, we invited Friends to respond to the query, "In following the Light, when have you been led to do something that was scary to think about?” We received 11 responses to the query – a painting, two poems, and eight stories. 

This query evoked deep and touching stories about many kinds of fear:  fear of questioning deeply instilled…

I just realized that the comment feature had been malfunctioning on my blog, where this post has been on the main page for a week.  Comments are working now (I think) and if anyone still has time and interest I am hoping to hear the thoughts of other Friends. 

New Blog Post: "Pacificism, the War on Terror, and the 2012 Elections"

http://lettersfromthestreet.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/pacifism-the-war-on-terror-and-politics-in-the-2012-elections/

I over-posted yesterday - John 6:41-72 was supposed to be today. Just got carried away. Sorry for any confusion.

Hosea 7 – Hosea, continuing to speak the words of the Lord to Israel, complains that every time God has given them a new start, they have turned on him. They are “two-faced and double-tongued” (7:1). The kings and princes of the nation are “like wood stoves, red-hot with lust” (7:7).  None of the kings calls upon the Lord. Instead they seek…

Hosea 4 – The condition of Israel is pitiful in Hosea’s eyes: “there is no fidelity, no tenderness, no knowledge of God in the country, only perjury and lies, slaughter, theft, adultery and violence, murder after murder” (4:1-2).

The priests and the prophets are denounced for their failure to guide. “My people perish for want of knowledge. As you have rejected knowledge so do I reject you from my priesthood” (4:6). They will pay for their misdeeds, more than those they…

Introductory Information for Hosea: Hosea was a contemporary of Amos (8^th c. BC), and lived in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. His ministry began under the reign of Jeroboam II. He probably lived to see the destruction of the northern kingdom.

According to Lawrence Boadt’s Reading the Old Testament, the prophet Hosea “is unique among the prophets whose words have come down to us since he alone represents the thinking of a purely northern…

We're in the midst of a series on "Songs for the Journey" based on the Psalms of ascent, and in the last two weeks we heard from Friends Nate Macy on As the Mountains Surround Jerusalem and Shawn McConaughey on Journey with the Creator.

Amos 9 – In another vision, the prophet sees the Lord standing by the altar asking that the building be reduced to rubble so that no one can escape. God has led not only the Jews. He has led the Philistines and the Aramaeans too. The Israelites cannot just rest on their laurels, thinking God will always be by them. But his anger will not strike all. There will be a remnant, “For now I will issue orders and shake the House of Israel among all the nations, as you shake a sieve so…

Amos 8 – Amos says the Lord showed him “a basket of ripe fruit” – an image for the people of Israel “ripe for destruction” (8:2). “I will no longer overlook its offenses” (8:2).

“Listen to his, you who trample on the needy and try to suppress the poor people of the country, you who say, ‘When will New Moon be over so that we can sell our corn, and Sabbath, so that we can market our wheat?” (8:4-5). They use the profits they make to buy fancy things.

The…

Amos 5 – Like a virgin who dies before enjoying the joys of marriage, Israel will “lie all alone on her own soil, with no one to lift her up” (5:2). Yahweh says this to the House of Israel, “Seek me and you shall live” (5:6), but Yahweh will not be found in the sanctuaries where sacrifices are offered. It is the Lord “who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns the dusk to dawn and day to darkest night. He summons the waters of the…

Even though I haven’t believed in a personal god since 1996 or so, I have hesitated to call myself an atheist. No doubt a good bit of that hesitation arises from my long period as a Pentecostal Christian. I have little problem using the term atheist to describe myself to other atheists. However, with Christians and other theists, I seek to use less polarizing terms, like nontheist or even agnostic. The main reason I don’t want theists to consider me to be an atheist is that as believers, my…