Sirach 14 – “Happy the man whose own soul does not accuse him, and who has never given up hope” (14:2).

I can relate to this one very deeply. I have not always been a “believer.” Or, it’s more complicated than that – I have not always felt comfortable with the very deep sense I always seemed to have that there was/is a God. I’ve always had a deep intuition that there must be, but my “reason” has not always been comfortable with that intuition. For some years I just…

Sirach 12 – Bad advice here, at least from a Christian perspective: “The Most High himself detests sinners, and will repay the wicked with a vengeance. Give to the good man, and do not go to the help of a sinner” (12:6-7). Jesus broke this “wisdom” rule a time or two. But this, after all, is human wisdom. If you lend aid to someone who is bad, you are making him stronger in his wickedness.

Sirach 13 – Beware of rich and influential men. They will take…

Sirach 11 – “Do not praise a man for his good looks, nor dislike anybody for his appearance” (11:2)

“. . .the Lord’s deeds are marvelous, though hidden from mankind” [11: 4 note translates: “unseen and unforeseeable. One turn of the wheel and all conditions are reversed”]. The lives of the very important and the lives of the lowly are all impossible to predict, but the writer encourages us to believe that all things flow from the hand of…

Quakerism in ILYM will die in our generation, unless we as a Society stop saying, “Ain’t it awful.” It’s time to wake up and, in Joan Pine’s words at a recent Ministry and Advancement committee meeting, “Pray til the power of the Lord comes down.” 

There’s a problem with prayer.  The trouble with praying for the power of the Lord is that often the Lord says, “You need to work, and…

If someone had predicted a year ago that I'd be studying astrology, I'm not certain I would have believed them. I didn't have a real grasp of what it was or what it could reveal. Only knew the horoscopes in the daily paper that rarely echoed my life. I am still far from absorbing much of anything, however, am beginning to see its function as another venue for knowing oneself more…

This week's podcast at North Valley is a continuation of a discussion started last week on "A Life of Faith in Community," exploring authenticity and intimacy in faith community, hosted by Lynn Holt.

Today, as I was wiping the dust and cobwebs off five 1938 theater seats, I realized that how everything I have been collecting – items as well as lessons and experiences, even  people – is playing a part in my current endeavor of opening a nurture studio and offering under-served kids an eclectic art exploration.

We're going into a sermon series for the summer on authenticity and intimacy in the faith community. Lynn Holt started us off this week with a message on A Life of Faith in Community. The podcast begins with a time of prayer for those in our community.

This week we had a little glitch in our technology-heavy worship service when the power went out! That will teach us to be "programmed" Friends! You can listen to the podcast here, and see photos and videos that we didn't actually get to see during the service.