Below is an excerpt from a message delivered in ESR worship on Thursday, May 2, by Bethany Theological Seminary and Earlham School of Religion's Seminaries Librarian Jane Pinzino:

It is from a place of self-trust that relationship trust becomes…

Numbers 6 – Nazirite vows - nazir means “set apart as sacred, dedicated.” Those who take the vow may not drink wine or strong drink (anything from grapes). He may not cut his hair or enter where a dead person is—even family.  If someone dies suddenly in his presence he must cut his hair seven days after, bring two turtle doves or pigeons to the priest to offer as sin offering and holocaust and renew his vow.

When the period of dedication is over, he shall…

Introduction to Numbers:

The common Hebrew name for this book is “bemidbar” (in the wilderness). It seems to collect everything relevant relating to the wilderness travel of the Jews. Schocken Bible editors see it as a narrative about “the death of the old and the birth of the new.” It starts with life in the camp, goes on to stories of rebellion and challenge, both from within and later from without.  It ends with preparations to enter the Holy Land.  The book is…

The Minnesota legislature is considering passing a law allowing for full marriage equality. It's made me think of my own marriage to Liz on May 20, 2000 at Twin Cities Friends Meeting, and the very large and beautiful certificate we have on our wall. And it made me ask a question of TCFM, what, if any, accommodation will TCFM make for couples whose marriage they took under their care before it became legal to file for a marriage licence?

TCFM is taking the question under consideration…

New Blog Post: "Growth and the Society of Friends"

http://wp.me/p1OXtI-3b

Leviticus 26 – There can be no idols or sacred pillars and the Sabbath must be honored.

Then comes the setting forth of blessings and curses—this was common in contracts in the ancient Near East according to Schocken (632]. The reward for obedience will be God’s care—rain, harvests, food in abundance, security in the land, peace (26:5-6).

“I will set my Dwelling among you, and will not disdain you. Ever present in your midst, I will be your…

May 3, 2013

I have been rummaging again in the Friends Journal archive. Access to back issues is a terrific benefit of a subscription. In the June 15, 1968 issue (page 296) I found this gem, “‘Amo’ or ‘Credo’?” by L. Willard Reynolds, then a pastor in Nebraska Yearly Meeting (FUM).  His piece–could have been written today–follows.

+++

 Robert Frost, in an…

Leviticus 24 –A perpetual flame of olive oil shall burn regularly in the lamp-stand of the sanctuary.  “It shall burn there before YHWH from evening to morning continually. This is a perpetual law for your descendants: Aaron is to see to the lamps on the pure lamp-stand before YHWH, continually” (24:3-4).

Showbread of fine flour shall be baked into twelve cakes and put in two piles on the gold table that stands before YHWH (24:6). On each row, there must be…

Because I have dared to name the danger facing our society in general and Quakerism in particular, I offer a definition of same. "Solipsism" is the theory that the self can be aware of nothing but its own experiences and states.

For society, this translates as David Byrne's "Once In A Lifetime" with people mourning their own situations in light of unrealistic expectations. For Quakerism, founded upon honoring personal experience as a means of continued revelation, the deck is stacked…

Leviticus 22 – Priests must respect the offerings made by the people by remaining clean, sacred.  Laymen may not eat of the sacred offerings.  Such offerings—holocausts, votive offering or free-will offerings—must be unblemished males, at least eight days old.

Leviticus 23 – The holy days that must be observed are listed in this chapter:

Sabbath – “You may work for six days, but the seventh must be a day of complete rest, a day for…

Below is an excerpt from a message ESR student Brent Walsh delivered in Earlham School of Religion Worship on Thursday, April 25, 2013:

Leviticus 20 – Penalties for sins: If you offer your children as a sacrifice to Molech – death.

Consulting fortune-tellers – this is called “spiritual prostitution” and is punished by cutting them off from the community.

 If you “act as mediums or . . . consult the spirits of the dead” (20:27), then you must die by stoning.

Dishonoring father or mother – death.

Adultery – death for…

Leviticus 19 – There are many more “Holiness Rules.”

-       You must honor your parents and always keep the Sabbath

-       Turn aside from idols

-       Eat all peace offerings by the day following the sacrifice

-       Leave some grains after harvesting for the poor and alien

-       No stealing, lying or defrauding

-       No withholding wages overnight

-       No cursing the deaf or putting stumbling blocks in front of the…

"We are not called to make a sick world well. We are called to act well." These words of Arthur G. Gish, as found in his "The New Left and Christian Radicalism", are intended to help us to get out from under the weight of the world. A weight, it seems, like the cartoon depiction of "Fat Albert" sitting atop an adversary. The more one struggles and squirms, the quicker a depletion of strength. And, of course, resistance stymied outward becomes depression inward. The only calling, then, is to…

April 29, 2013

This is the second in a series of posts about the Bible in which I want to say how and why I find the Bible essential for my spiritual life. (The first is here.) I hope these musings may be useful to others.  The reflections in these posts about the Bible draw on material I presented at the Midyear gathering of Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative, and on reflections that Friends at that…

 “Friend, can I speak to you outside about something?”



He was amiable enough to that. Worship had concluded with the traditional shaking of hands. I’d deliberately chosen a seat next to him at a new location across the…

Leviticus 18 – Chapters 18-26 are known as the “Holiness Code.” The Schocken Bible editor points out that beyond the “heightened moments” of perception that make human beings feel linked to the “primal powers of existence,” the Jews also longed for a perfection and completeness in behavior “in all areas of life, personal and communal (593).

The people are warned NOT to conform to the customs of the…

Leviticus 17  – Every sheep, goat or ox must be presented as an offering to the Lord in front of the Dwelling before it can be slaughtered for food.  The blood needs to be splashed on the altar and the fat burned. 

Offerings previously were made to “satyrs” [goat-demons] but this shall be no more (17:7).

This differs from Deut.12 where slaughter is permitted as long as the blood is poured out—scholars disagree which practice came first, Schocken says. …

It’s sad but it’s true, his life ended with tears

life’s celebration postponed, because of lost years

his heart was too tender to live with love’s pain

and failed him before he could savor pain’s gain

For like grapes from a vine, that are crushed by a press

our hearts must be squeezed to surrender their best

but too often we run from conflict and pain

and miss the rewards that love’s battles can gain.

For to live is to…

There’s often an underlying tension when one professes to be a member of two religions. There’s the constant challenge of “Well, how can you be both X and Y?” And often one avoids answering the question by either outright ignoring it or starting a long convoluted explanation about how even though these two religions seem to have differences, they’re really not all that different when all is said and done.

Except sure they are, or you wouldn’t find it necessary to be part of…