After experiencing the intensity of a gathering of caricature artists secondhand during my husband's recent convention, I returned home a little deflated. Jealous even. Missing something. Not feeling connected. To the point of posting so on Facebook.…
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Added by Cathy Barney on 11th mo. 28, 2012 at 7:20am —
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My father was, for all intents and purposes, a religious skeptic. He’d been raised by the unlikeliest of parents, a true believer for a mother, and an agnostic father. The whole of his life, he’d felt pulled in two directions, but he still attended church regularly. This was, after all, small town Alabama in the 1950’s.
In keeping with rural southern colloquialisms, my two sisters and I called my father’s mother “Granny”. Granny Camp was a usually sweet and maternal woman, but she…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 6th mo. 21, 2012 at 12:30pm —
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After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
Jesus replied, "You don't understand now what I am…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 5th mo. 11, 2012 at 12:26pm —
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MESS/paint and pastel on paper
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WEDNESDAY: A transparent mess, that's what I told my shamanic counselor I was. He laughed, said no way, but that…
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Added by Cathy Barney on 4th mo. 24, 2012 at 1:25pm —
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Deuteronomy 27 – They are instructed inscribe all these laws on tall (or large) stones, coated with lime (or plaster in another translation). These stones then are to be placed on Mount Ebal and there too they should build an altar “made of stones that have had no iron tools used on them, because any altar you build for the Lord your God must be made of uncut stones” (27:5-6). At this altar, they are to offer a peace offering. Moses proclaims to the people, “Today you…
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Added by Irene Lape on 2nd mo. 4, 2012 at 7:00am —
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Listen to this post: http://www.turtleboxstories.com/audio/juicyinnerstuff.mp3
Somehow I grew up with the idea that to be a good Christian, God would ask you to give up everything at home and travel far away. There was pain and suffering. That's what we were told missionaries do and we revered missionaries.
Yesterday in the car, it hit me…
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Added by Cathy Barney on 12th mo. 8, 2011 at 12:56pm —
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Earlier in the week, I learned an important lesson. The effect was an abrupt about-face that revealed my own flaws and also granted me an opportunity to gain greater wisdom. For over a year, I have been actively involved in almost every aspect of the Young Adult Friend group at my Monthly Meeting. Being so closely invested in the process has provided me a sense…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 6th mo. 15, 2011 at 2:30pm —
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I've often been interested in genealogy, and have recently discovered that I have some first generation Quaker relatives. A Friend from my Meeting recently asked about my family history after worship, so I thought I might provide that which I know. The people described here all hail from from…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 3rd mo. 23, 2011 at 9:30pm —
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I think I read the first ten pages of the late fifties UK classic The Comforters about ten times over before I really got it. As it turns out, my reaction was not uncommon. The reader is supposed to be initially confused. Spark’s novel deliberately scorns omniscient narration, opting instead for a grand experiment in…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 3rd mo. 12, 2011 at 2:00pm —
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Sometimes it is very difficult to put down exactly what a person believes other than the simple mechanics of one's faith. But that alone cannot convey the life of experiencing it, truly living it.
So I…
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Added by Debrah on 3rd mo. 6, 2011 at 10:30am —
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At my Monthly Meeting, a Faith and Practice from Baltimore Yearly Meeting is regularly read before worship. "The experienced speaker should be careful not to speak too often, or at undo length." Curiously, no mention of an inexperienced speaker is mentioned at all. As constructed, or at least presented in isolation from other qualifying statements, the sentence implies that only
experienced messages…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 11th mo. 29, 2010 at 9:00am —
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A year or so ago I wrote a post that referenced the Sleater-Kinney song “Sympathy”. I return to it here for a slightly different reason. Its poignant, profound lyrics are written from the perspective of a mother whose newborn son’s survival hangs in the balance. In her desperation and fear, she calls out to God.
I know I come to you only when in need
I’m not the best believer,
not…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 11th mo. 14, 2010 at 3:00pm —
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Right-brained people like me, by turn, have often experienced that which cannot be explained by human thought alone. Few of us find the mystical to be an abstraction. The world is full of experiences that words and concepts cannot accurately reproduce or reflect. We often see the analytical concepts so useful to others as mere constructs of the human imagination. Absolutes are few and a variety of interpretations can answer the same query.…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 10th mo. 18, 2010 at 9:30am —
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It's easy to be skeptical of those who find faith in times of crisis. For eons it's been a convenient excuse for the guilty to limit time in jail and for charlatans to swindle the trusting. When times get tough for everyone, faith gatherings swell to record proportions. I myself have returned to religion when feeling overwhelmed and troubled. Still, beyond the selfish and the immediate, I have always believed in the importance of faith in one's…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 9th mo. 18, 2010 at 10:52am —
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I've been recently pondering why I write and create. If I was to be completely honest, I'd say that it's a means of attaining attention, love, and validation I can't easily produce in myself. As I may have talked about before, I was born with an anxiety disorder that was not diagnosed until my mid-teens. Until I was around fourteen or so, I had only one real friend. Though I had a handful of acquaintances, I didn't have much in the…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 9th mo. 13, 2010 at 12:30pm —
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One of the most famous passages in the entire biblical canon begins this way.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
And yet, wanting more, desiring more, being fearful that what we have will soon leave us, these anxieties are responsible for so much evil in the world. The myth of scarcity influences our decisions in so many ways. The reality is that we live in a world packed full of…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 9th mo. 9, 2010 at 8:30am —
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Those currently in opposition to the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero don't seem to want to understand the whole picture. They will not even entertain anything other than views stepped in prejudice and fear, seeing an enemy in the face of every person of Middle Eastern descent. While in stuck in this merry-go-round that passes for substantive discourse, they are trusted supporters of a system that sees the sum of its parts as more…
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Added by Kevin Camp on 8th mo. 18, 2010 at 9:00am —
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Contemplative Scholar: Depression or Faith Crisis?I finally have to confess to myself that I've been in a serious faith crisis. This surprises me, because I am a person of very strong faith. What is different is that I haven't been talking with God much lately. It used to be that I was aware of God's presence and had a kind of friendly ongoing rapport with God. I would talk to God. But these…
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Added by QuakerQuaker on 7th mo. 6, 2010 at 9:32am —
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A wag once said that it's always darkest just before the lights go out. We may chuckle at this cynical modification of a common aphorism, but I'd suggest that in some ways it's truer to life than the original. I think we've all experienced--I know I have--that moment when belief falters, hope dies, and we cry out from our cross: my God, my God, why have you forgotten me? And sometimes--again, I speak from my own experience--the darkness seems not to yield. The lights don't come back…
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Added by Dave Trowbridge on 4th mo. 4, 2010 at 8:38pm —
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