Originally published on Quaker Universalist Conversations (1/1/17). I had a dream a few days ago, one of those rare wholly unambiguous dreams. It was a flying dream, but that’s not the relevant feature, just a plot device. I was returning…

There is no rose of such virtue  As is the rose that bare Jesu.  For in this rose contained was   Heaven and earth in little space;  Res miranda. [a wonderful thing]  The angels sungen the shepherds to: Gloria in excelsis Deo: Gaudeamus. [Let us…

The Quaker Meeting that I am a member of considers a query each month as part of our spiritual discipline. On the first Sunday of each month, we read queries during worship inviting those attending to reflect on an aspect of our lives.  In December the queries address Peace and Reconciliation. One of these queries prompted these thoughts on the use of…

Written originally for a Non-Quaker audience. We as Americans are divided along political and ideological lines, surely, but what gets less attention is how divided we are along moral lines. Though I write as a person of faith, we are not yet so divorced from the…

The following is an adaptation of a message delivered during worship at Richmond First Friends on October 23, 2016. John 15: 9-17 ​ As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my…

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.-Isaiah 41:10 The above verse is enclosed more for my partner and her family than myself. My regular readers…

Originally published on Quaker Universalist Conversations The Description, Checklist and Comments portions of this blog post are all available as a downloadable PDF file:…

Sunday’s formal message in worship focused on how to center, as Quakers say, meaning to sink deep into listening for Spirit. I am certain it was prompted by a conversation the week before among a lively group of experienced worshippers and newcomers trying to figure it out. It was a blessing and reminded me that it had once been difficult for me,…

Once again, I have taken up temporary residence in a cabin called Simplicity. I seem to come back, again and again, to this theme. Here it is concrete; in this aesthetically plain one-room…