Quaker Pagan Reflections

Praise the beauty of the world. Up-tossed ancient lichened granite Shaggy hemlocks' pools of shade Spring explosions of forsythia Matted needles under pines Dark green rot from the first grass clippings the neon green of seedling chard Blush of green that tints the woodlot Apple trees blooming among their thorns Rabbit, black bears and turkey vultures Shaggy horses beside the barn Mice in the orchard, bees in the beehive Raise your voices, raise your eyes Praise the mud and rain and budding Praise the beauty of the world.

Source: Wikimedia Commons Sitting in meeting for worship today, I had a notion come to me.  I was thinking about all the ways, over time, that people have brought offerings to the temples of their gods.  That was the way it was long ago.  And that's the way it is today.  Pagans bring cans for a food pantry to a public ritual, Heathens pour blots, Wiccans set aside a portion from cakes and ale to offer to the gods, Christians put money in a collection plate... And all of those can be quite sincere, of course.  But they are outward forms.  They can become empty forms, if we don't remember what it takes to fill them. Thinking about the matter as a Quaker, I asked myself, what's the spiritual substance that informs those outward forms--at least for me, and in my life as a Friend? That thought tumbled together with the idea of preparation for meeting for worship: the practices throughout the week that get us ready to share in meeting on Sundays. I t...

NOTES from a workshop on using social media as a spiritual practice: PowerPoint notes from workshop . pdf notes from workshop . SOME QUERIES on social media and spiritual practice: What are the spiritual uses I regularly find for social media?  Can blogging serve as ministry?  Rise from worship?    Does the Internet enter into my prayer life, and if so, how? Does my use of social media benefit my spiritual community/communites?  If so, how? What are the dangers social media pose to faithfulness?   How am I addictive in my own use of social media?   Where do I need more accountability in my use of social media, and to which parts of my faith community/communities?   When and how do I outrun my guide in blogging? And how does that feel different from being faithful when I write? Beyond the addictive qualities of Facebook's Upworthy videos and Grumpy Cat memes, I'm aware of the ways my writing can be influenced by my...

So on the day that The Wild Hunt has covered the North Carolina freedom of religion lawsuit to overturn that state's ban on same-sex marriage , my copy of Boston Spirit arrived with its lead story, of course, on the tenth anniversary of the Goodridge case. I look over the very ordinary, very middle aged photos of the plaintiffs, and I'm surprised at how deep my emotions run. Why do I care so much?  Is it because I see myself in those couples' faces?  I, too, am past my youth.  I, too, have raised a child with a spouse I love.  Even the Goodridges, divorced as they are, posed with their now-grown daughter... I see myself in them.  I, too, am a divorced mom with a grown daughter. I know there is so much to the story of growing up and living a life as someone who is gay, or lesbian, or trans, that is outside my experience or my empathy.  I was saddened, for instance, to read Heidi Nortonsmith's comments, on how, away from home when the Supreme Court ove...

How does a person write from a spiritual center?  I can't know for sure how other writers do it. I know which writers have sometimes moved my spirit in response to their words: Ally Lilly . Will Taber . Bright Crow . Peggy Senger Morrison . More Quaker writers than Pagans, I think, so perhaps there is something in how Quakers center themselves in Spirit in their work that feeds their words.  Cassiodorus at the Vivarium Certainly, Quakers are told to "take heed of the promptings of love and truth in our hearts," and to trust them as the leadings of Spirit. I know that the spiritual writing that moves me most seems to have been centered this way, and to comes out of direct, lived experience: “narrative theology,” as Peggy puts it.  So how's it done? While not every piece I write is this kind of writing, this is what I do, when I take on those pieces that I think of as spiritual writing--as "blogging in the spirit of worship,"...

My guest post is up over on The Wild Hunt; it's on how the Pagan community can respond to the issue of child sexual abuse within our community. For those who may not know, I was a psychotherapist for about twenty years, and my main focus was survivors of childhood sexual abuse.  The focus of the Wild Hunt piece is on understanding the dynamics of childhood sexual abuse, and how to build in greater safety and responsiveness in our communities around this threat.

We have a guest post running today, over at Sermons from the Mound , part of the ongoing March series on the future of Paganism.  If you'd like to read Sacred Fire , head on over and take a look.