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Garage Sale Spirituality

Since when could anyone find spirituality in garage sales? Just think about the junk, the mess, the work, the dust on items left in the garage for months…years!  This is all as mundane and earthy as it gets, and utterly disgusting! Yet in every aspect of garage saling there is opportunity for spiritual experience and meaningful soul growth.

On Consumption (May 2013)

Yes Free Lunch

Members of Moab Monthly Meeting have been working with our neighbors for several years now to find solutions to a pair of related issues in Moab, Utah: that large amounts of food are wasted in our community and that some of us do not have enough to eat. These issues challenge our testimonies of simplicity, equality, and community, and we have tried in various ways over the years to find creative solutions in our diverse community.

On Consumption (May 2013)

The Great March for Climate Action

As a religion major at Drake University in the 1980s, my field studies took me to worship with nearly every denomination in Des Moines. One experience that kept drawing me back was the local Quaker Meeting, where I appreciated the overt commitment to justice and the inner sense of peace.

On Consumption (May 2013)

Consume Less

There is something you can do that is likely to make you happier, healthier, save money and lessen your impact on the planet. What is it? Consume less by practicing simpler living.

On Consumption (May 2013)

The Bonds of Animal Agriculture

Since biblical times, humanity has lived by an ancient contract: We the first party (animals) give you our wool, milk, hides and meat, draw your plows and carriages, guard your houses, control your vermin, and fertilize your fields.  We the second party (humans) promise to keep you safe from predators, bind up your wounds and treat your diseases, provide you shelter from the elements, feed you even in times of famine, and provide you with a quick and humane death.  Our own human relationship with God has long been expressed in similar terms. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.”

On Consumption (May 2013)

Feeling Light Within, I Walk - Review

Feeling Light Within, I Walk: Tales, Adventures & Reflections of a Quaker Activist

On Superiority (July 2013)

Of Quakers and Corporations

George Fox and the early Quakers made their witnesses to authentic and original Christianity public by their testimonies. The English word, testimony, derives from the Latin word for “witness,” which is primarily an outward expression “to the whole world … actions and words, intended to proclaim, demonstrate and convince” (from The Quaker Peace Testimony, Friends House, London, 1993).

On Superiority (July 2013)

Privelege, Interrupting

Some Western Friend readers may have already met RantWoman, an official Quaker holy terror known for telling too much of the Truth about all kinds of things, at rantwomanrsof.blogspot.com. Recently a call went out for Friends to write articles about the 14th White Privilege Conference, held near Seattle in April 2013. RantWoman was stirred to venture into print and even agreed to let the editor of Western Friend have a crack at making her slightly more presentable than she appears in her electronic journal.

On Superiority (July 2013)