Pages tagged "Bible study"

A Needless Dualism

• Authored by:
• Suzanne Simons

Dear Editor: I appreciated Matt Boswell of Sierra-Cascade’s article on Martha and Mary. How gracious, profound, inspired, and true that these two women’s approaches to Jesus and life were both important and valid. A both-and, not an either-or. Thanks, Matt, for deconstructing yet another needless dualism.

On Mediation (January 2020)

Driving as a Spiritual Discipline

• Authored by:
• Kathy Runyan

During the March 2014 gathering of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, I stayed with other Friends at a hostel where we had a bible study each morning before breakfast. Not long ago, I was rather averse to bible study, but I have come to value it immensely when it’s read as Friends often do – “in the Spirit” – sharing how the passages speak to us individually. It was after such a session that I found myself pondering how following traffic laws might be a good spiritual practice.

On Temptation (November 2014)

Liturgies of Empire, Liturgies of Resistance (abridged)

• Authored by:
• C. Wess Daniels

[The following text was drawn from a complete transcript of C. Wess Daniels’s keynote talk, which is published at: https://westernfriend.org/media/liturgies-empire-and-resistance]

On Teachers (September 2020)

Serve The Land

• Authored by:
• Virginia Colvig

Words transmit ideas. Ideas found in sacred writings lead to ideals, and ideals lead to actions. I began life within faith traditions that venerate the Bible as the source for seeking and understanding God’s will. I’ve found some truth by that approach; but . . . have you ever read the Bible? It can be confusing, a confounding muddle, capable of twisting one’s mind into a tangled mess. And yet, there are also moments when Spirit opens a window on something profound. That’s what happened when I began examining context surrounding one small Hebrew word that’s written “abad” in the English alphabet. This word appears 290 times in the Old Testament, and mostly gets translated into English as “serve.” I came to realize that translations had short-circuited an ancient ideal that we need right now.

On Words (November 2021)