We travel East each year to see my husband’s family in Pennsylvania, where we spend two weeks in the verdant, fertile, sticky forests and fields of the eastern states – eating fresh blackberries on the trail by the stream, fresh corn from the roadside stands, peaches that drip juice down your chin. It is glorious.
Notes from a conversation among Friends on October 26, 2017, considering the practice and importance of studying Quaker history, both for individual Friends and for the Religious Society of Friends
Recording of portions of a conversation among Friends on October 26, 2017, considering the practice and importance of studying Quaker history, both for individual Friends and for the Religious Soci
Henry Ford, the father of mass production, is famously known for declaring, “History is bunk.” Thus, he relegated “History” to “the trash heap of history.” (The word “bunk” comes from the Dutch word for “rubbish,” bunkum.) Histories exist to make sense of people’s lives, to reveal the meanings of humanity.
On October 26 I took part in an interesting phone workshop on Quaker history sponsored by the Western Friend. It was the first online workshop I have ever taken part in, and I want to commend Mary Klein for organizing it and for providing excellent background readings and good questions to ponder. It worked extremely well. I was able to hear and see everyone clearly.
A collection of talks that provide context and strategic analyses for Friends who still seek The Beloved Community in U.S.A. 2017.
And what is history but
Stones by boys on fathers’
Ponds, beyond the lily pads
Where sit the frogs of conscious
Evolution . . .
So wars evolve of themselves!
While fathers get lost in their
Competition, vengeance and
Fictional futures of old
Realities . . .
Father God, for your sake, Please!
Awaken Sophia’s Heart’sLink to online video of a film produced about Multnomah Meeting in Portland, OR, in 1972. A review of the film by Carl Abbott is also attached.
Dear Editor: It was good to see your piece on James Nayler in “Pages for All Ages.” Friends today do not always recognize that in the first years of the Quaker movement, Nayler was as important a preacher and as central to the movement as George Fox himself, certainly in the eyes of many London Friends.
