Etude for Belonging: Poems for Practicing Courage and Hope
by Bethany Lee
reviewed by Lisa Graham McMinn
Curiosity sent me to the dictionary to look up “etude” before opening this poetry collection.
Sabbath economics offers an alternative approach to dominant paradigms of economic theory and practice. Theologian-educator Ched Myers coined the term “Sabbath economics” in the 1990s, drawing from the Torah standard of social and economic justice and based on God’s call to “keep the Sabbath” by alternating good work with periods of rest.
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Essay by Mary Ann Petersen, on the occasion of being told, “Just shut up and have joy!”
It helps to belong somewhere. Belonging can be quite healing.
This is a big reason that people in my monthly meeting and yearly meeting are working to make those spaces more welcoming. We hope for a greater diversity of people to feel like they belong to our meetings. We hope for them to find the healing they need there.
The question of how to have a fulfilling existence during our short time on earth is especially significant in contemporary society. Many of us find that we struggle much less than our ancestors did for survival and basic necessities. We don’t have tigers chasing us, or wolves bothering us.
Like many others, I was drawn to the Religious Society of Friends by its compassionate work with people in need. As an undergraduate in the 1960s, I witnessed that compassion first-hand by participating in several AFSC projects, including visiting mental-hospital patients in the Bay Area and working with disadvantaged children during Freedom Summer in Memphis, Tennessee.
Recorded by Tyger Wright during a Quaker meeting, these queries pose pointed challenges to Friends who wish to live in accord with their visions for a healthy Earth.
Dear Editor: I want to thank Kat Northrup for her article, “Race and Quakerism,” in May/June 2018 Western Friend. She has articulated very well my own observations and concerns. I was struck by this comment: “[The] uncomfortable feeling of disingenuous tokenism . . .
As a religious pacifist, I have learned a great deal on the battlegrounds of competition.
