Thursday, November 27, 2008 by Jay T.

By words it is not possible to judge another’s approach.  Words speak only the dead ideas that may flow from a living Spirit or an active–but essentially lifeless–principle.  Or they may flow from self seeking motivation cloaked in high language and good thoughts.  The news has brought us some stories of prominent preachers brought low when their self seeking was discovered.

This distinction is at the root of the differing experience around perfection.  Fox, underpinned by the leading of the Light–touching his very personal self from the moment he was coming into the world–could make claims that Paul and Winstanely (I think.) would admit they’d fall short of–because they were at heart the old man with a new man’s cloak.

What claims can we make?  What can we live up to?  What is underpinning me?  As I teach?  As I write?  As I love? Read the rest of this entry »

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Sunday, November 16, 2008 by Jay T.

Quakers don’t do much with grape juice and crackers.  Or sprinkles on the forehead or dunkings in the river.  I’ve known why since my adolescence: it puts the focus on the material elements rather than the grace that makes them and the experience meaningful.  The trappings aren’t what brings us closer to God.  Our faith and His response to it are sufficient and necessary.

Quakers have explained that real sacraments–in Spirit and in Truth–are to be treasured and sought after.  But I never have stood under that, really.  What might these real sacraments feel like?  What would they mean?  How would I find them?

So I was sitting in meeting this morning and this image comes into my head.  I probably stole it from Minga years ago.  A heart in front of a chest, still attached with arteries and veins, held in a hand, beating and oozing a bit of blood.

I came to understand the image as related to communion–real communion.  Communion, sharing with a community of people, asks for sacrifice from each of us.  Jesus’s flesh and blood and proxies for them didn’t seem to be important in the image this morning.  Mine was.  My heart.  My hand.  An opening in my chest.  My blood.

One of my first reactions was, “Eeeewww!  Gross!”  And it is. Read the rest of this entry »

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