All Blog Posts (72)

Of all the Early Quaker tenets, the doctrine of moral perfection is perhaps the most misunderstood. When confronted with the idea that we can expect complete deliverance from sin in this life, we too often think, Oh no, God expects me never to make mistakes--how can I possibly achieve that? or Now He truly expects the impossible: how can I keep from losing my temper and screaming at my spouse and children in moments of extreme stress? or I can't stop coveting my neighbor's wife…

The focus of the Early Friends was on listening to God. This is why they held silent meetings. They knew that human activity, such as a programmed worship service, was not likely to be in response to a direct leading, received within after much waiting and prayer.…

As Jonah was, so am I. 

I sense that the time has come to allow the Christ, our Lord and Teacher, to speak through me to the auditory that He will guide me to.

Christ has cleansed me from the dross of pride. I must walk in the path of the Guide to the glory of His name.

Pray for me as the way opens.

Brad

A Reflection on Mark 4: 22-25.

Another passage has come to my attention which I want to include. This partly relates to a reflection by Ellis Hein on Post 3 about the oft repeated exhortation, “Those who have ears, let them hear!”

In Post 3, the question was posed, “How might Jesus be a prophet like Moses?” A follow on question might be, “What kind of Messiah is Jesus?”

In chapter 2-4 of Mark, Jesus progressively runs counter to the people’s expectation of the Messiah:…

I feel somewhat constrained to share with you-all an incident that portrays the Lord's protection and care. Yesterday I was hurriedly picking cucumbers; I was late and had a lot to get done before I could stop for the day. Consequently I was trying to be quick while at the same time being careful with the vines. My hand parted the leaves in front of me and there at my fingertips lay a coiled rattlesnake. The snake did not move as I withdrew my hand and my person. I had been working near it…

The following material is taken from an ongoing conversation. But even so, it seemed worth publishing here.

Hello ****,

In our conversations, something has been winking at me off and on. But I have not captured it until now. In all our discussions, I have lost sight of the most important aspect. I apologize for my slowness here.  

What I have neglected concerns the offices or functions of Christ. In so far as I have read and have conversed with others, this is not a…

Among other things, I am a woodturner. From experience, I can state that it is possible to do a lot of things with dull tools. But if you ever come to use a properly sharpened tool, you will never again be satisfied with dullness.

This is the distinction between a life lived hearing and obeying the voice of Christ, the prophet like Moses whom God has raised up, and a life lived subjugated to any man-made discipline you care to name.

The reason for the difference is that hearing…

This year our annual conference will take place in London and will be a one day event.

The theme will be "did George Fox get it right?" which is the title of a talk which Allistair Lomax gave at Britain Yearly Meeting Last year. The day's events will include untimed Meeting for Worship, a question and answer session and a bookstall.

The cost will be £10 per person payable on the day. It would however assist if those attending would contact me beforehand so that we can have make…

What seemed to me to be the best insight during our Fox Reading Conference Call came in response to a statement Fox made in Sermon III regarding walking by faith rather than by sight. Peter Glass pointed out that, contrary to our logic, faith is a stronger, more reliable sense than sight. This must be understood in the context of the sermon we were reading where this faith is the gift of God, written on the heart by Jesus; not the result of my efforts to believe something…

John the Baptist's announcement concerning the Lamb of God, in John 1, came in the midst of a culture of sacrifice and ritual; a culture heavily invested in the perpetual sense of guilt before God and the continual need to appease God. In John, chapter 2, Jesus overthrows money-changer's tables and drives out the merchants of sacrifice along with all their animals. His accusation of making "my Father's house a house of merchandise" has to do with the culture and economy of sin.

Man…

I have never been able to find any significance to the account of the marriage feast in John 2. This morning, I read again the portion of scripture and suddenly I saw. The steward of the marriage feast said to the waiter who brought him the water-now-wine, "Everyone first serves the good wine, and when people have drunk that, then brings out the not as good. But you have served the best last." (my paraphrase) The writer inserts the comment, "This first sign Jesus performed in…

I have published a new book coutesy of Inner Light Books (San Francisco, 2012).

It is entitled, The Early Quakers and the 'Kingdom of God'.

I'm sure NFF folks will really like it.

It's in paperback and hardback and available at FGC and BYM bookstores.

Gerard Guiton

The Workers' Gathering and Meeting for Business took place at Gloucester on 22nd September.  The intended venue-  Gloucester Meeting House -  was not available as it had fallen victim to a fire. However,  Ursula Windsor stepped in and provided wonderful hospitality.

There were several items of business.  After news of Friends,  we discussed Tomasz Kowalski,  who is building a Quaker group in Poland.  He was in England recently and raised the matter of translating some early writings…

What is the distinction between the believing that produces the witness within and the belief that is Pharisee-like? The true believing is an active acceptance of the Light of Christ, the life in Him, as our living guide. The Pharisee-like belief is an acceptance of certain propositions while at the same time we hide ourselves from the revealing light of Christ that would make our true condition manifest.

What is the witness within that results from believing the…

We had a very precious time last evening on the monthly Fox reading conference call. We began on Sermon III from That Thy Candles May Always be Burning.

One of the things we spoke about concerned the word "Lord". The historical meaning of Lord is the supplier of bread. Much of what Fox had to say in the opening portions of this sermon has to do with The Supplier of Bread and what comes of eating that Bread.

What do the professors feed on? The rudiments of…

Friends may recall Tomasz Kowalski,  a Friend from Torun Poland who visited England during 4th and 5th month months of this year.  He wished to make contact with Friends here,  and approached New Foundation Fellowship.  Eventually we met at Bromley Local Meeting in South East London.  Following Meeting,  Tomasz spoke to us about his work among ex-prisoners in Poland.  Later he joined our Gathering in Ripley and spoke of it as a wonderful experience.

Tomasz returned to Poland with the…

I write about this problem of controversy over Christ among American Friends to encourage us who are Christian Quakers to face it head on. Let us labor with the other side in love. Recently a Friend told me that Jesus is welcome in Liberal Friends meetings, but we dare not say his name. This suppression of Christian language is the heart of the problem. Healing is the only way to solve it and to do that we need dialog.

             While on a private pilgrimage to northwest England several years ago, I was moved to climb Firbank Fell, the hill where the great spiritual movement of Quakerism began. The historical marker said that in 1652 one thousand people had gathered there to hear a sermon by George Fox, a young itinerant preacher.  I wondered, as I looked around, why so many people had climbed the steep hill to hear him? Later I discovered that they had come to the market fair at…

This may be the time-  a few days after returning from the New Foundation Gathering at Woodbrooke-  to express some thoughts  concerning both the past and the future.

It was good to meet, and spend time with, those who had given not only their time, but their lives, to carrying out the work which Lewis Benson and others started. It was clear that their commitment was beyond that which might be expected in the mundane affairs of everyday life. But they were not dealing with everyday…