I received my membership card from the Philadelphia Museum of Art today.  The front of it has an excerpt from a painting by Wassily Kandinsky, Circles in a Circle, 1923. [See the whole painting here] I am not usually a fan of abstract art. But this little piece spoke to my condition. Any way I hold it, any side up or down. It is still fascinating. I realized that while I had heard the name before, I knew nothing about Kandinsky, so I googled his name. I read almost the whole Wikipedia article about him (it’s long). He was born in Moscow and grew up in Odesa, Ukraine. He originally studie ..read more

In late spring of 2021, my monthly meeting began preparing to return to in-person worship in June. We made the transition to hybrid worship-some folks in the meetinghouse and some on Zoom-pretty easily. Early in the process, God laid it on my heart that we needed to have in-person first day school (FDS) when we returned to the meetinghouse. One reason was to have childcare for our clerk and other parents to be able to attend worship. Another reason was that in the 15 months when we only had Zoom worship, the children and parents had been clear that the kids did not want to participate in anoth ..read more

I love opportunities to get together informally with Friends – this was the original basis of the convergent Friends dinner parties I organized a few years ago. In the last year, the Quaker Revival and Nursery of Truth had some of the same characteristics of taking advantage of the presence of a visiting minister to gather local Friends for worship and conversation and a shared meal. I think the most important part of these gatherings is the opportunity to share our joys and concerns with other Friends, some familiar and some new faces, and the encouragement we take home from them, knowing we ..read more

I may be suffering from a lack of ordinariness. Most of my life, I have wished for exciting things to happen to me. And now that they are happening, I miss the simple things that I don’t have time for. Like making jam. Gardening. Sewing. Teaching First Day School. Serving on clearness committees. Recently, I was at an international committee meeting that was hosted by Friends in a thriving meeting in a small town. I was really touched by the obvious care and concern and interwoven nature of their personal lives and their meeting life. It made me think of two passages on marriage that I love ..read more

I don't know Rob Bell. But I'd like to thank him for his work. Thank you for writing books that I like to read. But thank you even more for writing books that my 15 year old son likes to read and that we can talk about afterwards. I first heard about Rob Bell in 2006 when he appeared in a series of Nooma films. I arranged to show a series of these short, postmodern films about God at San Francisco Friends Meeting after reading about how Gregg Koskela had shown one at Newberg Friends Church. The first one of his books that I read was Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. It's a remin ..read more

My new meeting is having one of those recurring conversations about what do we want from First Day School? (FDS = our children's religious education program). I was not able to go to the first meeting because I was leaving town. So rather than expecting my husband to communicate my opinions, which are not always the same as his opinions, I decided to write some notes in advance and send them to the meeting's email group. I think it's important for a wide range of people to share their opinions about this, not just parents. This post is largely based on that email, with further embellishments a ..read more

George Jones died this last week. Many country music singers said George was the one they admired most. But back in the early 1980s he wrote a song about all the singers he looked up to, called "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes?" Who's gonna fill their shoes? Who's gonna stand up tall? Who's gonna play the Opry and the Wabash Cannonball? Who's gonna give their heart and soul to get to me and you? Lord, I wonder, who's gonna fill their shoes? Last week I thought a lot about leadership. I found a 35 year old report on leadership in the Religious Society of Friends that could have been written la ..read more

I've been entertaining myself today with a single handed game of "I'm going to Grandma's house and I'm taking a..." Did you play that when you were a kid? Or with your own kids? Well, I'm going to the Friends World Committee Section of the Americas Meeting of Representatives next week, and I'm taking an Agenda a Bible some Crayons Donation Envelopes Friends a Glossary/Glosario a Hymnal Ideas my Journal Knitted hat Laptop a Mission some Nominations I hope to find some Opportunities when I get there a Pencil a QUNO report Respect Socks Thermal Underwear Vision Workplan Xtra paper Yahweh and Ze ..read more

As I have said before, my paid work for Quakers at the very broad level and my responsibilities to my family at home are more than enough to fill my every waking minute. I already feel like I’m not keeping up. But every so often, a concern arises in my heart and mind that doesn’t fit neatly into one of those buckets. Issues at my monthly meeting, in my yearly meeting, in my kids’ school. Things that have been laid upon my heart to care about but that I really don’t have time for. Except that we all have time for the things that really matter. As Thomas Kelly says, even very busy lovers find ..read more

I used to write these pretty regularly, but it's been a long time now. I mostly compile this list by walking around the house and writing down the names of the books I've left sitting around. It's not necessarily a recommendation, just a fact. Books: The Hobbit, out loud. by J.R.R. Tolkien The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake Wonder by R.J. Palacio The Wisdom to Know the Difference by Eileen Flanagan Dirt and the Good Life: Stories from Fern Creek by Lisa and Mark McMinn Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin (a collection of his essays) This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Mysterious Benedic ..read more