OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
63 FOLLOWERS
This blog was set up to post content of interest to Old Chatham Quaker members and attenders. Posts related to one's own personal spiritual journey, reports based on interviews with others, and reflections on Quaker-related topics.
OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
2w ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastion#/media/File:Castillo_de_San_Marcos.jpg "Where two or more are gathered I too am among you." ~ Math 18:20 When I think of a bulwark I think of massive structures. Giant fortifications and enormous earthen levees come to mind. Towers to keep out threats. Something we build for protection. A wall garrisoned with troops and heavy artillery. Oddly enough levees fail and walls are breached, so what exactly is the bul ..read more
OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
3w ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarred_tree#/media/File:Aboriginal_carved_trees,_photographed_by_Henry_King_(ca.1889_and_1894).jpg For the last year I have watched in horror as humanity has inflicted one wound after another on the body of the earth and on certain segments of humanity. The maps of Gaza are a hellscape. https://www.npr.org/2024/10/09/g-s1-27175/israel-hamas-war-gaza-mapI have reflected upon these wounds and prayed often about what can be done to heal them.  ..read more
OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
2M ago
IMAGE is AI generated from Meta AI using the phrase "rest in peace departed soul. find comfort" I spent the last three weeks supporting my partner through the loss of her mother. This post is about the human journey. A journey all of us will take at some point in our lives. A few observations:For the dying they are led through a portal to a place we can only imagine. Reports from the portal are few and far between. The forces of nature at some point will take ..read more
OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
2M ago
Pater Noster I’ve forgotten how I knew it was the night,but approaching footsteps followed by a knocktold us he’d come, who turning left, then right,would instruct our souls that could not fly, in flight. The Pater Noster that we’d memorized,he brought in a book to my brother’s bed,and sitting on the wide rail that ran beside,with each sentence he filled his head,until the words took meaning in their tide. And I was next who’d heard the broken prayer ..read more
OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
3M ago
When I first heard the news of who had won the election in 2016, I remember what felt like an audible gasp of horror at who and what we were facing for the next four years. It turned out to be almost a decade of gasps. One after another in what seemed like a fire hose of change. As a nation we have come to accept less: Less civility, less resiliency, and even less hope. I know my cynicism reached new heights in the last 8 years. And yet I know that the words in Ecc ..read more
OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
3M ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parzival#/media/File:Parzival.Lauber.jpg The grail story is a peek into human development -- from the individual to the community of humankind. What can Parzival teach us? The real meat of this story is Parzival opening up to the frozen parts of his soul. The thawing, painful as it is, is instructive because pain prods us awake. And once awake we can honor the sacred within not just ourselves but that which is sacred in others. &n ..read more
OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
4M ago
https://www.pexels.com/photo/standing-family-near-fireplace-1648387/
New York Yearly Meeting publishes the following advice:
Remembering the tenderness of Jesus for children, we recommend that parents and those who have the important charge of educating youth exercise a loving and watchful care over them. Meetings are urged to help parents and children share religious experiences at home and in the meeting for worship and to give them an understanding of the principles and practices of Friends.
So, according to NYYM, the family is of paramount importance to Friends. The family is the m ..read more
OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
4M ago
https://www.pexels.com/photo/blue-and-red-dress-religious-man-illustration-767276/
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke certainly portray Jesus in conflict with Jewish groups like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but John gives us a blanket condemnation of the Jewish people. He repeatedly refers to “the Jews” as Jesus’ opponents. In each of the other Gospels, this global, pejorative term is only used five or six times, but John mentions “the Jews” some seventy-one times. And according to John, “the Jews” are responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion and death.
The explanation for John’s ant ..read more
OLD CHATHAM QUAKERS
5M ago
…is the title of a six-part Netflix documentary about the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. To tell the story, director Joe Berlinger uses footage from the Nuremburg trial of Hitler’s principal henchmen, flashing back to archival film of the events described in the trial. That archival footage has been colorized so that it seems contemporary rather than black-and-white, grainy film from the distant past. When archival footage is not available, Berlinger presents actors recreating the events.
He also uses artificial intelligence to reproduce William Shirer’s voice. Shirer was a newsman stat ..read more