ESR's Incoming Class by the Numbers

We are thrilled to welcome our incoming class of students to ESR! 

We have students joining us from all over the country and all over the world - from Nagasaki, Japan, to Washington, California, Texas, Tennessee, New York, and North Carolina, among many others. 

Blessings to all on the start of a new academic year!

 

Total New Students: 26

MA: 2                                  

MA Access: 3

MDiv Cooper: 6

MDiv Access: 7

Occasional Residential: 3

Occasional Access: 4

W.O.R.D.: 1

Male: 12

Female: 14

Residential: 12

Access: 14

Quaker: 14

Other Traditions: Assemblies of God, Congregational, Lutheran, Metropolitan Community, Swedenborgian, Unitarian Universalist, United Methodist

The diversity we enjoy in our student body enriches the learning experience at ESR and we are looking forward to learning from these new additions to our community!

Peace is the Way

By Anna Woofenden

“There is no way to peace, peace is the way.” 

I’d heard the phrase many times, spoken it even, but it was not until this past Thursday at Peace Forum that I leaned it’s source. The Rev. Abraham Johannes (A. J.) Muste, a leader in the pacifist movement, labor movement and civil rights movement in the early 20th century. I learned this gem from graduating Masters of Arts student Jeff Myers as he presented excerpts from his thesis: The Way of Love, the Way of the Cross: A.J. Muste’s Theology of Pacifism.

Jeff began by sharing a glimpse of his own journey as an evangelical Christian who was exposed to theories of non-violence and pacifism through the legacies of people such as Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Dr. King while he was in undergrad at Hope College. He found a collection of essays by A. J. Muste and shared that  until that point he had, “never been so powerfully struck by the written word.” Muste brought to light the depth that his Christian faith informed his pacifism and how at heart, Muste was a theologian and from his teaching one could make the argument that “Christianity is pacifism.”

Muste’s theological basis for pacifism, Jeff presented, can be summed up in the value of each individual person, the command to love the neighbor and the life of Jesus Christ, especially as it culminated on the cross. Muste presents a way of pacifism that is far from passive. He presents an active and powerful way of life, claiming that God is love, love is active, love is the most powerful force and that it is this love we need to embody. Muste proclaims the ineffectiveness of meeting violence with violence and reminds us to look to the way of Jesus. Jesus did not respond to violence with violence, culminating in his crucifixion when he proclaimed forgiveness for those that were killing him.

This way of reading the gospels and looking at the life of Christ through the lens of pacifism came to Jeff through his reading of Muste. He shared, “I am a pacifist because of A. J. Muste. He showed me that the Bible speaks to pacifism.” As someone with evangelical roots, Jeff is passionate about how to have the conversation about pacifism with a variety of Christian modalities. He shared, “If you’re talking to an evangelical about pacifism, do not talk about the secular arguments, talk about the Bible”, as that’s what is held as the authority.

Jeff presented a vision, which he is actively engaged in, of growing conversations of pacifism from the Biblical conversation and lives engaged in being peaceful, loving and powerful beings in our communities. I know I, for one, was changed by Jeff’s presentation and urged more deeply into my own exploration of what it means to follow Christ and how the actions and principles of pacifism are part of this journey.

Anna Woofenden is a MDiv student at Earlham School of Religion and the Swedenborgian House of studies. She blogs at http://annawoofenden.wordpress.com 

Raising Up A New Generation of Quaker Leaders

By Anna Woofenden

Questions around engaging young people in the life of faith are being asked across denominations, as faith communities notice that many children who came faithfully to church with their parents as children are no longer involved as young adults   Within the scope of the Religious Society of Friends this question is being raised and addressed in various venues. One that may be of particular interest to the readers of this blog is work that is being done by the Newlin Center for Quaker Thought and Practice on Earlham College campus.

Emma Churchman and Trish Eckert spoke at Earlham School of Religion’s Common Meal and shared stories of the work they are doing to create spaces to raise up Young Friends through the Newlin Center. “The Newlin Center aims to identify young Quaker leaders, nurture Quaker scholarship and dialogue on campus, and provide members of the Earlham and wider communities with information about the Religious Society of Friends and Earlham's living Quaker character. More broadly, the Center aims to promote conversation and cooperation among Friends, and to provide a gathering place for Friends of all sorts.”

Trish, an ESR alum and Emma, an ESR current student both bring an infectious and deeply thoughtful energy to the topic of Young Adult Friends. Trish, who has been working at the Newlin Center for three years, started there as a project for her supervised ministry in her final year at ESR. On a search to discover her calling and passions, she began working with college students and discovered her ministry niche. She shared the joy she finds in the connections she has with the Young Friends she has on Earlham campus as she meets with groups weekly for fellowship and mentoring and provides spaces for Young Friends to gather and grow together.

Emma describes herself as a “visionary” and came into the Newlin Center overflowing with new ideas and ways to grow community and leadership among Young Friends.  Building on her experience of working with young adults at Pendle Hill she dove right into create programs, most notably the Quaker Fellows @ Earlham College program which works with Earlham College students to offer a transformative college experience.

“(The) Quaker Fellows echoes Earlham’s core values. Utilizing Quaker faith and practice, the program engages the whole person and prepares students to be agents of change in the world. Quaker Fellows includes three formation cores: spirituality, community and leadership development. The program is designed for young adults who are serious about serving as leaders in their communities, developing tools for social transformation, and living a life grounded in the Spirit.”

The ESR Community engaged in a thoughtful discussion with Trish and Emma, examining some of the questions that come up working with Young Adults and expressing a desire to support this important work.  If you are interested in spaces that nurture and develop Young Adult Friends, check out The Newlin Center and see how you can contribute to raising up the next generation of leaders.

Anna Woofenden is a MDiv student at Earlham School of Religion and the Swedenborgian House of studies. She blogs at http://annawoofenden.wordpress.com 

Bread for the World

By Valerie Hurwitz

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” FDR, second inaugural speech 1937

ESR MDiv student Anna Woofenden spoke at Peace Forum on Thursday, March 29 about the summer she spent interning at Bread for the World in Washington DC. She brought with her Matt Gross, a Bread for the World organizer who is based in the Chicago area. Bread for the World is unique in that it does advocacy for hunger-related issues but not direct food aid.

Matt pointed out that most Christian organizations focus on direct aid; a food pantry, a soup kitchen, etc. 96% of food aid in this country is delivered by the federal government, mostly in the form of SNAP (food stamps), WIC (for pregnant women and mothers with children under 2), and free lunches. What churches and other non-profits do is very small in comparison with these programs, and changes in the federal and state funding of these programs could easily wipe out all the good that NGOs do in this country. Thus, to have a food ministry of direct aid without looking at systemic issues is a losing proposition.

A recent Bread for the World blog post discussed the dangers the Paul Ryan budget poses to these programs. Eligible women and children could be turned away from these programs if indeed their funding is limited.

• In 2011, 45 million Americans received SNAP (14%)
• In 2011, 9 million women and children received WIC

Bread for the World engages churches in letter-writing campaigns and other advocacy. This summer, Anna worked on a resource called “Bread for the Preacher.” This provides information to pastors who want to discuss hunger in their sermons. Selections are available online.

OK, so here’s my dilemma. Obviously the amount of money the US spends on aid programs is a lot (Social Security, Medicaid/Medicare, SNAP, WIC, etc.) although military spending is certainly the bigger elephant  in the room. Social Security, I always point out, is not charity. I pay into social security and have since my first paycheck at 15 (which is something I always point out when Republican presidential candidates say, “Oh, social security won’t change for those over 50. You’ll be able to count on the money you paid into it.” What am I? Chopped liver?)

But, the reality is that SNAP and WIC are welfare. (I would also argue that the government creates the need for SNAP and WIC to a certain extent through its own policies.) Some folks argue that the government should not give aid of this sort. Indeed, they argue that the Christian mandate to care for the poor should be done privately, not through governmental organizations. This seems like a good theory to
me, but bad practice. If the government simply taxed us all less, would we really give all that money to organizations that directly aid the poor? If private organizations are currently responsible for 4% of direct aid, would we really contribute 25 times as much? Additionally, the federal and state governments recognize that they have a stake in the health and welfare of their citizens and that caring for them now means greater
productivity and fewer costs later. Thus, aid ultimately makes sense from an economic standpoint.

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.

Howard Macy: Friend in Residence

Howard Macy, ESR alumnus from 1970, visited ESR the week of March 26th. As the press release describes him:

Howard Macy is a Friends educator, minister, and author from Northwest Yearly Meeting. He has recently retired as Professor Emeritus at George Fox University and has taught previously at Friends University and Earlham College. Howard has served as a released minister in Northwest, Indiana, and New England Yearly Meetings and has traveled widely among Friends as an itinerant minister. His books include Rhythms of the Inner Life, Laughing Pilgrims, and Stepping in the Light, and he has published regularly in Quaker Life, Quaker Religious Thought, and other periodicals.
Among Howard’s special interests in teaching and writing are the Old Testament (especially the Psalms and the Prophets), spiritual formation, and humor in the Bible and Christian living. Privileged to live in Oregon, Howard particularly enjoys traveling in the wonders of nature, photography, and playing and singing in music ensembles.

The teaching faculty sat down with Howard for lunch on the 28th and immediately delved into questions of the church. Howard had commented at Common Meal the day before that church ministers are sometimes unfairly maligned and Jay’s first question was about the vitality of church institutions. The conversation turned to the “privatized” nature of church, where people go “church-shopping” for something that pleases them. Younger Christians/Quakers vacillate between leaving and living in the midst of the chaos. At the same time the “emergent” church and other movements are in the process of changing the face of Christianity . . . but into what? Nancy pointed out that many older members of the church are not so much afraid of change as they are that the church might change into something that is no longer comforting to them. “I love Jesus, but hate the church.” “I’m spiritual but not religious.” These phrases are common and only the type of the iceberg. Lonnie pointed out that part of the problem might be all the confusing and contradictory things that are going on in the name of Christ in the public arena.

The discussion turned to education within the church. Jay said that if churches are interested in only their own preservation, they will fail. Carole Spencer commented that education can easily become indoctrination, not formation. Nancy Bowen gave her common complaint that so many people in her Old Testament course know only a little about its contents and yet have pre-judged what they will find. “Why do you have to go to seminary to learn this stuff?” I’ve heard her ask more than once. We discussed the preparation of Sunday School teachers and formation among adults. Jim pointed out that most people who go into ministry are “people-pleasers” and are afraid to really delve into tough passages in the Bible or go beyond the lectionary. Howard others noted, however, that when people are given the opportunity to discuss issues like theodicy and suffering and really ask questions, they are glad to have an open forum.

The conversation was rich and Howard did not speak a great deal. He did, however, tell us that he was soaking us all up and his presence encouraged the faculty to deeper discussion. There were no conclusions, but we knocked off a number of sandwiches and a few packages of cookies and had a good time.

• How do you view the church? Does it speak to your condition?
• If you could envision the ideal church, what would that look like?
• What is the balance between maintaining institutions and allowing them to grow and change with their constituencies?
• How do you find a way to encourage formation without indoctrination?

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.

Acupuncture and Peace

By Valerie Hurwitz

Kurt Ritchie, a Bethany Seminary alum, came to Peace Forum on March 22 to speak about acupuncture. After pastoring for a decade, he went to an acupuncture school and spent four years learning that craft before opening up an independent practice. Kurt told us that he does more ministry as an acupuncturist than he did as a pastor.

“Why is everyone so sick?” Kurt asked us. The answers were innumerable and came quickly: diet, industrialization, stress, preservatives in food, etc. Kurt summarized them into three main issues: the automobile, electricity, and the refrigerator. He explained that if we’re always driving we don’t walk, get less exercise, and spend more time sitting. Electricity allows us to stay up late and not get enough sleep. Finally, fridges allow us to eat food that is prepared and preserved and that is not fresh. Kurt is often the last resort of patients who are suffering from cancer, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, or other illnesses. While western doctors specialize, Kurt focuses on treating the whole person, including diet and mental/spiritual state. Oriental medicine believes that everything is medicine.

Much of Kurt’s talk was technical, and I’m not sure I can reproduce it here (even with having taken notes). Kurt explained that eastern thinking is cyclical and that acupuncture works with channels (meridians) of qi (spirit?) flowing through the body and uses needles to adjust that flow. Kurt also explained that Chinese medicine works on the premise of a cycle from wood to fire to earth to metal to water back to wood. The different elements are associated with specific colors and organs, and they control other elements.

“Does it hurt?” was one of the first questions asked. People seemed interested in and open to alternative/holistic medicine and acupuncture specifically, but Oh! The needles! Kurt explained that modern acupuncture needles are rounded at the end and designed to part rather than tear tissue. That seemed only partly comforting to some folks.

I get migraines sometimes, and certainly have been through most of the easy holistic treatments (feverfew, mint essence on the temples, etc., etc.) I am not for or opposed to holistic medicine but believe that everything should be approached with an open mind . . . maybe I’ll be making an appointment to see if there’s something awry with the qi in my head . . .

Thoughts? How does this relate to Peace? How are physical health and ministry related in your mind?

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.

A Prophetic Voice in Occupy - People of Faith in the Public Sphere

By Valerie Hurwitz

There is something a bit comical in the blog post that I am about to write. Micah Bales, who I worked with on ESR’s outreach and social media strategy and who maintains this blog, spoke at ESR’s Common Meal on Tuesday, March 20th. Micah spoke about his history of activism and dis-illusionment with politics after 9/11. Micah went up to visit the Occupy Wall St. camp in September with the question “what’s your ask?” He realized, however, that this movement has no policy platform. Occupy looks to step outside the binary of Republican-Democrat and talk about the distribution of power in this world.

Seven people gathered to discuss starting Occupy DC soon after Occupy Wall Street began, including Micah. This face-to-face meeting is a key point; people got off the internet and met face-to-face. They gathered in a public space and talked. The group began small, with 6 people picketing a Bank of America. The Bank pulled down their shades and shut out customers, eventually calling police and telling them that protesters were breaking into the bank. The police, happily, found this comical as it was clear when they arrived that no one was breaking into anything. Occupy DC, in its early days, took the form of a camp. Micah explained, however, that while the camps were a wonderful symbol they were not sustainable and quickly became a magnet for those who were mentally ill and homeless. While providing food and shelter for such people is an important goal, the serious activism has moved away from the camps.

Micah talked about his ministry within this seemingly secular movement. “God stands in judgment over our economic arrangements” he told us and quoted Luke 4:18-19. Micah told us that some secular Occupiers were uncomfortable with his particularly Christian outlook, whereas many clergy seem reticent to be too radical. There needs to be a challenge to the Christian dominionist view that the government should be run according to conservative Christian values. There is a space between these three, where Christians can have a prophetic role in the secular sphere.

There was some discussion as to where the demarcation is for the “99%”, and whether that was relevant. The top 1% of tax-payers in the US made $343,927 and up in 2009. We also shouldn’t fool ourselves that the bottom 99% is all the same. Life is very different at $200,000 a year as opposed to $50,000 or $25,000 or less. Additionally, this measure of income does not include assets, and ultimately does not include the most important point: access to power. Thus, it is less important to divide the US into 1% and 99% and more important to discuss access to power and a voice in the public arena. Finally, some within the 99% certainly have more privilege and resources than others, and with that comes greater responsibility.

The involvement of young people in religious and public institutions is not an unusual topic of conversation around here. I remind the teaching faculty at ESR (who are all, shall we say, somewhat older than I) that I was too young to vote in the 2000 election. In 2002 my vote was invalidated (it’s a long story having to do with Senator Wellstone). 2004 was the first election I could vote in, and I lived in the second poorest county in Ohio where there were 7 hour waits at the polls and election challengers abounded in poverty-stricken areas. In 2006, I had just moved and couldn’t establish residency sufficiently well enough to vote. 2008 started out well and provided some hope, but the 2010 was pretty uninspiring (partly because of where I live). With the recession, I am one of the few people I know my age who is fully employed. That’s not a very inspiring introduction to adult civic life. Thus, I was really glad to see the Occupy movement got started and involved so many people speaking out and saying, “You know, this isn’t about political parties. This is about how ridiculously out of whack the distribution of wealth and power are in this country are.”

The question we asked Micah on the 20th and I have asked him a few times over the phone is where we go from here. If the camps are not sustainable, how does this movement continue? The US sometimes seems as though it has a very limited attention span. How can a movement looking to mobilize people to talk about power and injustice in this country be sustainable? Micah wants to see General Assemblies and people meeting around the country. He encouraged people to consider practical actions, such as putting your money in a small bank or credit union. He suggests small-scale activism, like the work he has done assisting a woman who was wrongly foreclosed upon in keeping her house. Finally, for those who are spiritual or religious (in a Christ-centered way, or not) there is a great deal of history and a good many bible verses leading to a peculiarly Christian call to economic justice and supporting the poor, orphaned, and widowed. This prophetic voice, as Micah termed it, can and should be a powerful force in the public sphere. Thoughts? What do you think a sustainable Occupy movement looks like?

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.

The Bible and Domestic Violence

By Valerie Hurwitz

I have been reading the minor prophets of the Old Testament for a class, and part of the reading for this week prophetically fit in with the Peace Forum speaker. From Hosea 2:2-3, 14-15 (New Revised Standard Version):

Plead with your mother, plead — for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband— 
that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts, 

or I will strip her naked and expose her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and turn her into a parched land, and kill her with thirst.

Therefore, I will now persuade her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak
tenderly to her. From there I will give her her vineyards, and make the Valley of Achor a door of
hope.

There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,   as at the time when she came out
of the land of Egypt.

This metaphor of God as husband punishing faithless Israel as wife has troubled generations of seminary students and confounded readers of all types. Does this teach us something about the way a husband should treat a wife? Yuck!

Vivian Finnell, founder and CEO of the organization Not 2 Believers Like Us came to Peace Forum on March 8th, 2012 to speak about domestic violence in the faith community. There is the tendency, she says, to think that domestic violence doesn’t happen in faith communities, or isn’t an issue that should be addressed in those communities. Unfortunately, one in three women and one in eight men will report domestic violence during their lifetime. We pay for this violence through both financial loss and lost human potential; through hospital visits, bullying in the schools, and a number of other societal issues.

This violence is taught over the pulpit and through scripture. If clergy are not familiar with domestic violence issues, they can mis-advise their parishioners. At best they might not know where to direct someone to for help, at worst they might tell a wife to “go and submit” or tell a man to “stand up and be a man.”

Vivian advised seminary students going into ministry of any type to educate themselves about the signs of domestic violence and local resources (see, for example, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence). She also suggested that pastors address this issue in sermons, bible studies, and other settings.

We might translate this into unprogrammed Quaker terms by saying that unprogrammed Friends should educate themselves and their meetings about domestic violence.

At the very least, we need to discuss and come to terms with biblical passages such as the one above. Thoughts?

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.

Peace Doesn’t Have a Culmination

By Valerie Hurwitz

James Taylor came to Peace forum on March 1^st, 2012 to speak with us about the Peace Learning Center in Indianapolis. The PLC started doing conflict resolution/transformation activities with grades 4-6 in the Indianapolis public schools and has expanded from there. The Help Increase the Peace Program (HIPP) is an AFSC program that began in Syracuse, NY in 1991, and now extends to 19 states. HIPP is described as “An Interactive conflict transformation that empowers participants to reduce violence, strengthen cross-cultural understanding and become agents of social change.” The Peace Learning Center began offering HIPP as a program and used Americorps fellows to give the workshops. As Americorps and Title I funding has been cut in the past few years, HIPP and the Peace Learning Center have fewer funds. James, after finishing his Americorps term, continued volunteering for the PLC despite the lack of funds because he believes this is important and essential work.

The most interesting part of James’ time with us was what he told us about his work in the Girl’s School and Boy’s School, the juvenile detention centers. James explained that Indiana is under federal investigation for how it runs its juvenile detention centers. James describes them by saying, “Prisons aren’t set up to do anything positive.” For those who will argue that juvenile detention centers are different than regular prisons, James would point out that the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility (for boys) is in a maximum security facility.

James says that what the children in these facilities want most is continuity. HIPP encourages them to practice critical thinking in every part of their lives. James firmly believes that conflict transformation programs in juvenile corrections facilities and prisons need to encompass both staff and residents. He illustrated the problem for us by saying, “If a kid goes through our program and then says calmly to a guard ‘I feel bad when you call me a b____ because it hurts my feelings.’ there is a good chance that child will be written up for insubordination.”

James is a longtime Quaker and sees this as part of the ongoing Quaker work towards Peace. Perhaps his visit is a reminder that Friends cannot rest on their history but rather must move forward and consider all of the forms their commitment to peace, simplicity, equality, and other testimonies apply to today.

Two other blog posts come to mind that connect here. The first is Noah Baker Merrill’s question about where God is working in the RSOF and where new life is breaking through. The second is Jordan Blevin’s comment at Peace Forum a fewweeks ago about what our budgets tell us about our values. On the other hand, why should we depend on the federal government to fund these kinds of opportunities? (Maybe there’s a little bit of a libertarian in me, which I’m sure Matt Hisrich would be glad to know.) Projects like Quaker Voluntary Service can help fill that gap.

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.

Translating between American and African Contexts

By Valerie Hurwitz

Pentecostal Church in Ghana

What does it mean to do ministry in Africa? Are western educational and religious materials appropriate for an African context? How can people of faith in the US empower their denominational brothers and sisters in Africa to be leaders and to re-interpret the Christian stories and the work God is doing in this world in that setting? We have looked at these questions from a Quaker standpoint (see, for example, past blog posts). This is, however, not a question unique among Friends. ESR student Brent Walsh returned in late January from a month spent in South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana, and spoke to us on Tuesday, March 6th about his experience there.

Before I tell you about Brent’s thoughts on Christianity in Africa, I want to mention two organizations he visited. In South Africa he and his wife Julie went to Rehoboth Children’s Village, which cares for children who have HIV/AIDS. The children live in houses, with a house mother, and attend school within the village. Brent sent me a wonderful picture of the cartoon images that the teachers use to educate the children about what HIV medication does in their bodies. In Kenya, Brent and Julie visited a child they have been sponsoring through ChildFund International, Mary Mwende. They visited the school ChildFund runs in the Mukuru slums and saw some of the projects to provide clean water and other necessities to the children there. Brent would want me to mention that both are doing wonderful work and (as with every non-profit) are always looking for donations.

In Kenya and South Africa Brent visited churches that are part of the Metropolitan Community Churches. He defined their greatest needs as leadership training and non-westernized resources. Brent comically described the first issue by saying, “In the US you have to get a Master of Divinity degree and go through this whole process to become a pastor. There they just say, ‘oh, there’s a church that needs a pastor. Anyone want to be the pastor? Anyone? Would you like to be the pastor? Oh, OK! Problem solved!’” Additionally, although there is a push to translate GLBT resources like The Children Are Free (which discusses biblical passage related to same-sex relationships) into Swahili, this plays into the concept of homosexuality as a western problem. Brent explained further in an email to me later:
“Homosexuality is seen in Kenya as a western problem that has bled over into their country. So when a western book defending homosexuality is offered to people there, it means nothing to them. It doesn't change anything in their minds about God's view on homosexuality. ‘Of course people in the west are going to defend their abominable behavior and then try to spread those lies in Kenya.’ But if the book was changed to introduce African characters in African cities/towns, and if the book was reviewed by reputable African allies, it would mean that homosexuality is not just a western concept.”

Brent and Julie bring Mary Mwende a gift

Brent spoke to an organization called Other Sheep, which does transgender education and advocacy in Kenya. They also visited a church that ministers to sex workers in Nairobi, People of Substance MCC, which does not intend to get sex workers out of their industry, but to bring God into it and to encourage these women to find alternate means of making a living. (“Do they talk about Rahab?” was Nancy Bowen’s first question.)

Finally, Brent and Julie spent two weeks in Ghana at a cultural arts program run by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. There, Brent told us, he discovered that he is “not a dancer.” Instead, he spent his time weaving baskets and speaking with Ghanaians about their religious beliefs. Brent visited a shrine and learned about the five gods in Ewe Brekete, a local religion. Brent also visited a Pentecostal church and learned about how Christians in Ghana view their non-Christian neighbors. Brent told me about this visit:

“ . . . during an interview with an elder in the church, I discovered that their African context makes Christianity look much different than mine. I live in a society where the commandment against worshipping  other gods means things like money, power, work, or sex. To them, other gods take the form of actual fetish idols – gods that are carried around in positions of honor for all to see and bow down to. The Christians in Kopeyia read the Bible much differently than I do.

"I asked the church elder how much interaction they have with people of the Brekete shrine. Does religion come between Christians and non-Christians? His initial response was that people respect each others’ religions, but digging a little deeper in the conversation, it was clear that fear was the foundation upon which their relationships were built. I was warned not to have a meal with anyone who practices the Brekete religion. After all, you don’t know whether the meat they serve you had been first offered to Kunde or Bangle or any other of the fetish gods.

“'What would happen,’ I asked, ‘if I knew that the meat had been offered to the idols, but I was hungry and it smelled good? What if I decided to take the meat anyway? Would there be any repercussions with God or the church?’ The elder looked at me solemnly, hesitating for a moment. I wondered if my question had offended him. Was it too disrespectful to insinuate that I might willingly eat food offered to idols?


“‘You will be on your own then,’ the elder finally said. ‘God will not protect you.’ I was curious at this statement. He explained that when a person is right with God, if they get into a car accident or if a scorpion stings them, God will protect them from harm. But if a person willingly eats meat offered to other gods, God will turn His back on them until that person repents and asks for deliverance from the evil spirits that entered their body with the meat.”

Julie and Mary Mwende in a slum outside Nairobi

Brent is a wonderful writer, and you can read more of his work at his blog and at Be Still and Know, the daily devotional published on the Life Journey MCC website.

I believe that Brent’s experience with MCC congregations can teach Friends something about working with African Quaker meetings. As Nancy Bowen would say, “Context is Everything.”

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.

Evolving in My Faith

By Anna Woofenden

The highlight of experience of the 2012 Spirituality Gathering started when Professor Carole Spencer asked if a few of us who had taken Carrie Newcomer’s songwriting class might read Phil Gulley’s talk prior to the event and respond with a creative piece to be used in the closing. I received the talk just before getting on an airplane, where I gobbled up the whole piece, scrawling over the PDF with the iPad highlighter, staring and circling phrases and jotting down ideas. As I read I observed reading on two levels, I was reading looking for a song, highlighting phrases and themes as they emerged, and I was reading as a theologian and a human, fascinated by his approach to the topic of The Evolution of Faith.

Over the next week I read through the talk a number of times, jotting down themes and images, choice phrases and turns of speech. I kept reading words that connected to places inside me that are questioning, wondering, searching and looking for articulation. Gulley’s talk is excerpted from his new book “The Evolution of Faith: How God is Creating a Better Christian Community.” He gives an overview of his theology and theory on how faith can move forward or diminish and posits the idea that in order thrive in our current spiritual environments, a continual evolution is necessary. Gulley points to the recurring theme in theological education to “teach us what others thought about God in the past… but often fails to teach us what we must know now—how we can evolve in order to thrive in our current spiritual environment” (Philip Gulley, “Evolution of Faith”, ESR Spirituality Gathering 2012).

As a current seminary student, soaking up layers of church history, history of theological thought, and the wisdom of ancient mystics, my ears caught this with a question mark. As an entrepreneurial spirit, an emergent/progressive oriented Christian and someone with a calling to church planting and new models of spiritual community, I knew I needed to engage in the questions posed. It supported themes that I have been noticing as I sift through church and spiritual histories: theology needs to be questioned, examined, prayerfully sought and applied to our current contexts. In my experience this is not necessarily a call to abandon the study of what has come before, rather a call to learn what the questions are that need to be asked. It is a call to learn from the processes our ancestors have worked through over the centuries, to look back over history not with the intention to find the authoritative answers, rather to spur on our current questions. It is a call to have the courage to open up space for theological discourse of how God is speaking in this time and context.

The call to listen and seek God’s call for each of us in this time and for the church in our current contexts is the message that kept ringing out in me each time I read through the talk. I began to hear the clues about the questions that are bubbling up and urging to be asked and signposts pointing to the practices of attentiveness and presence that are being called out to do this work. These messages rang through words like:

“What if every person received a full measure of our attention?”


“One of the most compelling traits of Jesus was his attentiveness.”


“For what is prayer, but our attentiveness to the Divine Presence…”


“Holy observance.”


“…root of prayer is attentiveness to the Creator and Created.”


“Faith and theology—our understanding of God—is always in process, is always changing, is always being affected and influenced by our culture.”


“…truth is never solely in the past. Truth is also ahead of us, in front of us.”


“We reach truth by evolving toward it.”

It is these threads that came together in me and through me as the words and ideas continued to flow. And it was these threads that the Spirit moved in and through to create a prayer for this day, a creative expression of the evolutionary process of faith.



“This is Our Prayer”

Music and lyrics by Anna Woofenden and H. Wayne Williams © 2012

What if every person received
all we have to offer,
our maximum attention,
and freedom unceasingly?

What if we could listen deeply
without expectations,
seeing Light in one another,
with gracious humility?

This is our prayer
for one another:
A holy heart
to hear each other.

What if Truth would grow and proceed,
questioning and doubting,
moving remnants forward,
and set the Gospel free?

What if we could just let God be
open and evolving,
above us and before us,
and in us creatively?

This is our prayer
for one another:
A holy heart to hold each other.

What if prayer was living in peace,
in love with our Creator,
observing not dividing,
that grace would be increased?

This is our prayer
for one another:
A holy heart
to heal each other.

This is our prayer
for one another:
A holy heart
of gold!

Inspired by Philip Gulley’s message: “The Evolution of Faith” Earlham School of Religion 3.3.2012

Anna Woofenden is a MDiv student at Earlham School of Religion and the Swedenborgian House of studies. She blogs at http://annawoofenden.wordpress.com 

Voluntary Service Among Friends

By Valerie Hurwitz

Noah Baker Merrill, a Friend from Putney Monthly Meeting (New England YM), came to ESR last week and spoke with us at Common Meal. Ostensibly here to speak about the Quaker Voluntary Service program starting in Atlanta this fall, Noah shared that he had been invited to give a prepared message at the FWCC gathering in Kenya next month. He asked what he might say to Friends there and shared the outline of his message as it was taking form within him right now.

Noah spoke of “triangulating on God” as he traveled. Whether visiting Cuba YM, a small unprogrammed worship group in Oregon, or in his home meeting in New England, Noah looks for where God is at work. These are the areas where this is growth, new opportunity, and good news. Noah quoted Bill Taber as saying “we have lost a shared vocabulary for the inner landscape.” For unprogrammed Friends, this means talking about what is going on in the silence of unprogrammed worship. There are three “motions” Noah sees in healthy meetings. He terms them “the motion of prophets”, “the motion of midwives”, and “the motion of thieves.”

The first (prophets) is the ability of people in the meeting to point to the newness of God in that moment, to rediscover the law, and to re-interpret stories for today. The second is that of midwives, those who ask themselves “what does the body need to come fully into life?” Rather than getting stuck in the postmodern idea of distinct and individual journeys, the midwives in our midst understand that a religious/spiritual community is mutual responsible for each other’s liberation. Finally, the motion of thieves points to the need for humility and the understanding that we inherit a tradition from those who went before us. While Noah did not phrase it quite like this, I would point to these three motions as needed for a vital and healthy monthly meeting, yearly meeting, or other organization with a spiritual element to its mission. Meetings that lack one of these elements struggle as a result.

A hushed feeling of worship crept over the group as Noah spoke and when he finally asked us where we saw new life in the Religious Society of Friends, I did not hear a direct answer to his question. There was a feeling of blessing and a scattered vocal response. I have been wondering to myself why exactly that is for the past week. It’s been a busy week (we had 10 prospective students here on Friday and spent half an hour in the basement during the tornado warning, and there were 90+ people here for the Spirituality Gathering on Saturday). ESR was created as a place to give Friends training for ministry and to allow space for Friends from different traditions to meet and “triangulate on God” (among other things). Many of our students come here hoping and planning, or already being, a source of new life in the Religious Society of Friends and wider world.

Although I don’t know that folks here would describe it in the same way, the motions of prophets, midwives, and thieves, the actions that Noah described (re-interpreting stories for today, eldering the meeting, and humbly acknowledging our debts to those who came before us) are familiar to Friends here, and to non-Friends. So, here’s Noah’s question passed on to all of you: Where do you see God at work in the Religious Society of Friends and where is there new life breaking through?

P.S. We shouldn’t neglect Quaker Voluntary Service, which is launching its first service house in Atlanta this summer! Noah spoke of this project as a sign of “new life” within Quakerism and part of a process of reclaiming and making current the Quaker tradition of service. The Board also decided to emphasize the importance of the example of Jesus, which was controversial among some Friends.

Valerie Hurwitz is Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Earlham School of Religion. She lives in Richmond, Indiana and serves as choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.