A Thought on “Unlock Justice:” the 2016 FCNL Lobby Weekend Event

ESR student Karen A. Bradley shares her thoughts after attending Friends Committee on Legislation's Spring Lobby Weekend: 

Over Spring Break I had the opportunity to attend the “Unlock Justice” Lobby Weekend sponsored by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, in Washington DC. As a nontraditional student, I was--let's just say--“a tad” bit older than most of the participants, about 400 Quaker and Quaker-inspired high school and college students. The purpose of the event was to train and excite young activists in lobbying as an advocacy practice.  Participants spent three days learning about the issue and one day actually lobbying their state senators and representatives on Capital Hill. It was a high energy event to say the least.  These young adults were amped up on their political and religious passions.  Even the moments of Quaker silence shimmered in palpable effervescence. 

Sentencing reform was the substantive focus of the lobby weekend. In particular, mandatory sentencing, especially for small drug crimes, that has filled our prison systems with essentially non-violent, minimal crime offenders who end up with very long maximum sentences. There is also evidence that this affects poor and minority communities disproportionately. Much needs to be done to reform these laws.  That is why FCNL chose this issue for the lobby weekend.  It is an essential step in having a more fair and just approach to imprisonment in America.

Inner Darkness, Winter Gardens

ESR student Susan Flynn delivered the following message during ESR Worship on February 2, 2016:

We are at the close of the first month of the year, a time where people make resolutions to live their life better, access meaning quicker, clear away what is unneeded or not working.  We are just beginning February.  Even though it is the shortest month, for most people I know, they can’t wait for it to be over.  The hanging-on-of-winter and the pull of spring end up leaving many of us craving sunlight, with the impatience of cabin fever.  I have discovered I love ESR for the same reasons I love winter.  Winter is a chance to bundle up, go inside, read a good book, reflect, and act like a cat by finding the most comfortable place to fall asleep.  Enjoy the contrasts, hot chocolate after being out in the cold, candlelight in the evening.

 Today I want to not talk about inner light but our inner darkness.  I grow weary of the association of light being good, and the dark being bad and scary.  We need the dark as much as we need the light; they are contrasting but not opposites.  The Ying Yang symbol attempts to demonstrate that both light and dark are a part of each other, connected by the same underlying essence.  This writing explores how I have been distracted by the light and given gifts through darkness. 

Hicks and Gurney Fight it Out at Silver Bay

Students in Steve Angell's "Creation of Modern Quaker Diversity" class this fall were asked to imagine a scenario in which Joseph John Gurney and Elias Hicks met up in a present-day context with which the students are familiar. Below is one of the resulting essays, from MDiv student John Edminster:

In the fantasy-narrative here unfolding, Elias Hicks (1748-1830) was brought back to be keynote speaker at New York Yearly Meeting’s 2016 Summer Sessions. While the Sessions Committee was arranging this, the Worship-at-Sessions Subcommittee decided to call up Joseph John Gurney (1788-1847) to lead evening Bible Study during the week. Some expressed concern that Friend Elias and Friend Joseph John[1] might not get along well, but the sense among the planners was, “we’re not a creedal religion, no one’s salvation depends on doctrinal correctness, and there’s that of God in every person, so there’s no good reason for them not to get along.” And that was that. At week’s end the Epistle Committee reported that Friends found their visits “stimulating.” But only those who attended knew how very stimulating they were.

Poor Joseph John: he’d no sooner gotten his name-tag on the Inn Porch than Friends started mobbing him about the FUM employment policy, LGBTQ concerns, and the environment. Eventually Ruth, a sensitive old-timer, took him off for a quiet cup of tea and brought him up to date on the issues that exercise Friends nowadays. Joseph John seemed dismayed that Biblical teachings weren’t among them. Ruth explained that though the yearly meeting has an advice[2] about Scripture-reading, Friends here pretty much let other Friends make what they like of Scripture – if it’s read at all. Some do; many don’t.

A Review of "Early Quakers And Their Theological Thought, 1647-1723"

2015 ESR graduate John Connell reviews the recent release, Early Quakers And Their Theological Thought, 1647-1723, co-edited by ESR's Stephen W. Angell and Pink Dandelion. 

The introduction of this volume, penned by editors Pink Dandelion and Stephen W. Angell, wastes no time in reminding readers why this is an important work: “Early Quakerism has always excited scholars.”[1] Indeed it has, and for good reason. Despite their fractured state, all groups of modern Quakers still look back to the early Friends to ground themselves in their own interpretation of Quakerism. In fact, early Friends have often been re-interpreted in different ways by subsequent generations in order to re-assure those later generations in their particular contemporary formulation of Quaker faith and practice. Thus, studies of early Friends are always sure to both inform and challenge modern Quakers as to their own interpretations and incarnations of the Society.

Early Quakers and Their Theological Thought, 1647-1723, is sure to inform and challenge both liberal and evangelical Friends alike to examine their current incarnations and perhaps thoughtfully consider the relationship they bear to the founding generation of this movement. There is much to recommend about this volume. The chapters are relatively short (under 20 pages), and yet jam-packed with details about each individual, and most importantly, copious snippets of their own words. There is no denying that the scholars involved are representative of the finest that Quaker Studies has to offer. The bibliography alone is worth having for its collected wealth of primary and secondary sources.

The challenge of any such project is to allow the subject of each profile to speak their own message clearly, without being obscured by the interpretive voice of the authors. With few exceptions, this book succeeds in meeting this challenge. Because the book is a collection of profiles, written by different authors—each uniquely selected as a qualified authority on their subject—this review will move through the book chapter by chapter.

Jesus, John and Daniel Striped Tiger

The following is the text of a message delivered during worship by ESR student Travis Etling on September 22, 2015. 

(Daniel and Travis)

Part I.

Description of Cornville

I want to start this morning with a story.  And before I tell the story, I want to give you the context for the story – because I was paying attention in my biblical studies classes and I know that context is everything!  I also want to minimize or at least contextualize my own questionable behavior in this story. 

     The context for this story is a sheep ranch in Cornville Arizona circa 1984; which is where I grew up - from early grade school through early high school.  Let me paint a quick picture for you.  First of all, there is no corn in Cornville.  Local legend has it that the founders of the town were named Coen.  When the clerk recorded the name of the town over the phone, she assumed the Coen’s were saying “corn” with a southern accent.  This is a highly dubious explanation I know, but that’s the story.

     Cornville is in the high desert.  There are rugged mountains, scrubby trees like mesquite and juniper.  Cornville is in the Verde Valley, which means “green valley” in Spanish so it’s not your typical desert scene – no sand dunes or saguaro cacti – its actually quite green depending on the year.  There is quite a bit of surface water.  Our property was sandwiched between an irrigation ditch along the top of the ten acre pasture and the Oak Creek river which ran along the bottom of our ranch.  The pasture was actually flood irrigated - which is why there is no more water in the Western United States.  Actually the golf courses in Nevada and Phoenix probably have more to do with that.  Anyway, you have a sense of the physical landscape – rugged but also lots of room to run and play and grow gardens and raise sheep – really very idyllic. 

God’s Holy Presence

ESR student Deb Geiger shared the following message during ESR worship on September 8, 2015.
          

(A picture of the group, with Deb second from the left on the bottom row)

My name is Deb Geiger, for those of you who don’t know me. I am from Michigan where I attend the First Congregational United Church of Christ in a small farming community. We have been going on mission trips to Appalachia for the last 5 years. It has been a great pleasure and we now have many friends down there with whom we enjoy connecting year after year. We believe that prayer and time spent opening up to what God has for us on this trip, as well as working on self -awareness prior to heading off, leaves us open and tender to God’s presence. Thus we spend a lot of time preparing to leave, which we believe is crucial to the success of our trips. We pray ahead of time for who will be able to join us. As the group begins to form we ask them to pray for one another and the journey itself, as well as the people we will be working with when we get to Tennessee. This includes the Morgan Scott Project through whom we work in addition to the homes and hearts we repair. Our congregation is also praying for us as we go on this journey, then they too are part of the mission trip – we remain connected through prayer. I think that one of the reasons we particularly felt covered in God’s Holy presence this trip was the addition of my Call and Discernment class praying while we were gone.

Why Social Conditions Matter to the Pope

Below is an excerpt from an article co-authored by ESR Associate Professor of Theological Studies Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Rev. Jesse Jackson that originally appeared on The Huffington Post. 

We Christians tend to focus on personal piety. When dealing with others, we become legalistic and concentrate on dos and the don'ts, mostly of other people. We delight in creating 11th commandments like, "thou shall not drink nor smoke" instead of treating each of these as a medical issue, which they are.

Piety and expressions of personal holiness are important. We praise piety but piety is personal, not communal. Piety did not free the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. They had to convincingly plead genuine hardship and demand freedom before they could march out of slavery.

God is not only concerned about personal piety but with the social condition in which we find ourselves. During the prosperous kingdoms of Judah and Israel, the prophetic message to the people of Israel who had gone astray was not to increase their piety. It was a call to eschew luxury (Amos 6:4-6) do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Indeed the prophets routinely criticized the people for putting personal piety ahead of addressing oppression and doing justice.

Jesus preached piety, but only when it was rightly connected with right behavior, as taught by the Torah. His ministry, described in the gospels, focused on the social conditions in which many people found themselves. His concern centered on people who were poor, hungry, and cast out. He sought to meet their needs and to critique the systems which ignored their needs.

We see similarities to Jesus in the latest actions of Pope Francis. He has preached changes to the discourse of Christianity by challenging the idolatry of symbols, material wealth. He has preached a concern for those in need and those who are oppressed. Many are familiar with his radical acts of compassion that are symbolic and tangible. In one striking example, the Pope washed the feet of 12 prisoners, men and women from different parts of the world on Maundy Thursday.

The Pope is not concerned about the status quo. He challenges the status quo.

In his statements and actions, Pope Francis reveals a commitment to emulate the earthly ministry of Jesus. This is particularly clear in the Pope's focus not only on the condition of humanity's inner selves, but even more so on the conditions in which so much of humanity lives.

To read more, please visit the original article here. You can find more articles from Grace at her Huffington Post archive page here.