So here I am, working as a teacher in a small school with its share of troubles… but plenty of things going for it, too. Our building is new and well-maintained, and our student mix includes both rich and poor; the sons and daughters of professionals and the sons and daughters of blue collar families and farm families, as well as unemployed and foster families. I’ve got plenty of colleagues I like and admire, classroom to call my own, and... Read more

As I type these words, I am surrounded by a house that is going to seed. I may never have been a great housekeeper, but the years since I entered teaching have been particularly poor from a Better Homes and Gardens perspective. The carpets are more dog hair than any other fiber; our dining room table cannot be seen for the stacks of unopened mail and hampers of laundry waiting to be folded; the windows are nearly opaque with grime;... Read more

Do you remember falling in love? Do you remember how it is, to be able to spend hours, gazing into the eyes of the beloved? Oh, yeah… you’re talking about politics, or pizza, or the movie you just saw. Or maybe you’re talking about nothing, just sitting near each other, maybe holding hands, and looking at one another. Just gazing into one another, stoned on love. Remember that? That’s worship. I don’t mean I worship my husband. I love him... Read more

Literal Truth Department disclosure here: Batman is not a Quaker. Not that that’s a surprise to anyone familiar with the Dark Knight‘s career. Though he does not take life, he is a violent vigilante; and even in his life as Bruce Wayne, his life is not only a testimony to luxury, waste, and conspicuous consumption, his corporation, Wayne Enterprises, has numerous contracts with the Defense Department and the C.I.A. So, lest anyone get the wrong idea here, let me say... Read more

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about ways to deepen spiritual experiences lately. (Like my whole life, perhaps? Perhaps.) Thinking about things like trying to arrange spiritual friendship groups at my meeting, or maybe–as a friend of mine suggested–trying out something like spiritual formation groups. I’ve been reading the Bible, not because I’m a convert to Christianity, but because I feel that I need to become familiar with its poetry and the resonances of its myths in order to... Read more

NOTE to my Pagan readership: This is going to be one of those posts where I’m going to write almost entirely from a Quaker point of view. It’s not that I don’t think these ideas have implications for Pagan leadership and spiritual communities, because I do. But I have not yet digested this material very well, so I am (mostly) setting that question aside for this post. As I’ve said, I had a pretty wonderful–if overwhelming–weekend at Woolman Hill, attending... Read more

NOTE: A more objective, content-centered post on this weekend is available here. I’ve just returned from Woolman Hill, and from Jay Marshall and Jennie Isbell’s workshop on Vitality and Ministry in the Monthly Meeting. Jay is the author of Where the Wind Blows: Vitality Among Friends; Jennie has written Leading Quakers: Discipleship Leadership, A Friends Model. Their presentation to us was sponsored by Earlham School of Religion. I take it they have done similar presentations all over the country, and... Read more

For the past two years (approximately), Peter and I have been, in our own different ways, reading and thinking about the Bible. Our ways are different–Peter says that he is attempting to read the Bible as a writer, and, in order to do justice to the original authors, he works to squirrel out as much information on translations and the evolution of the texts he reads as he can. I don’t have much use for that approach. To me, the... Read more