These are prayers, messages or reflections that came to us out of the silence of our worship in the manner of Friends.

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3-31-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

The Possibility for all our Dreams to Come True

Last week, someone spoke about how all the stars in the sky, more than could ever be counted in a human life span, in addition to solar systems, contain whole galaxies. It is estimated that there are between 200 billion to 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. These galaxies, like our Milky Way, likely hold trillions of solar systems. It therefore seems to me to be irrational to think that we are the only sentient life capable of abstract thinking and technological development in the universe. So where is everybody?

One theory is that when the human type of sentient life reaches a particular stage of industry and technology, somewhere before they develop interstellar travel, the society and/or planet implodes for what could be a whole host of reasons. This is something that many of us find easy to see happening in our world today, but it doesn’t negate the fact that there is probably an innumerable number of such life in the universe.

As I was contemplating this during worship, it occurred to me to ask if these entities are also present with me in that spiritual space? When I get into that place of perfect love, the place of light, of peace and compassion, when all those differences between me and other humans completely disappear, is this life from other planets present, too? On planet Earth, human experience can be radically different; for example, the life experience that I have and the life experience of a child in rural Africa is going to have very little in common, yet in that place of Spirit, all the differences are transcended. The question is, does this include that other sentient life in the universe?

As I pondered that in worship, what came to me was perhaps the most important spiritual answer to every question, and that is, “I don’t know.” “I don’t know” is present in that Schrodinger’s cat thought experiment of the cat being both alive and dead at the same time. “I don’t know” opens an infinite number of possibilities that, as I shared last week in hearing my grandmother’s voice say, “Anything and everything is possible until it isn’t.” This answer of “I don’t know” opens us to humility, which is an important aspect of the spiritual life.

“I don’t know” is the opposite of “I know something for certain,” which is when the Schrodinger cat box is opened, and you know for sure if it’s alive or dead. “I know for certain” can lead to hubris. It closes off any other possibility when the possibility no longer exists. If “I don’t know” is the ultimate answer to a metaphysical question it allows that space of universal love, compassion, and peace to be possible beyond our wildest dreams. It’s OK to not know, and actually, it’s not just OK – it’s beautiful. It creates the possibility for love, peace, and compassion to be a universal reality and the possibility for all our dreams to come true. =====================

3-24-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

Part Two of The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Last week was that Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad week. This podcast is part two when that very bad week started to turn toward the light. An analogy that seems to work well is that of an egg, an egg whose shell is so thick and strong it seemed like a rock. As the week progressed, that shell started to crack, a crack where the light could enter.

There were five different tools that were helpful for me in this process. One of those tools was organizing and documenting where I was in the process. This meant that I was keeping notes on the date and time and what person A said to person B, etc. Keeping track of all these interactions was a useful tool to see where the next steps were, which things were stuck, and where there could be movement.

The second tool that was useful for me was what I called the three P’s. The first P is perseverance, don’t give up. Since high school, a personal motto has been “persevere in the face of all adversity.” The second P is persistence; just keep at it, so don’t give up and just keep going. The third P is patience, which is actually very hard for me.

The third tool, and perhaps one of the most important tools, is humor. When I looked at what I was going through from a different perspective, it could easily have been turned into a very funny Monty Python episode or a Mr. Bean episode if you know that English comic. One of the first things I did during all this was to wind my cuckoo clock. Every hour, I was reminded that this was just a really funny skit that I was in. Many spiritual/religious traditions around the world have trickster or joker aspects of the divine that can turn things on their heads at a moment’s notice when you least expect it. And it’s all part of that, perhaps divine comedy or that comic dance.

The fourth tool is that as that egg is cracking, it is not just being open to change but embracing change. This is the gift of the divine trickster. Friday night, I had a dream of being spoken to by one of my great-grandmothers, who said to me in a southern drawl, “Anything and everything is possible until it isn’t.”

The fifth tool is having faith, having faith that everything is going to work out as it’s supposed to work out. It means having faith that there’s something that will carry us through and perhaps even produce a far better outcome or place for us to be than it was before.

When I think about this in the larger context of where I was the week before, in terms of complexity building around the globe and how hard it will be for humanity to cope, maybe these five tools will be something that can be helpful: 1st, the idea that we keep track of where we’re at; 2nd, that we persevere, persist, and have patience; 3rd, that we find the humor in life because you know there’s that old saying that “People plan, and God laughs”; 4th, being open to the change that the cosmic comic brings; and Finally, having faith – faith in other human beings, faith in humanity, and faith in that which connects us all to each other. And ultimately, having faith in the power of love3 =====================

2-17-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week, Part One

Last week was probably in the top 50 of the worst weeks of my life. When Saturday came, I spent prayer time considering what happened so I could both try to prevent it from happening again and hear any divine lesson that came out of the experience. As I started thinking about the bigger picture I considered how it related to (for lack of a better term) the cosmic order or cosmic dance and finally considered what I was being called to on a spiritual level. What is the spiritual purpose that I am being asked to fulfill as a result of this horrible week? How can I be of service to the common good?

What made the week so impossible started as just the one relatively small business problem of getting information that was needed by one large complex corporation from another equally complex multi-layered corporation. Over the next couple of days, this turned into five, then six different serious problems, including issues that prevented my staff from being paid (yikes). These multiple issues increased to four large bureaucracies being involved and a couple of other smaller companies, none of which were able or willing to communicate with each other. In addition, each bureaucracy had a huge amount of different departments that weren’t able or willing to communicate with each other. The end result was deadlock.

One example was that I went to one of their websites that I hadn’t been at for a while, figuring I’d have to reset my password. Instead, they said that there was no account associated with the email. So, I went to create an account and got a message that they couldn’t create one because the email was already associated with an account. I was caught in a circular trap. This happened over and over again with all the corporations and I tried everything I could think of. I read all the prompts trying all that could be remotely relevant. I tried different email addresses. I tried calling, and after being told it was not that person’s department they referred me to someone else, who referred me to a different person, who referred me back to the first person I talked to. Another call required me to talk with a specific salesperson before the information I needed would be released and that person turned out to be on maternity leave. Nothing shifted any part of this into the rhythm necessary to move forward. It felt like all I could do was cry.

The complexity I encountered had gotten so extreme that it turned into chaos, and the chaos turned into a sort of entropy (defined among other things as a doctrine of inevitable social decline and degeneration.)* The Second Law of Thermodynamics explains that as entropy increases, energy to do work becomes unavailable. “The state of entropy of the entire universe, as an isolated system, will always increase over time.”** This is true within any isolated system such as a bureaucracy. The solution to every problem in all complex multi-layered corporation, is to add more layers of personnel, which turn into more management, more departments, and more systems and processes, effectively slowing down decision-making until complexity makes interactions impossible.

The larger concern is that this is most likely present in the close to 400,000 other large, complex bureaucracies around the globe. It’s clear this is unsustainable. As the level of complexity moves into chaos and then entropy, humanity does not have the mental or emotional tools to deal with this. Since we are all connected in the web of life (and the internet), there are ramifications on a cosmic level individually, collectively, and globally. Another way of thinking about the cosmic level is a cosmic dance, a dance where we all move to a rhythm or music. If humanity descends into chaotic insanity, we will not be able to participate in this dance, so then what? (Tune in next week for an analysis of a possible spiritual path forward) * https://www.dictionary.com/browse/entropy **https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/314019/spontaneous-processes-and-entropy-of-the-universe =====================

3-03-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

WXYZ = the Answer. (hint: like the beloved childhood game something hidden is only discovered by seeking)  

One of the things I’ve been contemplating is how almost everyone, at some point, will ask themselves, “What is my purpose in life?” We ask ourselves over and over at the different stages of our lives “Why am I here,” . There can often be radically different ways we respond to this existential question.

Recently, a dear friend who had only a few more days to live asked me if I knew for certain how to tell that your life has purpose, if I knew how to know if the work of your life is completed. When I shook my head “No,” she responded, “If you’re alive, life has purpose; if you’re alive, the work of your life isn’t complete.” Clearly, her life’s purpose was something that she was thinking about, and she was modeling the answer.

As this came into my meditations, I had a sort of odd, whimsical response to this question. At any stage of our lives, the clear purpose is found in the last four letters of the alphabet, WXYZ. The explanation goes like this: “W” is a double “U” as in “you.” It’s the “you” that exists here on the material level and also the “you” that is on the spiritual plane, the “double you.” Next, the letter “X” is often used mathematically for times or multiplied by. So now we have the “double you” multiplied by “Y” as in w-h-y.

It is within the WHY,within the asking of the question, that our purpose is revealed. It is the seeking that is important and not actually the finding. Growing up every time I shared a thought or said I wanted to do something or go somewhere or buy something my mother would ask me why. I found it extremely annoying, but later in life, I realized how important that question is. Life and our purpose here is about the journey rather than the destination.

WXY being explained left me wondering about the “Z.” It occurred to me that the “Z” is often colloquially used for sleep, and sleep is a form of rest. Perhaps the time of rest is a critical piece of this experience. It’s the seeking and then the resting that allows the journey to happen. In music, if there were no space between the notes, it would just be noise. Music needs periods of rest to make it both meaningful and beautiful. Rest gives us time to listen deeply; it gives us a moment to truly see what is all around us. Rest allows us to enjoy the warmth of love and the light of awareness of our connections.

On all levels of our lives multiplied by seeking and resting, we find our purpose. With all the others who share this journey around the sun year after year, we build the world, until by using the last letters WXYZ, we transition to whatever comes next. =====================

2-25-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

Treating each other tenderly in that place of love.  

his morning, I was thinking about how one of the key tenets of every religion that stems from the Abrahamic traditions holds that one should not engage in idolatry. Yet it doesn’t take a lot of deep thinking to wonder about whether that’s been forgotten in this supposedly predominately Christian society.

Idolatry is defined as excessive or blind reverence, devotion, or worship of something or someone other than God. The primary source of this is, of course, Biblically when the Israelites, whether by request or coercion, donated their wealth to construct the golden calf. Today, perhaps that idolatrous behavior can be seen in the bronze statue of a bull on Wall Street, the exuberance of a bull market, or even the purchase of golden sneakers. What does our society as a whole really, really worship? How different is that from the Israelites in the desert?

As I thought more deeply about that, it became clear that even if true, challenging someone else’s hypocrisy is absolutely foolhardy. So, rather, I thought about myself. How and when is it that another person can productively encourage me to look at some of my behavior critically, especially if it’s something I hold dear? I realize that it is possible only if the person who is sharing their observation is someone who I know truly and deeply loves and respects me and, even then, only if the observation is being shared with a tender heart. So perhaps that’s the key: the only way to move forward with one another is to be in that space of deep, abiding, and committed true love, care, and respect. Perhaps it is by treating each other tenderly in that place of love that can bring the light to form a more perfect union with each other and with that which is Eternal. =====================

2-18-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

The importance of learning.  

Toward the end of Meeting, something came strongly to me about the importance and role of learning in our lives. Sometimes we think of learning as just something we do when we go to school, but actually we learn every moment of our life. We learn how to tie our shoelaces, and later on in life, some people might need to learn how to drink a glass of water with shaky hands. We learn from the time we are born to the time we die. The process of being open to and loving learning can mean that each morning, we wake up excited about the chance to learn something new, and this increases joy in our lives. This love of learning keys us together into the creative process that exists inside ourselves and each other and connecting all of us together with the ultimate Creator, the Divine creation of love, light, and peace.

Another message was about the personal meaningfulness of two Mother Teresa quotes: first, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love;” And to the speaker of this message the truth is that great things are made up of a lot of small things. And the second quote, "we can all do small things with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.” =====================

2-11-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

Four things that are medicine for body, mind, heart and soul durning this pivotal time. 

We live in a pivotal time of human history, where almost everyone is probably "freaking out" or anxious to some degree or another. This seems true regardless of which side of the political divide one’s on or our socioeconomic racial, gender, religious affiliations, because the foundations that we thought were rock solid feel like they’re crumbling around us. One thing that triggered my anxiety this week was reading a headline that said that scientists have been able to 3-D print functional brain cells. This coupled with the advances in AI and robotics, led me to think about the sci-fi, dystopian novel I read maybe 50 years ago titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

In anaylizing ways that I find solice at such times I realized that I have four distinct ways of dealing with this level anxiety. The first one was buying a pound of dried beans. Even though I know that there’s many things that can affect my body's well-being besides starvation, this helps me on the physical level.

The second thing that helps me is to do something active and concrete to move the world to a better place, like that grain of sand I talked about in a previous podcast. This helps my mental condition because even though I realize there is little to no chance of actually making a different, I can rest easy in my heart knowing that I’ve done my best.

On an emotional level, the third thing that helps is interrupt any thinking about how androids dream or other anxiety producing world situations and instead switch my focus to the incredibly wonderful people in my life, people who love me, and who I love beyond measure. And even though I know that life on this planet can be a living hell, still I remind myself of the incredible beauty that is all around me, that everyone in the world can at times enjoy the beauty of a sunrise and sunset. This attitude helps how I am feeling by steeping me in deep ongoing gratitude.

And finally, I hold onto the knowledge that there is something that is eternal and infinite. Like a fruit-fly can’t have a concept of human existence I as a flawed human being can’t know this force in any full way. However feeling that I and everyone are a part of that which is eternal gives me spiritual comfort, and the knowledge that even if G-forbid we destroy all life on earth still this force, this oneness remains.

These four things together that are remedies, the medicine for my body, mind, heart and soul. It help me keep myself in balance and back to a state of equilibrium. This is where my thought are positive, where I can feel myself in a place of peace and where I can be open to that part of the universe that connects us all, in a space of unconditional love where the light can enter and restore that hope and faith for a better tomorrow.

2-04-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

About the spiritual importance of having fun. 

What came to me this morning is that the great religious leaders throughout history have taught about love and peace, gratitude and forgiveness, truth, and economic and social justice. On occasion, they talk about joy. But what is missing might be the importance of having fun. Having fun and enjoyment are actually different things. You can enjoy a good meal but not necessarily have fun. However, you can't have fun and not have joy.

As I thought about this, my grandmother Carey's blessing, which my family used as a grace before meals, came to mind. It's a very simple, kind of sweet blessing that speaks to many of the Meetinghouses I've called home. It goes like this: Father, bless this house we love, the walls around and the roof above. Help us make it happy here, with work and play and love and cheer, Now and all the days to come, Heavenly Father, bless this home.

For most of my life, I thought that as poetry, it was defective because when speaking it, the ending didn't rhyme. Recently, though, I've come to realize that what was wrong was me, not my grandmother's poetry skills. It was my cultural bias and my judgments of "normal" that were the problem. The blessing was written by a woman who spent her entire life in the southwestern part of the US in the early 1900s. This means that her accent would have been radically different from mine. So, for her, the ending did rhyme, and the only thing wrong was my assumption.

As I thought deeper about this, it occurred to me that similarly, the assumption that an authentic spiritual life needs to be full of sackcloth and ashes, instead of having fun and being of good cheer, might be faulty. Certainly, there is a place for repentance, but are any of us really on this earth to be miserable? I don't think so.

Instead, if we prioritize happiness, if we feel that having fun is spiritually important for the Divine to be realized in the world, then maybe this could be an avenue to bring that love, and that light of God more fully into the world. =====================

1-20-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

How one small grain of sand can restore balance to this beautiful yet troubled world. 

I believe that, like everyone, I have a tiny spark of the Divine within me, which is the essence of who I am. It’s analogous to being one small grain of sand in all the deserts and beaches of the world. However, its size doesn't mean we're powerless.

My Sabbath prayer this week was that I be given the wisdom to put my tiny grain of sand in just the right place, at just the right time, and then be given the ability to move that grain of sand at just the right moment, in exactly the right direction to cause an avalanche. And that this avalanche brings down an entire mountain of injustice, whether the racism, economic and/or social injustices of this world as well as the trauma of violence, all the sorts of things that keep us separated, disconnected from that which is Eternal.

TLater in the day, I listened to two very different stories that had an odd coincidence about them. One was about how when the power of Light shines on those that hoard the riches of the world. It causes them such excruciating pain that they avoid that light at all costs. The other was about how when the power of light shines on those who are seeking to bring things back to balance, they become re-energized, and it gives them an energy that balances our mutual existence in the material realm. So, I’m thinking about and hoping that the time will come when the Love contained in all our collective grains of sand moves that mountain and balance is restored to this beautiful yet troubled world. ===================== —————————————

Addendum: “If I have prophetic powers, and wisdom to understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:2

1-14-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

How saying “yes" could solve the world’s problems.

What came to mind this morning was a brief and funny exchange I had with a co-worker when I startled her. She responded, “Jesus Christ!” to which I replied, "Sorry, no.” We both giggled. This prompted me to think about how this interaction related to the well-used George Fox saying* about how to “walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.”

That we go through life with a cheerful nature, seeing the divine in everyone, whether it’s a friend or foe, a saint or mass murderer, is extremely challenging advice. It is something that causes people to paus. However, what I found myself thinking about was the word “answer."

To answer means it isn’t enough to see or recognize God in each other, as hard as that can be at times. It isn’t even that we hear that voice. Rather, we listen to something that Of God is asking, something that we need to answer. I held this question during worship: How do I do that not only with the pleasant daily interactions but with the more difficult people and never mind the people I think are abhorrent?

Toward the end of the hour, an answer came to me when I started to think about what question an entity or energy beyond my comprehension, something that transcends time and space, could possibly be asking this puny, flawed human. It occurred to me that what Spirit could be asking is: "Do you see me? Do you see me here in the part specific to this person that is divine?"

And an additional question God could be asking is: “and do you love me?" Maybe these are the ultimate questions, not only to the other people we meet as we go through life, but also the plants, the animals, even the grain of sand or mountain. "Do you see me, and do you love me?" Hopefully, someday, all of us will be able to answer that of God in everyone by always answering “yes” – yes, I see, celebrate, and love that God in the unique spiritual essence inside you and each and every person, place and thing. Maybe all we need for the world we vision, the beloved community to be created, is this simple answer YES.

=====================

* Fox full quote: ”Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations wherever you come, that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one; whereby in them you may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you.”

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Addendum: It just so happens that this whole message is essentially what is said in the Shema, written in 630 BCE and the central prayer in Jewish worship "HEAR oh holy people, you are all part of God (Eloheinu) and God (Adonai) is One (echad). Love the one un-namable God the God in each other, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

NOTE: clicking on the above Podcast link will let you hear all the episodes that have been recorded. Transcripts are below.

1-7-24 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

Friday night, I listened to a story to help me fall asleep. It was about a person who dreams they are visiting the main library in New York City. Out front of this library are two larger-than-life stone lions, one named Patience and the other Fortitude. In the dream, these lions come to life, becoming real lions who take the dreamer on a tour of the deserted library. The obvious question is, why were lions named Patience and Fortitude? c cA little research turned up the fact that the reason was that when New York City was in just terrible, terrible straits during the great depression, Mayor LaGuardia named them Patience and Fortitude because he thought that’s what New Yorkers would need to survive the difficult time. As we as a nation are at this moment going through an equally extremely difficult, existential time, perhaps now those two things, patience, and fortitude, would be important for us as well. The question is, though, what is it about patience and fortitude that makes them important qualities for surviving something catastrophic?

To survive difficult times means having the fortitude to persevere. It means holding onto resilience and compassion with a spiritual tenacity. It means no matter what, taking that one step after the next step and staying connected to each other. Fortitude means we don’t give up. This fortitude, along with the strength to hold onto hope, is what can bring us through looming troubles with our spiritual essence intact both as individuals and in community.

Patience is required, along with fortitude, because we can’t expect things to change overnight or just because we wish it so. We have to put in the work for things to change, and that takes time. Patience is not stoically accepting suffering. Rather, it is necessary to preserve inner tranquility while accepting a current, external reality. It is the key to developing wisdom and serenity, allowing us to together face life's challenges. If we have the patience to go through difficult times with hope, we will be able to persevere in the face of adversity. As a fire can seem to go cold, yet from hidden embers, like those lions come to life, so fortitude and patience can ignite the embers of a healthy society and the spiritual oneness we have with each other. With patience and fortitude, we can rekindle in our society the eternal fire of infinite Love that will bring us to mutual wholeness.

…………………………... “Patience and fortitude conquer all things.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

12/31/23 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

The passing of 2023 into the beginning of 2024 felt like an important transition as I settled into worship on the last Sunday of the year. Not only the transition of the calendar but our social stability also felt further away from the things in our democracy I’d been comfortable taking for granted. It seemed like a change to a time of great uncertainty, a time where a lot of things could go very, very wrong, As I tried to find some peace with this, I centered into that space of just one breath, then the next. However, the anxiety that bubbled up every once in a while, was still there.

As worship started to come to an end, I remembered something from when, as a child, I was worshiping in South Yarmouth. There was an elderly woman there who, at least once a summer, would give the same message. Year after year, she said simply three words: "Love never faileth” (she always said the “TH” at the end). After she passed on, another elderly woman took up the same charge. As I got to know Quakers around New England, I found out that the same message was repeated in meetinghouses at least once a year all over the region. "Love never faileth”: this is what can carry us through difficult times. For me personally, the love that gathers us together every Sunday morning sustains the essence of who I am. It grounds me in deep gratitude for the people in my life and for those messages of love that bubble up throughout the year. This gratitude and message, this truth that love never fails, can carry us all forward through any storm into eternity.

12/24/23 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

During worship a quote said by Frank Sinatra settled on my heart. “If you don't know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he's just like you. He has the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. It's one world, pal. We're all neighbors.” This message is essentially the same as teachings that have been shared over and over and over again — that we’re all part of a whole; what happens to one happens to everyone. In this case, there was something about Sinatra's language that spoke to my husband more than other versions. What I took away from this was that HOW one conveys a message is almost as important as what is said and that nothing is communicated if it isn’t spoken in the language and style that people can relate to and hear.

A bigger issue that weighed very heavily on me, though, is once this wisdom is heard, understood, and recognized as truth, it still seems impossible for it to be actuated, impossible for humans to live day by day in this spirit of love. How can people learn to truly integrate this reality of oneness into all our interactions? How does this understanding that in the present moment, here and now, we’re all one, become foundational to how each of us relate to each other? While this message and the urgency of building a global beloved community is so universal, why does a peaceable world seem like such an unattainable goal?

Perhaps one reason for this is that people carry a fear of scarcity. We think our needs and desires are something finite. This sets up false dichotomies, such as that one ethnic or cultural identity can’t be free if another isn’t oppressed. Wars stem from people falsely believing that violence is necessary for achieving peace or even that for some to live in relative comfort, others have to be poor. This is a tool used by those who worship the sickness of greed and thirst for power to manipulate society away from hope. Instead, we need to find a way to communicate the truth that it is possible and a far greater good to get to that place of universal oneness. We can all join in building beloved community if and only if we communicate in ways that can be heard, sharing potential road maps where we find them and revising them until we reach our goal. Yet it seems so very distant and impossible where can the hope for this future be found.

I was contemplating this while focusing on the fire that we had lit in the fireplace as worship began. It slowly gained strength and provided a sense of light, warmth, and the unique energy of the dancing flames until the hour was almost over when it died down and went out completely at the exact time worship ended. The fire came in its time, and it left in its time, maybe to find some peace in our hearts about this, just like the fire or the sun at a solstice season, coming in its time and going in its time just so that sense of oneness, of wholeness, of peace and heaven on earth will eventually come. It’s time.

12/10/23 — From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

I pay special attention when a message repeats itself. I was looking at a post by Katy Hawkins on the Religious Society of Friends Facebook page asking whether the body has a role in the spiritual experience of Friends. My first thought was that Katy was asking about the organizational aspect of the corporate body of Friends, and my shadow side's reaction was, “In reality, not very much.”

I then realized they were talking about the physical body. During worship, I thought about this and realized that a few days before, the same message came through on a Christmas card that my parents had designed in the 1980s. On the card was a Rufus Jones quote, "If God is God, which means in other words, Spirit, Life of our lives, Love at the heart of things, ... then we already have a two-storied universe with a Home in it for all we love & a Garden in it greater than Eden, where transplanted human worth will bloom to profit otherwhere.” So, along with the tier that houses our physical bodies and carries us through our mundane days, Jones speaks of a second story where our hearts connect with that which is eternal. And it is this two-tiered system that makes it possible for us to "profit otherwhere,” creating something even greater than Eden here on earth.

The "transplanted human worth,” being the fruits of a greater Eden, could be seen as Eden producing an archetypal apple. It starts as a seed, grows into the tree, then blooms and blossoms, which turns into an apple, then back to the seed to tree to blooms, a never-ending cycle. This cycle of a mundane life and body moving into Eternal Love and back again makes it possible for us to be that light of the world, to be that presence of love and brilliance that can disperse the shadows and reveal that everlasting light of grace, of love, of peace.

12/03/23 From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

A startling phenomenon that often occurs in a Quaker meeting for worship is when a person is debating with themselves if a particular message should be shared, and someone else says the exact same thing. This is currently happening to me in my personal prayer life. This message is on the same theme that has occupied me for the last few months: when, if, what sort of prayer is effective, or is prayer basically worthless? All those waves after waves of thoughts and prayers thoughts and prayers that take place around mass shootings, injustice, all the millions, maybe billions of people sending prayers now with the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, all praying for peace. Do they make any difference at all? Or, in fact, could they actually be counterproductive because we delude ourselves into thinking that by putting out this energy, it is doing something positive, and so is enough?

What if we change that prayer? What if, instead, each of us prays that we, ourselves, be given the strength, the courage, and the wisdom to actively do something tangible, to take some action that promotes that peace, that love, that oneness that we vision? Perhaps this prayer would be effective because, along with asking for Divine assistance, it could be a personal motivator. If all those billions of people are praying for world peace, if each of them does one teeny tiny thing, imagine how it could change the world for the better. Just as people from many different religions pray for the Messiah, maybe this prayer could actualize that we ourselves can collectively be that Messiah. One way I am testing out this theory is by sharing this message today. How about you?

11/26/2023 From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

I occasionally open my eyes during worship. This morning, I noticed that the outside light had created a reflection in the glass in front of me of a vehicle that looked a lot closer than it was in reality. It occurred to me that in its sideview mirrors, where there is a warning that things appear a lot more distant than they really are, it was exactly the opposite. So, it seems like reflections can be distorted in unpredictable ways. If so, then what about the reflections that come during worship? Are those kinds of reflections also distorted in unexpected ways?

If one of my purposes in worship is to connect to that divine energy, that essence that is grounded in truth, then what do I do when these reflections might also be distorted? The answer that came was just sit and be in that space with an open heart, humbly and with compassion, hold space for your imperfections, knowing that "when the perfect comes, the imperfect will fade away."

This was also a similar message that came to me Friday night when I realized that journalists often have a lot of information they don’t share for various reasons, yet all of them, across all the networks, including Fox, have had an intense foreboding about them recently. Friday night, a reporter said that this coming year is going to be extremely difficult for everyone and that what we need to do is strengthen our communities because that’s what can keep us safe and sane. They said we all should repair relationships with family and friends and make amends. But in many circumstances, that’s actually very complicated, as abuse and trauma make reconciliation irrational, if not impossible.

The message that came was the same as the distortion of reflections: to set clear, often solid boundaries and then just to be with that open heart. Presenting an open heart is what can give us the power to move through the difficulties. This way of engaging in the world gives us the power to reside in that place of light and truth, and let love grow and shine in ourselves and the world. Immediately after sharing this message, the “angels sang,” which is what my husband calls the sound my phone makes when it gets a text. Oops, time to hold space for imperfections.

11/19/23 From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

I was thinking about a discussion on prayer. Did it have any use or effectiveness, and if it did, how so? For me, it is not petitionary prayer; I don’t see the Divine and some sort of bank where you can withdraw a blessing whenever you ask. Rather, what makes sense to me is prayer is simply putting out an energy of love, peace, and goodness, or as Friends say, "holding things in the light.”

During a bit of quiet time for reflection at the end of the call, I thought about the prayer discussion. What came to me was that throughout the whole world exists close to an infinite number of dust motes, everywhere, all the time. What if we could use dust motes as a vehicle to carry that prayer power, an energy of love, peace, and goodness? If we think of these little, teeny things as being transportation for that pure love, for that deep gratitude, for that perfect peace, maybe in some way it could transform those places around the globe that are dealing with war, famine, and injustice.

Just that tiniest speck, that little bit of light magnified by each of them, bringing people together toward a better world. So, at this time of Thanksgiving, I’m thinking I’m not going to worry about cleaning my house but rather be grateful for all the dust motes. How about you?

11/12/2023 From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

Hearing the phrase “many are called, but few are chosen" prompted me to think about that in relation to how many Friends feel called to a concern. Certainly, I am one who falls into that category, but how many of us who feel God’s call are actually chosen?

I searched for the source and context of that phrase and found it in Matthew 22. The story is essentially that Jesus had been challenging the religious authority, which gets annoyed. They basically say to him, “What’s wrong with you”? Instead of repentant self-analysis, Jesus tells two parables essentially about what’s wrong with them. They come back at him, asking by what authority gave him the right to speak to them like that. His response is that his authority comes from God and that "many are called, but few are chosen.”

What strikes me about that biblical moment is the word ”few.” It wasn’t that many are called, but I alone am chosen, or many are called, but a couple of us are chosen, rather it’s a few of us are chosen. So, how many of us are part of the few, or are we part of the many who are called? There are a lot of implications to that concept, that the divinity of what some identify as Christ is not a solo event that we all can participate in. We all can be called and, at the same time, respect that it is a few of us who are chosen.

This message can be thought of in a lot of ways. Focusing on one word ("chosen"), is the "choosing” done by the recipient of a call? Do they have the choice to ignore the call or to act on the call? The call could be the stones crying out for justice. Sometimes maybe they can just not be answering the damn phone. People are often distracted by all kinds of other things. It also can take a lot of courage to stick out your neck, knowing the likelihood of all kinds of adverse consequences. You can be called to do something, but the fear needs to be overcome in order to be one of the few who are chosen rather than among the many who are called. Is there really a chooser, and if so, who? The idea of answering the call could be simply some sort of advertisement: "See the USA in your Chevrolet, America is asking you to call.” Like a phone ringing in the middle of a Meeting for Worship, in the quest for finding one's place in "many are called, but few are chosen,” maybe we always need to expect the unexpected.

10/29/23 From Off the Meetinghouse Floor Message

Throughout my childhood, through my Young Adult Friend years well into middle age, I had no problem holding firm to Friends' peace testimony. I went through life committed to this principle: attending demonstrations against the Vietnam War, supporting efforts for disarmament, organizing peace vigils and demonstrations against the Gulf War, etc. As middle age progressed, I started to undergo a shift to thinking of the peace testimony to occasionally hold this testimony as aspirational rather than a practical concept.

In worship, this question sat heavy on my heart: is even an aspirational peace testimony valid, given the state of the world today? I felt deep despair rise at the futility of working for peace and how it can backfire and produce the exact opposite result. Asking for guidance, I heard and was reaffirmed that there is the Force, the Eternal Power, that produces miracles and that what seem to be intractable situations can suddenly and unexpectedly change in ways beyond our human understanding. I heard that as an individual, what I can and should actually do is allow myself to have faith, trust in the Source, and let the Divine unfold. And while I cannot do miracles or have the power to stop war, I can and do have the power and ability to channel Love. With all the distress and craziness that I can’t impact or fix, I can refuse to give up or give into despair. Instead, I can stay on the path abiding, walking in the light of perfect Love.

That sense of despair is also felt by others in worship. Another member shared a quote from Mark Twain: "There is nothing so in need of reforming as another person's bad habits.”

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