Afterthought #33 QuakerQuaker – A Resource for 21st Century Friends

Early Quakers had their journals to record their spiritual life and journeys. Today, many Friends do the same through blogs, sharing how they live Quaker ideals in this time. For nearly ten years, Martin Kelley has been sifting through hundreds of websites to come up with a daily curated list of the best of the Quaker web. The result is QuakerQuaker, a website and a community of Friends exploring Quaker witness, ministry and beliefs through blogs, photos, videos and news of gatherings.

QuakerQuaker’s primary audience is Friends and seekers from all traditions who want to explore classic Quaker understandings of theology and practice as well as what challenges and inspiration these pose for Spirit-led twenty-first century Friends. There you’ll find posts, links, and websites that reflect the great diversity of Quakers today.

QuakerQuaker is 100% reader-supported.  If you believe, as I do, that this kind of outreach and conversation is important, send a few bucks their way at the Quaker Tip Jar.

“Afterthoughts” are my blog version of a practice followed in some Quaker meetings. After meeting for worship ends, people continue in silence for a few more minutes during which they’re invited to share thoughts or reflect on the morning's worship. I’ve adopted the form here for last-day-of-the-month brief reflections on headlines, quotes, comments overheard, maybe even bumper stickers.

Afterthought #32 - Wait! Wait!

Back in April, I gushed about how, as a devoted fan of National Public Radio (NPR), I had toured NPR national headquarters in Washington, DC.  I also admitted that I often listen to podcasts of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me (WWDTM) on my walks, laughing out loud as host Peter Sagal quizzes a team of comedians about the week’s “news.”

So.  My husband wasn’t surprised when I suggested for our anniversary that we buy tickets to be in the audience when WWDTM came to Seattle’s Paramount Theater. We laughed together as panelists Maz Jobrani, Paula Poundstone and Luke Burbank joked their way through some of the week’s headlines. Their confusion about the United Kingdom is especially funny.

We also cheered as native Washingtonian and travel guru Rick Steves played “Not My Job.”  I’ve long appreciated Rick’s approach to travel as a way to broaden our perspectives and promote understanding of our world.  That value came through in Rick’s lighthearted interview with Peter, along with his advocacy for drug reform.  When I visited Rick’s website, I also learned about how his faith influences his activism, particularly related to homelessness.

You can listen to the show that aired Sept. 20.  And while you’re at it, don’t forget to contribute to your local affiliate of this listener-supported broadcasting organization.  It will make you smile.

 “Afterthoughts” are my blog version of a practice followed in some Quaker meetings. After meeting for worship ends, people continue in silence for a few more minutes during which they’re invited to share thoughts or reflect on the morning's worship. I’ve adopted the form here for last-day-of-the-month brief reflections on headlines, quotes, comments overheard, maybe even bumper stickers.

Afterthought #31—Part of the Problem, Part of the Solution

Even though I took a break from news headlines while on Vacation Time, I’ve been aware of the turmoil in Ferguson, MO since the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson.  This essay, Different Rules Apply by Matt Zoller Seitz, reminded me that I’m part of the problem of racism and white privilege.  I urge you to read Seitz’s personal reflection that leads to this conclusion:

... there’s another lesson to draw from the incident, and it’s more disturbing, because it illuminates the flaws in a larger society, as well as the fact that complicity in racism is mostly passive: if you’re not fighting inequality every day, in ways both large and small, and if you accept the benefits of white privilege without questioning their rightness, you’re part of the problem, too. 

One group that is “fighting inequality every day” is the American Friends Service Committee and its efforts to confront systemic racism. I may be very far from Ferguson, but I can join this work by contributing to AFSC's response to the crisis in Ferguson. One small step toward being part of a solution to the problem of white privilege.

“Afterthoughts” are my blog version of a practice followed in some Quaker meetings. After meeting for worship ends, people continue in silence for a few more minutes during which they’re invited to share thoughts or reflect on the morning's worship. I’ve adopted the form here for last-day-of-the-month brief reflections on headlines, quotes, comments overheard, maybe even bumper stickers.

Afterthought #30 - NOT Like the Oatmeal

Worldwide, approximately 359,000 adults are members of the Religious Society of Friends. There are fewer than 100,000 of us Quakers in the United States—about a third of the number of Missouri Synod Lutherans in Illinois  (where I sang in the choir all through high school).

So. It’s no wonder people don’t know much about Quakerism or what Quakers are like today.

The weekly QuakerSpeak videos are trying to correct that with short conversations with contemporary Friends.  A recent one features Guilford College professor Max Carter responding to the frequent question: Are Quakers Amish? In less than five minutes, Max clearly describes the major differences between the two religions and in the process tells a lot about what Quakerism is.

Friends General Conference answers Frequently Asked Questions About Quakers, too, to help clear up some of the confusion about our small community. 

One of my favorite responses, though, is this 

t-shirt that a Friend from Seattle recently made. 

Cool, huh?

“Afterthoughts” are my blog version of a practice followed in some Quaker meetings. After meeting for worship ends, people continue in silence for a few more minutes during which they’re invited to share thoughts or reflect on the morning's worship. I’ve adopted the form here for last-day-of-the-month brief reflections on headlines, quotes, comments overheard, maybe even bumper stickers.

Afterthought #29 - The Case for Hope in Writing

Early in June I heard the writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit speak at Seattle Arts and Lectures. I left Town Hall Seattle with three of her books and have just finished her essay collection, Men Explain Things to Me.

While the essays focus on some of the ways we continue to wrestle with gender inequality, Solnit also makes a case for hope in writing; I turned over the page corner and underlined this:

“…you don’t know if your actions are futile…you don’t have the memory of the future…the future is indeed dark, which is the best thing it could be…in the end, we always act in the dark. The effects of your actions may unfold in ways you cannot foresee or even imagine. They may unfold long after your death. That is when the words of so many writers often resonate the most.”

On those dark days—so many of them—when I wonder if my work as a writer is of any help in the world, I’ll return to Solnit’s words.

“Afterthoughts” are my blog version of a practice followed in some Quaker meetings. After meeting for worship ends, people continue in silence for a few more minutes during which they’re invited to share thoughts or reflect on the morning's worship. I’ve adopted the form here for last-day-of-the-month brief reflections on headlines, quotes, comments overheard, maybe even bumper stickers.