In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound teaching, but, having their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
(2 Timothy 4:1-5, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition)
I recently spent a weekend at Pendle Hill.
Not the high ground in northwest England where God showed George Fox how to find “a great people to be gathered” into a Spirit-led community, I should say, but the Quaker-led retreat center just outside Philadelphia. I was attending a conference organized by Quakers Uniting in Publications (QUIP), a group of publishers, booksellers, and writers “concerned with the ministry of the written word.”
In some respects, it resembled the sort of book industry networking events I attended with great frequency at an earlier stage of my career. We talked about issues I imagine they’re also discussing in the secular publishing world, like the potential impact of AI technology. But we also experienced Quaker-specific moments like author and environmental activist Eileen Flanagan’s query: “What are your current leadings in terms of the ministry of the word during these times of crisis and change?”
If you’ve been following this newsletter for the last fifteen months, you can imagine I’ve been giving that a lot of thought—more consciously at some times than others. The liturgical calendar guides what passages from Scripture I highlight from week to week, and certain broad themes emerge out of those readings, but I still need to discern the final substance of each message.
My most recent book, Our Endless and Proper Work, focuses on (among other things) the importance of figuring out what drives our desire to write. When we truly understand what we feel compelled to share with the world, we have stronger motivation to do the work that makes that sharing possible. It gives us a sense of purpose.
That weekend in the company of Friends helped bring my leading into focus.
I became actively involved with the Religious Society of Friends (for the second time) soon after Donald Trump’s first arrival at the White House. I had felt revulsion at the way prominent Christian nationalists embraced him as their champion; I knew a more progressive strain of Christianity existed. I also knew one could find such a Christianity among Friends, although that faith does not completely define modern Quakerism as it once did. That didn’t bother me; my unbelief runs strong, and I like having space to work it out on my own terms—or, perhaps, in God’s own time.
Quaker faith and practice has provided a context in which I can remember the promise of a better world. Quaker testimony embodies a model of a way of life one would have wished to see society re-orient itself toward more decisively in recent years, particularly after Trump’s first term ended in a violent assault on Congress. Well, we know how that turned out.
Yet, even in these apocalyptic moments, we can remind ourselves that, as Douglas Gwyn puts it in his recently published A Revolution in Common, the damage wreaked on our natural ecosystems and man-made institutions “is not God’s will, but what God allows us, in our human freedom, to pursue when we let ourselves be enthralled by the mystery of Babylon riding the Beast in our time.” And we can use our freedom to reject that way of life.
So I feel led to speak of the Beloved Community as our way out of the Babylon imposed upon us by what the Black social philosopher bell hooks called “imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.” And I feel led to invite people to join that community—by committing to love God, and to love their neighbors as themselves.
I don’t claim this leading as any great insight on my part—far from it.
In fact, I rejoice to see how many other Friends are independently coming to similar realizations. After I came home from Pendle Hill, I opened an email from Micah Bales, the pastor at Berkeley (Calif.) Friends Church, and experienced a kind of blissful recognition. “Now more than ever, we have to be living our faith,” Micah writes:
“We have to be sharing the real gospel as an alternative to the counterfeit gospel that those in power are spreading through all available means. We have to be visible, so that those who are confused, those who are on the fence, and those who are being oppressed can see that none of the evil that’s happening right now is God’s will. God stands with those who are being crushed. And so do we.”
Each of us has our own form of ministry. Each of us can proclaim the message in our own way. We cannot entirely save ourselves or others from suffering as we work to dismantle Babylon, but we can offer one another comfort and support as we work together. And that love will see us through.
Yes! Keep up the Good Work, Brother! I’m with you in wanting my Light to shine in such a way that others will catch that gleam.
Sally Q Campbell
P.S. My songs are on Youtube under that name.
Your article shows a distinct lack of understanding of how political ideologies work. Trump represents a majority of US voters, for good reason. I suggest you reflect more carefully on the great need for ideologies to cooperate. President Trump is neither an ogre nor saviour. However, many motivations behind his actions are based in solid Christian principles and important political goals. The objective should be to cooperate with all who are willing to do so to work toward a better society for all. That is the basis of Christian democracy.
Thanks for your note, Arthur! I have to confess that, like the founding fathers, I have zero interest in establishing a “Christian democracy,” either in the United States or anywhere else in the world. I also remain highly skeptical that, despite their very loud professing of Christian faith, the Trump regime is pursuing “solid Christian principles,” an assessment I’ve made based on the deeds they’ve committed, deeds that do not “work toward a better society for all,” but for the perpetuation of their dominance over others… a dominance that was achieved despite the fact that Trump has never represented a majority of U.S. voters. Not in 2016, and not in 2024.
I do agree with you, however, that Trump and those around him are neither ogres nor saviors—they are simply greedy men and women capable of doing anything to maintain the grip on power they’ve managed to achieve. It is not our God-given task to cooperate with them, but to speak the truth.