2025

I Press On Toward the Heavenly Call (March 31): “Quakers had long recognized that while everybody had the little incorruptible seed of Christ in their heart, some people might come to notice and nurture that seed without explicitly recognizing it as Christ.”

Do Not Be Like a Horse or a Mule (March 24): “We should not require a metaphorical bit and bridle to steer us down the path of righteousness. We should walk that path willingly, confident God has our back with every step.”

Who Am I That I Should Go to Pharaoh? (March 17): “Bayard Rustin called upon his audience to accept their ‘individual responsibility’ in bringing about a peaceful world.”

Get Away from Here, for Herod Wants to Kill You (March 10): “Jesus went to Jerusalem to invite everyone caught in the grip of empire to re-embrace God’s plan for humanity.”

See, Now Is the Acceptable Time (March 3): “Friends can draw upon resources far greater than the wealth or might of any secular empire.… If we lean into the day of salvation, God will give us the strength to push forward.”

And They Were Terrified as They Entered the Cloud (February 24): “You’re living your life out in the mundane world when suddenly, for whatever reason, the divine intrudes itself upon your existence and makes its presence felt.”

You Did Not Choose Me, But I Chose You (February 17): “James Nayler told his prosecutors at Appleby that he ‘did exceedingly rejoice’ when God spoke to him—and yet he still wavered, even though God’s instructions came with a substantial promise.”

Like a Tree Planted by Water (February 10): “Yes, Jeremiah wouldn’t stop talking about how Israel had abandoned God. But he also wouldn’t stop talking about how, if the people of Israel would put their trust in the Lord once more, their society would once again flourish.”

Who Can Endure the Day of His Coming? (February 3): “We remain very much haunted by the specter of the end times, though many of us fear that humanity will usher in its own destruction without God’s help.”

Whom Shall I Send, and Who Will Go for Us? (January 27): “Perhaps God chose an Episcopal bishop, with the eyes of the nation upon her, to deliver a prophetic vision of a far more blessed world.”

For I Did Not Receive It from a Human Source (January 20): “As I read about the spiritual revelations that changed George Fox’s life, I could see how his experiences echoed Paul’s.”

In Your Light We See Light (January 13): “For those who believe in God’s promise, no other guarantee is needed.”

…And They Received the Holy Spirit (January 6): “We want what the earliest Christians—the ones who hadn’t even thought yet to call themselves Christians—experienced in giving themselves over completely to God.”

2024

He Came As a Witness to Testify to the Light (December 30): “Do we really gain anything, you might object, by comparing ourselves to the likes of James Nayler and Mary Dyer and finding ourselves wanting?”

A People Who Are Zealous for Good Deeds (December 23): “Friends live our lives in such a way as to remind the rest of the world of the life available to them.”

There Is Still a Vision for the Appointed Time (December 16): “That sounds a lot like continuing revelation, and that puts us squarely in Quaker territory.”

Let Your Gentleness Be Known to Everyone (December 9): “The beloved community must extend beyond the meetinghouse if we want it to truly prosper.”

Guide Our Feet into the Way of Peace (December 2): “I know I don’t always live up to the peace testimony, though I wish I could.”

The Word Is Very Near to You (November 25): “Revelation may not impose God’s will upon us so much as it draws out the potential already within us.”

An Everlasting Dominion That Shall Not Pass Away (November 18): “God calls us to pray for our oppressors, not to obey them, nor to collaborate with them.”

The Lord Is My Chosen Portion and My Cup (November 11): “I believe that the next four years will put the testimony of every Quaker to the test—not once or twice, but on an ongoing basis.”

Do Not Put Your Trust in Princes (November 4): “From the days of George Fox, Quakers have believed in the immanence of the Kingdom of God.”

You Are Not Far from the Kingdom of God (October 28): “The Torah calls on people to recognize good and actively choose it, to become full participants in the covenant with God.”

Take Heart; Get Up, He Is Calling You (October 21): “The one who can speak to our condition hears our cries for help, sometimes before we even realize we’re crying out, and calls to us in this very moment.”

Are You Able to Drink the Cup That I Drink? (October 14): “Jesus wouldn’t cut James and John any deals, and Quakers don’t have any short cuts, either.”

The Word of God Is Living and Active (October 7): “Do we believe in continued revelation as intensely as they did in the time of Friends like George Fox and James Nayler?”

As for Me, I Walk in My Integrity (September 30): “The Quaker establishment deliberately distanced themselves from James Nayler, assuring Puritan authorities they would never step as far out of line as he had.”

Would That All the Lord’s People Were Prophets (September 23): “God doesn’t need to come to help us—if we could but see clearly, we could detect the presence of Spirit accompanying us right now.”

WIth Joy and Gladness They Are Led Along (September 16): “To fully honor Margaret Fell, we should look beyond the mere existence of her ministry and delve wholeheartedly into its substance.”

The Lord God Has Given Me a Trained Tongue (September 9): “The earliest Friends had a model for ministry, in the voices of the prophets recorded in the Hebrew Bible. Their example calls to us as well.”

Be Doers of the Word (September 2): “We can’t just say we believe in simplicity and peace and all that. We have to actively commit ourselves to identifying what it means to live a simple, peaceful life, then live that way, every day.”

The Eye Is the Lamp of the Body (August 26): “What happens when you don’t believe that Spirit will see you through the hard times?”

This Teaching Is Difficult; Who Can Accept It? (August 19): “Some of us may find ‘the work of God’ much harder than others—especially when we’re called upon to apply it consistently, across the board, to everyone.”

I Sought the Lord, and He Answered Me (August 12): “I know many Quakers whose passion for peace and social action comes from the same holy enthusiasm that animated Mary as she set out on the path God had chosen for her.”

Let Us (Not) Set Up Three Tents (August 5): “Most Quakers today understand that a meetinghouse has no spiritual significance without Friends to give the meeting life.”

Filled with All the Fullness of God (July 25): “Is the seed which God sows in the heart inherently Christian?”

My Soul Thirsts for God (July 18): “Together, we reinforce one another’s faith—because believing not only that God exists, but that we might directly experience God in our lifetimes, takes work.”

Let Me Hear What God the Lord Will Speak (July 11): “The prospect of continued revelation, to use the technical term for it, plays a central role in Quaker faith and practice.”

They Shall Know That There Has Been a Prophet Among Them (July 4): “George Fox didn’t sound smart or clever to those he preached to, but he did sound convincing—and divinely inspired.”