I hope you know you’re looking at one. Short for Web Log, but that doesn’t tell you anything either, does it. I Post and you read, but you can comment and everyone can read what you commented and they can comment on your comment. We can discuss any topic and share our thoughts.
We can have several thoughts going at the same time by having some in the sidebar. Just take a look.
On Sunday 2/11 we visited the Bear Creek Friends Meeting. It was the first time for us to experience the silence in worship at Bear Creek. We grew and consider it beneficial.
During the hour of discussion prior to worship we read one of the Advices and Queries of the IYM (Conserviative) and discussed it. I will type it and allow you to read what we read. Please note that at the bottom is the place to click comment. I hope to see some comments.
5 MUTUAL CARE
Friends consider the meeting to be a family in which the welfare of each individual is of utmost concern. For some, the meeting may be the only family in the community. In mutual caring we seek greater wisdom than our own. We listen to the silence within ourselves and to one another with openness of heart. Sharing our pain as well as our joy can bring us closer together, making it easier to ask for help when we need it. Each of us is both giver and receiver, ready to help and to accept help.
Friends try to be aware of those who require special attention within the meeting community. We believe friendly interaction to benefit both adults and children. It is the responsibility of adults to recognize and give voice to the needs of children in the meeting. Inactive and absent members require the care of the meeting; those who do not currently attend meeting may be contacted by mail or by personal visit. We need also to minister with sensitivity to those in transition and to support caregivers and those requiring care within the meeting community. It is important to be responsive to the needs and gifts of newcomers and seekers who may attend our meetings for a short time.
We endeavor to be conscious of how differing gender role expectations may affect the quality of our relationships and influence how we empower ourselves in the home, meeting, community, school, workplace and government. We envision a society that provides opportunities for all people to reach their potentials, share similar expectations, reap comparable rewards and contribute equally to society.
QUERY
How do we respond to each other’s personal needs and difficulties in sensitive and useful ways? Do we encourage both men and women to share in caregiving?
What are we doing to welcome and draw members and attenders of all ages into the fellowship of the meeting?
How do we help our children feel the loving care of the meeting? What do the children contribute to the meeting?
How do we keep in touch with inactive and distant members and attenders?
The Ministry of Bearing
From the book, “Life Together” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
“We speak, of the service that consists in bearing others, “ Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal 6:2) Thus the law of Christ is a law of bearing, Bearing means forbearing and sustaining. The brother is a burden to the Christian, precisely because he is a Christian. For the pagan the other person never becomes a burden at all. He simply sidesteps every burden that others may impose upon him.”
As I’ve mentioned I’m reading from Bonhoeffer’s book, Life Together because I’m finding much Quakerism from this Lutheran pastor. Please read over what I’ve taken from his book and give me your thoughts and comments as these thoughts grow into my message for Center Friends Church on the 25th of Feb.
This is the rest of the section;
The Christian, however, must bear the burden of a brother. He must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated. The burden of men was so heavy for God Himself that He had to endure the Cross. God verily bore the burden of men in the body of Jesus Christ. But he bore them as a mother carries her child, as a shepherd enfolds the lost lamb that has been found. God took men upon Himself and they weighted Him to the ground, but God remained with them and they with God. In bearing with men God maintained fellowship with them. It is the law of Christ that was fulfilled in the Cross. And Christians must share in this law. They must suffer their brethren, but, what is more important now that the law of Christ has been fulfilled, they can bear with their brethren.
The Bible speaks with remarkable frequency of “bearing.” It is capable of expressing the whole work of Jesus Christ in this one word, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…the chastisement of our peace was upon him” (Isa. 53:4-5). Therefore, the Bible can also characterize the whole life of the Christian as bearing the Cross. It is the fellowship of the Cross to experience the burden of the other. If one does not experience it, the fellowship he belongs to is not Christian. If any member refuses to bear that burden, he denies the law of Christ.
It is, first of all, the freedom of the other person, of which we spoke earlier, that is a burden to the Christian. The other’s freedom collides with his own autonomy, yet he must recognize it. He could get rid this burden by refusing the other person his freedom, by constraining him and thus doing violence to his personality, by stamping his own image upon him. But if he lets God create His image in him, he by this token gives him his freedom and himself bears the burden of this freedom of another creature of God. The freedom of the other person includes all that we mean by a person’s nature, individuality, endowment. It also includes his weaknesses and oddities, which are such a trial to our patience, everything that produces frictions, conflicts, and collisions among us. To bear the burden of the other person means involvement with the created reality of the other, to accept and affirm it, and, in bearing with it, to break through to the point where we take joy in it.
This will prove especially difficult where varying strength and weakness in faith are bound together in a fellowship. The weak must not judge the strong, the strong must not despise the weak. The weak must guard against pride, the strong against indifference. None must seek his own rights. If the strong person falls, the weak one must guard his heart against malicious joy at his downfall. If the weak one falls, the strong one must help him rise again in all kindness. The one needs as much patience as the other. “Woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up” (Eccles 4:10) it is doubtless this bearing of another person in his freedom that the Scripure means when it speaks of “forbearing one another” (Col 3:13), “Walk with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Eph 4:2)
Then, besides the other’s freedom, there is the abuse of that freedom that becomes a burden for the Christian. The sin of the other person is harder to bear than his freedom; for in sin, fellowship with God and with the brother is broken, here the Christian suffers the rupture of his fellowship with the other person that had its basis in Jesus Christ. But here, too, it is only in bearing with him that the great grace of God becomes wholly plain. To cherish no contempt for the sinner but rather to prize the privilege of bearing him means not to have to give him up as lost, to be able to accept him, to preserve fellowship with him through forgiveness. “Brethren, if a man be overtakin in fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness” (Gal 6:1) as Chirst bore and received us as sinners so we in his fellowship may bear and receive sinners into the fellowship of Jesus Christ through the forgiving of sins.
We may suffer the sins of our brother; we do not need to judge. This is a mercy for the Christian;’ for when does sin ever occur in the community that he must not examine and blame himself for his own unfaithfulness in prayer and intercession, his lack of brotherly service, of fraternal reproof and encouragement, indeed, for his own personal sin and spiritual laxity, by which he has done injury to himself, the fellowship, and the brethren? Since every sin of every member burdens and indicts the whole community, the congregation rejoices, in the midst of all the pain and the burden the brother’s sin inflict, that it has the privilege of bearing and forgiving. “Behold, you bear them all, and likewise all of them bear you, and all things are common, both the good and the bad” (Luther)
The service of forgiveness is rendered by one to the others daily. It occurs, without words, in the intercessions for one another. And every member of the fellowship, who does not grow weary in this ministry, can depend upon it that this service is also being rendered him by the brethren. He who is bearing others knows that he himself is being borne, and only in this strength can he go on bearing.
GETTING HURT; BEING VULNERABLE
Upon our first meeting I judge you. I will judge your intelligence, your social skill, your appearance. We are also learning that I will subconcisously judge your odor, that is your pheromones. I will also judge whether you could be a danger to me. As you begin to speak I will judge whether we hold similar opinions that I consider important. As our opinions are expressed I will continue to determine our compatability based on our assumed similarities.
Any time I meet someone I run the risk of being hurt. Sometimes the hurt is physical, most of the time it is psychological. The level of hurt will be determined by the intensity of the relationship that is established. There is not much hurt if we haven’t begun to trust each other. Vulnerability is the thing to be avoided if we would avoid painful relationships.
There is a level of vulnerability in every relationship. We must place ourselves at risk to grow in our relationship with others. The greater the level of vulnerability the greater the level of trust. Without trust there is no relationship and unless there is vulnerability there is no need for trust.
As a Christian am I seeking a relationship with others? What is the basis of the relationship I seek? What is the purpose of the relationship I seek?
The answers to these questions must be based on my supposed relationship with Jesus Christ. If I am a follower of Christ then I first ask did Jesus seek to establish relationships with those he met? What was his purpose in forming relationships? What was the basis of those relationships.
The relationships that Jesus seemed to establish resulted in men dropping their fishing nets, their tax counting and all other relationships to follow him. They accepted the vulnerability by leaving everything. And Jesus; what was his vulnerability? He risked being cut off from the religion of his family and culture and even accepted the risk of death for the relationships he was establishing. What relationships was he seeking to strengthen? I think his first relationship was with his Father, God and in that he put his absolute trust. Everything Jesus did was to further his relationship with God through bringing others to build their relationship with God.
I believe that everything Jesus did was to bring about the relationship of all people with God by accepting his concept of God and God’s kingdom. His effort was to show God to others through his own life. He made himself vulnerable to show us Gods vulnerability.
We don’t often think of God as being vulnerable but if we think of a loving relationship there must be vulnerability. God suffers because of what we do and fail to do. That was Jesus’ message delivered through his life all the way to crucifixion.
So what does that mean for me? Jesus said, “take up your cross and follow me.” Then, to follow Jesus is to become vulnerable to all people to show Gods love and vulnerability. To accept the cross is to accept crucifixion and all that went with it for Jesus. Is there a clearer message of forgiveness and vulnerability than Jesus forgiving from the cross those who were killing him.
Does this carry the message of peace? When Jesus said, “my peace I give you” he was talking about the kind of peace that comes from God’s forgiveness delivered by us. The message of peace that is sounded in opposition to war is too simplistic to be considered the whole message. Real peace can only come from unconditional forgiveness without limit. When I forgive all without being asked and without repentance being displayed then I am showing God’s mercy and the real testimony of peace.
Will I be hurt? Yes, but as Martin Luther King, Jr wrote from Birmingham jail, “There was a time when the…..early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed.
When we despair of gaining inner transformation through human power of will and determination, we are open to a wonderful new realization: inner righteousness is a gift form God to be graciously received. The needed change within us is God’s work, not ours. The demand is for an inside job, and only God can work from the inside. We cannot attain or earn this righteousness of the kingdom of God; it is a grace that is given…..
God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving His grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that He can transform us.
Richard Foster
Celebration of Discipline
Harper & Row, 1978, pp. 5-6.
God speaks to every man. An early belief that held for the first hundred years or more. This belief is that God gives light to every human and leaves none without the light. That every human is a child of God and none is left without guidance doesn’t seem to fit well with most Christian teaching that only the few will be saved or that God considers worth saving.
An understanding of how Jesus fits into this belief is not always clear. I would like to hear others express their understanding of this belief.
The first couple of Chapters of Howard Brinton’s book Friends for 350 Years deals with the topic and provides a beginning for discussion and thought. This thought provoking discussion came as a shock to me, coming from the protestant tradition. I have found that it is a shock to many who thought they were Quakers, as well. Brinton gives many quotes from the Old Testament and from early Quakers that gave the basis for the belief. The early Quakers also quote extensively from the Gospel of John as the basis for a religion based on this understanding of light.
This will be the basis for my message at Center Friends on January 21st, as well. The topic will be titled, Has the Holy Spirit spoken to me today? The thoughts I want to leave them with is; Was I listening? Do I want any instructions on how to live my life? Would I change anything, anyway?
What do you think?
Beginning in November of 2002 I began my relationship with Quakers. I began to serve as interim preacher at a small, rural Friends (Quaker) church in Iowa. In April of 2003 my wife and I moved into the parsonage on the grounds of the church that was soon to celebrate it’s 150th anniversary. We remained in that relationship until November of 2006.
From the beginning of this experience I studied the history and teachings of Quakers in their 350 years. In moving into the Friends church and coming from 25 comfortable years as a member of a Methodist Church I discovered answers to questions of faith that I had simply ignored over the years. I read books and the ancient writings of early Quakers. I took a course in the history and development of Quaker teaching from Ealham School of Religion and found myself becoming a “convinced” Quaker.
In this blog I hope to continue my journey as a Quaker. I will be giving brief remarks concerning the testimonies of Quakers and inviting comments. In this way I hope to learn as well as teach. It is also my hope that those who find themselves interested might join with us in occasional discussion and fellowship.
This is the beginning of a blog for Friends (Quakers) in central Iowa to know and stay in touch with each other. May God grant us the Peace that is ours as we accept this opportunity to have Christian Fellowship. Please add your comments that we may know each other and share the fellowship of other Friends.
