Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, July 7, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Good\nmorning friends!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to\nstart off my message by quoting Meister Eckhart, the 14th century\ntheologian and mystic who believed in a personal path to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKnow\nthen that God is bound to act, to pour himself out into thee as soon\nas ever He shall find thee ready \u2026.Finding thee ready He is obliged\nto act, to overflow into thee; just as the sun must needs burst forth\nwhen the air is bright and clear, and is unable to contain itself. \nForsooth it were a very grave defect in God if, finding thee so empty\nand so bare, He wrought no excellent work in thee nor primed thee\nwith glorious gifts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thou\nneedest not seek Him here or there, He is no further off than at the\ndoor of thy heart; there He stands lingering,, awaiting whoever is\nready to open and let Him in\u2026He longs for thee a thousandfold more\nurgently than thou for Him; one point the opening and the entering.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are\nmany ways in which each of us can project the inner spirit of God in\nour every day lives. Witnessing through giving of our gifts. As \nLewis Hyde explained in his marvelous book The Gift<\/em>, which I\nhighly recommend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “By walking cheerfully over the earth and treating others with kindness is one way\u2026.. In service work:\u2026. In practical ways like helping others with a problem: \u2026.SOME, i know do it through singing: \u2026\u2026 some by praying or visiting the sick: <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some express this gift in making art.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as\nFriends we are also urged to outwardly witness for peace\u2026.., As\nFaith and Practice <\/em> tells us, that witness is the experience\nof Christian love. It is that love made visible. It is a form of\nactive prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As most of\nyou know, my leading has focused on elimination of militarism but\nbecause of growing up in a very racist culture, a small midwestern\ntown enveloped by fear and paranoia separating me from the experience\nof a vibrant American multi-culture \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Racism\ncripples the young) \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n my message\ntouches on both militarism and racism, both having directly affected\nmy life in negative ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of you\nwill remember my brief message in Meeting some time ago when I asked\nthe question \u201c what led Friends among others in the ninetieth \ncentury to engage in non-violent civil disobedience by participating\nin the underground railroad, and by breaking laws that put their own\nlives at risk? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nquestion led me to a lot of reading which gradually focused on two\nauthors: John Woolman and James Baldwin. It also turned into the\nsubject of a series of paintings. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n In reading\nJohn Woolman I got my answer: When enough people of good faith, \nincluding Quakers, could no longer tolerate the abuses of slavery. \n\u2026.. Often even in the face of extreme disapproval by their peers,\neconomic loss, and threat of death ….. They took action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My query\nthat followed in our recent study of queries was: do contemporary\nQuakers encourage outward action of liberation from unjust laws and\nconditions? Or do we endorse sufferance and toleration? Do\nspirituality and prayer take precedence over action in the world? \nHow can we balance the two?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is, as\nParker Palmer points out, one of those paradoxes that each of us\nmust cope with. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each day it\nbecomes more clear that American democratic ideals of equal\nopportunity have been supplanted by a permanent underclass of Native\nAmericans, people of color, and those living in abject poverty who in\never greater numbers go from poverty , to prison, to drugs or\nsuicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why can\u2019t\nthe richest nation in the world change this condition? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nunderlying reason, I believe, is the economics of systemic racism \nand inadequate education which has stacked the deck for this segment\nof our population. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we\nincreasingly question this crisis we are confronted by the power\nelite with the need for national security. In other words, fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that 60\npercent of our discretionary budget must go for the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It does\nbecome evident that power and greed benefit by our endless wars and\nthat racism is built into that status quo. Martin Luther King\npointed that out during the Vietnam War era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What John\nWoolman and James Baldwin both spoke to so prophetically was the fact\nthat oppression is equally destructive to both sides. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n To\neliminate the injustice frees up both: the slave owner\u2019s terrible\nburden of guilt as well as the dehumanization of the slave in\nWoolman\u2019s time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baldwin\nwrote in the 1960\u2019s:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The price of the liberation of the white people is the liberation of the blacks\u2026 And<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n in short, we, the Black and the White, deeply need each other here if we are really to become a nation. If we are really, that is, to achieve our identity, our maturity as men and women.\u201d <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Both\nWoolman and Baldwin envisioned the restorative justice principle\nbasic to Christ\u2019s message. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can we\nenvision a time when the violence of war will not be on the table? \nAnd when the abundant wealth of this nation will create an equal\nplaying field for all Americans?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\npractical terms, to restore justice, I believe we need to consider\na program of reparation for those most damaged by racism, just as the\nGermans did for the victims of the holocaust. And we need to\nreallocate our priorities from the military to free education and\nhealth care for all. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The time\nhas come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then and\nthen only will we achieve full maturity as a nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Message given at Durham Friends Meeting, July 7, 2019 Good morning friends! I want to start off my message by quoting Meister Eckhart, the 14th century theologian and mystic who believed in a personal path to God. \u201cKnow then that … Continue reading