tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19911152527205480992012-01-10T11:06:42.449-08:00Cat C-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comBlogger141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-32553407924257634322011-04-23T08:18:00.000-07:002011-04-23T13:36:32.760-07:00

32And they go to a place the name of which was Gethsemane, and he says to his disciples, “Sit down here while I pray.” 33And he takes Peter and James and John along with him, and he grew apprehensive and full of anguish. 34He says to them, “I’m so sad I could die. You stay here and be alert!”—Mark 14:32-34 (The Complete Gospels, 3rd ed. )I recently read “The Value of Conflict,” a powerful article

Bright Crowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09678898117491633098noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-42271898414818439922011-01-15T13:57:00.000-08:002011-01-17T07:55:32.364-08:00

I awoke the other morning from a dream with a Bible quote, Friends in Kenya, and the seed of this blog post forming in my mind. After an initial period of enthusiasm, tempered by the fact that the coffee wasn't ready yet, I began to procrastinate, and to think of other things I should be doing.  After all, it has been a long time since anyone has written here.  Why begin today?  I had half made

Cat C-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-30570173102731981862010-04-01T12:57:00.000-07:002010-04-01T13:43:21.650-07:00

Bear with me. I have been working out a new understanding of my Quaker faith lately. Unfortunately, and as usual for me, it is not a deep and unique insight. But God has given me a glimpse of the seamless garment that has left me smacking my forehead—“Duh! Of course! Why didn’t I recognize it before?” Sometimes it is the simplest things that are the most difficult to learn. Here it is: Our Peace

Shawnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18031043060163590745noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-15921491757140529372010-02-01T07:19:00.000-08:002011-01-17T07:56:52.987-08:00

One of my favorite books of the Bible is the book of Jonah. OK, OK. I'll admit it. It's my favorite in part because it is so very short. Really--even if you read it in King James English, it can't take you more than fifteen minutes. No fooling; go ahead. If you've never read it, or if you haven't read it recently, go read it now. I'll wait. No problem. (It's the page and a half after

Cat C-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-27965859420858932752009-12-13T17:20:00.000-08:002009-12-14T06:14:46.961-08:00

This has been a year when death and loss are real and close for many of us.As Cat wrote recently on Quaker Pagan Reflections,Live long enough, and loss, real loss, is inevitable, after all. We know it, but we live in the happy illusion in our youth that it is not so, that death and disease are the aberrations. Middle age knows they are the rule, and that soon or late they come for everyone we

Bright Crowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09678898117491633098noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-27055579683636351062009-12-05T08:07:00.000-08:002009-12-05T08:35:19.801-08:00

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy

Brent Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01351957537347562545noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-84044038058801327162009-10-20T10:37:00.000-07:002011-01-17T07:58:42.831-08:00

"The Kingdom of God is among you." (Luke 17: 20-21) My friend Abby died yesterday. I'm not sure how well I'm going to do with this essay, because I'm so stretched between my grief, my desire to honor her life, and the fatigue that comes from waiting for an unwanted death, that I'm not sure how clear I can manage to be. But it seems important to share this. Last night, I got to live--at least

Cat C-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-36076923207144428432009-10-11T08:28:00.000-07:002009-10-12T07:50:20.594-07:00

When I was a child my parents and I lived in suburban Kent. We were 'C of E', Church of England, which meant in practice that we usually went to church on Sunday and I went to Sunday School during part of the service and learned hymns and Bible stories.At home, among my collection of sumptuously illustrated Ladybird books, there were Bible stories too and the one that I remember best told the

Gil Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09333053235167826429noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-82782295590471501042009-10-07T09:04:00.001-07:002009-10-07T09:10:41.124-07:00

The Bad Quaker Bible Blog is continuing to go through periods in which comments seem to be rejected by Blogger. This seems mostly to be happening in Firefox, and not all versions of Firefox at that. If you are a Firefox user, you may want to make a copy of any comment you're about to leave on our posts... just in case the Internet spirits are feeling unkind when you post.We are interested in

Cat C-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-68047236249485613612009-10-03T21:05:00.001-07:002009-10-04T12:32:58.116-07:00

Before I knew human language I was learning about the Bible.I grew up in a Lutheran preacher's family in 1950s Ohio. My Dad preached a liberal, non-violent Jesus, my Mom—daughter and sister of Lutheran preachers—played the organ while old ladies sang sweet or stirring 19th century hymns, and I learned Bible stories in Sunday School.The Lutherans of my childhood didn't teach hellfire and damnation

Bright Crowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09678898117491633098noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-998526319109182442009-09-27T07:34:00.000-07:002009-09-28T17:50:41.441-07:00

So, I've been trying to figure out my best qualification to be a Bad Friend-- you know, get admitted to the club. According to the Facebook group introduction, I need to be "just not very good at being Quaker .... [not] always peaceable, humble, kind, loving, truthful." I wear plaids a lot, which isn't plain dress... does that count? I yell at people sometimes... I think that's my *real* bona

Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12817627491361603340noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-13897539027445386812009-09-20T07:56:00.000-07:002009-09-20T08:30:49.699-07:00

As I mentioned in my first post, I grew up in a Friends church that placed a great deal of emphasis on Bible memorization (and gave prizes for it!). So I read the Bible a lot as kid and teenager. I mostly looked for short verses to memorize – they counted as much as long ones. “Jesus wept” (John 11:35) was every memorizer’s favorite.During that time, my favorite book of the Bible (and home of

Brent Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01351957537347562545noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-71565973696076784012009-09-13T01:30:00.000-07:002009-09-13T05:32:02.480-07:00

For the past three years or so, I've been on something of a mission to come to terms with the Bible.I was raised without a religion. As an adult, I found my spiritual identity as a Pagan--not the people "of the Book," as we like to say, but "of the library." The Bible never held any special place for me as a religious person. Over the years, I have managed to find satisfying and reliable paths

Cat C-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1991115252720548099.post-86912589591293978252009-09-06T05:23:00.001-07:002009-09-06T05:28:28.897-07:00

When people learn I’m a Quaker, one of the first things they ask (after “Why don’t you wear black?”) is “How do Quakers feel about the Bible?”“That,” I reply, “depends on the Quakers – or more specifically, the Quaker – you’re asking about.” Then I go on to explain that Evangelical Friends are very much like their Evangelical counterparts of other denominations and believe that the Bible is the

Brent Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01351957537347562545noreply@blogger.com53