I don’t know what I expected Michael Birkel to be like. Maybe a sobersided Quaker or a professorial academic. Whatever I expected, I was delightfully wrong. Michael Birkel is lighthearted, very funny, personable, and self-effacing. He stated at the outset that if his humor offended, to let him know. “I
Jeff Arnold
Upcoming Spiritual Nurture Groups
Something good is happening at Cincinnati Friends Meeting. Beloved community is forming. We see it in worship, we feel it in fellowship, and we experienced it at the Spiritual Nurture & Gifts Retreat on November 4. I have participated in spiritual nurture groups at Cincinnati Friends Meeting since I first
Review of “Freeing Jesus” by Diana Butler Bass
I know Diana Butler Bass as a church historian. I heard her speak at ESR after the publication of Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening, which was a passionate but still scholarly study of the past and future of Christian faith.
Remembering Jim Crocker-Lakness
I first met Jim Crocker-Lakness about 15 years ago, when he and Jean started attending Cincinnati Friends Meeting. They had previously attended Community Friends Meeting, and also Heritage Unitarian Universalist. I knew right away that Jim was a “seasoned Friend,” with a long history of involvement in Quaker thought and
Along the Camino
Jeff Arnold and Joan Effertz have spent time the last few years on a spiritual journey walking different sections of the famed El Camino. They have returned home from their 2019 experience, renewed once again by their pilgrimage. In keeping with the ways of so many Quakers and so many