I recently watched Kody Hersh’s QuakerSpeak video entitled How Jesus Affirms My Queerness, and was disappointed by the negative comments in some of the follow-up posts. I began to formulate counter-responses to those who staunchly refused to accept that God/Jesus loves all people, including LGBTQ folks, just as they are.
Because Community: The Language of Friends
In her book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, the linguist Gretchen McCulloch astutely observes that the way people in a given locality speak doesn’t often change much, even in the face of many technological advances: …people were still talking like their neighbors rather than like TV and
Working as a Team: My Daily Bread
In my hospital workplace, I am grateful for working on a team rather than strictly on my own. The work we do as rehab therapists is often—I’d even say usually—very difficult. Every day, we work with people who are sick, wounded, and debilitated, both physically and mentally. If not for
A Christmas Cookie Ministry
Sharing home-baked treats after the Christmas Eve celebration has been a long-standing tradition at Cincinnati Friends Meeting. But in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, when our contact with each other was reduced to being squares in a Zoom call, it just wasn’t possible. Or was it? During a
A Quaker Approach to the Bible
The first Training and Recording Workshop for prospective Quaker ministers for 2020–2021 featured a presentation by Stephen Potthoff, Professor of Religion, Philosophy, and Peace Studies at Wilmington College. Stephen has been teaching there since 2003. His scholarly interests include early Christianity and ancient religion and archaeology. He writes and researches