Category Archives: Messages

Finding Faith

Finding Faith John 20: 24-29; Daniel 3:17-18; Hebrews 11:32-39 When our girls were little hearing departing sleigh bells as they awakened on Christmas morning provided adequate confirmation that Santa had indeed included them in his appointed rounds. Snow covered landscapes … Continue reading →

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The Seven Next Words of Jesus – A Red Letter Easter

  The Seven Next Words of Jesus – a Red Letter Easter Message John 20:1-23   John’s description of Easter morning is all about Mary of Magdala. It is quite unexpected and rather strange for her to be the center of such … Continue reading →

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Seven Last Words of Jesus

 In a past that is still part of many of our memories this particular Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, was reserved for the pageantry of Palm Sunday. Then there was a clear understanding that as the work week ended, on … Continue reading →

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Selective Amnesia

Out of love for Israel God develops selective amnesia. The God of Israel, the One who neither slumbers nor sleeps, chooses to forget. What do you make of this? Is this a metaphor, a dramatic play of words? Has God … Continue reading →

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The Briefest Gospel

The briefest Gospel. It seems that when you encounter the Gospel as it is presented today it comes shrouded in theories of atonement and tightly wrapped up in peoples’ world views and various ways of restricting God’s grace. Sometimes it … Continue reading →

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Sema for Quakers

The third verse of the whole Bible begins “God said…” One of the truly great things about our God is that our God speaks. And when God speaks wondrous things happen – like creation.   In the sixth chapter of the … Continue reading →

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The Hound of Heaven

Allowing ourselves to become captive to Christ’s spirit, to allow oneself to be apprehended, taken into custody like a Sheriff would an escaped inmate, is as close a description as we can imagine to the meaning of utter, complete and … Continue reading →

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Front Door Friends

I’ve got this notion.  Well, it is more than a notion, it is a piece of my theology.  It is that as a Meeting, as a worshipping community, Spokane Friends consists of those people Christ calls to come through those front … Continue reading →

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“Now, a little dose of humility…”

The birthplace of the modern prison system, the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia, was the first institution in the United States designed to both punish and rehabilitate criminals. It was built by Quakers in 1773. When expanded in 1790 each … Continue reading →

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Quaker Spice Five – EQUALITY

As I began to try and wrap my mind around this spice we are calling “Equality” it soon became clear to me that the concept might work relatively well for cereal in cardboard boxes, commercial sweeteners or commodities subject to … Continue reading →

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