Can’t wait to see Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair in the theater. 🍿
Public Universal Blend is now for sale for a limited time on Fireweed Coffee’s website:
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Pros and Cons of Seminary - This Tuesday
I’ll be participating on a panel discussion with other Quaker ministers called The Pros and Cons of Seminary: Thinking about seminary—or reflecting on your own journey? Join us for an honest conversation with three panelists as they share how seminary shaped their lives and ministries, what they wish they’d known, and advice for prospective students. 🗣️ Panelists: ✨ C. Wess Daniels— Director of Friends Center & Quaker Studies at Guilford College ✨ Rachel Guaraldi — Pastor, chaplain, and ESR graduate ✨ Christina Repoley — Founder of Quaker Voluntary Service; VP at the Forum for Theological Exploration
Loved this post from Rebecca Solnit:
When people tell me that there’s been no resistance to the Trump administration, I wonder if they’re expecting something that looks like a guerrilla revolution pushing out the government in one fell swoop or just aren’t paying attention, because there has, in fact, been a tremendous amount and variety of resistance and opposition and it’s mattered tremendously.
I’ll be speaking at this panel discussion on the pros and cons of seminary in a couple weeks. This event is being put on by Public Friends.
Register below:
Birthday Adventure This Weekend
My wife and I had a little holiday this weekend to celebrate both of our birthdays. We visited some new places and enjoyed almost 24 hours on our own. It was quite lovely. Crazy Alan’s Emporium was the highlight for me. An amazing stationary store in Chapel Hill. Hands down my favorite new place to find. We visited Raleigh Denim, a fantastic denim shop in Downtown Raleigh. We didn’t buy anything but it was really fun to look and try on some things.
In September, the pope told journalists, “Someone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
Let America Be America Again
O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath— America will be! Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain— All, all the stretch of these great green states— And make America again!
A Virtual Duplicate
A virtual double-vision where two things are the same but appear differently: Today a friend on a zoom call mentioned that sometimes on zoom, when someone is already there and also arriving on a new device at the same time it is disorienting because you often see the same person from two different perspectives and its enough different that it looks like two versions of the same person.
My book, A Convergent Model of Renewal, is currently 50% off at the publisher. Shipping is free. A great deal!
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The Wander Society: I love this website: www.thewandersociety.com and the video here.
cc/ Austin Kleon
A photo from the Mountaineer ride this past weekend from Jonny Ramirez.
About 2 months ago, I got really interested in doing the Mountaineer ride and started getting ready. I opted to do the 65 mile route which I’m glad I did for how beautiful the ride was but it was really hard. I underestimated the difficulty of the climbs and overestimated my ability to do them. I ended up cutting the ride a little short and headed down Bald Mountain around mile 45. But I am really glad I did it and I’m looking forward to the next event.
This is Tree Wess. Last night we had our Quaker Leadership Scholars Program Halloween party and we all dressed up. This is what I came up with.
From New Seeds of Contemplation:
The life of contemplation implies two levels of awareness: first, awareness of the question, and second, awareness of the answer. Though these are two distinct and enormously different levels, yet they are in fact an awareness of the same thing. The question is, itself, the answer. And we ourselves are both. But we cannot know this until we have moved into the second kind of awarenessness. We awaken, not to find an answer absolutely distinct from the question, but to realize that the question is its own answer. And all is summed up in on awareness - not a proposition, but an experience: “I AM.”
Thomas Merton, p. 4
Took a 20 mile ride this morning on the greenway. It started out at 50 degrees and was very cold but the ride was wonderful. I lost my phone on the ride but a good samaritan took it to the lost and found at the nearby park.
I’m really looking forward to my first gravel ride event with the Appalachian Mountaineer next week. I’m planning to do the non-competitive 65 mile ride.
Absolutely not. Terrible use of this noun and Quaker moniker.
Boat Build Update
We’re building at boat at Guilford College. My colleague, Damon Akins, came up with the idea. The hope for the project is to build stronger connections between students, faculty, and staff; help learn practical skills of building and problem-solving; and create an opportunity for a positive outlet in the midst of many challenges. We’re having a lot of fun with the project as you can imagine. Here are a few photos from the work we did yesterday building part of the frame of the boat.
Deep Listening Practice
Here’s the outline for the Deep Listening practice I did today with my First Year Seminar Class. Deep Listening “To listen to another’s soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another.” Douglas Steere (Quaker author) Questions (you pick one that you feel you can talk about for at least a few moments. Pick which one you feel interested in sharing about).
I’ve been thinking about a post I did last year on making a new hymnal:
The music we sing together in community should not just be a means to an end, but something that gets to us and carries us into the heart of the music itself. Music is mobile and can be there for you when you need it, like a mantra, a short prayer, a good song can change you from the inside out. It can go where you go and in a moment’s notice be there to lift you up. What would it look like for our congregations to have a broader view of the power of song in community and what we sing together? How do we bring younger generations into this more as well?