These are my remarks from the Sunstone 2008 panel #331,  “Raise up a child in the way she should go…and which way is that?”  Several of you have asked Jana and I about how we’ve approached the spiritual aspects of raising our two precocious children, and two years spent outside the church have given us […]

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I was happy to receive a link from Rick Heller about the Humanist Contemplatives of Houston, who
focus on self improvement, introspection, and achieving eudaimonia. They gather to meditate or contemplate in a serene setting, offer mutual moral support in meeting personal challenges, experience the profound in the arts, and share new ideas and traditional inspirations […]

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I taught the older kids’ Firstday School (aka Sunday School) at my Quaker meeting. The class consisted of me, my son (code named GameBoy), and my daughter (CatGirl). I took advantage of the situation and ditched my prepared lesson and began an informal discussion about our encounter thus far with Quakerism.
We took turns […]

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To “swear not at all.”
I received a jury summons today, and after reading it, realized that I might run into some difficulties as a Quaker and an atheist. Any Quakers or atheists out there want to tell me how I can avoid swearing an oath on the Bible, so help me God?
Update: After rereading […]

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It started out like any other meeting for worship. I got there a bit late, and several people were already sitting quietly. I sidled over to an empty seat where I could see the “Peace” banners waving in the wind outside. I noticed that the clerk and the greeter were plain dressed, […]

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Before you scroll or click any further, think of the first three adjectives that come to mind when you read the word, Mormon. Toss out any nouns and non-adjectives.
No changing them (after all, this is an exercise in pseudo-free association), and don’t succumb to the temptation to type them in the comments as they […]

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On the first Sunday of every month, someone reads a set of questions before we settle into silence at our meeting for worship. We can draw on these queries to guide us in our personal and group meditation. I wanted to post some of April’s queries here, partly for my sake, but also for […]

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It’s not just any Wednesday today–it’s Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent (but not the beginning of the Great Lent of the Eastern Orthodox). This Ash Wednesday Challenge will piggyback on a spiritual practice that hundreds of millions around the world are participating in today.

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Once a week, I’d like to challenge you all with a Quaker-inspired query that should be applicable to any person leading an alternately introspective yet socially-engaged life. Here’s the query for this week. I’ll do my best to answer it for myself, and encourage you to share your response.
Have you found your vocation?
I love […]

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The drama continues. We received a letter from our former Bishop, which suggested, among other things, that we have our names removed from the records of the Church (a sort of voluntary excommunication). I was also encouraged to not publish anything negative about the Church. The irony is that all we’ve wanted […]

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