Laurens van Esch spoke this morning about the Quaker spirituality that he knew in the Netherlands. His talk hits on the problems with perfectionism in individuals and with hierarchical structures in societies. He speaks as well about generous receptivity toward the spark of divinity within each of us, and in everyone we meet.
Peter Fitch shares his thoughts on the first few verses in 1 John, Chapter 3. We are all children of God but this is particularly true if we remain connected to the anointing that was described in the last chapter, the source of love and compassion that flows from God, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, into all of us, encouraging empathy and acts that bring about justice and beauty.
As Peter discusses 1 John 2:26-29, he continues to question the nature of “belief.” He wonders if it might be the “anointing” that is mentioned in this chapter and thinks of this as an interior flow of God’s Spirit to all humanity in ways that encourage connection and compassion. He shares several minutes from a brilliant TED talk by Karen Armstrong to illustrate some of these ideas. The wonderful music before and after the talk was by Jacob Rose and Rick Coates.
Walter Thiessen, reminded by Ezekiel that it’s important to warn against evil and its consequences, reflected on some of the insights on evil from Peck’s People of the Lie, and Stephen King’s novel, The Stand, about a post-pandemic struggle between good and evil.
