The Quaker form of worship is one of the most unique aspects of the Religious Society of Friends. Our practice is so simple as to barely qualify as a religious service at all. A Quaker worship service ("Meeting for Worship") is composed of two of more Friends sitting together in silence for typically an hour. …
Category: The Spirit
Living the Quaker Values: Silence
I'm spending a few days in Amsterdam on holiday, with no particular itinerary. So I think I'm going to treat it like a mini-retreat and do some reflective work I've been meaning to do for awhile. I recently read Robert Lawrence Smith's sweet little book A Quaker Book of Wisdom. The book reminded me of…
Eating the Weeds in the Quaker Cemetery
Yesterday morning, I dragged my tired butt over to the Quaker Cemetery in Prospect Park for one of our rare cleanup days. These cemetery cleanups are nice ways for the NYC Quaker community to come together and do something practical together in a beautiful natural setting. I was one of the first ones there, as…
What Being Stuck in the Denver Airport Taught Me about Kindness
My message this morning at Brooklyn Quaker Meeting: Over the past few days, I have spent way too many hours in airports. I was traveling to San Jose, California with a teenager so that we could give a presentation at a youth conference there. Our flight plans unfortunately had us flying through Denver, which was…
“Next Fall”: a witty play about faith and relationships
My friend Josephine and I got to check out the wonderful new play “Next Fall” at the Helen Hayes Theater not long ago. Given how much the live theater scene in New York has suffered during the economic downturn, I’m impressed with any new production that doesn’t have puppets, showstopping musical numbers, or movie stars…
A Year of Traveling: Where to go and why
My friends Dave and Kim, after a couple of years of planning and saving, are doing what I'm sure you have fantasized about from your cubicle: a year of traveling around the world. Their itinerary is taking them to a ridiculous amount of cool places, from Macchu Picchu to Bali to Sweden to Uganda. For…
Rikomatic’s 2009 Year in Review
I'm not sure anything could encapsulate my entire year better than this one picture from the New York Times. For me it was a sublime, bittersweet moment — leading hundreds of people marching, dancing, clapping, making music, laughing and crying in celebration of the life of one humble man who touched us all. The year…
“Gold” : an animated winter poem (video)
For my holiday greeting this year, I decided to go all social media-y and create an animated reading of my winter poem "Gold." I've embedded the video above, but I recommend looking at it full screen in HD from the original YouTube version. I hope you like it! Created using the awesome Prezi presentation web…
“Q is for Quaker”: Awesome Arty Keyboard Stickers!
I don't think this aligns well with the Quaker value of simplicity, but I kind of have to have these keyboard stickers created by designer Christopher Monro Delorenzo! Not only are they mad cute (B is for Bowie, P is for Pirate, G is for Geisha) but they have an adorable little Quaker icon for…
The Bounty of Silence
Someone at Brooklyn Quaker Meeting this morning told me that I should really be collecting my spoken messages and putting them in a book. I suppose this is my way of honoring that sweet sentiment. This is the message I shared this morning at Brooklyn Meeting (more or less): I spent this Thanksgiving with a…