J. Brent Bill - Quaker Quicks--Hope and Witness in Dangerous Times: Lessons From the Quakers On Blending Faith, Daily Life, and Activism

J. Brent Bill is a Quaker minister, author, retreat leader, conservationist, and photographer. He has authored many books, articles, and fiction pieces and teaches writing at graduate school level and in adult continuing education courses. Brent holds degrees from Wilmington College and in Quaker Studies from Earlham School of Religion (a Quaker theological school).

He lives on Ploughshares Farm, forty acres of former Indiana farmland that is being restored to tall grass prairie and native Indiana hardwood forest.

In addition to his ministry of writing, Brent also enjoys a ministry of leading workshops and speaking. Some of his most popular workshops are:

• Beauty, Truth, Life, and Love: A Pilgrimage on Positive Spirituality: In this retreat, we explore how to be reawakened to the fact that everyday life can be infused with God-drenched meaning, inspired and motivated to live a more Spirit-centered existence drenched in beauty, truth, life, and love, and be encouraged to see stories of the beauty, truth, life, love in our own stories.
• Life Lessons from A Bad Quaker: A light-hearted, but serious, workshop for anyone who is bad at being good. With whimsy, humor, and wisdom, workshop participants will explore how to live a life that is simple yet satisfying, peaceful yet strong.
• The Sacred Compass: Spiritual Practices for Discernment is a workshop for those who want to learn discernment as a life process.
• Writing from the Heart: Telling Your Souls Stories is for those who want to unlock their spiritual stories.
• Being Quiet: The Practice of Holy Silence is based on Quaker silence and teaches how to be quiet and still in our souls amid the clamor of everyday life.

If you would like more information about Brents writing, his spirituality workshops and retreats, or would like to contact him about other speaking engagements, you can reach him through his website at .

I am grateful for the many friends and Friends who supported the development of this book.

First among them is Jennifer Kavanagh. A wonderful writer and Quaker, Jennifer first suggested that I take part in the Quaker Quicks series at a gathering of Quaker writers, editors and publishers in South Carolina, USA a few years ago. I appreciated her thinking I could make a contribution to the series but didnt pursue it immediately. Over the ensuing years in our correspondence, Jennifer kept bringing the subject up. Im glad she did.

Other Friends who encouraged this work, though they may not realize it, are the Quakers of College Park Quarterly Meeting in northern California. They invited me to spend a day with them in January 2019 looking together at the topic of Prophetic Witness and Hope in Difficult Times. Preparation for that day, and our time together, were the seeds from which this book sprang.

Finally, two Friends made editorial and other contributions to this effort. The first is John Lampen who is a British Quaker activist and the author of a number of fine works on Quaker hope and witness. The second is my dear, long-time friend Donna Higgins Smith of northern California, also an activist, who read many drafts of this manuscript and offered helpful critique, suggestions, and support.

Bless you all and your good work in this world.

Agenda in a time of fear: Be not afraid.

When things go wrong, do right.

Set out by the half-light of the seeker.

For the well-lit problem begins to heal.

Learn tropism toward the difficult.

We have not arrived to explain, but to sing.

Young idealism ripens into an ethical life.

Prune back regret to let faith grow.

When you hit rock bottom, dig farther down.

Grief is the seed of singing, shame the seed of song.

Keep seeing what you are not saying.

Plunder your reticence.

Songbird guards a twig, its only weapon a song.

There are a plethora of Quaker groups implanting Friends principles and doing hopeful witness work in the world. Below is a sampling of these hard-working organizations.

Friends Committee on National Legislation
https://www.fcnl.org/

Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network, UK
http://www.qarn.org.uk/

Quaker Council for European Affairs
http://www.qcea.org/

Quaker United Nations Office
https://quno.org/

Alternatives to Violence Project Britain
https://avpbritain.org/

Alternatives to Violence Project USA
https://avpusa.org/

Childrens Creative Response to Conflict
http://crc-global.org/

Progresa (Guatemala Friends Scholarship Program)
www.guatemalafriends.org

Toward Right Relationship with Native People
https://friendspeaceteams.org/trr/

Turning the Tide (nonviolent social development)
https://turningtide.org.uk/

West Midlands Quaker Peace Education Programme
http://peacemakers.org.uk

Friendly Water for the World
https://friendlywater.org/

Quaker Bolivia Link
https://qbl.org/

Quaker Service Australia
https://qsa.org.au/

Quaker Service (Northern Ireland)
www.quakerservice.com/

Money for Madagascar
https://moneyformadagascar.org/

Earth Quaker Action Team
https://www.eqat.org/

Quaker Earthcare Witness
https://www.quakerearthcare.org/

Quakers in Britain Sustainability
https://www.quaker.org.uk/our-work/sustainability

American Friends Service Committee
https://www.afsc.org/

Canadian Friends Service Committee
https://quakerservice.ca/

Friends House Moscow
https://friendshousemoscow.org/

Friends Peace Teams
https://friendspeaceteams.org/

Quaker House
https://quakerhouse.org/

Quaker Peace and Social Witness UK
https://www.quaker.org.uk/our-work

Quaker Social Action
https://quakersocialaction.org.uk/

Quaker Voluntary Service
https://www.quakervoluntaryservice.org/

Youth Service Opportunities Project
http://www.ysop.org/

THE NEW OPEN SPACES

Throughout the two thousand years of Christian tradition there have been, and still are, groups and individuals that exist in the margins and upon the edge of faith. But in Christianitys contrapuntal history it has often been these outcasts and pioneers that have forged contemporary orthodoxy out of former radicalism as belief evolves to engage with and encompass the ever-changing social and scientific realities. Real faith lies not in the comfortable certainties of the Orthodox, but somewhere in a half-glimpsed hinterland on the dirt track to Emmaus, where the Death of God meets the Resurrection, where the supernatural Christ meets the historical Jesus, and where the revolution liberates both the oppressed and the oppressors.

Welcome to Christian Alternative... a space at the edge where the light shines through.

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