Friday, February 9, 2024

“Let’s Try What Love Can Do…” Reflection at ICUJP

 

“Let’s Try What Love Can Do…”

William Penn

 

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, I thought I’d talk about love. Not the romantic kind, though I see nothing wrong with romance. But what I’d like to talk about this morning is the love that motivates me and others like me to be advocates for peace and justice. The Christian tradition distinguishes between three kinds of love: eros (erotic love), filia (friendship) and agape (spiritual love). Agape is what motivates us to make sacrifices for those we care about. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John, the greatest kind of love is laying down our lives for our friends. Jesus also tells us to love our enemies. This isn’t easy, but it isn’t impossible and ultimately, it’s the approach that works best.  Dr. King explains that “loving your enemy” doesn’t mean having warm and fuzzy feelings towards a Ku Klux Klanman or white supremacists, it means treating them as you’d like to be treated, with respect and with as much as kindness as you can muster. Such an approach can change hearts and minds and turn an enemy into a friend. It’s difficult but not impossible. And there’s lots of evidence that it works.

When I first became a Quaker in the 1980s, I was fearful that Reagan was leading us into a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union. I didn’t know what to do until I met a Quaker woman named Janet Riley who was reaching out to the Russians and trying to create understanding through a joint book project. I became involved with this project and got to know and befriend Russians and it changed my life. When we went to the Soviet Union, we carried postcards which had a quote from William Penn in Russian and English that said: “Let us try what love can do.” We were part of the citizen diplomacy movement that encouraged Gorbachev and Reagan to meet and seek ways to reduce the threat of nuclear war. And these efforts were successful. The Cold War ended without bloodshed, and a process was put in place that reduced nuclear weapon stockpiles by over 50%.

After 9/11, I also felt fearful. I was afraid that we were be led into a world-wide war against terrorism that would have dire consequences both at home and abroad. As I prayed, a phrase from the Gospel came to me: “Perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18). I took this to heart and was led to reach out to my Muslim neighbors and get to know them. Little by little I was led into the interfaith peace movement and to groups like ICUJP.  I feel that the interfaith peace movement has had a significant impact and is being tested once again.

After the brutal attack of Oct 7 and its horrific aftermath, I asked myself the question: How do I put my Christian commitment to love and my Quaker commitment to peace into practice? And how do we respond collectively as peace makers? I think that the first step is empathy. Take time to reflect and pray for the victims of war who have lost their lives, their homes, and their hopes for the future. We can also pray for the perpetrators and enablers of violence who have lost their humanity by dehumanizing others. We can pray that our leaders and leaders on both sides of the conflict in Israel/Palestine will take off their blinders and see that violence only begets more violence. As we pray, we may be led to take further action since, as James says, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). Here are some actions that I recommend:

1)    We can let our elected officials know that we want a ceasefire and de-escalation of violence so that humanitarian aid can flow into Gaza and alleviate the suffering, and so both sides can begin to negotiate a just and humane solution to this conflict. I recommend going to the website of the Friends Committee on National Legislation: fcnl.org.

2)    We can take part in a interfaith prayer vigil like the one that takes place every Monday from 5:00-7:00 pm in front of Rep. Judy Chu’s office (at 527 S. Lake near Ten Thousand Villages). We are calling for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation. This vigil is being organized by a grassroots collective that includes Pasadena Mennonites, All Saints Episcopal, Jewish Voice for Peace, So Cal Islamic Center, PCC Anti-War Club, and others. Our gathering always ends with a powerful prayer.

3)    We can join an Interfaith Study Group like the on that meets monthly here in Pasadena, sponsored by the Islamic Center of Southern California, the Pasadena Jewish Temple, and All Saints Church. On Jan. 21 I attended a session called “Bearing Witness Through Compassionate Listening.” Two skilled facilitators from New Ground—a Muslim woman and a rabbi—led us through a compassionate listening exercise that enabled us to share our feelings about what’s happening in Israel/Palestine so that we could build trust and understanding.

4)    We can reach out to our Jewish and Muslim neighbors and friends and be compassionate listeners. Many are experiencing grief, fear, anger, and despair, and they need to know that we care.

5)    We can reach out to our Muslim neighbors during Ramadan. I am helping to plan event at the First United Methodist Church of Pasadena, where a group of Muslims gather for worship each Friday. We plan to have a time of fellowship and an iftar together sometime in March.

These are just a few ways that we can put our faith and love into action during these challenging times. I’m confident that we at ICUJP will continue to find ways to be instruments of healing, justice and peace.

 

 

 

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

IfNotNow: Reflections on Diverse Jewish Solidarity with Palestine and Organizing for #CeaseFireNow

 

Please join us online

ICUJP Friday Forum
February 9th, 7:30-9:30 am Pacific  


IfNotNow: Reflections on Diverse Jewish Solidarity with Palestine and Organizing for #CeaseFireNow

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Meeting ID: 817 9154 4399
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Event Description: 
For 10 years, IfNotNow has been organizing within the Jewish community to realize a future for justice and peace for Palestinians and Israelis, focused on the dire need to end the Occupation and Israel's apartheid system. Since October 2023, the urgency and resonance of this work has never been clearer, as people across the world have been moved by the Jewish Left's presence and action in solidarity with Palestine and to demand a ceasefire, which right here in Southern California has included vigils, marches, civil disobedience actions, teach-ins, and so much more.

We will reflect on this inspiring organizing and community building, and share how anyone can support this Jewish-led movement of solidarity, action and transformation with Palestinians. We will also explore IfNotNow's vision for uplifting the voices of Black, Indigenous, Jews of Color, Sephardi, and Mizrahi (BIJOCSM) leaders within the Jewish Left and the broader Jewish community, and INN's commitment to racial and economic justice within Southern California and all of the communities in which we live.

Join the conversation with our speakers:


Diedra Robinson is a Latine Jewish activist and Alabama native with over 20 years experience as an educator and trainer in public, private, and professional sectors. She has a passion for history, language, and ancestry, with a focus on the intersection of European colonialism and Mexican-Jewish identity.
 
In her volunteer work with IfNotNow Los Angeles, she has helped facilitate a dedicated environment for Black, Indigenous, Jews of Color, Sephardi, and Mizrahi (BIJOCSM) individuals. In addition to diversifying traditionally-white spaces, she regularly speaks about antisemitism and Christian hegemony in both religious and secular arenas.


Matthew Hom (he/him) is a Jewish labor, immigration, housing justice and racial justice organizer with Chinese and Ashkenazi roots, who aspires to help build diverse multiracial and interfaith coalitions for justice throughout Southern California. He pursues that work as the Faith-Rooted Organizer in Los Angeles and Santa Monica for CLUE (Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice).

In his volunteer work with IfNotNow Los Angeles, he helps to lead the chapter's Partnerships Committee, so as to develop and strengthen IfNotNow's resilient relationships with partners in the Jewish, Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities and throughout the broader movement ecosystem. Matthew also participates in the Black, Indigenous, Jews of Color, Sephardi, and Mizrahi (BIJOCSM) leadership team at IfNotNow, and is committed to pursuing racial justice within the Jewish Left and the broader Jewish community.



IfNotNow is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, cross-class movement of American Jews organizing our community to end U.S. support for Israel's apartheid system and demand equality, justice, and a thriving future for all Palestinians and Israelis. We are fighting for a vision of Jewish liberation which recognizes that our safety is intertwined with the safety of all others. 

Why I support term limits in Pasadena

 

I support a charter amendment that would set term limits in Pasadena because I believe that term limits would foster a more inclusive and accountable City Council, one more likely to represent the majority of Pasadena residents rather than vested interests.

Our current system reinforces the status quo. Two members of the Pasadena City Council have been in office for more than 20 years. While their institutional memory and experience are valuable, and they have served the city well in many ways, I don’t believe it’s in the best interests of the city to have incumbents so entrenched it is hard for challengers to compete. In California, incumbents win 90% of the time at the state level and 80% at the local level. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to launch a serious campaign, which is a huge advantage to incumbents.

Our city is changing, with renters finally having a voice and institutional power thanks to Measure H, which was decisively passed by voters. Yet entrenched incumbents opposed rent control, even though a majority in their district supported it.

My argument is not that these entrenched incumbents are doing a bad job or are corrupt. What I am arguing is that having term limits would open up the Council to new people with fresh perspectives and innovative ideas. I was very impressed by the challengers who showed up for the candidates forum that Making Housing and Community Happen organized on Jan 31. I would like to have heard from the incumbents, but they chose not to take part. This to me is worrisome since four years ago when we organized a candidates forum, 13 out of 15 candidates showed up and all submitted written responses to our questions. None bothered to do so this cycle. Are they not showing up because they feel they are going to win anyway? Will this be the new normal in Pasadena?

We need elected officials in our city willing to meet with concerned citizens who want to know where they stand and why.

The state of California adopted term limits of 12 years iin 1992 and it has worked fairly well. This limit gives elected officials time to learn their job and acquire expertise in law-making, but it also encourages change. It gives challengers with new ideas a chance to compete for office.

What is the sweet spot for term limits in Pasadena? Should it be 12 years or 16 years? I would lean towards 12 but am okay with 16. What I see as a problem is allowing elected officials to stay in office 20 or more years. That’s just too long!

 

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO DEMOCRACY IN PASADENA?


In 2020 Making Housing and Community Happen organized its first candidate’s forum focusing on homelessness and affordable housing. Over 150 people showed up at the Orange Grove Quaker Meetinghouse and 13 out of 15 candidates took part and answered questions. All of them provided written responses which we published on our blog. This was one of many such candidates forums that took place in Pasadena at that time. It was exciting to see vibrant discussions of important issues. Democracy was thriving at the local level.

Flash forward to 2024. MHCH planned a Zoom candidates forum for Jan. 31, 2024, and sent out invitations to all the candidates multiple times during the preceding month. We even went to a City Council meeting and handed the invitations to incumbent candidates politely inviting them to attend. None of them took part in our forum or sent us written responses to the questions we sent them. (We heard from  Gene Masuda’s spouse that he had to attend a meeting of the Legislative Policy Committee,)  Over 90 people registered for our candidate’s forum and heard five challengers, but not the incumbents. One must wonder: what has happened to our democracy in our city in the last four years?

One explanation that comes is the egregious example of presidential candidate not showing up for debates because it doesn’t benefit him politically. I hope this isn’t becoming a new normal in Pasadena. A properly run candidates forums is an opportunity for candidates to engage in a serious discussion of important issues, for the benefit of the public.

This was true at the MHCH’s forum on Wednesday, Jan. 31, with nearly 90 registrants and 5 candidates taking part: Rick Cole, John Boyle, Jonathan Horton, Brandon Lamar, and Allen Shay. Our questions required candidates to explain how they plan to address the homelessness and housing crisis and we learned about them from hearing their responses. You can access this candidates forum by going to makinghousinghappen.org/events.

Back in 2020 there were so many candidates forums, and they were so well attended, that some of the candidates complained it was taking up too much of their time. This year there were only a few forums, and often only challengers showed up. This lack of responsiveness is becoming a growing concern. A reporter told me that it is like pulling teeth to get elected officials to respond to interview requests these days. It didn’t used to be that way. In the past most were willing and even eager to meet and share their opinions. Something has changed in our city, and not for the better.

When elected officials don’t show up at public forums and respond to policy questions, the public learns about their views from slick political mailers or op eds instead from their thoughtful responses to questions posed in a public arena.

It is puzzling why some candidates decided to ignore our invitation since we are a nonpartisan, faith-rooted organization that has 1,700 subscribers on our mailing list. Eigh  local organizations have partnered with us, including the Clergy Community Coalition, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, POP!, NDALON, Pasadena Tenants Union, Friends In Deed and over 30 congregations, including the Salvation Army, First United Methodist Church, First AME Church, the Pasadena Mennonite Church, and many more. This summer we organized a bus tour of affordable housing in Pasadena and 38 elected officials from the San Gabriel Valley attended, including four mayors. We have a large following and a reputation for fairness locally, and nationally.

Why would candidates not be willing to show up and share their views with us so we can share them with the faith community and others concerned about homelessness and affordable housing in our city?

As a faith-rooted organization, we believe in redemption and a second chance. It is not too late for candidates to send us their responses which we are happy to publish on our blog and circulate in our newsletter. The public deserves to know where the candidates stand on these important questions.

1) What concrete steps would you take to end homelessness in our city?

2) What policies do you support that would create more affordable housing in our city?

3)  Now that rent control is part of our City Charter, what will you do to make sure that tenants in our city are protected and treated fairly?

4) What steps would you take to support federal and state laws requiring cities to “affirmatively further fair housing” and ensure that there is affordable housing in all parts of our city?

5) Now that SB 4 rezones religious and college land for affordable housing statewide, what would you do to make sure this bill is implemented in our city and how would you support religious institutions and colleges interested in having affordable housing built on their underutilized land?

6) Are you in favor of a dedicated fund for affordable housing either through a transfer fee (as Culver City and LA have done), vacancy tax, or some other means?

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Our Christmas Letter 2023

 

Dear Friends and Family

Our wedding vows affirmed that the “Prince of Peace brought us together for a purpose greater than we can imagine” and
these words proved prophetic. Five years ago we were led to start Making Housing and Community Happen, a nonprofit dedicated to God’s vision of a world free from war and housing insecurity: “Everyone ‘neath their vine and fig tree will live at peace and unafraid, and into ploughshares turn their swords, nations shall learn war no more” (Micah 4:4). Our little nonprofit has thrived and accomplished great things, for which we thank God.

Sadly, however, our world has not taken to heart the message of the Prince of Peace. We grieve along with the people of Israel/Palestine, Ukraine and other parts of world who have lost loved ones to wars. Father Issa Thalijeh, an Orthodox priest in Bethlehem, recently said: “These are very, very sad times. But the message of Bethlehem and the message of Christmas, which is the message of peace, is more important than ever.”


Grateful for the love of Jesus that has transformed our lives and is transforming our world, we send our love and best wishes to you this Christmas! We thank God for the gift of family and friends who have enriched our lives and made this year very special.

Here are some highlights of 2023:


¨ Traveling to the Dominican Republic for a special gathering of Jill’s mission, Mission Door, which she has been
part of since 1977. We loved Santo Domingo, especially the plaza filled with families, jugglers, live music and more, next to the stunning Cathedral of Santa María la Menor built of coral, begun in 1512 and completed in 1550, in continuous use ever since. This city was founded by the brother of Christopher Columbus and was the first European city in the Americas.

¨ Traveling to Greece to visit Anthony’s family and historic sites: Olympia-where the torch is lit; the cave of St. John the Revelator in Patmos; the amazing cliffside monasteries of Meteora; sites like Ephesus associated with St. Paul and more! We traveled with our friends Carolyn and Sylvester Williams and Anthony’s sister Elizabeth and Anthony's cousins Alexandra and Peter, who hosted us at their home in Saronida, a coastal city south of Athens. Alexandra arranged a special memorial service honoring Anthony’s father, aunts and uncles in the church on the island of Andros where Anthony’s Dad was born.

¨ Celebrating Jill’s 70th birthday—she still can’t really believe she is 70, except for all the aches and pains telling her it’s true.

¨ Watching movies like “The Burial" with Jamie Foxx, “Blue Miracle” with Jimmy Gonzalez, and “The Chosen” series with a group of friends from First United Methodist Church of Pasadena (FUMC).

¨ Relaxing and having fun with Jill’s sister Jana and her husband Dwight who have been visiting from


Mexico/Washington State. We enjoyed fabulous Christmas programs put on by Azusa Pacific University at Lake Ave Church, Pasadena United Methodist Church (which we attend regularly), and First Baptist (where we were married 12 years ago!). What a blessing to be in a city with such beautiful sacred music honoring the birth of Christ!

¨ The birth of Tatum, Jill’s grandnephew; following the travels of Sarah and Andrew (who were married this year); and feeling incredibly blessed to be related to Jana and Dwight’s 8 children and their families, as well as to Emily and Demetrius, Anthony’s nephews.  

¨ Celebrating the fifth anniversary of our nonprofit, Making Housing and Community Happen, at New Life Holiness Church in the heart of Pasadena’s African American community, where we also celebrated the completion of the N. Fair Oaks Vision Plan, which, if approved by our City Council, will ensure a bright future for this neglected area, a once-thriving African American neighborhood.

¨ Celebrating the passage of SB 4, the bill that rezones religious land and nonprofit colleges for affordable housing statewide, which we have been working on for three years. Woo hoo! And the launching of our Congregational Land Apprenticeship program where teams now forming in TX, CO, WA, and Nor Cal.

¨ Joining hundreds of Christians, Muslims and Jews each Monday at Rep. Judy Chu’s office asking for a ceasefire in Israel/Palestine (both sides).


¨ Finding a wonderful gardener and working with him on a delightful garden which gives us veggies and abundant fruit, reminding us of God’s abundance and endless love.

¨ Visiting Donna Shook, Jill’s Mom, each week in her board and care—she is now 93! She has late stage Alzheimer’s and ready to be home with the Lord. Her art is in galleries across the US, check it out here: https://www.donnashookwatercolors.com/

¨ Overcoming bedbugs that invaded our home while we were on vacation(see our poem).

 

We are looking forward to the New Year and a much-needed 5-month sabbatical starting in May. We love our work with MHCH, but we feel led to take a time of for rest and renewal. Jill has been doing intense housing justice work for 23 years. We are grateful to Bert Newton and our staff for stepping up to the plate to carry forward the mission of MHCH during this time of transition.

Love,

 Anthony and Jill

 

 


Thursday, November 16, 2023

How can we get creative in the Israel/Palestine conflict? Talk by George Lakey , Quaker peace activist, at ICUJP



Please join us online

ICUJP Friday Forum
November 17th, 7:30-9:30 am Pacific  

How can we get creative in the Israel/Palestine conflict?

CLICK BELOW TO JOIN ZOOM:
Call in by phone: Meeting ID: 827 8059 6985PASSCODE: 378677

*Meeting controls for call-in attendees:
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Event Description: Understandably, activist responses to the new outbreak of Israel/Palestinian fighting is moralistic, preoccupied with "who's right and who's wrong." We'll take a deeper dive, trying to initiate a conversation about how adoption of nonviolent means of fighting it out might make a difference to the outcome. The point of the discussion will be to provoke creativity in the midst of a moralistic debate. One dimension of the speaker's thinking is featured on WagingNonviolence.org.

Join the conversation with our speaker:

Born into a white working class family in a small town in rural Pennsylvania, George Lakey was first arrested in the civil rights movement and risked arrest recently for climate justice as an 85-year old great-grandfather. He’s led social change projects on neighborhood, city, state, national, and international levels. He married a Norwegian woman, played cocktail piano in a hotel, taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Swarthmore College, co-parented a majority Black family, came out publicly as gay, and published ten books on how to make change. He led over 1500 social change workshops on five continents, for Buddhist monks, Russian LGBTQ activists, South African National Congress members, and Northern U.S. students bound for 1964 Mississippi Summer.

A Quaker, he has been named Peace Educator of the Year and given the Paul Robeson Social Justice Award and the Martin Luther King Peace Award. His eleventh book, a memoir, is Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice, from Seven Stories Press.

“A civil rights legend” – The Guardian

Learn More/Here's how YOU can help:

7:30 - 7:35  Log in and socialize
7:35 - 7:45  Welcome and introductions 
7:45 - 7:50  Reflection (5 min. maximum)
7:50 - 9:15  Program and Q&A
9:15 - 9:20  Announcements
9:20 - 9:30  Closing circle and prayer

Start your morning with us!

Facilitator: Rose Leibowitz
Reflector: Maggie Hutchison

** Meetings begin promptly at 7:30 am Pacific. **
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To join by video conference, you'll need to download the Zoom app on your computer or mobile device. Click on the link to join the meeting and then enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You'll be able to see slides and video, as well as speakers and other attendees.

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ICUJP Friday Forum 11/17/23
Time: 07:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Option 1: Join video conference 
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Meeting ID: 827 8059 6985
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(To find a dial-in number closer to you, go here.)

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Please note: Our Friday Forums and other events are open to the public. By attending, you consent to having your voice and likeness recorded, photographed, posted on ICUJP's website and social media, and included in ICUJP materials and publications for noncommercial purposes. If you don't want to be photographed or recorded, please let the facilitator know.



ICUJP has been featured on a few different media venues over the last few  weeks - ICUJP Chairperson Steve Rohde was interviewed on KPFK's long-running program "The Lawyers Guild", hosted by Jim Lafferty and Maria Hall. The program also featured legal scholar and ICUJP supporter Marjorie Cohn.

You can listen to the program here:




Steve was also interviewed by Jason DeRose of NPR on the difficulty in making definitive statements about the Israel/Hamas tragedies that do not get misinterpreted by either side.

He was interviewed along with Tahil Sharma, an interfaith minister with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, as well as Phoebe Milliken of Hartford International University, and you can listen to that segment here.

_________________________________________

22nd Anniversary of ICUJP: 22 years of working for Justice and Peace

Twenty-two years ago, Rev. George Regas of All-Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena reached out to clergy, community leaders, and laypeople to come together to seek an alternative to the fear-mongering and vengefulness sweeping much of our nation in the wake of September 11. The message that they wanted to convey was coherent and powerful: “Religious Communities Must Stop Blessing War and Violence.” On that day, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace was born.

These past 22 years have been a journey for ICUJP - five Presidents, four California Governors, and numerous crises and issues that would shake the resolve of even the most devout and dedicated of activists. But through it all, we go forward in our mission to be the voice for "the least of these", and our determination to create the change we want to see in the world.

On Sunday, September 10th, 2023, ICUJP honored Rev. George Regas's life and legacy, and recognized deserving organizations with the 2023 George F. Regas Courageous Peacemaker Award. As our theme was "Housing is a Human Right", we were glad to shine a light on the work of Making Housing and Community HappenAll-Saints Church Safe Haven Bridge to Housing, the Office of Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles, and the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center.

Thank you for your part in keeping the vision of George F. Regas alive as we continue creating a place to gather, organize, pray, and act together united by the fundamental principle that Religious Communities Must Stop Blessing War and Violence.

Please consider helping Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace in its mission. ICUJP operates as a largely volunteer organization with a small part-time paid staff. We have survived for over 20 years through the generosity of individuals and organizations like you. Like so many other organizations, our ability to raise donations has been hampered during the COVID pandemic.  

 

Friday, November 3, 2023

A Quaker Perspective on Mysticism and Activism For Spirit Seekers

I shared this with a group of Methodists who wanted to know more about how the Quaker practice of contemplative worship and mysticism is linked to social activism/prophetic witness. 

What Do We Mean by Mysticism and Prophetic Witness?

Mysticism is the belief that people can directly experience God or true reality, rather than through books, ritual or other people. People who practice this are called mystics. Mystics usually experience this direct connection through contemplation, or silent worship.

The prophet is distinguished first by a face-to-face relationship with YHWH. The prophet then serves as a witness of YHWH and ministers by speaking and actuating the word of God. In an intimate encounter, a prophet hears from God, receives a word to be shared with God's people, then acts.

What do prophets and mystics have in common? How are they different?

Have you ever had a direct experience of the Divine that led you to take action?

Quakers believe that everyone can have a direct experience of God through the practice of contemplative worship. Some Quakers feel called to prophetic witness either individually or collectively as a result of waiting and listening for the Word of the Lord. For this reason, Quaker worship is sometimes called “listening” or “expectant” worship.

When we sit in contemplative silence during times of pain and experience the healing power of Spirit, we can become more compassionate listeners. This led the Quaker peace activist/mystic Gene Hoffman to develop a technique called “Compassionate Listening.” She brought together Israelis and Palestinians and taught them how to listen to each other’s stories nonjudgmentally and compassionately. This has proven to be a powerful tool for reconciliation. Her work is being carried on by Leah Green through the Compassionate Listening Project.

After 9/11, Gene Hoffman’s insights had a profound effect on me:

“Some time ago, I recognized that terrorists were people who had grievances, who thought their grievances would never be heard, and certainly never addressed. Later, I saw that all parties to every conflict were wounded and that at the heart of every conflict was an unhealed wound. I began to search for ways to heal these violence-causing wounds.” [1]

In addition to listening compassionately, Quakers also see themselves as “speaking truth to power” (a phrase coined by the Quaker activist Bayard Rustin), like the prophets of old.

“Like the Hebrew and Christian prophets whose lives [early Quakers] used a models, they experienced God as a living, energizing power that spurred them to confront corrupt institutions and to form communities of believers” (Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice, 2001,  p. 3).

Have you ever felt Spirit or God leading you to take some action to correct or protest an injustice? Describe what this was like for you. What did you do?

Quakers believe that we can have a mystical/prophetic experience collectively when we sit in contemplative silence together, seeking to hear and do the will of God. This was also the belief of early Christians, as Rohr explains:

 

Richard Rohr on Prophetic Witness

Christianity has given little energy to prophecy, which Paul identifies as the second most important charism for building the church (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11). Too often, when Christians talk about prophecy, we think prophets make predictions about the future. In fact, prophets say exactly the opposite! They insist the future is highly contingent on the now. They always announce to the people of Israel that they have to make a decision now. You can go this way and the outcome of events will undo you or you can return to God, to love, and to the covenant. That’s not predicting the future as much as it’s naming the now, the way reality works. The prophet opens up human freedom by daring to tell the people of Israel that they can change history by changing themselves. That’s extraordinary, and it’s just as true for us today.

The prophets ultimately reveal a God who is “the God of the Sufferers” in the words of Jewish philosopher Martin Buber (1878–1965. I’d like to put it this way: it is not that we go out preaching hard and difficult messages, and then people mistreat and marginalize us for being such prophets (although that might happen). Rather, when we go to the stories of the prophets and of Jesus himself, we discover the biblical pattern is just the opposite! When we find ourselves wounded and marginalized, and we allow that suffering to teach us, we can become prophets. When we repeatedly experience the faithfulness, the mercy, and the forgiveness of God, then our prophetic voice emerges. That’s the training school. That’s where we learn how to speak the truth.

The prophets were always these wonderful people who went to wounded places. They went to where the suffering was, to the people who were excluded from the system. They saw through the idolatries at the center of the system because those who are excluded from the system always reveal the operating beliefs of that system. Speaking the truth for the sake of healing and wholeness is then prophetic because the “powers that be” that benefit from the system cannot tolerate certain revelations. They cannot tolerate the truths that the marginalized—the broken, the wounded, and the homeless—always reveal.

A favorite Bible passage for Quakers:

The story of Elijah from Kings 19:9-13

9 And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Why did Elijah run away? Was he simply afraid? Did he lose faith in God?

Have you ever experienced times when you needed to withdraw from a difficult situation to find clarity? During this time of withdrawal,  did you seek God’s guidance and experience a “gentle whisper” or “still small voice” giving you wisdom on how to deal with this situation?

Elijah is asked the same question twice by God: “What are you doing here?” How do you think Elijah’s mountain-top experience changed the way he responds to this question?



[1] See Compassionate Listening and Other Writings by Gene Knudsen Hoffman: Quaker Peacemaker and Mystic, 2002, ed. by Anthony Manousos.