Cambridge, Massachusetts, late 1970s “Heads up!” called the voice from the basement. “Here come the bags!” When they heard the cry a hundred men and women straightened up, like ragtag soldiers jerking to attention. Spaced about three feet apart, they stood in a line that ran from the open end of a big tractor-trailer truck … Continue reading A Between-the-Holidays Quaker Holiday Story: Beethoven in the Basement
[In midlife, Diane Faison and her family faced multiple traumas while living in Richmond, Virginia., including the murder of her mother-in-law and family conflict over her estate.] Diane writes, After all this, it was no surprise that my husband said he wanted to leave Richmond. I don’t want the children living in this atmosphere, he … Continue reading “Passing the Torch”, Author Speak #6: Diane Faison Mckinzie
From Marian Rhys, “Life: The Great Balancing Act,” in Passing the Torch Despite [a youthful] service-work connection with Friends, it was not until my early twenties that I became engaged with them on any regular basis. By that time, I had begun to feel the need for some spirituality in my life, and started attending … Continue reading “Passing the Torch,” Author Speak #5: “I stopped trying to talk with Friends about evil . . .”
. . . I grew up in a large, mildly liberal pastoral Friends meeting in Indianapolis. Amiable but tepid, it gave me little to rebel against, but not much to inspire or motivate me either. I did not attend any church or meeting during my college years. But I had a spiritual sense that gravitated … Continue reading “Passing The Torch”, Author Doug Gwyn: “I received a distinct calling . . .”
Quakers are often very interesting people. And generations come and go. These are the modest theses behind the new book, Passing the Torch. In fifty-plus years among The Religious Society of Friends (our rather pompous official name), its members, attenders, hangers-on and even antagonists, I have kept bumping into and hearing about interesting people. And … Continue reading Why “Passing the Torch”? And Why Now?