Resurrection

Quaker worship is always a risky business. You may sit there in silence for an hour, trying to listen for God's voice while nothing comes through but the grocery list of all the things you need to do next week. Or Friends will share messages that may be for someone, but not for you. On the other hand, it may be like this morning at Inland Valley Friends Meeting in Riverside.

A Friend shared that her degenerative disease, long dormant, has returned, diminishing her hearing and sense of balance. She has noted that, in nature, life and great beauty grow out of dead and decaying material, and she hopes to find beauty in her renewed distress.

Then Mike reported that a recently visible neo-Nazi cell has been harassing the local synagogue as well as day laborers who gather at a local Home Depot seeking temporary employment. He challenged Friends to join in with efforts to counter this "small but dangerous group" in coming weeks through non-violent witness.

It struck me that these two messages had much in common—two diseases, one personal and physical, the other social and political—and two responses, both with the potential for miracles. In each case, the sickness may remain but the dis-ease may be healed. Beauty and life may find, in corruption, occasions to spring forth.

These Friends, and through them our Great Friend, spoke directly to my condition. It was well worth the 20-minute drive and the risk.

By the way, "small and dangerous group" could be another way to refer to this little meeting of Quakers—few in number, but dangerous indeed in their potential for disrupting the status quo and establishing God's rule.