Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)

Prayer for President Obama

Lord God, we pray for President Barack Obama.
We praise you for the gifts you have nurtured in him:
to think clearly, to speak eloquently, to interact effectively.
Guide him, God, to use these skills both wisely and well
as he leads our nation and serves our world.

Thank you for his bright summons to audacious hope.
May we citizens bracket that vision with faith and love,
so that civility and justice mark our nation’s journey
into an unknown and somewhat scary future.

May the glare of publicity never blind him to truth.
May political power never dull empathy with ordinary people.
May pride of position never corrode his conscience.
Warn him, Lord, when evils, disguised as good,
tempt him to stray from what is right and true.

Teach him to backtrack from wrong turns amiably,
but to follow right roads tenaciously.
Strengthen his commitment to servant leadership.
May neither acclaim nor criticism tarnish his congeniality.

Show him patterns of patience that tarry but do not dawdle.
When he is tired and stressed, refresh him, Lord,
in his body, in his mind, in his spirit.
When alone he wrestles over difficult ethical and policy issues
may this follower of Jesus heed his Master’s guiding voice.

Oh, and Lord, in busy times remind President Obama
of his heart-felt pledge and studied practice:
to be an attentive and loving husband and father.

Amen!

Arthur O. Roberts

.

.

This prayer although not prompted by Phil Smith’s article in the January 2009 Connection, entitled “Prayerful Politics” fits well there as a companion piece, and comments can be left on that page.

.

.

.

.

12. 11 “Loving God with the Mind”                                    November  2008

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus’ scribal interrogator quibbled about how to fulfill the Law in loving one’s neighbor. Like Pilate, people also hedge about truth—about loving God with one’s mind. “Test me, LORD. . .examine my heart and my mind” is a insightful proverb (Prov. 26: 2 TNIV) Hear what the Apostle Paul says to us on this subject:

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. . . . And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4: 7-9 TNIV)

Ancient philosophy named human goals the good, the true, and the beautiful. These still define areas of study. Ethics delineates the moral good, logic the tests for truth, and aesthetics the norms of beauty (“whatever is lovely”, to use Paul’s term). In subtle ways the tempter stirs people perversely to seek out or promote the bad, the false, and the ugly. Ponder Paul’s admonition: to let God’s peace guard our minds and guide them toward praiseworthy goals.

Loving God with my mind means discerning truth about myself. I am cautioned to esteem self “not more highly than I ought. . .” neither wallowing in self-pity nor swaggering in self-adulation. What’s a pitfall for educated minds? Skillful self-deception! We’re warned: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor. 10: 12TNIV). We are called to rise beyond an egoistic self, beyond a social self, to become a God-filled self.

Loving God with my mind means discerning truth about others. How strong are social pressures to treat my group as superior! And equally strong to exercise no moral judgments of any kind, blinding ourselves to offenses against the true, the good, and the beautiful. We need God’s help to make compassionate and rational judgments about others, so truth is honored as well as love. Let the Spirit quicken our minds to recognize how much we depend upon the knowledge and skills of others, and how important God-touched minds are for sustaining human community. Let’s be grateful for how much the Gospel has leavened and enlightened it.

Loving God with my mind means discerning truth about the material world. Abiding in God’s peace enables us better to see and understand God’s creation as it is, and what through God-directed stewardship it may become. Ignorance and sin cause suffering. Christians are called rationally to interrogate the material world—its stuff, its creatures, its energy, using sense, reason, and intuition rightly to interpret it, and to release its bounty for all humanity and to God’s glory. As bearers of the divine image let’s use our minds to understand, plan, adapt, reconfigure, and utilize the material world for the good of all.  For Christians everyday is Earth Day. Whether it’s planting meringa trees in Africa or windmills in America, or dispensing health care, may Christians lead the world in appropriate technology. Loving God with the mind also includes intuitive wonder at the world itself.  As Walt Whitman wrote:  “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. . . . And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.” (“Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass, Signet Classic, 1958, pp, 72-73)

Loving God with my mind means discerning truth about God. We love God because He first loved us, and demonstrated that love through Jesus Christ. Nestled in God’s peace we’re enabled to see and to rightly understand divine revelations in history and within the heart. A danger looms in doing theology, in reasoning about God. The danger is idolatry: reducing God to a professional specialty, a resource, or another art or musical genre. But another danger looms in not crafting rational constructs for spiritual experience.  The danger is idolatry: reducing God to a useful social myth.

Truly “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Friends, never lose a sense of awe before the Lord!   “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!”

May the peace of God guard your minds!

12.10  “Godly Care for Children”                                                October 2008

Our Faith and Practice calls churches to a regular practice of reading prayerfully, and pondering thoughtfully, the Queries.  As adopted in 1987 there are twenty of them, grouped under the headings, “Personal Faith”, “The Individual and the Church”, “Marriage, Children, Home”, “Manner of Living”, and “Concerns for Society.”  (They are to be featured in Connection over the next several months). What a great heritage is this covenanted practice of queries and advices! Are you being faithful to it? Three hundred years ago, 1708, the following advices were sent by London YM to Quakers world-wide.

We desire the godly care for the due education and safety of your children within the bounds and limits of truth in all respects, may be continued and increased among you; and that parents be exemplary to their children in keeping out of the vain fashions, customs, and pride of the world, by adorning themselves modestly and in plainness.   (London Epistles, 1821, p. 97)

It’s still timely, isn’t it?  Our Query 11 asks searchingly, “Are you teaching your children the ways of Friends?  Do you encourage them to attend Friends schools?”

The world will crush our children into its mold unless we are careful, thoughtful, and prayerful!  I’m thankful for NWYM programs, camps and schools that help parents guide their children “within the bounds and limits of truth,” It might be good for elders to guide us about what plainness and modesty mean in contemporary culture, and what constitutes worldly pride. Perhaps the blue jeans revolution in clothing is a good thing (unless exploited by grunge or glitz marketing). Perhaps simpler, less expensive, weddings would comport with that three hundred year old concern. How about resisting seductive pressures for conspicuous consumption and huge credit card debt?

In-group loyalty to our covenant community is a good way to answer that advice. We praise God that George Fox University remains true to its Christ centered mission! Helping our children, grandchildren, and others within local churches to attend our Friends schools, including George Fox University, is a faithful response to this ancient/contemporary concern.

P.S. Our nation needs much prayer now. Pray that humility and civility will replace arrogance and rudeness, that peaceful cooperation will supplant imperialistic posturing internationally, that in our culture substance will prevail over image, that governance and economic structures will more fully be leavened by Kingdom ethics, and that in their thoughts and actions Americans increasingly will be illumined by Christ’s light.

Peace and joy!

Arthur O. Roberts

12.9 “Reverence and Awe”                                                            September 2008


I find the book of Hebrews instructive for delineating how the Old Covenant finds enhanced fulfillment in the New. Christ is a better creation rest than a ritual day. His blood speaks a better word than that of Abel—which a warring world needs to hear!  And, yes, Christ is a better priest than Aaron, a better sacrifice than goats, a better prophet than Moses, a better revelation than Sinai, and his kingdom a better covenant community than Israel. The writer reminds us we “have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem”—humanity’s true homeland.

           If God’s voice at Sinai made Moses tremble, how much more reverently ought we to worship our Creator, who will, indeed, shake up the whole cosmos before the drama of redemption is completed!  Ponder with me how to be faithful to this pointed admonition. Continue reading …

“Cleaning out files” August 2008

I’ve been cleaning out files recently, discarding duplicate, irrelevant, or obsolete stuff—like philosophy tests from forty years ago. In doing so, however, I find some things that strike me as worthy of sharing. Think of them not as garbage but as gleanings, okay? Discard or appropriate. Sometimes one person’s junk is another’s treasure. At other times the reverse!
Continue reading …

July 2008

Some valuable worship practices have become so time-laden they are in danger of becoming commonplace. The public reading of Scripture is one such practice. Paul commended it to Timothy: “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture” (I Tim. 4: 13). On occasion I’ve been asked to help persons prepare for such ministry. Here’s what I shared with them. Maybe it will be useful to you and others in your church. Continue reading …

Last year Peggy Hanson, who works in employee relations at Friendsview Retirement Community, asked if I could fashion for her a “talking stick.” As part Cherokee and a tribal member, she knew of this Native American practice, and that I fashioned assorted wooden things, like talking sticks, clocks, mottoes and stumps. Along with other native peoples, during a powwow, traditionally, a Cherokee chief would give the stick in turn to persons who would speak to an issue. When one held the stick others kept quiet and listened. A stick was often carved artistically, or enhanced by an eagle feather secured by leather thong or fur strip.

Continue reading …

May 2008

Last fall Reedwood Friends (Portland) held a class on “How can Friends recover successful outreach?” I led a session based on this Scripture text:

“Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps’.” (John 4:35-37 NKJV)

Let’s consider together four kinds of “white unto harvest” situations in which both Gospel sowing and reaping occur: Continue reading …

April 2008
Some nights I worry. Not often, but occasionally. Maybe I’m hyper from too much activity, food, or ego stroking. I should drift off to sleep, but I don’t. Did I lock the car? Do I hear a faucet dripping or is it rain pattering the windowpane? Will the war ever stop? Why don’t they return my call? This pain in my back, is it angina, arthritis, or acid reflux?
So I flip- flop side-to-side seeking to get more comfortable. I fluff pillows and untangle blankets. Then I opt for practical strategies, like staring at the sky until I get drowsy. Like munching a cracker, which often works (whether physical or psychological, who knows)! Continue reading …

March 2008

Scoffing at believers has become a spectator sport in some circles. The press gleefully gibes at evangelical foibles– like multi-dyed hairdos on televangelists or churchy glitz, and, more hurtfully, heaps scorn upon Christianity whenever well-known leaders get snared in sexual or financial sins. In contrast, media often eulogize pop stars whose heralded infidelities they cloak in indulgent adulation. Tolerance for evil can be an effective social tool.

Thankfully, media taunting has temporal limits. Continue reading …