PlainSpeech Messages | Find YOUR way to GRACE.
I recently read a message I’d given in 1984 and felt a mixture of embarrassment and surprise. Embarrassed because it seems inadequate now, and surprised by how much my worldview has changed. Twenty-five years from now, I might read these messages and have a similar reaction. I offer no guarantee that my work or words will endure the eroding effects of time. I can only assure you these thoughts have been helpful to me, and perhaps a few others, today. With that qualification, I offer them to you.
~ Philip
NEW!
Swapping Our Morality
Joan and I went to the farmhouse the day after Christmas for a long weekend. The weather was warm for winter, and rainy, which didn’t deter Joan from walking five miles a day. I stayed home while she walked, just in case the house caught on fire or a water pipe burst....
Christmas 2019
Luke 2:1-20 It is good to gather this Sunday before Christmas. Early Quakers weren’t all that enthusiastic about Christmas day, or any religious holiday for that matter, believing every day was sacred, and a gift from God to be celebrated. I told my parents the same...
Pay Close Attention
Our granddaughter Madeline was visiting us last Saturday. Joan had to go to the grocery store, so I was watching Madeline. Her fifth birthday was this past Friday, so we were talking about that, and were having this wonderful conversation, when she asked me how babies...
Touchstones
When I was little, I’d play a game with my brothers. We didn’t have a name for it, but if we played it today, we’d probably call it What If? It went like this. What if you had to lose one of your five senses, which one would it be? Sight, smell, hearing, taste, or...
That Name Would Not Have Occurred to Me
When I was nineteen I moved to Plainfield and rented an apartment a few blocks from Plainfield Friends Meeting where I began to attend meeting. Jim Wilson was the pastor. The Catholic priests I had known as a child tended to be distant, but Jim was gregarious, a...
Let Your Life Speak
We’ve been dabbling in the Quaker sayings these past several weeks. We talked about Minding the Light and That of God In All People. Last Sunday, Keith Wimmersberger explored the historic parallels between Baptist and Quaker spirituality, our chief similarities being...
What It Is We Give Our Lives To
Well, it’s good to be back from my travels. I have one more trip, then I’m staying put for three months, or until Joan says, “Don’t you have to go to give a speech somewhere?” I was in Virginia last week with Episcopalians at a retreat. I walked over to the conference...
Minding the Light
It’s been an interesting week in the American church. The preacher and writer John MacArthur, who has spent much of his life telling people how much he knows about the Bible, was asked to say in a few words what he thought of the Bible teacher Beth Moore, and he...
That Of God In All People
I’ve been out of town these past few weeks, first to Washington State just east of Mount Rainier to meet with a group of pastors. If you ever need to meet with pastors, Mount Rainier is the place to do it. The highest point in Danville is the landfill, and Mount...
The God of Sarah
I remember when Russ Arnold, a bright and thoughtful Jewish man who taught the Bible and religion over at DePauw, used to worship with us. His wife, Ginger, was Christian, so they attended Quaker meeting because we didn’t try to turn him into a Christian. Every now...