Do not fear, O soil;

    be glad and rejoice,

    for the Lord has done great things!

Do not fear, you animals of the field,

    for the pastures of the wilderness are green;

the tree bears its fruit;

    the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

O children of Zion, be glad,

    and rejoice in the Lord your God,

for he has given the early rain for your vindication…

I will repay you for the years

    that the swarming locust has eaten…

How have you practiced transformative self-advocacy? Where have you witnessed it? How has “persistence” been part of your experience of prayer? How have you experienced a connection between prayer and action? Where is persistence most needed, for the sake of justice?

How limber are our souls? Are we ready for the stretching, bending, reaching, work of faith? How rigid is our understanding of God? Are we ready for what God might reveal to us? Do we have the capacity and the willingness to stretch our souls?

What connections are you making between Paul’s language–sincere faith, power, self-discipline, love, kindling the gift of God within you–and your own spirituality or Quaker spirituality in general? To what needs might Quakers be well-equipped to respond? How does Quaker spirituality equip us? How would we go about responding to those needs? How are we already responding? Who ought we to be becoming? How would we go about becoming that? What practices could help us or are already helping us become that? What is “Quakerism come alive?”

Who needs the hope of relief this parable communicates? Do you feel relief? Who needs the confrontation of this parable? Do you feel confronted? How have you experienced the ease or difficulty of change? What makes change difficult? What makes it possible?

Meghan Crozier is co-host of the Thereafter Podcast, progressive Christian writer, speaker, and educator. She writes about faith deconstruction, religion, purity culture, spirituality, justice, mental health, feminism, and more. You can find her website at www.thepursuinglife.com or follow her on all social media @thepursuinglife.