George Lakey, 85, was brought up an evangelical whose call to become a boy minister was abruptly ended by his preaching a sermon urging that it is God’s will that there be racial equality. In college he found a religious home among the Quakers (Religious Society of Friends), and from time to time has been recognized by his home congregation to be carrying a particular ministry for peace, justice, or nonviolence.

…but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do for this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so…

Leann Williams left a 22-year teaching career ten years ago to become a massage therapist (though she didn’t know it at the time). Now a recorded minister with Sierra Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends, she facilitates several groups in north Idaho. The groups together form a web of interwoven relationships in faith community known as Friends in Common.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

What makes a person trustworthy? What makes a community trustworthy? How might these teachings be invitations to compassion? In what ways do I feel invited to compassion? Can I self-evaluate without condemnation, with grace, and with a readiness to grow?

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill…”