Mark Pratt-Russum offers a message about paying attention to your heart and preparing for the situations of life. How has heart/mind/spirit attention prepared you to enter into situations differently? What possibilities emerge, in your imagination, if the process of heart/mind/spirit re-orientation were more widely practiced?…

Jill Townley shares a First Word about an encounter with a young woman on a recent bus trip on her morning commute.โดย West Hills Friends

Mark Pratt-Russum offers a message about feeling comfortable with being completely you. How have you become aware of the "normative" narratives that have influenced the way you interact with others? How does your spirituality challenge you to deepen the grace and understanding you extend to others?โดย West Hills Friends

Mark Pratt-Russum offers a message about eclipses and epiphanies and shares the poem “Spellbound” by Bethany Lee. What are the epiphanies you've had in your life? When have things come together, or connected in such a way to bring you Into a profound sense of a world filled with light? Are you hoping for an epiphany? What remains disconnected, or u…

Leanne Benner shares a First Word about asking the question what difference does Jesus’ resurrection mean for us?โดย West Hills Friends

Mica Coffin shares a message about how metaphors help us understand God. At the end of the message Mica speaks about a song called "God is a River," copyright Peter Mayer, that can be downloaded at petermayer.net.โดย West Hills Friends

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a short story about George Fox. Later we were invited to weave a message on a canvas.โดย West Hills Friends

Stephen Deatherage shares an original short story with Latin dialogue about how the cross has given way to life.โดย West Hills Friends

Mark Pratt-Russum shared a message about sourdough starters and leavened bread. What metaphors describe what it feels like to be present in the world right now? Whether it be a stone crying out, mustard seeds, or hidden leaven, how does carrying the Light of the Divine disrupt the darkness for you right now?…

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a message about the story behind the song, "We Are The World."Queries were:1. How does holding the unknowns of another's story and experience give you more capacity for grace in your relationship?2. When have you experienced another holding the knowledge of your past challenges in a way that created more space for you to be…

Mark Pratt-Russum offered a message about becoming aware of the influence of principalities and powers and the way they shape our thinking and motivations. How does your relationship with the Divine challenge you to act with integrity and conviction in the world?โดย West Hills Friends

Kevin Melvin offers a message about knowledge of God and the search for meaning. What if knowing the nature of God is not material to the exploration?โดย West Hills Friends

Mark Pratt-Russum shares about the feeling of always being in trouble. Queries were how much does worry about being in trouble dominate your inner dialogue? How have you received or offered grace? How did it change your heart?โดย West Hills Friends

Mark Pratt-Russum shares the message for the morning. Queries were how does the soil under your feet, the watershed in which you live, the light within your own heart, call you back to yourself? In what ways can a community like West Hills Friends be of service to people experiencing the turmoil of our times?…

Mark Pratt-Russum shares a message about the imaginal cells of the butterfly within the caterpillar. What "imaginal cells" are within you? What possibility of transformation might you already be carrying? Where are you in your current process of transformation? What are the voices within you saying about where you are?…

Mark Pratt-Russum asks us to consider holy days as being invitations to wholeness days. When have you experienced something in the routines of normal life that awakened you to an alternative way of being in the world? How do you stay in touch with what makes you whole?โดย West Hills Friends

Mica Coffin shares a message about pet peeves and pet delights. Are there pet peeves--cherished annoyances or irritations--that you have been coddling? Have you covered up deeper concerns by focusing on annoyances? What are your pet delights? How do you broaden your perspective to bring more of the goodness of life in? What does it mean to you to c…

Stephen Deatherage shares a message about timshel, the Hebrew word for “Thou Mayest.” The word Timshel is referred to in the John Steinbeck novel East of Eden. Timshel means we have a choice on how to live our lives, and the power to choose our own path.โดย West Hills Friends

Mark Pratt-Russum shared a message about attentiveness to the "other way" that Jesus spoke about. How has your life been shaped by attentiveness to this "other way"? How have you been able to access this other "Spirit" and as a result, responded or moved in a new way? How has being in community with other seekers shaped you, and the way you carry y…

A Pastor Molly story about how we walk through grief together.(Photo: Reuters/Therese Apel)โดย West Hills Friends

Inspired by Nadia Bolz-Weber's blog post "Impersonating Ourselves," Greg delves into the topic of personal growth and the challenges of aligning our inner transformations with our external presentations. What does it mean to step more fully into who you are called to be? What parts of your past identity do you need to release to move forward? Join …

Mark asks, "When have you asked something taboo, or embarrassing, challenging or distressing 'What are you here to teach me?'"โดย West Hills Friends

When have you done "the work" only to discover that it has revealed more work to be done within you? Mark talks about the resistance to liberation we often feel we bump up against.Photo by by stevecoleimagesโดย West Hills Friends

A light-hearted story about Jesus’s call to welcome the stranger (Matthew 25: 35-40)Written and narrated by KD BurnettIntroduction and queries by Stephen Deatherageโดย West Hills Friends

Gil George reflects on the concept of ubuntu, a term originating in Southern Africa that refers to the recognition that 'I am because we are'.โดย West Hills Friends

Mark Pratt-Russum asks how can spiritual communities like ours be offering the world the gift of listening to and responding from a new and yet ancient intelligence?โดย West Hills Friends

It feels like all of our communities are asking the question, "Why are things so frustrating right now?" Why aren't we bouncing back from the pandemic? For this message, Mark explores the idea of liminality, of the space between one thing comign to an end, and a new thing emerging. Are we, as the human collective, in a liminal place? If so, how mig…

Perhaps one of the greatest lessons we learn in practicing how to get along with other people is when we say something with the best of intentions, but quickly see that what just came out of our mouth hit a persons ears and made them feel completely unseen. There are lots of shortcut things we say to people, thinking it is a trusted consultation in…

Klarissa Oh has been serving as one of our released ministers for the last two years. She announced that she will be returning to OAASIS, and will be stepping down from her role in our community this July. This is Klarissa's final message to our community. She shares what she has learned, both encouraging and challenging us. In particular, Klarissa…

Mark Pratt-Russum shares about downed river logs, our belonging to the earth and the earth belonging to us. Our reverence of the divine exists in the fibers of a downed tree being worn away by the river. "Wild places are at the heart of the sacred moments that resist the passage of time."โดย West Hills Friends

Caryl Menkhus Creswell shares her story and how her experience has been interwoven with her understanding of children's spirituality. Caryl is a sought-out international trainer of Godly Play and guide regarding children's spirituality, and she is (by some amazing grace) the leader of all things Godly Play at WHF.…

Sometimes we think that changing someones mind on something is as easy as giving them the facts. I think we all know that is hardly enough. But why? In this message Mark Pratt-Russum explores the power of group identity in creating belonging, and how we need to be aware of this power when in engaging with folks with whom we disagree.…

We have been in survival mode for the last 15 months. We have been holding on to things tightly. What will it look like for us to come down from this state of survival? In this message Mark explores what it feels like to release, to surrender and to trust that we are lovingly held.โดย West Hills Friends

It sounds simple, huh? You are worthy of love. But darn it, we doubt that all the time. For this message Mark offers us a reminder of our worthiness and uses music from David Bazan (Trouble With Boys) at the end to drive home the point. The video of David Bazan's song can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHah0WT8EtQ…

For his first word, Friend Chris L. explores the concept of "minimal viable product" which he picked up while working at a software company. While the concept sounded bad at first, Chris breaks down a minimal viable product in the context of his current life and explores how it is helping him see the world.…

As a Quaker community, we value the tradition in which we gather. Over the next year, we will spend time exploring various "testimonies" of Quakerism. For this installment, we hear from our Friend Mica about the Quaker use of Queries.โดย West Hills Friends

We invited Friend Lloyd Lee Wilson to speak to our community about the Quaker testimonies. What is at the core of Quaker faith and practice?โดย West Hills Friends

Lloyd Lee Wilson, visiting from Friendship Friends Meeting of North Carolina Yearly Meeting, offered a message on Waiting Worship. Waiting Worship appears outwardly as silence, but inwardly is waiting upon God for immediate inspiration.โดย West Hills Friends

On one of the most emotionally complex Sundays of the year, Mother's Day, klarissa offers a message on alloparenting and chosen family.โดย West Hills Friends

For the next few months, we are going to be diving into the depths of our Quaker tradition. Quakerism is still alive, and we are intrigued by the ways in which it continues to inform the way we live our lives. For our first part, we invited our Friends Pat & Carol to share about simplicity.โดย West Hills Friends

On Sunday morning, Mark worshipped in a cathedral with a million-dollar bell tower, and on Sunday evenings he pulled food out of a trader joe's dumpster to eat. The paradox of the Christian church in America is that it exists alongside Empire mentality. What does it mean for Jesus followers to bring about the Kin-dom of God in the midst of Empre?…

Margie Simmons shared a First Word about the metaphor of juggling glass balls, and about being okay with not being okay.โดย West Hills Friends

Mica shared a First Word about the tendency to avoid discomfort. Uncomfortable situations seem to be where the God of the Bible seeks to meet us.โดย West Hills Friends

Greg Morgan spoke about authority and the consensual power we give over to others. It has been his experience that the authority of Jesus grows experimentally within him. When you listen for God speaking through others, how do you look beyond the surface to listen for the Spirit of God? Are you mindful to give God inward authority over your own des…

Anne Marie Jacob shared a message about her calling to a ministry that supports mothers in exploring their spirituality. Her queries: Where in your life do you most encounter resistance to being beloved by God? When is it hard to accept that you are loved just as you are, with what you bring? Who or what might offer you companionship as you journey…

Octavia Butler's words, as recorded in her Parable series, are a profound revelation, "All that you touch you change...all that you change changes you...God is Change." Franklin Graham disagrees, as do many other Evangelical leaders. They say that God is unchanging. For this message, Mark wrestles with the contradicting messages.…

What happens when we gather together? For this message Graham Reside delves into the history of gatherings, and the way in which we create meaning for our lives by the ways in which we gather.โดย West Hills Friends

Perhaps it is time for us to unrest ourselves from the rational, static approach to the Bible. The Black Church has engaged with Dr. Christena Cleveland has called "sanctified imagination" when it comes to the Christian story. What can the white church learn from our brothers and sisters?โดย West Hills Friends

In the wake of what took place in our countries capital last week, we invited dr. doreen dodgen-magee to come and speak to us about ways we can be responding while also taking care of ourselves.โดย West Hills Friends

Was it "Vulnerability Sunday" at our Quaker meeting or what? For this Message, Mark shares how a recent revelation about his relationship to food has allowed him to access the wisdom found in many spiritual traditions that "power is at its best in weakness."โดย West Hills Friends