2-15-26 - We Could All Use Some Joy

We Could All Use Some Joy

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 15, 2026

Good morning, Friends and welcome to Light Reflections. This morning, the scripture I have chosen to support my message is from Psalm 51:9-15 from The Message version.  

God, make a fresh start in me,
    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
    or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
    put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
    so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
    and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
    I’ll let loose with your praise.

Quakers often talk about testimony. It is best understood as the public witness of an inward faith of both individual and community.  We see it as the consequence of one’s relationship to the Divine and the outworking of that relationship in one’s life.  This morning, as your pastor, I want to give a personal testimony to our community at First Friends.  

After Quaker Q&A last Sunday, I was discussing my message “Living by the Law of Love” with a member of our meeting. I asked them how they thought that message went, and they honestly responded, “It was good, but it could have used some more joy.” 

Now, I take every word that people at First Friends speak to me, email me, text me, and even post on social media about my messages very seriously.

Much of that feedback helps me know whether I am speaking to the condition of the Meeting and listening carefully to the Spirit’s guidance throughout the week – no matter if the responses are positive or negative.  

And I will be the first to admit if I sense I have missed the Spirit’s intent. I know my passions can get the best of me at times, and I know how I see or understand things can get in the way.  Thus sometimes, like last Sunday, I have to apologize for my choices and my words.    

And I know this may surprise some, but the majority of responses I receive lean heavily negative, because people tend to feel more inclined to share negative things over sharing positives.  

I thank all of you who have taken time to share encouragements or just check in with me, those keep me grounded.  

The reality is that pastors must have thick skin, continually educate themselves, and especially among Quakers always be ready to have their motives, authority, and education questioned. 

It is very humbling, but also at times extremely lonely. After 30 years of ministry, three graduate degrees, and numerous experiences in multiple religious communities, I have found at times “joy” to be a real challenge.

Once I took a class where we studied how the great theologians and pastors throughout history all suffered from melancholia (even George Fox was in that list - which if you read his journals, you cannot miss it.) This is why spiritual directors and therapists are so important to ministry professionals.

When the person said that my sermon could use more joy, last week, I did not respond but instead decided to ponder it, let it season, and allow it to speak to my condition in a Quakerly manner as we discussed last week at Quaker Q&A.      

Earlier this week, this pondering took me back to another challenging time in my life, actually just before coming here to serve as pastor of First Friends. 

At the time, our yearly meeting was preparing to split in the Northwest over same sex marriage and our Local Meeting and myself were getting a lot of heat, we also were just beginning a controversial change in leadership in our country, and I and my family had suffered greatly for standing up for what we believed about love and the beautiful diversity of people (including those in my own family).  

At this time, I found myself in a rather low place. I was struggling with my own identity as a Quaker minister, the trials and challenges of ministry, balancing family, and wondering if my joy, which had seemed to retreat during the struggles, would ever return. 

One afternoon, as I was perusing the new books at my local bookseller, I happened upon a book ironically titled, The Book of Joy. 

It wasn’t the title at first that caught my attention, but rather the two smiling headshots of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the cover. Who honestly looked like to giddy schoolboys.

I quickly picked up the book and found a chair to leaf through the pages.

I found myself immediately hooked in just the two-page invitation by the co-authors at the beginning of the book. Where they wrote,

“Lasting happiness cannot be found in pursuit of any goal or achievement. It does not reside in fortune or fame. It resides only in the human mind and heart, and it is here that we hope you will find it.”

I purchased the book and returned to my home, where sadly the book went on a pile as the reality of life and ministry returned to masking my joy. Oh, the stack of books we have good intentions of reading.

It would be several months before I would pick up the book again and put it in my bag as I headed off on a personal retreat.

It must have been profound, because I still can remember exactly where I was and the view from my chair at the retreat center at the Mount Angel Abbey in Mount Angel, Oregon, when I read the following words from Desmond Tutu,

“We are meant to live in joy. This does not mean that life will be easy or painless. It means that we can turn our faces to the wind and accept that this is the storm we must pass through. We cannot succeed in denying what exists. The acceptance of reality is the only place from which change can begin.”   

Most of the time, you and I are so focused on escaping the pain, hurt, and ridicule of the storm that we don’t see how we can use it for the positive. 

I was stuck for a long time – years in fact.  I thought I had lost my joy and was at a place where nothing could help bring change.  Maybe you can relate, because you too feel that way right now with what all is happening in our world and you too have your face turned toward the wind of the storm.

During the three-day retreat I consumed that 300-page book. I could not stop reading it.

I found that Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama began, as Quakers say, speaking to my condition in a very personal way.

Even though I had thought I lost my joy, in reality it was still just under the surface of my life. I believe our joy and the Light within us is intertwined and deeply connected.  

I was starting to learn.

It was an eye-opening revelation when I realized that my joy had been diminished not because of how others were treating me, or what was going on in my world or Meeting, but simply because of ME. 

It was I who was struggling to be grateful.

It was I who was lacking motivation.

It was I who was no longer able to reframe my own story to see the joy around me. 

I found myself frustrated when I had to admit I was jealous of fellow ministers and friends who seemed able to balance the challenges and still find joy in their lives.  What was their secret?

I also realized I had been suffering from chronic stress that left me fragmented and not living in the present moment, and my expectations were not realistic and my ambitions self-centered. 

My lack of joy was because of ME. 

Or as my therapist at the time said, “You allow the walls to build around you, but miss that there is an unlocked gate in that surrounding wall for you to walk through where your joy awaits on the other side. It is time to walk on through.”    

I lacked joy, because I was in the way of it returning.

I had been approaching my problems with rigidity and reactivity, and I had lost, once again, the ability to confront my life with creativity, compassion, humor, and acceptance.  All things Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama were opening my eyes to see.     

At one point my inner artist had me put the book down briefly and had me grabbing for my sketchpad. Sometimes words can inspire a deeper and more authentic expression from our hearts. 

As well, I have learned that expressing my creativity has always been a first step in the return of my joy.  That is why on most Fridays, my day off, you will find me spending time creating in my studio.  Some of us knit or crochet, some paint paintings, some write songs, some craft poems, some rearrange furniture, some garden, some organize, some solve problems…and I could go on and on. 

I sketch…and sometimes that is just simply doodling.  Some of my doodles have become mouthpieces for my ministry. Just the other day, I saw the doodle I made in my backyard the day I sensed the Spirit leading me to create the Friends Journal cover for the 400th Anniversary of George Fox’s Birth and it brought a smile to my face remembering that moment and being nudged by the Spirit.        

Back at that retreat, I was inspired to sketch out eight essentials from the Book of Joy that were speaking to my condition in the present moment (pictured here):

Pray, Gather, Community, Serve, Respect, Encourage, Forgive, Speak Truth.  

These were not just buzz words or hopeful goals. These were the essentials that I now knew could be the catalysts for bringing back my joy. 

How I viewed and approached these essentials would gradually change my understanding of life and ministry and bring the freedom I needed from my joyless pain.

Since that initial sketch, I have added several more essentials to the list, but these remained important keys to helping me return the joy in my life.

After returning from the retreat, I found my life and attitude changing and my joy returning.  I made some personal changes and life brought other adjustments, but most of all my joy began to return…well…or just maybe I allowed it to resurface – or I opened the gate in the wall and walked through.

I have continued to return to the wisdom of Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama in The Book of Joy. I was even inspired to paint a modern icon of the joyful soul of Archbishop Desmond Tutu which I prominently place on my wall in my studio to remind me of what joy looks like.

It is how I imagine Archbishop Tutu responding to this interaction from the book about him losing all his hair.

“The Dalai Lama erupted into a belly laugh and then began pointing at the Archbishop. ‘His face, his face,’ he said, gesturing to the Archbishop’s bald head. ‘He looks like a monk now, doesn’t he?’”

It simply makes me laugh and I can almost hear them giggle.

It continues to bring me joy and often entertaining conversations, and it is a great reminder to not suppress the joy within me.

For the next serval Sundays, I feel the Spirit is nudging me to expand on these eight essentials (pray, gather, community, serve, respect, encourage, forgive, speak truth) and how joy can flow from each of them into our daily lives. 

Just maybe during these difficult times, they will help you find your joy again. I know many of you are longing for that, because you have told me this.

As I found out, I needed some catalysts in my life to begin to see that return. 

Please understand, it is okay not to always feel joyful or sense joy in your life.  There are going to be rough times – and I know for many of you that is right now. But remember that joy may be just under the surface waiting for you to open the gate and allow it to envelope you.

This may be a season where the work on ourselves is just as important as our work in the world.        

Let me close our time with a prayer based on our scripture for this morning.   

God, make a fresh start in us,
    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of our lives.
Don’t throw us out with the trash,
    or fail to breathe holiness in us.
Bring us back from gray exile,
    put a fresh wind in our sails!
Give us a job teaching rebels your ways
    so the lost can find their way home.
Commute our death sentences, God, our salvation God,
    and we’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton our lips, dear God;
    We’ll let loose with your praise. Amen!

Now, as we enter waiting worship. Take a moment to ponder the following queries:

·      When have I felt I have lost the joy in my life? What caused it?

·      What am I allowing to steal my joy currently, why?

·      What really brings me joy? How can it help me face the difficult “winds and storms” of life?

2-8-26 - Living by the Law of Love

Living by the Law of Love

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 8, 2026

Good morning, Friends, and welcome to Light Reflections.  The scripture I have chosen to support my sermon is from Galatians 6:2-10 from the Message Version.

Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.

Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

So, let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

This morning, I must be honest, even though as a pastor, I usually I am drawn to scripture, other writings, poetry, meditation, or prayer in difficult moments and times – and I often guide others in these same paths – this week, I just wanted to throw up my hands and cry out, saying “enough is enough.” 

I wanted to literally “cast my burdens upon God” – “cast” in the true sense of throwing them with great force at God.

I also know that if anyone would have known I was considering casting those burdens at God, they would probably be quick to recite me another verse from the bible like

 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

But let’s be really honest, that all sounds wonderful, easy and quickly resolved, but I have never found it happens that way.   

Our burdens often abide. [Sigh]

Our casting them off may be better described by a fisherman’s line that is sent far across the water and then slowly comes back to us as we reel it in.

Yet, as I continued to ponder this week, I noticed again that line from the text from Matthew – his yoke is easy and his burden is light – it may be easy and light, but did you notice…

IT’S STILL THERE? 

Even Christ has a yoke and a burden! 

I think we too often miss that in our desire to have our burdens removed, but it also helps us identify and feel a real sense of connection with Christ. 

Even in scripture we too often write off the fact that Jesus was greatly burdened, he held such a heavy load that at one point he breaks down in tears looking out at Jerusalem and realizing their bad decisions, and on another occasion even runs away to the Garden of Gethsemane and with great force throws his burdens back at God. 

I can relate to this Jesus.

Folks, please hear me on this, we must get past the sugar-coated Christianity that leaves us with useless memes and scripture soundbites, which we too often translate as “hope and possibility”…yet often leave us feeling empty or even more burdened.

Imagine, if I was meeting with you and you had a major burden, and as your pastor, I said, “I think you should just cast your burdens on Christ or leave that at the feet of Jesus for him to take care of, or Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light.”  There is something off putting and even demeaning in that.   Like it is magic or even simple.  Casting our burdens on Christ are anything but that and it takes much more than some choice words from scripture without dealing with the process involved, the emotions involved, the life situations involved.    

I have also heard good meaning Christians and Friends throw out flippant verses, memes or soundbites with no context or explanation – often filler for neglecting the deeper work. They are like a comfort Band-aid in the moment, but the reality is that life will rip that band-aid off with no warning.

So if this is how we respond, we have missed an opportunity – we have missed how God handles those burdens through us. 

The author of the epistle to Galatians was having a hard time explaining this to the people. So, they wrote a letter to clarify, saying,

“Carry one another’s burdens, and when you do this, you are fulfilling the law of Christ.”

Wait a minute…I thought we could just send those off to Jesus and magically the burdens will be lifted, made lighter, made easier.  See what I mean. It seems like that, but there is more.

Sadly, too many people miss the fact that Jesus was clear that when he left this earth, we, his followers, were going to become his hands and feet, and even do greater things than he did. 

If we take this seriously, it is going to mean that we will need to become burden bearers. 

Now, before we go to much further, we better take a moment and find out what the “law of Christ” is, in which the author of Galatians is referring?

If you remember, Jesus summed up his Law this way – starting with the Great Shema in Deuteronomy 6 and then even adding his own additions…

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the law and prophets hang on these two commandments.”

When you begin to put this together, it is not hard to see why God would ask us to carry or bear the burdens of our neighbors.

By doing so, we are loving our neighbors as ourselves. We are becoming the incarnate Christ to those around us. We are picking up the mantle that Christ left us.

I don’t know about you, but when I am facing a burden, I want some tangible help, I want someone to sit with me and listen, to understand, to give advice at times, to just be present with me, to empathize, to even be willing to help me lighten or even carry that load.  

God is saying to each of us (and we Quakers know this),

“I am in you and it is your job as my church to carry one another’s burdens so that you will fulfill what is the essence of your very nature – LOVE”

I find it interesting, have you ever noticed that often when a neighbor or friend is burdened, you seem to be able to help them carry that burden easier than the burdens you are carrying yourself? 

Some of the most burdened people I know are also the people who are able to lift the burdens of those around them. 

I sense that is a part of our essence, the image of God within us. I believe humanity is divinely wired this way so we can take care of each other.

Folks, this shows how much we need one another.  That our lives are not just dependent on our relationship with God, but they also are dependent on our relationship with one another.  

Sadly, many of us, including myself, have too often woefully neglected the call to love our neighbor and carry their burden.  We have looked the other way, given excuses, even blamed them for their own burdens. That is not living by the Law of Love.

We may celebrate our independence in this country, but it is going to be our DEPENDENCE, love and willingness to carry one another’s burdens that is really going to bring us true freedom and hope.   

Folks, I will be the first to say that it is easier to seek comfort and lean on my own privilege, even point a finger at someone else instead of myself, and focus on my own needs before helping carry someone else’s burden.

But the reality is that for many of us, God has given us an abundance of resources to begin to lighten the loads of our neighbors.

I think it might be time to return to our Quaker Spices for a couple quick reminders. Our spices or testimonies speak directly to why we are called to carry one another’s burdens – let me point a little something out from each one:

Simplicity

Quakers have always felt they should live simply, tending to basic needs and avoiding luxuries. They were aware of the poverty around them, and that resources needed to be shared.

Peace and Nonviolence

Since most conflicts do not escalate to war...pursuit of peaceful approaches to conflict resolution in our personal lives and in the wider world is seen as a constant obligation.

Integrity and Truth

A manifestation of this testimony is often called “speaking truth to power.” Quakers are exhorted not to stand by, but to speak out about injustices they see.

Community

Quakers commit themselves to responding to the needs of others, and to the flourishing of local and global communities in all their diversity.

Equality

Also following from the principle that there is that of God in everyone is the notion that all people must be treated and cared for equally regardless of gender, ability, race, socio-economic status, sexuality and any number of other identifying characteristics for which people may be privileged or disadvantaged.

Stewardship

Stewardship is a not a choice it is a responsibility; it is what we owe the future. Three phrases used by Quakers to describe how we should take care of the Earth are “right sharing, right ordering and good stewardship”

Please remember these Spices or Quaker testimonies are the way we, Quakers, work for a connection between our inner and outer lives. They are the way Quakers take their relationship with the Divine Spirit and turn it into action.

They are also the foundation for why we, Friends, tangibly carry one another’s burdens and lighten each other’s load.

For now, let us enter into waiting worship and ponder or meditate on the following queries:

·      Who are the people in my life that help carry my burdens, how have I connected with and thanked them lately?

·      How well am I living out my call as a “burden bearer”? Is there someone in my life currently that I am neglecting being the incarnate Christ to in their daily struggle? 

·      Which of the S.P.I.C.E.S. challenge me the most and draw me to further exploration this week? 

2-1-26 - Why Truth Matters

Why Truth Matters

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

February 1, 2026

Good morning, Friends, and welcome to Light Reflections.  The scripture I have chosen to support my message is from Matthew 5:33-37 from The Message.

“And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.

Throughout this week, I have been personally reflecting, contemplating, and having a variety of deep conversations, but one subject keeps coming to the surface – that being TRUTH. 

It seems only appropriate that on Scout Sunday we would talk about Truth as it is a foundational tenant of both Boy and Girl Scouts. I personally remember in my scout days being Trustworthy was the first descriptor of a scout.  It meant that we were to be first and foremost people who tell the truth and keep promises, so that others could depend on us.  And the same is true for Quakers as we consider this part of our testimony of Integrity.    

Sadly, today, being trustworthy in this way, seems to have fallen into a gray area of interpretation and contention.  

Yet, being considered trustworthy is as old as time.

If you go all-the-way-back for a moment to the opening story of the Bible, you will find an interesting dialogue between God and Adam and Eve.  In that story God tells Adam and Eve they are free to eat from every tree in the Garden of Eden but one.

And in a rather odd pronouncement, God says that one tree is his alone. If they eat from this forbidden tree, they will die.

As with all good stories that are to teach a lesson, Adam and Eve determine they could not live with this God deciding the nature of what was good or bad for them.

No, they would rather choose good and bad for themselves. Those are often famous last words.

So, Adam and Eve become the first “truth spinners” – and the rest seems to be history (as they say).

The story from Genesis goes on to show how Adam and Eve began lying to themselves about the tree and about God.

They had to spin this by creating a new scenario – “God is holding out on us.”  And this thinking, quickly led to a downward spiral of lies which ultimately finds them naked and afraid. 

To think the very first story in the bible tells of a God actually searching for Adam and Eve to reconcile their broken relationship, to reclaim truth, and to bring peace again to their lives, is very interesting.

Sadly, this story of Adam and Eve, is a great metaphor for the “truth spinners” we have become and see so prevalent in our society, today.        

To bring this “truth spinning” to our current day, Adele Ahlberg Calhoun describes some of the modern ways we still do this, such as…

·      We pad expense accounts with rationalizations and denials.

·      We back out of commitments with blame and deceit.

·      Advertisers, corporations, government & non-governmental agencies, educational and religious institutions “spin” the truth - everything from ruining the environment to insider trading gets the spin.

It’s not hard to understand why people don’t know who or what to believe these days.

And today we have to add Artificial Intellegence (or AI), that can both help us in many ways and deceive us in very unhelpful ways.   

This is why the early Quakers were committed so strongly to telling the Truth and ultimately embracing a testimony of integrity. And folks, this was not just in their personal lives, but in all areas in which they engaged – from politics and legislation to civil liberties, to educational, economic, and workplace scenarios.

The Early Quakers believed truth telling or as they called it “plain speaking” did not,

·      exaggerate,

·      minimize,

·      deny,

·      rationalize or

·      manage the truth

Wow, good thing they did not have our 24hour news channels, social media outlets, and advertising industry back when they embraced this tenant of our faith.   

Friend Gray Cox in his Pendle Hill Pamphlet, Bearing Witness-Quaker Process and a Culture of Peace says the following:

...Quakers view truth as something that happens, it occurs...Truth is not a dead fact which is known: It is a living occurrence in which we participate....

The guiding concern of people bearing witness is to live rightly, in ways that are exemplary. Insofar as they have an end they aim at, it is perhaps most helpful to think of it as the aim of cultivating their souls and converting [or better transforming] others.....

Quakers are convinced that genuine leadings all proceed from a common ground, spring from a unity which we seek and find...

In a world, that currently lacks a great deal of truth and the desire to uphold it, we are seeing a rise in anxiety, frustration, and misinformation.  It no longer takes a turning on the news to get the facts straight. 

Now, we may spend an afternoon reading different perspectives and accounts, watching multiple recordings of events from personal cell phone cameras, social media influencers, and TV networks. We can literally turn the channel and watch the same story being told completely from a different perspective on a different channel.  And thus, we gravitate to what we like to hear and often make that our truth – when it may too be far from it. It is frustrating to say the least.  There was a time when Truth was the goal, but now there are many other goals. 

This makes us feel that we have no influence on this current state of trustworthiness, but honestly, that, too, is a lie we have told ourselves.

Just as the early Quakers, our voices and lives need to be heard and seen.  We need to be pronouncing truth with integrity, on a daily basis, not just when it seems acceptable – and in ALL areas of our lives.

As Cox said, we need to cultivate this in our own souls, first, and then allow it to convert (or transform) those around us, so that we can find a common ground to work from.

I wonder what would happen if as Quakers we re-committed ourselves during these troubling times to work on our deficiencies in the areas of “telling the Truth and integrity” (as our ancestors before us)?  

·      What if we refused to spin events and experiences in order to impress others?

·      What if we stopped exaggerating?

·      What if we stopped cheating on tests, taxes, insurance forms, etc…?

·      What if we kept promises and followed through?

·      What if we repented, and informed others of when we had lied to them?

·      What if we spoke truth in love?

·      What if we refused to flatter or dissemble?

·      What if we said what we meant and meant what we said?

·      What if we refused to slander another?

·      What if we refused to gossip or pass gossip and rumors?

It starts with us.  Before we point a finger at our neighbor, or that politician, or that relative, or whomever, we must first point the finger at ourselves and work on our own trustworthiness.  

Quakers have amazing ancestors who are exemplary examples of people who told the truth with plain speaking – and who used their lives and beliefs to change the world.

It is good to remember that our Quaker ancestors did not begin as world changers…they began as ordinary people like you and me. 

·      They had to look at their current condition and ask those questions of themselves. 

·      They had to start small in their own circles of influence, during difficult times, and find ways to stand firm in their beliefs. 

·      They had to count the cost of living and believing in a radical way from their peers.

And because they did…we are remembering their examples today. 

But remembering is different than following their example. 

Their example started somewhere…but too often we simply look to the final results of their lives, and see how big an impact they had, and leave it with their legacy. 

Just maybe we need to follow their process first, so we, too, can leave a legacy for our future generations.  

Did you know that before we were labeled as Quakers, we were actually called “Friends of Truth”?  Just maybe we need to embrace that name once again. 

Well, as I wrap up this message, I want to share a final Quaker story about truth, that often is taught to our older children. When I happened upon again this week, it took on a very different meaning. The story is about Allen Jay a 13-year-old boy at the time of this story (If the name sounds familiar, Allen would later became a prominent 19th-century American Quaker minister, educator, and administrator known for his work in reviving Southern Quakerism after the Civil War. He served as a key fundraiser for Earlham College, traveled extensively as a minister, and was considered one of the best-loved Quakers of his era.) His family was also part of the Underground Railroad. Remember this is a Quaker story for older children about telling the truth.

Allen Jay said that he and his father were outside working one day, when their neighbor, a doctor, who was an Abolitionist, came riding up to the front of the house.

The doctor said that an escaped slave was nearby, and that a group of slave catchers were looking for him. The doctor rode away, and Allen Jay’s father said,

“Allen, I’m going out back of the house. If anyone comes to the gate, you can hide them down in the corn field under the big walnut tree. But don’t tell me or anyone else.”

By and by the escaped slave came along, and Allen Jay hid him down in the cornfield. Back at the house, Allen Jay’s mother was fixing up some dinner in a basket. She said,

“Allen, if thee knows anybody who thee thinks is hungry, thee might take this basket to him.”

That afternoon, the slave catchers came riding up, and Allen Jay’s father went out to meet them. The slave catchers asked if he’d seen an escaping slave, and Allen Jay’s father truthfully said he hadn’t. Allen said, “I kept out of sight.”

Folks, there are Quakers, right now, in Minneapolis who are living out a very similar Truth. Someday we will tell their stories of Truth. May the Spirit be with them and grant them safety and peace, today.  

Now, this week I have prepared our queries in the form of a practice: 

I ask that we start by taking some time to assess our own personal honesty. As I have been speaking about the last couple weeks in numerous settings, to make real change, we must first make changes in our own hearts.

Think back over the past week, and ask yourself the following…

·      Where have I been tempted to stretch the truth, take advantage of a privilege, break a commitment or gossip? What does that say about me and my Truth?

·      Where is it hardest for me to tell the truth?

·      Finally, this week, I challenge you to practice one of these habits:

1.    not exaggerating,

2.    not gossiping, or

3.    not rationalizing.

Then ask yourself, what is it like for me to do this and how does it effect my truth?

1-25-26 - The Path of Peace

The Path of Peace

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

January 25, 2026

Good morning, Friends, and welcome to Light Reflections.  This morning the scripture text that I have chosen to support my message is from Philemon 1:3-9a from the New Revised Standard Version.  It is a greeting, from Paul to his friend Philemon and speaks of the love which brings peace.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God always when I mention you in my prayers, because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the partnership of your faith may become effective as you comprehend all the good that we share in Christ.  I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.

For this reason, though I am more than bold enough in Christ to command you to do the right thing, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love.

With all that has transpired since the last time we gathered for worship, I have done a lot of reflecting, meditating, listening, and discerning. In the end, I found myself focusing a great deal this week on what it means to be a peacemaker in our world, today.

Making the choice not to go to Minneapolis for the March with the other clergy this week (which I wrote about in greater detail in our Friend to Friend newsletter) has caused me to ask some even deeper questions of how I am personally being a peacemaker in this place where I am called and set apart to minister here at Indianapolis First Friends.      

What has become increasingly apparent to me as I have watched the news, or read social media, even in conversations with you or in my networks as a pastor, is how little is being said about peace or peacemaking – and how little is being done to seek any semblance of peace in our world.

Sadly, much of what I see or hear being discussed is revenge, gossip, payback, or people looking for groups or individuals to blame, all while often disregarding with what others are saying or feeling.

Too often we are simply closing our ears and secluding ourselves from our neighbors. And our lack of listening and understanding is leading to violence in many and various ways.   

Author and pediatrician, Rachel Naomi Remen said it well, 

"Because we have stopped listening to each other we may even have forgotten how to listen, stopped learning how to recognize meaning and fill ourselves from the ordinary events of our lives".

I remember having some of these same thoughts one summer when we took our family to visit the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument in southeast Montana. There we heard of a vision given to the First Nations Chief Sitting Bull that the white man who was taking their land had “no ears” to hear the desires of natives.

Sadly, I believe our country was founded by many who had “no ears” to hear  or “eyes” to see the bigger picture of life together with people different than themselves.  We too often closed our ears and moved forward – not listening, not waiting, not seeing, and not working out of love. And the sins of our past have now trickled down to our present time creating immense amounts of violence in our world, today.

We are constantly looking to pass the blame to specific groups of people – whether it is political parties or their candidates, religions, and yes cultures and races - because, let’s be honest, it is how we control or conquer for our own benefits.

Folks, this is just the opposite of being a peacemaker - actually when this happens peace is lost. 

When we don’t listen carefully,

when we don’t seek to really understand, and

when we quickly pass judgements,

We perpetuate violence in our world.  

Now, I have to be honest. For several years now, I have been doing some internal work in this area, personally.  I have been working hard to acknowledge, admit, and even apologize for the times I have not listened, when I too have had “no ears” for people, their views or ideas, and have created more conflict or even a communication barrier. 

Seeking peace and being a peacemaker has never been easy work, but it is a venture I believe our world, right now, is desperately craving and in need of.

We don’t need any more people with “no ears,” rather we are in need of peacemakers that will actually live out the change in their day to day lives!

I believe it is time for us to return to and embrace our Quaker distinctives - especially in the area of peacemaking.  

A few years ago, I had a conversation with a former colleague who had started attending another Friends Church here in Indiana (in a different Yearly Meeting).  As we talked, he shared of his frustrations with the meeting he attended. The biggest frustration being their lack of any visible “peace testimony.”  What really hit me though was when he said,

“It is like these Friends are ashamed of being part of a peace tradition and now more than ever they should be embracing it.” 

Honestly, the Quaker “Peace Testimony” has been a controversial part of who we are throughout our history.  I believe this is mainly due to it being much easier to close our ears and point a finger than it is to listen.

Just maybe, we don’t embrace a peace testimony because it is simply hard work. I am reminded of the words of Eleanor Roosevelt who said,

“It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”

Or Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh who said,

"To work for peace is to uproot war from ourselves and from the hearts of men and women".

Our America Christian culture has over emphasized for way too long “Peace with God” only to sidestep or even avoid seeking peace with our neighbors, our families, and our colleagues.   

So, maybe as one who is called to this community to facilitate a better conversation, we should start this morning with a refresher course – and that means we will need to return to our own historic roots.

Let me read what it states in our Faith and Practice about our Foundations of Peace: 

FRIENDS emphasize the fact that the most effective way to end war is to remove its causes, such as misunderstanding, the desire for revenge, the spirit of aggression, and economic, racial, and territorial rivalries. This calls for the utmost endeavor to demonstrate the working power of fair dealing, universal equity, friendliness, and sympathy. The intricate network of modern life demands that Friends use every legitimate means to influence the attitudes of their government toward other nations, that all may conform to the highest standards of justice and good will as taught by Jesus. They should equip themselves with knowledge of the needs and opportunities for whatever ministries of Christian friendship exist in the world family of nations. They should cultivate the personal skills and abilities that will enable them to become interpreters of the Christian way of life which alone is the sure foundation for enduring peace.

Folks, this is our heritage, this is one of our distinctives, testimonies, or S.P.I.C.E.S., and this is not new for us as Quakers, but it may be new for some of us…or maybe because of the way of American Christianity it has become hard to understand – especially since many Christians in America have embraced, even welcomed a more violent spirit, tied to nationalism or a specific political party’s beliefs.

And that violent spirit is not just in military campaigns or politics, Quaker Parker Palmer shows us that this violence is permeating not only our churches, but our culture, our families, our own minds, he says,

“Violence is done when parents insult children, when teachers demean students, when supervisors treat employees as disposable means to economic ends, when physicians treat patients as objects, when people condemn gays and lesbians “in the name of God,” when racists live by the belief that people with a different skin color are less than human.  And just as physical violence may lead to bodily death, spiritual violence causes death in other guises – the death of a sense of self, of trust in others, of risk taking on behalf of creativity, of commitment to the common good.  If obituaries were written for deaths of this kind, every daily newspaper would be a tome.”

Folks, our voices for peace and nonviolence are desperately needed again in our violent world, today. This is supposed to be our nature as Quakers – but I kind of feel that we have lost our edge.  Maybe we are a bit out of shape or lacking discipline. Or maybe we have just gotten lazy and fat when it comes to peacemaking and taken it for granted.  

We should not be ashamed or reticent of our stickers that read “War is not the Answer” or signs that read “No matter where you are from, we are glad you are our neighbor” or hashtag (#) Love Thy Neighbor (No Exceptions).

In her intro to the book “Practicing Peace: A Devotional Walk Through of the Quaker Tradition” by Catherine Whitmire she writes,

Quakers have been practicing peace as a spiritual discipline since the 1650’s. Their well-worn path to peace begins in prayer and worship, leads to recognizing God in all people, includes practicing nonviolence, and endeavors to make love the guiding force in all they do. This path which is available to everyone, celebrates life’s highest joys and witnesses’ life’s deepest tragedies amidst the beauty, uncertainty, and violence surrounding us. While practicing peace is not always easy, it is a spiritual discipline that expands love, generates hope, and satisfies our soul’s deep longing for peace.

Did you hear that?  This path which is available to everyone, celebrates life’s highest joys and witnesses’ life’s deepest tragedies amidst the beauty, uncertainty, and violence surrounding us.

Folks, that is what I want for this community and for our world – and I hope that is the same for you this morning. Let’s again seek the path of peace together as a community of faith!

Back in October of 2001, Friends in the northwest participated in a Peace Conference held in Newberg, OR. They created a set of 7 queries to help us process how we can be better peacemakers in our world.  Let these be the queries on our mind this week and as we enter waiting worship this morning.

1.      Do you find ways to live peacefully in your daily relationships? Do you encourage others to do so by education and example?

2.      Do you recognize, express, and dwell in God as your ultimate source of security?

3.      In a spirit of repentance, confession, and forgiveness, are you willing to leave vengeance to God and pray for your enemies?

4.      Are you active in a community that supports one another in following God’s call to peace?

5.      Are you proactive in praying, speaking, and acting against the injustice that may bring on the occasion for terrorism and war?

6.      Do you find ways to learn about and understand the Friends peace testimony?

7.      Do you act in loving and respectful ways toward those who disagree with the Quaker peace testimony?

1-18-26 - Rediscovering Lost Values

Rediscovering Lost Values

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

January 18, 2026

Good morning and welcome to Light Reflections.  This Sunday we are celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The scripture I have chosen to support the message is from Luke 2: 41-52 from the New Revised Standard Version.  

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival.  When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends.  When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor.

As one who has studied Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in depth, I would like for us to hear from the man himself on this weekend where we honor him. It is easy for us to go to his most popular speeches and sermons, everything from “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” to “I have a Dream,” but as one person asked me this week, maybe we should hear what he had to say to the church, like “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

 All of these are good and speak to our condition still today, but I have decided to go back this morning to one of his early sermons that I believe is prophetic as still universally applies to our current condition. As I read it, you too, may be amazed at its relevance, today.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the following sermon, “Rediscovering Lost Values” at Detroit’s Second Baptist Church. Detroit, Michigan on February 28, 1954. He had just turned 25 years old and was just weeks into his first pastorate.  It would be a little over a year later when he would become a Doctor. So, this morning we are hearing from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Please note these are his actual words, they have not been altered from 1954. 

Now, let us listen to the words of young Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.  

I want you to think with me this morning from the subject: rediscovering lost values. Rediscovering lost values. There is something wrong with our world, something fundamentally and basically wrong. I don’t think we have to look too far to see that. I’m sure that most of you would agree with me in making that assertion. And when we stop to analyze the cause of our world’s ills, many things come to mind.

We begin to wonder if it is due to the fact that we don’t know enough. But it can’t be that. Because in terms of accumulated knowledge we know more today than men have known in any period of human history. We have the facts at our disposal. We know more about mathematics, about science, about social science, and philosophy, than we’ve ever known in any period of the world’s history. So it can’t be because we don’t know enough.

And then we wonder if it is due to the fact that our scientific genius lags behind. That is, if we have not made enough progress scientifically. Well then, it can’t be that. For our scientific progress over the past years has been amazing. Man through his scientific genius has been able to warp distance and place time in chains, so that today it’s possible to eat breakfast in New York City and supper in London, England. Back in about 1753 it took a letter three days to go from New York City to Washington, and today you can go from here to China in less time than that. It can’t be because man is stagnant in his scientific progress. Man’s scientific genius has been amazing.

I think we have to look much deeper than that if we are to find the real cause of man’s problems and the real cause of the world’s ills today. If we are to really find it I think we will have to look in the hearts and souls of men.

The trouble isn’t so much that we don’t know enough, but it’s as if we aren’t good enough. The trouble isn’t so much that our scientific genius lags behind, but our moral genius lags behind. The great problem facing modern man is that, that the means by which we live, have outdistanced the spiritual ends for which we live.  So we find ourselves caught in a messed-up world. The problem is with man himself and man’s soul. We haven’t learned how to be just and honest and kind and true and loving. And that is the basis of our problem. The real problem is that through our scientific genius we’ve made of the world a neighborhood, but through our moral and spiritual genius we’ve failed to make of it a brotherhood. And the great danger facing us today is not so much the atomic bomb that was created by physical science. Not so much that atomic bomb that you can put in an aeroplane and drop on the heads of hundreds and thousands of people—as dangerous as that is. But the real danger confronting civilization today is that atomic bomb which lies in the hearts and souls of men, capable of exploding into the vilest of hate and into the most damaging selfishness. That’s the atomic bomb that we’ve got to fear today. Problem is with the men. Within the heart and the souls of men. That is the real basis of our problem.

My friends, all I’m trying to say is that if we are to go forward today, we’ve got to go back and rediscover some mighty precious values that we’ve left behind. That’s the only way that we would be able to make of our world a better world, and to make of this world what God wants it to be and the real purpose and meaning of it. The only way we can do it is to go back, and rediscover some mighty precious values that we’ve left behind.

Our situation in the world today reminds me of a very popular situation that took place in the life of Jesus. It was read in the Scripture for the morning, found over in the second chapter of Luke’s gospel. The story is very familiar, very popular, we all know it. You remember when Jesus was about twelve years old, there was the custom of the feast. Jesus’ parents took him up to Jerusalem. That was an annual occasion, the feast of the Passover, and they went up to Jerusalem and they took Jesus along with them. And they were there a few days, and then after being there they decided to go back home, to Nazareth. And they started out, and I guess as it was the tradition in those days, the father probably traveled in front, and then the mother and the children behind. You see they didn’t have the modern conveniences that we have today. They didn’t have automobiles and subways and buses. They, they walked, and traveled on donkeys and camels and what have you. So they traveled very slow, but it was usually the tradition for the father to lead the way.

And they left Jerusalem going on back to Nazareth, and I imagine they walked a little while and they didn’t look back to see if everybody was there. But then the Scripture says, they went about a day’s journey and they stopped, I imagine to check up, to see if everything was all right, and they discovered that something mighty precious was missing. They discovered that Jesus wasn’t with them. Jesus wasn’t in the midst. And so they, they paused there, and, and looked and they didn’t see him around, and they went on, and, and started looking among the kinsfolk, and they went on back to Jerusalem and found him there, in the temple with the doctors of the law.

Now, the real thing that is to be seen here is this, that the parents of Jesus realized that they had left, and that they had lost a mighty precious value. They had sense enough to know that before they could go forward to Nazareth, they had to go backward to Jerusalem to rediscover this value. They knew that. They knew that they couldn’t go home to Nazareth until they went back to Jerusalem.

Sometimes, you know, it’s necessary to go backward in order to go forward. That’s, that’s, that’s an analogy of life. I remember the other day I was driving out of New York City into Boston, and I stopped off in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to visit some friends. And I went out of New York on a highway that is known as the Merritt Parkway, it leads into Boston, a very fine parkway. And I stopped in Bridgeport, and after being there for two or three hours, I decided to go on to Boston, and I wanted to get back on the Merritt Parkway. And I went out thinking that I was going toward the Merritt Parkway. I started out, and, and I rode, and I kept riding, and I looked up and I saw a sign saying two miles to a little town that I knew I was to bypass—I wasn’t to pass through that particular town. So, I, I thought I was on the wrong road. I stopped and I asked a gentleman on the road which way would I get to the Merritt Parkway. And he said, the Merritt Parkway is about twelve or fifteen miles back that way. You’ve got to turn around and go back to the Merritt Parkway, you are out of the way now. In other words, before I could go forward to Boston, I had to go back about twelve or fifteen miles to get to the Merritt Parkway. May it not be that, that modern man has gotten on the wrong parkway?  And if he is to go forward to the city of salvation, he’s got to go back and get on the right parkway.

And so that was the thing that Jesus’ parents realized, that, that they had to go back and, and, and find this mighty precious value that they had left behind, in order to go forward. They realized that. And so they went back to Jerusalem and discovered Jesus, rediscovered him so to speak, in order to go forward to Nazareth.

Now that’s what we’ve got to do in our world today. We’ve left a lot of precious values behind; we’ve lost a lot of precious values. And if we are to go forward, if we are to make this a better world in which to live, we’ve got to go back. We’ve got to rediscover these precious values that we’ve left behind.

I want to deal with one or two of these mighty precious values that we’ve left behind, that if we’re to go forward and to make this a better world, we must rediscover.

The first is this—the first principle of value that we need to rediscover is this—that all reality hinges on moral foundations. In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe, just as abiding as the physical laws. I’m not so sure we all believe that. We, we never doubt that there are physical laws of the universe that we must obey. We never doubt that. And so, we just don’t jump out of airplanes or jump off of high buildings for the fun of it—we don’t do that. Because we, we unconsciously know that there is a final law of gravitation, and if you disobey it you’ll suffer the consequences—we know that. Even if we don’t know it in its Newtonian formulation, we, we know it intuitively, and so we just don’t jump off the highest building in Detroit for the fun of it—we, we, we don’t do that. Because we know that there is a law of gravitation which is final in the universe. (Lord) If we disobey it, we’ll suffer the consequences.

But I’m not so sure if we know that there are, are moral laws, just as abiding as the physical law. I’m not so sure about that. I’m not so sure we really believe that there is a law of love in this universe, and that if you disobey it you’ll suffer the consequences. I’m not so sure if we really believe that. Now, at least two things convince me that, that we don’t believe that, that we have strayed away from the principle that this is a moral universe.

The first thing is that we have adopted in the modern world a sort of a relativistic ethic. Now, I’m not trying to use a big word here. I’m trying to say something very concrete. And that is that, that we have accepted the attitude that right and wrong are merely relative to our.… 2

Most people can’t stand up for their, for their convictions, because the majority of people might not be doing it. See, everybody’s not doing it, so it must be wrong. And, and since everybody is doing it, it must be right. (Yes, Lord help him) So a sort of numerical interpretation of what’s right.

But I’m here to say to you this morning that some things are right and some things are wrong. Eternally so, absolutely so. It’s wrong to hate. It always has been wrong and it always will be wrong! It’s wrong in America, it’s wrong in Germany, it’s wrong in Russia, it’s wrong in China! It was wrong in two thousand b.c., and it’s wrong in nineteen fifty-four a.d.! It always has been wrong, and it always will be wrong! It’s wrong to throw our lives away in riotous living.  No matter if everybody in Detroit is doing it. It’s wrong! It always will be wrong! And it always has been wrong. It’s wrong in every age, and it’s wrong in every nation. Some things are right and some things are wrong, no matter if everybody is doing the contrary. Some things in this universe are absolute. The God of the universe has made it so. And so long as we adopt this relative attitude toward right and wrong, we’re revolting against the very laws of God himself.

Now that isn’t the only thing that convinces me that we’ve strayed away from this attitude, this principle. The other thing is that we have adopted a sort of a pragmatic test for right and wrong—whatever works is right. If it works, it’s all right. Nothing is wrong but that which does not work. If you don’t get caught, it’s right. That’s the attitude, isn’t it? It’s all right to disobey the Ten Commandments, but just don’t disobey the Eleventh, Thou shall not get caught. That’s the attitude. That’s the prevailing attitude in, in our culture. No matter what you do, just do it with a, with a bit of finesse. You know, a sort of attitude of the survival of the slickest. Not the Darwinian survival of the fittest, but the survival of the slickest—who, whoever can be the slickest is, is the one who right. It’s all right to lie, but lie with dignity. It’s all right to steal and to rob and extort, but do it with a bit of finesse. It’s even all right to hate, but just dress your hate up in the garments of love and make it appear that you are loving when you are actually hating. Just get by!That’s the thing that’s right according to this new ethic.

My friends, that attitude is destroying the soul of our culture! It’s destroying our nation! The thing that we need in the world today, is a group of men and women who will stand up for right and be opposed to wrong, wherever it is. A group of people who have come to see that some things are wrong, whether they’re never caught up with. Some things are right, whether nobody sees you doing them or not.

All I’m trying to say is, our world hinges on moral foundations. God has made it so! God has made the universe to be based on a moral law. So long as man disobeys it he is revolting against God. That’s what we need in the world today—people who will stand for right and goodness. It’s not enough to know the intricacies of zoology and biology. But we must know the intricacies of law. (Well) It is not enough to know that two and two makes four. But we’ve got to know somehow that it’s right to be honest and just with our brothers. It’s not enough to know all about our philosophical and mathematical disciplines. (Have mercy) But we’ve got to know the simple disciplines, of being honest and loving and just with all humanity. If we don’t learn it, we will destroy ourselves, (That’s right) by the misuse of our own powers.

This universe hinges on moral foundations. There is something in this universe that justifies Carlyle in saying,

No lie can live forever.

There is something in this universe that justifies William Cullen Bryant in saying,

Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again.

There is something in this universe that justifies James Russell Lowell in saying,

Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne.
With that scaffold sways the future. (Lord help him)
Behind the dim unknown stands God,
Within the shadow keeping watch above his own.

There is something in this universe that justifies the biblical writer in saying,

You shall reap what you sow.

This is a law-abiding universe. This is a moral universe. It hinges on moral foundations. If we are to make of this a better world, we’ve got to go back and rediscover that precious value that we’ve left behind.

And then there is a second thing, a second principle that we’ve got to go back and rediscover. And that is that all reality has spiritual control. In other words, we’ve got to go back and rediscover the principle that there is a God behind the process. Well this you say, why is it that you raise that as a point in your sermon, in a church? The mere fact we are at church, we believe in God, we don’t need to go back and rediscover that. The mere fact that we are here, and the mere fact that we sing and pray, and come to church—we believe in God. Well, there’s some truth in that. But we must remember that it’s possible to affirm the existence of God with your lips and deny his existence with your life. The most dangerous type of atheism is not theoretical atheism, but practical atheism—(Amen) that’s the most dangerous type. And the world, even the church, is filled up with people who pay lip service to God and not life service. And there is always a danger that we will make it appear externally that we believe in God when internally we don’t. (Yes) We say with our mouths that we believe in Him, but we live with our lives like He never existed. That is the ever-present danger confronting religion. That’s a dangerous type of atheism.

And I think, my friends, that that is the thing that has happened in America. That we have unconsciously left God behind. Now, we haven’t consciously done it, we, we have unconsciously done it. You see, the text, you remember the text said, that Jesus’ parents went a whole day’s journey not knowing that he wasn’t with them. They didn’t consciously leave him behind.  It was unconscious. Went a whole day and didn’t even know it. It wasn’t a conscious process. You see, we didn’t grow up and say, now, good-bye God, we’re going to leave you now. The materialism in America has been an unconscious thing. Since the rise of the Industrial Revolution in England, and then the invention of all of our gadgets and contrivances and all of the things and modern conveniences—we unconsciously left God behind. We didn’t mean to do it.

We just became so involved in, in getting our big bank accounts that we unconsciously forgot about God—we didn’t mean to do it.

We became so involved in getting our nice luxurious cars, and they’re very nice, but we became so involved in it that it became much more convenient to ride out to the beach on Sunday afternoon than to, than to come to church that morning. It, it was an unconscious thing—we didn’t mean to do it.

We became so involved and fascinated by the intricacies of television that we found it a little more convenient to stay at home than to come to church. It was an unconscious thing. We didn’t mean to do it. We didn’t just go up and say, now God, you’re gone. We had gone a whole day’s journey, and then we came to see that we had unconsciously ushered God out of the universe. A whole day’s journey—didn’t mean to do it. We just became so involved in things that we forgot about God.

And that is the danger confronting us, my friends. That in a nation as ours where we stress mass production, and that’s mighty important, where we have so many conveniences and luxuries and all of that, there is the danger that we will unconsciously forget about God. I’m not saying that these things aren’t important, we need them, we need cars, we need money, all of that’s important to live. But whenever they become substitutes for God, they become injurious.

And may I say to you this morning, that none of these things can ever be real substitutes for God. Automobiles and subways, televisions and radios, dollars and cents, can never be substitutes for God. For long before any of these came into existence, we needed God. And long after they will have passed away, we will still need God.

And I say to you this morning in conclusion that I’m not going to put my ultimate faith in things. I’m not going to put my ultimate faith in gadgets and contrivances. As a young man with most of my life ahead of me, I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow. But to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Not in the little gods that can be with us in a few moments of prosperity. But in the God who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death, and causes us to fear no evil. That’s the God.

Not in the god that can give us a few Cadillac cars and Buick convertibles, as nice as they are, that are in style today and out of style three years from now. But the God who threw up the stars, to bedeck the heavens like swinging lanterns of eternity.

Not in the god that can throw up a few skyscraping buildings, but the God who threw up the gigantic mountains, kissing the sky, as if to bathe their peaks in the loftitudes.

Not in the god that can give us a few televisions and radios, but the God who threw up that great cosmic light, that gets up early in the morning in the eastern horizon, who paints its technicolor across the blue, something that man could never make.

I’m not going to put my ultimate faith in the little gods that can be destroyed in an atomic age, but the God who has been our help in ages past, and our hope for years to come, and our shelter in the time of storm, and our eternal home. That’s the God that I’m putting my ultimate faith in. That’s the God that I call upon you to worship this morning. Go out and be assured that that God is going to last forever. Storms might come and go. Our great skyscraping buildings will come and go. Our beautiful automobiles will come and go, but God will be here. Plants may wither, the flowers may fade away, but the Word of our God shall stand forever, and nothing can ever stop Him. All of the P-38s in the world can never reach God. All of our atomic bombs can never reach Him. The God that I’m talking about this morning is the God of the universe and the God that will last through the ages. If we are to go forward this morning, we’ve got to go back and find that God. That is the God that demands and commands our ultimate allegiance.

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover these precious values (Well)—that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control. God bless you.

Now, as we enter waiting worship this morning, I ask you to join me in pondering the following queries:

1.      Is there a need for moral laws, today? Is there still a right and wrong in the world, today?

2.      Where am I standing up for right and opposing what is wrong?

3.      Do I believe there is a God behind the process, or have I left God behind?

1-11-26 - Waiting on the World to Change

Waiting on the World to Change

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

January 11, 2026

Good morning, Friends, and welcome to Light Reflections. The scripture I have chosen for this morning is from Luke 2:25-35 from the New Revised Standard Version.  

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.”

As I was writing this message, it seemed only appropriate to turn on John Mayer’s song, “Waiting on the World to Change.”   Much like Simeon in our scripture for today, John Mayer gives us a modern anthem or maybe I should say “cry of our heart” for a needed change to come.  I know many of you are crying out these same words to the chorus. 

So, we keep a-waiting (Waiting)

Waiting on the world to change

We keep on waiting (Waiting)

Waiting on the world to change

It's hard to beat the system     

When we're standing at a distance

So, we keep a-waiting (Waiting)

Waiting on the world to change

How many of you like to wait? 

I am sure just by asking that, some of you had an anxiety spike.  You just went back to a time that tested your patience.  Maybe it was even associated with a person who made you wait. 

Yet isn’t life filled with situations that cause us to wait?

Over the course of our lives, we spend a lot of time waiting in various contexts and for various amounts of time. Some waiting periods are only a few minutes, while others spend years or their whole lives just simply waiting.

It is clear when one takes a moment to ponder waiting that we know the importance of waiting.

Take these thoughts for instance. I am sure you have heard almost all of these at some time or maybe they were sent to you in a greeting card, or you have seen them posted on notes or a poster.  Many of these I pulled from sources right around my desk at home.   

·      Waiting is an act of faith, a silent affirmation that life will unfold its blessings in the perfect time, teaching us hope and resilience.

·      True love often requires waiting because hearts that are meant to be together find their way despite delays and distance, strengthening bonds through patience.

·      Waiting teaches us to embrace uncertainty gracefully, understanding that every pause allows reflection, learning, and preparation for the opportunities ahead.

·      Hope grows stronger during waiting because it encourages belief in better days and reminds us that perseverance brings fulfillment and joy.

·      Sometimes waiting is the most powerful action, allowing time for clarity, wisdom, and emotional growth before making decisions that shape our future.

·      Patience during waiting transforms anxiety into serenity, reminding us that every delay has a lesson and every pause brings insight.

·      Waiting for someone or something important cultivates inner strength and teaches us to value every moment of the journey, not just the destination.

·      Life asks us to wait so we can learn, grow, and appreciate the moments we often take for granted while rushing forward.

·      Waiting is not passive; it is a process of trusting timing, building resilience, and preparing for the outcomes we hope to achieve.

·      Sometimes the most meaningful rewards come to those who wait patiently and embrace the journey with hope and unwavering faith.

These are just a few of the things that we say and believe in our culture about waiting. 

Even as Quakers, I’d say it’s common for us to discuss and ponder waiting.  

Someone once told me Quakers are known for silence, waiting, and falling asleep while doing both. 

I have been in many Quaker circles where someone has been nudged to share Ecclesiastes 3:1,

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”

Then they just sat back down and continued to wait.  

I even knew a Quaker who loved to sigh deeply and under his breath say, “All in God’s Time.”  

But even if we say we believe these words, in many cases, our lives, thoughts, and emotions do not reflect such belief. 

Let’s be honest, I don’t think there is much difference between God’s time and ours.  The Bible is full of waiting. My religious experience has been full of times of waiting. For goodness sakes, each week after I preach or if you go to unprogrammed worship, we enter a time of what we actually call, “WAITING WORSHIP.” 

Quakers embrace waiting (sometimes maybe way too much). But listen to what we say about it. 

Waiting is an active, trusting posture of surrendering to the Divine’s timing and will, finding joy and purpose in the Divine even during difficult or uncertain seasons, rather than passively hoping, it involves focusing on the Divine’s character and past faithfulness to build hope for the future. 

Too often in the world and even among Friends waiting can be interpreted as simply silence thus indicating the Divine isn’t doing anything.

I have people ask me all the time about Waiting Worship or Unprogrammed Worship.  They say,

“If nothing is said the entire time, is the Divine really doing anything. Or are people just thinking about what they need to do after worship.”  

I have had others say,

“It seems like just sitting in silence is a way to never have to respond to the nudging of the Spirit.”

I believe wholeheartedly that during any time of waiting worship the Divine is tapping on our hearts, the Spirit is nudging us to respond, that the silence is there to help us hear that still small voice of the Divine as the Psalmist says. 

I have walked away from completely silent meetings finding clarity with what I was being called to say or do and on other occasions, I feel left to wait until more clarity comes.

But most of my experience involves my posture and my attentiveness to the Spirit’s nudging.  I can get distracted easily, but I must focus on what is happening inside my soul and not let the outside world win me over. 

That is why waiting worship is often called a discipline.

Our scripture for today introduced us to Simeon (if I did not know he was Jewish, I would say Simeon was clearly a Quaker). We don’t know much about him, and nearly all we do know is found in the beginning of the Gospel of Luke which Patrick read for us this morning.

The testimony of Simeon that was read as our scriptures for today may be brief, but it really points out why Simeon has become a metaphor and example for waiting.

Let me go through some of Simeon’s facts:

Simeon was said to be righteous and devout man.

Simeon was waiting for the consolation (or restoration) of Israel, and the Spirit had been nudging him to wait for it. The Spirit also had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the one who would bring this restoration period.

That day the Spirit had nudged Simeon to go to the temple, maybe while he was meditating or praying at home.   

I would say from what we know, Simeon was actively waiting. He was in a trusting posture and fully surrendered to the Spirit’s timing. 

Simeon is presented Jesus and what does he say (the good Quaker that he is)?  He says, My eyes now see what it is you have been saying to me, and not only is it in the form of a baby, but he says, this is a “light of revelation” to the Gentiles.  Like I said, he even sounds like a Quaker, calling Jesus the Light. 

Simeon is to be considered an old man – and some think he had been waiting a long time, even coming to the temple every day.  I am not sure about that.  I sense many of the people in his life had passed on, and he had very little left in this world, and he was clinging to his faith for the coming generations. 

I imagine him waiting fervently but still going about his daily duties.  On this day, as he sat silently meditating, the Spirit nudged him to get up and go to the temple.  And in his obedience to that nudge, he was offered a glimpse of hope. 

Simeon declares this is not just another baby, but the one that will light a fire in our hearts and send us out with a message of hope and of being rescued from harm, risk, and destruction (which is what salvation translates to mean). 

Folks, this means that Simeon’s words make the work and life of Jesus a universal example and hope for the entire world.  Sure, this is a messiah for the Jews (Simeon recognizes that as a Jew himself), but he also knows it is greater than that. 

This Christ figure is the “Light of Revelation.”  The exact same “Light of Revelation” that is offered to and available to ALL people.    

And did you notice when Simeon has his eyes opened and realizes why the Spirit nudged him to go, he didn’t shake his   at God saying, “Why did it take You so long, huh?”  Like we might have, as we sit here waiting on the world to change.  

No, instead, Simeon rejoiced! I can see him leaping for joy realizing the Spirit had finally answered his waiting on the world to change.

Think about it, when you and I are in a season of waiting, how often do we shake our fist at the Divine? How often do we yell out, “Where are you right now, why can’t I hear you, are you even there?”   

How often does our season of waiting bring us, like Simeon, closer to the Divine, rather than pull us away?

Simeon is an example of faith, trust, and patience we can all learn from, because he is an example of actively waiting on the Spirit’s nudging, trusting and surrendering to the Divine’s timing and will, and finding joy and purpose in that revelation.

I wish I could say, every time I enter waiting worship or a time of waiting that I am drawn closer to the Divine, but the reality is that it is often after an entire  season of waiting comes to a close, and I look back and realize and see the Spirit’s direction in my life. That is why I encourage people to take some time to do their own spiritual mapping and look back on their life and see where the Spirit has been faithful and involved, when we have responded to the nudge, or answered the call.

I am thankful for examples like Simeon that are put in scripture to remind us of this important discipline.

Maybe like Simeon, the older we get, the closer we become to trusting and abiding in the Divine fully during the waiting, rather than simply wanting it to be over.

I also sense in this that the Divine is also “Waiting on the World to Change” -  but THROUGH US, since we have the Light of Revelation in us. I sense the Divine is willing to wait with us until we finally open our eyes and ears and acknowledge the nudging and act upon it. 

So yes, we are waiting on the world to change, but let us do it trusting that the Light of Revelation in us will not keep us waiting from a distance, but actively seeking what our role will be in the rescue of or neighbors and friends from the world’s harm, risk, and destruction.  

Now, let us take a moment to center down and enter our time of waiting worship.  Remember that this time of waiting is an active, trusting posture of surrendering to the Divine’s timing and will, finding joy and purpose in the Divine even during the difficult or uncertain seasons of life. I have provided a few queries for us to ponder:

How am I with waiting? How can I make it more of a discipline in my life?

Does my time of waiting draw me closer to the Divine?

How is the “Light of Revelation” being made known in my life?

1-4-26 - A Time of Revealing and Manifestation

A Time of Revealing and Manifestation

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

January 4, 2026

Isaiah 60:1-6 (NRSV)

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
 For darkness shall cover the earth
    and thick darkness the peoples,
but the Lord will arise upon you,
    and his glory will appear over you.

 Nations shall come to your light
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

 Lift up your eyes and look around;
    they all gather together; they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
    and your daughters shall be carried in their nurses’ arms.
 Then you shall see and be radiant;
    your heart shall thrill and rejoice,
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you;
    the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
    the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
    all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense
    and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

This Tuesday, January 6th is not only Beth Henricks’ birthday (reminder to send cards), but it also marks the end of the 12 days from Christmas or December 25th, what the church has traditionally labeled, Epiphany.   

I am sure most of us are aware of the Christmas Carol – The 12 Days of Christmas (Today is the 10th day of Christmas, so we should be receiving our 10 Lord’s a Leaping sometime, today – whatever that means.)

Either way, few people in the United States today celebrate these 12 days in which the song speaks. For most of us, Christmas is one day with lots and lots of prior build-up, and then as soon as it is over, we roll it back up into boxes and stick it in our attic until next December, when we do it all again.

Our family noticed that since it was unusually warm this Christmas, many people started taking Christmas decoration down the day after Christmas.  It was almost startling for me, since I was taught as a child that you leave Christmas up until at least January 6th.

Today, the 12 Days of Christmas have become a time to finally rest and take a breather after the exhaustion of Christmas. I always take vacation from Christmas to New Years for this very reason.

Sadly, this is almost a necessity, since our lives and schedules dictate so much during the holiday season.

History shows us that these 12 days were supposed to be a way for Christians to Celebrate and even “break the cycle” of the secular world’s busyness.

Many Christians would take the 12 days of Christmas off from work. Many would even wait until Christmas Eve to put up their Christmas Tree and would plan decorating events for each of the 12 days. Many traditions were created during this time.

It was a time of celebration, a time of family and community, and it all was to focus on the incarnation of Jesus in our world.

Some even believed it to be a time to center down and allow Christ to be revealed in us again, each year.

If anything, it was to be a season of revealing and manifestation.

That is why it is no coincidence then that these 12 days would end with an “Epiphany” - a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being. 

Yet, I think we do not spend enough time learning about and understanding the Epiphany.  I love how Diana Butler Bass explains the Epiphany, she says,

The wise men awaited a sign in the sky — a star — to guide them on this journey. Revelations break in, light shines forth, and glory appears. Such things are from the realms of mystery, awe, and wonder. They surprise and disrupt the normal course of existence.

Epiphanies are not of our making. 

But it would be a mistake to believe that we are only passive recipients of epiphanies. We need to be alert for their appearance and search out the trailings of their presence. Revelations can be missed if one isn’t attentive or attuned to the possibilities of sacred surprise. 

The Magi, of course, were looking for a sign. They were professional spiritual seekers! But they weren’t content just gazing upon the star. They didn’t remain in some distant locale and admire its glory from afar. They got up and followed it to its source. And their journey even involved danger — as a treacherous king attempted to use them to manipulate this manifestation for his own evil purposes. They kept going.

We may not create epiphanies, but we respond to them. Epiphanies grab a hold of us; we can’t shake them. Epiphanies ask something of us. The star is an invitation, a calling to do something — to act. 

These verses from Isaiah (which Steve read for us this morning), underscore this:

Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

We arise; we shine — glory entices us, woos us, into the light. We don’t just observe. Epiphany embraces and vivifies us. 

Epiphany is a manifestation, the mystery revealed, and an invitation to discover grace, goodness, and God. It is neither a magic fix nor a moment when utopia arrives. But the birth, the star, and heavenly glory don’t eliminate the darkness. Rather, such revelations cast the light that we need to see the way.

Epiphany beckons us to pay attention and participate in widening the circle of light in the world — to push back against all brittle injustice and brutality. Whether a babe in Bethlehem or a burning bush, epiphanies are guide stars on a longer journey toward healing, liberation, and peace. 

Perhaps these words, a seasonal benediction of sorts, from Madeleine L’Engle (from a Ring of Endless Light) capture the fullest sense of Epiphany (Stranger Things does not have to be the only one utilizing Madeleine L’Engle right now):

This is my charge to you.

You are to be a light bearer.
You are to choose the light.

Arise. Shine.

In technical jargon or in theological circles, what Diana Butler Bass is doing is good old fashion Jewish “midrash.”

Midrash means retelling a sacred story in a way that has special meaning for the current time, to fit a new occasion, and a different context, and from a different point of view.

I feel like we need to declare 2026 as a year of Midrash at First Friends.  Where we will seek to retell the sacred stories in a way that speaks to our current day and situations.  

But before we declare that for us all, I want us to think this morning about “epiphany” in our personal context, much like Diana Butler Bass did.  

In our postmodern world today, epiphany has come to mean a revelation of a truth about oneself.

As Quakers, we believe the Light of Christ resides within us and thus we are the hands and feet of Christ being revealed to our world. Or as Madeline L’Engle put it, you and I “are to be light bearers.”

This means you and I are the manifestation of the Christ Light to our neighbors, communities, workplaces, and yes, especially our own families.  

Our lives could be considered a living midrash. Just ponder that for a moment.    

Folks, you and I are not only living midrashs, but our lives could be the next epiphany to our communities – the next revelation and manifestation of the Light of Christ to our world.  Now, that is something for us to really ponder.

This is what Jesus was getting at in his Beatitudes, when he said,

 You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  

We are not only the Light, but the incarnation of the gospel (the good news) to our hurting world. 

Just maybe that children’s anthem we so love to sing, “This Little Light of Mine” has a much deeper meaning for us, today, than we know.

And just maybe those Christians in the Middle Ages understood the need to reflect and center down on the incarnation of Christ for those 12 days so they could have a new epiphany in and through their own lives.   

Imagine the difference we might make in our current world – in 2026 – if we were to live out, reveal, make manifest, and answer the invitation to discover grace, goodness, and the Divine in our world each day.  Make those our resolutions!

It all sounds great, but it isn’t easy – as Diana Butler Bass said, “heavenly glory doesn’t eliminate the darkness.”

Let’s be honest, the reality of this, is that when we live out this Christ Light within us, like Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus, we find Herod coming after us – literally wanting to kill us.  

I believe Herod is a metaphor.  Herod is the people in our lives or sometimes our own ego saying that the predictable and normal are simply ok. “You don’t need an epiphany…You are not an epiphany…there is just not that of God in you.” 

We are surrounded by “Herods,” and they want to kill creativity, suppress change, prevent life from flourishing and growing. They do not want justice but rather punishment, revenge rather than renewal, and for us to embrace chaos over peace.  

As well, “Herod” is often that voice inside of you saying you are not good enough, or you can’t do that, or you don’t have time. Herod is the voice of oppression and injustice.

So, it makes sense then at this time of year, to take a personal inventory of ourselves. To write out New Year’s resolutions, to join gyms and go on diets and make changes to our bodies, minds, and even theologies.  

And when we make changes and work to live, reveal, and manifest the Quaker Way and Testimonies (SPICES) in our life, I believe the world benefits.  

Whenever I need a reminder that there is that of God within me, that I am a light, that my “Herods” may be after me, but will not prevail, I read the words of the late, John Lewis. May his words be our charge this morning, 

You are a light.

You are the light.

Never let anyone—any person or any force—dampen, dim or diminish your light.

Study the path of others to make your way easier and more abundant.

Lean toward the whispers of your own heart, discover the universal truth, and follow its dictates…

Release the need to hate, to harbor division, and the enticement of revenge.

Release all bitterness. Hold only love, only peace in your heart, knowing that the battle of good to overcome evil is already won.

Choose confrontation wisely, but when it is your time don't be afraid to stand up, speak up, and speak out against injustice.

And if you follow your truth down the road to peace and the affirmation of love, if you shine like a beacon for all to see, then the poetry of all the great dreamers and philosophers is yours to manifest in a nation, a world community, and a Beloved Community that is finally at peace with itself.

ARISE and SHINE, AMEN! 

Now, let us take a moment to quiet our souls to enter Waiting Worship. As we do, I have provided queries to ponder in light of this message.

·      How am I allowing the Christ Light to be revealed and manifest in and through me?

·      Who are the personal “Herods” I need to keep at bay?

·      What retelling or Midrash do I need to do in my life to make my faith more relevant in the New Year?

12-14-25 - My Child, Too!

My Child, Too!

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

December 14, 2025

Good Morning Friends and welcome to Light Reflections.  The Christmas scripture for this morning is from Matthew 1:18-25 from the New Revised Standard Version.

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit.  Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly.  But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

“Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
    and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.

Last week, we took an in-depth look at Mary and the peace she was seeking in the chaos of her life.  This week, we turn our attention to Joseph.  To help us get a more grounded theological view of Joseph, I have been reading the work of Leah Schade, Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky. Leah helped me connect more of Jospeh to the story since there is very little within scripture that talks about him.  

Let’s begin this morning by taking a look at the story of Joseph in the Gospel of Matthew and compare it to his namesake Joseph in the book of Genesis. In doing this we will see some uncanny parallels.  As well, names are very important in the Bible because they give more of the story. 

• First, like his namesake, Joseph is the recipient of profound dreams. Angels appear to Joseph in a series of dreams, first telling him to take Mary as his wife. 

• Then, after Jesus is born, to flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s slaughter. 

• A third and final dream tells him to return to Nazareth once it is safe. 

And just like Joseph of the Hebrew Scriptures, Joseph in our story goes to Egypt in order to save his people. Joseph has an important role in both of these stories and I find these connections very interesting and enlightening. 

But beyond the Christmas story, we don’t hear much about Joseph’s life or his relationship with Jesus.

Actually, the last time we hear about Joseph in the Bible is when he, Mary, and 12-year-old Jesus are in Jerusalem after everyone else has set out to return home, Jesus lingers behind in the temple, instructing the scribes about the ways of God. His parents are worried sick about him when they realize he’s missing from their group. 

Leah points out, 

“The last image I have is of the worried and angry Joseph grabbing Jesus by the collar, probably saying something like, “I don’t care if you were in your Father’s house. I’m your father now, and you’ll do as I say!””

After that, Joseph just disappears.

We don’t see him at Jesus’ baptism. He’s not mentioned at the Sermon on the Mount. And while we see his mother at the foot of the cross, Joseph is nowhere to be found.

Scholars speculate that Joseph might have even died by the time Jesus began his ministry because he was so much older than Mary.

Or think about this, there might have been such a rift between Joseph and Jesus that the two did not have a relationship as Jesus became an adult.  I pondered that a lot as I have wrestled with people’s complicated relationships with their fathers.  

But more likely, the Gospel writers were so intent to show God in heaven to be his “Abba” or “Daddy” that that relationship overshadowed whatever connection there was between Jesus and his earthly father.  I think that is sad, because if we would have had more of the story, we may have been given important Father and Son interactions and relational connections.  

But just because the Gospel writers did not see fit to keep Joseph visible in the rest of Jesus’s story does not necessarily mean that he was not there.

Leah, says that she “sometimes wonder(s) what that relationship between Joseph and Jesus might have been like…” 

I don’t know about you, but I do, too! 

Certainly, Joseph would have taught Jesus the Torah, because Mary, like most women at the time, may not have been taught to read. 

And Joseph certainly would have brought Jesus to the synagogue (in this patriarchal society and religious system), watching the faith of his son take root and grow.

We read in scripture, that it is believed that it was God who inspired Jesus’ ministry of miracles, teaching, and healing, but who’s to say that it was not through Joseph that God channeled this inspiration? 

Perhaps it was Joseph who planted those seeds in Jesus. 

• Seeds of what it means to be a man of gentleness, compassion, and caring. 

• Seeds of what it means to stand up for what you believe in and come to the defense of the vulnerable, even if it means risking your own life. 

• Seeds of what it means to trust in God, no matter how dire the circumstances may appear.

Do you realize, we know that Joseph did all those things?

Just in those few, brief passages in Matthew in which we encounter him, we find that Joseph demonstrated gentleness, compassion, and caring towards Mary. Leah says, 

“He stood by her, no matter what their families and neighbors might have whispered about them behind their backs. And he made sure that Mary and Jesus were safe as they made their journey to Egypt. Joseph certainly risked his own life by seeking to protect this baby boy whom Herod sought to murder. In all these things, Joseph trusted God, no matter how dire the circumstances may have appeared.”

So, who’s to say that just because the Gospel writers barely mention Joseph that he wasn’t there?  

Who’s to say there wasn’t a day when, as a young man, Jesus was working alongside his father in the carpentry shop telling him of the undeniable call he felt to seek out John the Baptist in the wilderness and find his destiny beyond Nazareth? 

Perhaps Joseph encouraged him to follow this call, much as he followed the call to become a husband and parent.

I think it is important to realize . . .

Jesus was not just Mary’s child (as we talked about last week).  He was Joseph’s child, too. Leah pointed this out in a real and profound way, she said, 

“As Joseph watched Jesus walk off in the distance to find John the Baptist, he might have said proudly, “My child, too!”

Perhaps upon his son’s return, Joseph sat in the synagogue watching Jesus reading the Torah in the synagogue and teaching with authority. “My child, too!” he might have said.

When news of his son’s miracles and the crowds that followed him throughout Galilee reached Joseph, he might have nodded with a smile, “My child, too.”

And maybe, standing at a distance at Calvary, he gazed once again upon his wife and son. Mary still hovering lovingly, but this time with anguish as her child hangs on a cross. Joseph, once again, standing awkwardly off to the side, this time his voice broken with pain. “My child, too.””

Just reading this as a father who has three grown children trying to find their way, causes tears to well up in my eyes.  I can identify with this Jospeh. 

Joseph also helps us rethink the role of the non-traditional parent.  He shows us that there is more to being a parent than just biological heredity.

I think of so many people who care for children not of their bloodline, but who they still consider their own.  And I think of those folks I’ve known who parent amidst added layers of complications.

• Stepparents navigating conditions of relational complexity.

• The parents who adopt a child who is a different race or ethnicity than their own.

• The same-sex couple who adopts a child with special needs.

• Grandparents who step in when a parent is absent or negligent.

• The partner in a lesbian couple whose spouse bears their child, but she has had to fight for parenting rights.

• The single woman who adopts a child from an orphanage in a far-away country.

I’ve encountered all of these people in my ministry and many right in this room.  

Like Joseph, it may be easy to overlook them, erase them, or discount these non-traditional parents.  

But folks, they nurture and guide these children. They are present for the crawling and walking and jumping. The messes. The growing and learning. The testing and rebelling.  

As I imagine Joseph was for Jesus, they are a steadfast presence for these young ones as they find their way in the world.  

“My child, too,” they say.

Joseph also experienced the pain of knowing that his child would suffer, and that all the love in his heart could not save Jesus from his destiny. 

Another place I can relate. There is nothing like being a father watching their child suffer or struggle, or have a difficult time and know that they have to go through it to be healed and find their way. 

Certainly, Joseph heard the words Simeon told Mary when they brought the baby for his presentation in the temple from Luke 2:34-35, 

“This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too” 

Joseph’s soul was also pierced with these words.  

“My child, too.”

But I wonder if, many years later, after his son had been crucified, Joseph might have heard about the resurrection.

Perhaps went out searching, following the rumors, until he found himself standing at a distance on the mountain in Galilee, glimpsing Jesus ascending to his Father in heaven. 

“My child, too.”

All the dreams come rushing back to him, the words of the angel suddenly taking on a new meaning altogether. His faith rekindled from the embers of a memory. The faith that urged him to parent this child, protect this child, teach this child, release this child, believe in this child.

This is the faith that finds its way through the pain, the disconnect, the complications, the anguish.

This is the faith that joins both Joseph and Jesus with the God who created and redeemed them.

Folks, this is our faith, too. 

And it is the faith of those who become Josephs for the children in their lives, challenging our notions of traditional fatherhood, parenthood, family-hood.

May God bless the ones who, like Joseph, defy the norms, defy the odds, and defy our expectations.  May God bless us with a Joseph kind of love this Holiday Season.

Now, as we enter waiting worship, take a moment to ponder Joseph’s story in your life.  I have prepared a couple queries for us to consider as we center down this morning. 

• Like Joseph, how is God channeling me to inspire my children or neighbors? 

• Who are the non-traditional parents in my life that I need to see, encourage, and remember? 

• Do I have the faith that finds its way through the pain, the disconnect, the complications, the anguish? What could I do to grow and nurture my faith?  

12-7-25 - Perplexed but Pregnant with Light

Perplexed but Pregnant with Light

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Bob Henry

December 7, 2025

Good morning and welcome to Light Reflections. The scripture I have chosen for this week is from Luke 1:26-33 from the New Revised Standard Version.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.  The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

After last week’s Blue Christmas remembrance, it seems only appropriate to look at peace within the Christmas story this week. To do that, I would like to begin this message by asking us all a query to ponder…ask yourself…

What are the things in my life (the noise, the trouble, the hard things) that are causing me to not have peace, currently?

[Pause to reflect]

I can relate to Friend and author Catherine Whitmire when she says,

“Peace is not a steady state, I find it, lose it, and then have to search for it again.”

Personally, when I seem to find or sense some “peace” in my life – it’s about then when I find myself caught in a traffic jam, having car problems, a sick family member, bad news in our world, that bill arrives in the mail, or I have an unexpected emergency.

The reality is that life doesn’t stop and the things that take away our peace keep coming. And I find myself being sent back to searching for some peace among the storms of life.

Finding peace in our world or in our lives takes practice. Some would even say it is a discipline.  And when we practice peace, it often causes us to have to wrestle with our patience, empathy, acceptance, trust, discernment, obedience, and self-awareness.

Let’s be honest, those are not easy things to practice or work on. No wonder peace is so hard to find in our world, because it actually takes some effort from you and me. 

It also means that we will need to admit that “Peace is not simply the absence of conflict” as many in our world believe and pursue – often to their detriment.

In reality, conflict often helps us grow and teaches and helps us with our patience, empathy, trust, discernment, obedience, and self-awareness. 

To reconcile with a person, we are in conflict with often starts with us looking inward at our own struggles with these very things.

If you notice, God’s peace (especially what is described in scripture, and even more what is spoken of in the Christmas story) comes at often turbulent times. 

Take for example, the Christmas Story for today about the Angel appearing to Mary.

Author and theologian, Walter Wangrin Jr. imagines in The Book of God that just prior to the Angel’s announcement we find Mary seeking peace amidst the chaos of her life. The noise of her betrothal had intensified, she was in tears, and the last bit of so-called peace was going to be shattered by this announcement of divine proportions we heard in our scripture for today.

As a pastor, I have officiated my share of weddings and prepared many couples for that special day. I just had the honor of officiating Andy and Stephen’s almost fairytale wedding right here in this building a week ago. And I have been preparing another couple in our meeting through pre-engagement counseling that helped them clarify their desire to get married.

In our day and age, betrothal is still often very stressful – with all the planning, organizing, preparing…

There are in-law issues, family issues, relational issues.

There are new questions, new ideals, new family members to deal with.

Often the beauty of marriage is overshadowed by a lack of peace.

Just like in Mary’s story.  Mary needed some space – she needed some peace.

For those married here this morning – I have a feeling you can relate? Just take a moment to remember.

·      What was your engagement time like? Was all the stress worth it?

·      Maybe you are not married – and you can relate more to Mary’s aloneness.

·      Maybe the stress of life or the constant barrage of people leaves you feeling alone – needing space.

Where do you go in these times? Where do you search for the peace you have lost?

In our scripture for this morning, the words that strikes me the most are “but she was MUCH PERPLEXED” – meaning completely baffled and very puzzled. Her head was probably swirling with all she had running through her mind and the roller-coaster of emotions that she was experiencing.   

I don’t know about you, but I can relate to this roller-coaster of emotions. Life often leaves us feeling this way. And many times, all we can do is, like Mary, bow our heads or maybe more appropriately “bury” our heads in our arms, and weep.

We finally surrender to the stress – the lack of peace – the lack of balance – and we hit bottom.  And our lives begin to cry out for God to intervene.

“Take this away.” “Fix my life and situation.” “Help me!” “Don’t give me anymore!”  

In these moments we often have high expectations of God.  Maybe we see what God has done in someone else’s life or situation and expect it to be the same for us.

Though, God very seldom – if ever – creates a formula, a wrote method.  Scripture testifies to this fact.

Instead, God uniquely answers the cry of our individual hearts.

I am sure Mary was not expecting a messenger of God showing up and then announcing something that would send her stress level and lack of peace through the roof!

Throughout the Christmas story it alludes to Mary being terrified or scared. She was in shock and even doubted this message was for her. Her perplexity was evolving.

I often hear this happening in other people’s lives. Actually, I have also personally experienced it.  When we think we are at our lowest, when we are at the bottom and scared, that is often when God is actually calling us.  When God is going to use us in powerful ways. We feel unworthy, but like Mary, God finds favor with us. 

On our hands and knees, in our doubt, in our questioning, with all our mistakes and bad choices, in our defeatedness, in our sadness, when we are perplexed and scared to death to find out what is around the next corner…that is when God says, “I want to birth something new inside you!”

Like Mary – each of us are called to bear the Light of the world in our lives. As Quakers we know this and affirm it.  But Mary’s story reminds us again that we (ordinary people) can be pregnant with the Light of Christ!

Folks, this is a great privilege. To realize that we are pregnant with the Light of Christ is humbling.  To realize there is that of God inside each of us waiting to give birth to peace, hope, love, joy to help the noisy, troubled and hard world around us and in us, is simply beautiful.  

May we find time during this crazy, busy, Holiday Season, to take a moment to pause.  

Remember to center down and acknowledge the Light being birthed within you.

It may be a light of reconciliation or a light of peace among your family, or it might simply calm your heart long enough to help you find some peace to get through your day.

Now, as we enter our time of waiting worship this morning, may it offer you a time of pause and peace, today. Acknowledge the Light being birthed within you and see how you will share it with your world. To help us prepare and work through our own perplexing and terrifying thoughts and emotions, I have included several queries for you to ponder this morning.

·      What are the things in my life (the noise, the trouble, the hard things) that are causing me to not have peace? 

·      What may I need to reconcile to see peace in my life? 

·      What is God birthing inside of me this Holiday Season that will help bring peace to my world? 

11-23-25 - Living in a Place of Gratitude - Beth Henricks

Living in a Place of Gratitude

Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting

Pastor Beth Henricks

November 23, 2025

Our Scripture reading today is Luke 17:11-19

“On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.  As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him.  Keeping their distance , they called out, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!  When he saw them, he said to them,  Go and show yourselves to the priests.  And as they went they were made clean.  Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.  He prostrated himself at Jesus feet and thanked him.  And he was Samaritan.  Then Jesus asked , Were not ten made clean?  But the other nine, where are they?  Was none of them to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?  Then he said to him, Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

We are gathered together this Sunday before Thanksgiving, and we often take this Sunday to think about gratitude.  As I was planning this message my heart kept resisting a message on gratefulness.  I am just seeing a lot of pain, fear and anxiety in so many corners of our communities.  The fear of losing a job or finding a new one, the cost of things and folks wondering how they can afford basic needs without going into debt, mental health crises, friends and families being deported,  relationships broken, war and rumblings of new wars – the list goes on.  I observe people carrying a lot of weight in their shoulders  and the looks on faces try to mask the worry and concern behind the smiles. 

The realities of this time we are living in  affect each of us differently based on our circumstances.  I am not living in personal anxiety at this time, but I have lived through years of pain and heartache when having a grateful heart was almost impossible.  And my collective heart grieves for communities and people that are directly affected by this.  I’m sure all of you have experienced this feeling. 

And yet, lacking gratefulness even in the most challenging circumstances takes away all hope, promise and Light.

I think about the ten lepers in this story from Luke.  We don’t hear a lot about leprosy in this day and age but during Old and New Testament times it was a disease that separated you from everything you knew and loved.  You were removed from your home, your families, your communities and often lived on the street, begging for money or food or in leper colonies with others afflicted with the disease.  Individuals with this disease lived a pretty hopeless existence.  I would believe it’s pretty hard to feel any gratefulness in those circumstances.   

And yet these ten lepers must have had hope that a presence like Jesus could heal them or at least give them money or food.  They ask for mercy from Jesus.   Jesus tells them to go present themselves to the priest, which was required by Jewish law and they were indeed pronounced clean and healed.  Maybe  nine of them thought the priests healed them for only one of them returned to Jesus to thank him.  And he was a hated Samarian within the Jewish community (although having leprosy and being with other lepers probably diminished the distinction).  And Jesus says that the man’s faith as evidenced by his grateful heart healed him.

Jesus shares this story to provide more evidence of the generous, giving, compassionate and  merciful spirit of God who offers healing even to those outside of the chosen people. And the importance of gratitude in our spiritual journey.

Even in the darkness, in the pain and sorrow of life’s experiences, there are always things to be grateful for.  As bad as a situation may be, there are still things to count as blessings.  Sometimes it might be the generosity of others, sometimes the open and listening ear and heart of a friend, the ideas that might open up new possibilities…  It is often during times in the darkness that we see the best of people. 

In some of my darkest times with my husband and son, I would literally make a list of the many things for which I was grateful.  And there were many things on that list.  Doing this lifted me up from my darkness and altered my perspective.  And often would help create insight on the next best steps to face my troubles.

We should weep over our difficulties and weep collectively with our communities in times of real trouble and sorrow.  We should not deny them and just put on a happy face as this will eat away within us.  Jesus weeps with us.  But we can’t stay in this place.  We can know God is with us always, even when we don’t see our desired outcome, a change in the situation or even an opportunity for change.  And yet I believe God is working deep under the sea changing tides and currents in small and big ways.  And I have faith in a healing.    As someone I know in hospice said recently, healing comes in many forms. 

In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom tells about an incident that taught her the principle of giving thanks in all things. It was during World War II. Corrie and her sister, Betsy, had been hiding Jewish people in their home, so they were arrested and imprisoned at Ravensbruck Camp.

The barracks was extremely crowded and infested with fleas. One morning they read, in their tattered Bible, from 1 Thessalonians the reminder to rejoice in all things.

Betsy said, "Corrie, we've got to give thanks for this barracks and even for these fleas."

Corrie replied, "No way am I going to thank God for fleas." But Betsy was persuasive, and they did thank God even for the fleas.

During the months that followed, they found that their barracks was left relatively unsupervised, and they could do Bible study, talk openly, and became their only place of refuge. Several months later they learned that the reason the guards never entered their barracks was because of those darn fleas.

Several Christmas’s ago Bob gave me the book, The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu that  has become a favorite book of mine.  Both of these men have faced tremendous loss, suffering and pain but have remained a joyful presence to all of those around them. In their chapter on gratitude the Dalai Lama says, “Exile has brought me closer to reality.  When you are in difficult situations, there is no room for pretense.  In adversity or tragedy, you must confront reality as it is.  When you are a refugee, when you have lost your land, you cannot hide behind your role.  When you are confronted with the reality of suffering, all of your life is laid bare.  Even a king when he is suffering cannot pretend to be something special.  He is just one human being, suffering, like all other people.”

I am a big fan of Brene Brown and the body of work she has given us on shame, vulnerability and joy.  She gives us the research that shows the lower our capacity for vulnerability, the less willing we are to be open and unsure, the less we invite joy into our lives.  When joy starts happening, we panic and dress rehearse tragedy.  What does the data show about those that can lean into joy - what do they share?  There is only one variable – gratitude.  They practice gratitude. 

Gratitude and joy are inextricably connected to one another – you cannot separate them.

Brene interviewed groups of people who have lived through great loss.  A surprising finding is that the people with the highest capacity of joy lived through the hardest things. They said the best way to be loving and empathetic for those of us who know severe loss is to be grateful for what you have.  She heard from these group that if there was one thing they could go back and change, they would not take for granted the ordinary moments.    We are so busy chasing extraordinary moments that we forget to be grateful for the ordinary moments. 

She goes on to say that being joyful about what we have when others have less is ok.  What the world needs is more joy. Be grateful for what you have and give.  But when things get hard how can I feel grateful?  It is a practice to feel grateful that will bring us into joy. 

The final example I will give today is Anthony Ray Hinton who spent 30 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.  He lost his freedom and yet found a way to live a life of gratitude and became a counselor and friend to other prisoners many who were put to death.  Finally, the Supreme Court issued a ruling to set him free.  He said, “One does not know the value of freedom until one has it taken away.  People run out of the rain.  I run into the rain.  How can anything that falls from heaven not be precious?  Having missed the rain for so many years, I am so grateful for every drop.  Just to feel it on my face.”

Spending time with this subject the last couple of days was what I needed as we enter Thanksgiving and time with family and friends.  I am grateful for each of you here and what you have brought into my life.  I am choosing  to practice gratitude looking for all the blessings that will help me live in a sense of joy. 

 As David Male, Quaker teacher and minister shared,  “ What I do know is that I always have a choice, no matter what this life presents me, no matter what pain I see or feel, to be thankful that joy is coming, no matter what."

As we enter waiting worship I offer the following queries for reflection:

How can I practice gratitude even through dark times?

How can I share gratitude and joy with my communities?