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Traducción por Mary Hopkins. Para la versión en inglés, visite aquí.

Devocional para miercoles, 17 marzo, 2021 — – La Reunión de la Sección de CMCA

Lamentaciones 3:21-24, de la Nueva Versión Estándar Revisada:

21. Pero esto llamo a la mente,
por lo tanto tengo esperanza:
22. El amor fiel del Señor nunca cesa,
de sus misericordias no hay fin;
23. nuevas son cada mañana;
grande es su fidelidad.
24. “El Señor es mi porción,” dice mi alma,
“porlo tanto en el esperaré.”

Estamos llamados, en esta reunión de la Sección, a “dar vuelta de lamentación a la Luz.”

Es un movimiento que abarca el alcance entre nuestra fe y nuestra práctica.

Tal movimiento del Espíritu dio a luz al cuáquerismo, y en un tiempo parecido al nuestro, de convulsiones en el mundo.

La Sociedad Religiosa de los Amigos es parecido, tal vez, a un árbol que tiene una raíz principal,

Un árbol así es el Pino Blanco, el árbol estatal del estado de Maine, adonde me mudé en octubre, durante el otoño.

La raíz principal crece muy profundo desde la semilla, creando puntos que anclan y estabilizan al árbol para que no sea derribado por el viento.

De raigambre cuáquero, y rodeado por pinos blancos, Rufus Jones nació en el estado de Maine; la Guerra Civil estadounidense estaba llegando a su fin.

Como niño, sobrevivió una infección prologada y muy grave. Como joven, sobrevivió la muerte de su primera esposa, y pocos años después, la de su hijo primogénito. 

Cuando Estaos Unidos entró en la Primera Guerra Mundial, el verano de 1914, Rufus se aferró a sus raíces. Se enfocó en:

• “Como mantener nuestra fe en Dios y en el Reino venidero;
• Como interpretar nuestros ideales de amor y paz.”

Este invierno, cayó sobre el hielo y sufrió un herido en la cabeza.

Fue de viaje buscando convalecencia. El barco chocó con un huracán. Esta experiencia le dejó quebrantando y exhausto.

Por el verano, Rufus buscó recuperación en la isla Monte Desierto en Maine. La tranquilidad de la naturaleza era un bálsamo, y llegó a un punto de inflexión.

Aunque se sintió desanimado, aceptó una invitación para predicar. Era su primera predicación después de su herida, y se halló renovado por el Espíritu.

Rufus vivió lleno de fe 30 años más. Añadió su Luz en muchas maneras que contribuyeron al establecimiento del CMCA.

También fue testigo de la reunión de la Junta Anual de Nueva Inglaterra después de un siglo de división entre el cuerpo.

Cuando fui a preparar el devocional de hoy el Espíritu me movió a traer esta historia de nuestro amado hermano.

Primero, consideraba como la práctica de la gratitud, de dar gracias, da lugar a esperanza.

Recordé como crecimos de la misma Semilla, Cristo, como los primeros Amigos, la misma que experimentaron los primeros seguidores de Jesús. 

Como el árbol de Amigos es anclado por una raíz principal, este Maestro Interno a quien escuchamos.

Amada familia cuáquera, escuchemos profundamente, Invitemos el bálsamo de la naturaleza, y del pino blanco.

El Espíritu está acá para ministrarnos, para cambiarnos, para voltearnos de la lamentación hacia la Luz.

Grande es tu fidelidad, amado Dios.
No cambias.
Tu compasión no falla.

Verano, Invierno, Primavera, Otoño
Unen su canto cual fieles criaturas
Porque eres bueno, por siempre eres fiel.

Tu presencia amada es la esperanza misma.
Tu eres nuestra raíz principal, prestándonos fuerzas para hoy
Y esperanza brillante para mañana.

Traducción por Judy Goldberger. Para la versión en inglés, visite aquí.

Devocional para lunes, 16 marzo, 2021 – La Reunión de la Sección de CMCA

Algunos de nosotros que están presentes hoy están recuperándose de tragedias personales y enfermedades graves. El mundo está experimentando tantos problemas – de la pandemia a la crisis climática.

Es mi oración que crezca una nueva canción desde nuestros corazones, y que levante nuestras mentes, y conmueva nuestros cuerpos con Amor.

El Amigo Rufus Jones escribe: “Dios mismo es amor — un Ser que se revela y se da.”

Él explica cómo podemos unirnos con Dios — o sea, Amor — y ser “llevados en la vida divina.”

Él entendió que esta es la manera en que los primeros cuáqueros pensaban de y interpretaban Dios — como Amor.

Mi querida familia de Amigos, al volverse desde lamentaciones hacia la Luz, ¿cuál es nuestra experiencia del Amor?

Abramos los corazones y mentes y cuerpos para que practiquemos el Camino Viviente de Amor.

William Penn explica, “Dios oye la lengua del alma.”

Demos la bienvenida a nuevas canciones de alabanza con nuestro ser entero.

Qué nuestras almas sean refrescadas mientras escuchamos a dos versiones del Salmo 42, versículos 7 a 8.

Primero, la versión de la Reina Valera:

7 Un abismo llama a otro a la voz de tus cascadas;
Todas tus ondas y tus olas han pasado sobre mí.
8 Pero de día mandará Jehová su misericordia,
Y de noche su cántico estará conmigo,
Y mi oración al Dios de mi vida.

Y, también, una versión que se llama The Message (El Mensaje):

El caos llama al caos,
en la melodía de rápidos de aguas bravas.
Tus ondas rompiendas, tus rompedores tremendos
se estrellan y me aplastan.
El Dios promete amarme el día entero,
¡Canten alabanzas por la noche entera!
Mi vida es la oración de Dios.

En este escuchar, la canción de mi alma exclama —
“¡Qué alabemos el Amor!
— que es nuestro Camino Viviente.

Hermanos y hermanas ¿Cuál es la canción de tu alma hoy?

Compartamos algún tiempo de silencio para escuchar por tal canción — escuchando por medio del cuerpo, corazón, mente, y alma.

Para acompañar nuestras canciones nuevas de alabanza, una inspiración apasionada de Jorge Fox.

La escribió mientras estaba encarcelado. Estamos agradecidos por esta traducción de Raicescuaqueras.org

Cantad y regocijaos,
hijos del Día y de la Luz, 

porque el Señor obra en esta cerrada noche de tiniebla que puede palparse. 

Y la Verdad florece como la rosa,
y los lirios crecen entre  las espinas,

y las plantas en las cumbres,
y sobre ellas los corderos saltan y juegan. 

No hagáis caso de los huracanes,
nide las tempestades,
nide las inundaciones,
nide las lluvias, 

porque Cristo la Semilla está sobre todo, y reina.

Y por lo tanto, manteneos en buena fe
y sed valientes por la Verdad. 

— “Cantad y regocijaos” / https://www.raicescuaqueras.org/george-fox)

Traducción por Mary Hopkins. Para la versión en inglés, visite aquí.

Devocional para lunes, 15 marzo, 2021 – La Reunión de la Sección de CMCA

“Hubo una reunión y un gran quebrantamiento con el poder de Dios que había entre la gente.”
Jorge Fox.

“Lo profundo llama a lo profundo, el abismo de Dios llama al abismo del hombre, y se conocen.”
Rufus Jones.

Estos hermanos nos recuerden que el entrar en adoración es entrar en la Presencia de Dios

Y como la adoración nos abre para hacernos sensibilizados y quebrantados, así como la semilla sebrada en tierra.

Las semillas abren quebrándose desde lo profundo, alcanzando hacia la Luz.

Sostenemos con ternura este momento, en muchos lugares, y aquí nos conectamos como familia cuáquera, aún aguantando la pandemia y las penas del mundo.

Nos “hundamos hacia la Semilla” como escribió uno de los primeros cuáqueros, Isaac Penington.

Con la Semilla – o Cristo Jesús, quien es el Camino Vivo del Amor, nos entregamos enteramente.

De lo profundo de este hundimiento – aún desde la matriz de la Tierra y la tumba de la cueva funeraria de Cristo ‘’

De Aquí abrazamos a la Luz, quien nos guía en nuestro crecimiento hacia el Cielo y las estrellas

Somos nutridos por Aguas Vivas, y Aire nos llena con el aliento de la Vida

Aquí, en esta entrega al Amor – eso es, reposar en Amor – nos entregamos a la Presencia de Dios.

Somos sostenidos, y somos llamados a regalar este abrazo tierno
unos a otros, aquí
entre vecinos, acá
inclusive a enemigos, allá
y por toda la creación.

Hagámonos el Camino Vivo del Amor,

“Entrega tu propia voluntad,
entrega tu precipitación
entrega tu propio deseo de ser o conocer,
y húndete hasta la semilla
que Dios siembra en tu corazón
y deja que sea dentro de ti
y que crezca en ti, y que respire en ti y que actúe en ti,
y encontrarás por dulce experiencia
que el Señor conoce su fruto, lo ama,
y lo ve como suyo,
y lo ha de guiar hasta la heredad de la vida.”
Isaac Penington, “Entrega”
https://www.raicescuaqueras.org/isaac-penington

Devotional for March 19, 2021 – FWCC Section of the Americas Meeting

My past year has held some lamentations, & I’ve been experiencing Jesus washing my feet. In John 13, we read  how he disrobes, wraps a towel around his waist, & wipes the disciples’ feet with the same towel.

Jesus bares his body in this loving act as much as he bares his heart. During this joyful week of fellowship, distressing challenges arose as I prepared devotionals. I have found comfort in Jesus’s prayer from the Garden of Gethsemane:

…Oh my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will (Matt.26:39, New Century Version).

I hear Jesus honoring the presence of God as Love while naming his pain.

In English, we have a turn of phrase for the body: our “mortal coil.” This saying reminds us that we are physically finite & also we are a container for something more – like the pine seed in the Earth that breaks open to become something new.

Yes, the Living Path of Love calls us to “sink down to the Seed” & become a new thing. I hear this in I Corinthians 15:36-38 (New Century Version):

…When you sow a seed, it must die in the ground before it can live & grow. And when you sow it, it does not have the same “body” it will have later… But God gives it a body that he has planned for it, & God gives each kind of seed its own body.

In obedience to what Love requires of me, I’m to bare my heart & “mortal coil”: Because of childhood & recent traumas, I’m often uneasy in my body.

As a youth, creative activities & a personal relationship with God helped me through many hardships. But it was the thought of my mother that stopped me from abandoning the body. Because I did not want to add my pain of soul to her own.

Looking back, I believe that God put this Love for the Mother in my heart to save my life &, also, to save hers from despair. To Love is to experience Oneness; this is the presence of God. It is to seek Unity among our body including this FWCC body as Quaker family.

Such Love is able to re-open the heart after trauma & pain. Because there is another side. There is The Promise. There is Resurrection after Crucifixion.

As we “give over” or surrender entirely to Love — that being “the new & living way” of Jesus, we grow a new body like the taproot of a pine tree.

Friend Jocelyn Burnell gifts us an understanding about what emerges from crucifixion:

It demonstrates to us the depth of God’s love; it shows us that soft options are not always available; it reminds us that powerlessness can be a way; it teaches us that suffering, sorrow & defeat have strengths.

What Friends have to offer the World is a “way through” our present & historical traumas. Love is the way through, & grows a new body. This is such a calling as written by theologian Elizabeth Johnson:

To those who believe the call from the depths of their relationship with God is to bend every effort to stand with God in solidarity with those who suffer:  to right the wrongs, counter injustice, relieve the pain, & create situations where life can flourish. Then a resurrecting world can gain a foothold in this fractured world.

Friends, let us gently hold in the Light this “resurrecting world” & one another.

Dear Quaker family, I send with you abiding words from Rufus Jones:

If God is God, which means in other words,
Spirit, Life of our lives,
Love at the heart of things, 
the over-arching, under-girding Source of all 
that is eternally Real & True & Beautiful & Good,
then we already have a two-storied universe
with a Home in it for all we love
& a Garden in it greater than Eden,
where transplanted human worth will bloom 
to profit otherwhere. This faith at least may 
‘call home our hearts to quietness.’

Devotional for March 18, 2021 – FWCC Section of the Americas Meeting

Turning toward the Light from lamentation is like the seed moving simultaneously into roots & beyond the depths into green shoots.

Moving between lamentation & the Light is Spirit moving within us as well as between all beings throughout Creation.

Spirit’s movement gives rise to practices that open the heart through joy & also sorrow. As we grow in heart, constriction gives way to invitation & separateness to unity.

This direction is “the new & living way” of Jesus — the Living Path of Love.

Opening the heart is to honor what has come to pass:
thanking our Creator who is Love;
thanking our enemies for the chance to love;
& thanking the thousands of ancestors who have loved us into being, as named by author Linda Hogan of the Chickasaw Nation.

Fourth-generation Quaker Stanley Chagala Ngesa of the Margoli people in Kenya also names ancestors:

our own bodies, plants, soil, rivers, lakes, mountains, animals, creeping things, the sun, the moon, air, fire, wind, rain…

Friend Stanley continues, “… because without them we could not exist.”

Our Creator & our ancestors are inviting us to open our hearts that we may name how we’ve arrived to this “here and now”.

The pandemic is a call to the Living Path of Love. Are our hearts open to receive the call?

We are confronted by humanity’s history of harm alongside the possibility of healing Creation. Here I turn to Esther’s story in the Bible for listening to Spirit in a new way:

A man Haman abuses his power, translating hate into violence, thereby corrupting the law.

Esther is called upon by her uncle Mordecai to intervene in the impending genocide through messages carried by Hathach.

She calls upon her people to pray for her. Esther opens her heart to faithfulness, carefully discerning actions to save her people.

I’m reminded of a compelling quote from the 1943 Epistle of France Yearly Meeting during the Nazi occupation:

To Friends everywhere,
We do not ask that you pray that we be safe.
We ask that you pray that we be faithful.

In naming my ancestors as immigrants & indigenous peoples, the practice of memory teaches me to honor lamentations alongside songs of praise. 

I pray for hearts opening, for remembering the whole story of our “here & now”, for faithfulness to Spirit who calls us & moves us toward Right Relationship with all of Creation.

Psalm 42:4-6, New Revised Standard Version:

   These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,
    and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
    a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my help ⁶ and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.

May the Depths & our roots sustain us.
May the Light raise us up to be faithful.
May we Love fiercely & gently.

Amen.

For the Spanish translation, visit here.

Devotional for March 17, 2021 – FWCC Section of the Americas Meeting

Lamentations 3:21-24
from the New Revised Standard Version:

²¹ But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

We’re called upon at this section meeting “to turn from lamentations to the Light.” It’s a movement that spans the reach between our faith & our practice. It is such a movement of Spirit that birthed Quakerism, & at a time like our own — during upheavals in the world.

The Religious Society of Friends perhaps is like a tree that has a taproot. Such is the White Pine, the state tree of Maine & to where I moved in October, during Fall. A taproot grows deeply from its seed, creating points that anchor & stabilize a tree from being blown over by the wind.

From Quaker roots & surrounded by White Pines, Rufus Jones was born in the state of Maine; the US Civil War was coming to an end. He survived a lengthy, deadly infection as a child. As a young man, he survived the death of his first wife; a few years later, that of his first-born child.

When the US entered World War I, the Summer of 1914, Rufus held fast to his roots. He focused on: “how to keep our faith in God & in the coming Kingdom; how to interpret our ideals of love & peace.” That Winter, he fell on the ice, & suffered a head-injury.

Seeking recovery on a trip, his ship sailed into a hurricane. This experience broke him, & led to exhaustion. By Summer, Rufus sought recovery on Mt. Desert Island of Maine. The quiet of nature was a balm, & a turning point arrived. Although very discouraged, Rufus accepted an invitation to preach. It was his first sermon after the injury, & he was renewed by Spirit.

Rufus lived faithfully another 30 years. He added his Light in many ways that grew into the Friends World Committee for Consultation. He also witnessed the reuniting of New England Yearly Meeting after a century of division among its own body.

In preparing today’s devotional, Spirit moved me to bring forward this story of our beloved Friend Rufus Jones. At first, I weighed how the practice of gratitude — or giving thanks — gives rise to hope.

And I was reminded how we are grown from the same Seed Christ as that of the First Friends, & experienced by the first followers of Jesus; how the Quaker tree is held by a taproot — the Inner Teacher to whom we listen.

Dear Quaker family, let us listen deeply. Let us invite the balm of nature & the White Pine.  Spirit is here to minister to us, to move us from lamentations to the Light.

Great is thy faithfulness, dear God.
You do not change.
Your compassion does not fail.

Summer, Winter, Spring & Fall
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy, & love.

Your dear presence is hope itself.
You are our taproot, giving strength for today
& bright hope for tomorrow.

Amen.

Para la traducción en español, visite aquí.

Devotional for March 16, 2021 – FWCC Section of the Americas Meeting

Some of us here today are recovering from personal tragedies & grave illness. The world is experiencing much trouble — from the pandemic to the climate crisis. It is my prayer that a new song grow from our hearts, & lift up our minds,  & move our bodies with Love.

Friend Rufus Jones writes, “God Himself is love — a self-revealing & self-giving Being”. He explains how we can unite with God — that is, Love– and be “taken up into the divine life.” He understood that this is the way that First Quakers thought of & interpreted God — as Love.

My dear family of Friends, as we turn from lamentations to the Light, what is our experience of Love? Let’s open our hearts & minds & bodies, that we may practice the Living Path of Love.

William Penn explains, “God hears the language of the soul.” Let’s welcome new songs of praise with our whole being. Let our souls be refreshed as we listen to two versions of Psalm 42, verses 7 to 8, & also to their unique translations.

First, the New King James Version:
⁷ Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
⁸ The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my life.

And, also, a version called The Message:
Chaos calls to chaos,
to the tune of whitewater rapids.
Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
crash and crush me.
The God promises to love me all day,
sing songs all through the night!
My life is God’s prayer.

In this listening, the song of my soul cries out —
May we praise Love! 
— who is our Living Path.

Friends, what is the song of your soul today? Let’s listen for our songs — listening through the body, heart, mind, & soul.

To accompany our new songs of praise, here’s a passionate inspiration from George Fox. It was written while he was imprisoned.

Sing and rejoice,
ye Children of the Day and of the Light; 
for the Lord is at work In this thick Night of Darkness that may be felt:
And Truth doth flourish as the Rose, 
and the Lilies do grow among the Thorns, 
and the Plants atop of the Hills, 
and upon them the Lambs do skip and play. 
And never heed the Tempests
nor the Storms,
Floods nor Rains,
for the Seed Christ is over all, and doth reign.
And so, be of good Faith,
and Valiant for the Truth.
——————–
“Cantad y regocijaos”, https://www.raicescuaqueras.org/george-fox

Para la traducción al español, visite aquí.

Devotional for March 15, 2021 – FWCC Section of the Americas Meeting

The Presence of God — or Worship

There was a meeting; and a mighty brokenness with the power of God there was amongst the people. ~George Fox

Deep calls unto deep; the deep in God calls to the deep in man, and they know each other. ~Rufus Jones 

These Friends remind us that to enter worship is to enter the Presence of God, and how worship opens us to becoming “tender & broken”, much like seeds sown in the Earth.

Seeds break open from the Depths, as they reach toward the Light.

We gently hold this moment across many places, and Here we connect as Quaker family, even as we endure the pandemic and global hardships.

We “sink down to the Seed”, as written by an Early Friend, one of the first Quakers, Isaac Pennington.

With the Seed — or Jesus Christ,
    who is the Living Path of Love —
    we “give over” ourselves entirely.

From the Depths of this sinking,
–even from the womb of the Earth
   and the tomb of Christ’s burial cave–

from Here we embrace the Light,
    Who guides our growth
    towards the Sky & Stars.

We are nourished by Living Waters,
    and Air fills us with the Breath of Life.

Here, in this surrender to Love
    –that is, resting in Love — 
 we surrender to the Presence of God.

We are held,
& we are called to gift this gentle embrace:
to one another, here/ aqui;
among neighbors, here/ aca;
even to enemies, there/ alla;
and throughout All of Creation.

Let us become the Living Path of Love.
Let us bask in the Presence of God

Give over thine own willing,
give over thy own running,
give over thine own desiring
to know or be anything
and sink down to the seed
which God sows in the heart,
and let that grow in thee
and be in thee and breathe in thee and act in thee;
and thou shalt find by sweet experience
that the Lord knows that and loves that and owns that,
and will lead it to the inheritance of Life,
which is its portion.
~Isaac Pennington

_________________
“Entrega,” Isaac Pennington.
https://www.raicescuaqueras.org/isaac-penington

This prayer is inspired by a reflection shared with me by Friend David Finke of Oberlin Monthly Meeting (Ohio), Lake Erie Yearly Meeting. The prayer closed worship led by the Traveling Ministry Corps of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, Section of the Americas on March 13, 2021.

I pray that we can be gentle with each other
as we seek to understand what our own words mean to each of us,
and as we seek to nurture our shared experience as a Quaker family
— this beautiful body brought together by Spirit and also by the Internet.

I pray that we celebrate the many ways that God comes to us
–God being the Eternal presence of Goodness and Creativity and Liberation dwelling within us, and ministering to the world through us.

May the Light that is Christ reach the hearts of us all.
May we accept the invitation to sink down to the Seed.
May we become tender and broken.

Sunny morning greetings from the lands of the Wabanaki! I’m enjoying the bright sky with snow-covered grounds, even as the weather is slightly warming here in southern Maine.

Since moving here in Fall 2020 from Michigan, life continues to be eventful. Just recently I’ve updated the web site, and look forward to more regular posts continuing forward. Check out my revised bio page for starters – http://femestiza.com/about-mey/ .

One of my joys is the nearing Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas Meeting, March 12 to 21. This virtual gathering is bilingual, bringing us workshops, worship, and more. My contribution includes leading devotionals during weekday worship (Mar. 15 -19).

FYI – there are some free programs from the Section Meeting! One of them is March 13th, led by the Traveling Ministry Corps, who are FWCC-trained ministers from across the Americas. Find out more under “Free Events” here – https://fwccamericas.org/_wp/event/2021-section-meeting/ .