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Today for Song of the Soul, we continue our visit with Jon Watts and his Clothe Yourself In Righteousness project. Last week we got naked in preparation for re-clothing ourselves. Now we explore with Jon and his inimical style of spoken word poetry/music what happens when you make the transition. Jon is a deep thinker and explorer of the spiritual and musical realms. So rest assured you’ll get some depth and breadth of vision in the listening. And on a side note, I spoke to Jon a week and a half ago and in the interim I contracted one of the diseases a radio announcer dreads – a cold. So though my voice is rocky and sometimes barely there, the show must go on. I’ll try to be better for you next week but in the meantime, settle back, take some slow time to swim on the deep end of the spirit pool and listen to Jon Watts drawing from his newly released Clothe Yourself In Righteousness project.

Jon Watts: So the early Friends were my ‘in’ to the Bible. The environment in which I grew up in was not conducive to studying Christianity and in a lot of ways I would say that Christianity has a pretty bad rap right now, like the sort of political movement of Christian evangelicals is giving the whole thing a pretty bad name. So I’ve been really hesitant in my life to even go there. There’s been a lot of barriers in between me and Christianity and really embracing words like God.

It took me a long time to be able to say a word like God and mean it in a way that I felt was authentic and it’s not even something that I felt like was worth working on, because they’ve taken it, it’s gone, when you say that it conjures this image of some big, white guy in the sky manipulating everything and that’s not real. That doesn’t exist so why should we say the word? But as I started to explore my own personal spirituality, I realized the word is so important or at least the concept, I mean what do you call that body that we’re a part of? What do you call that thing that we serve? I started with saying, well, it’s the Infinite or it’s the Universe or it’s the Planet but it’s not the self, it’s not anything secular. It’s not anything secular.

I do think it can be explained in science but we don’t have an explanation for it right now and it’s the mystery, it is a mystery and it’s a mystery that we’re interacting with or that we can be and that we all have access to. So I’ve been trying to sort of reclaim that word God and in exploring the early Friends I’ve felt called in my own way to start exploring the Bible and Scripture and one of the ways that I’m doing that is through my art. It’s sort of welcoming in especially in this moment, in this poem, just welcoming that ancient wisdom that was originally written in Hebrew by people who existed in the present.

You know there was a moment when the Bible stories that we know now were being told word of mouth in the present moment and they were alive. That same thing of trying to use that language but bring it in to a context in which I feel like it’s expressing something for me. Feels like work that I’m called to and maybe just starting to explore.

Mark: I like your exploration. Let’s explore a little bit more of your music.

Jon Watts: The next thing I’d like to share is a couplet of songs. It’s two songs that sort of go hand in hand. Their names are ‘Lifted Up’ and ‘The Burden Of Vision’. The songs are… they’re very personal for me. The first one is first person, ‘Lifted Up’ is first person, and ‘The Burden Of Vision’ is third person but they both feel like… they’re both stories that I’m holding really deeply in my heart. And the seed of the songs… well let me tell a story real quick.

So as I was reading back over the story of James Naylor who was the early Quaker in the 17th century who went into Bristol and got arrested and tried in front of Parliament and whipped through the streets of London: it happened several times in the story that James Naylor became depressed or he became unspoken and I tell this story a little bit in ‘Don’t Doff Your Hat’. But he would go for days without speaking or eating or sleeping and if someone did that nowadays, we would say, oh wow, that person is probably bipolar or depressed or needs medication or something like that and yet it was this, the way that the early Friends would describe it is sort of this burden of God that if God is calling you to something and you’re having this wrestling match with God about not wanting to do what you’re being called to do, wanting to say no, wanting to not hear that message, so that can be very heavy, that we can sink into a very difficult place in those times. And in my songwriting what I’ve found is that sometimes I do this sinking.

I do this exploration of pain in the song and it’s almost what’s most natural for me is this crying out to God, this crying out to the universe about the pain that I’m feeling and what I say in the beginning of this song that I’m about to share with you, ‘Lifted Up’ is no, I’m going to make this a prayer of gratefulness, the rest of the song is dedicated to our closeness, to our connection, to our hopefulness. And in the remainder of the song I explore this concept of the value of our sadness and the value of the weight that we can feel in the universe and in this world and in this culture. It’s very real. Grieving is very important. I can’t say that with enough emphasis and we jut skip right by it, we don’t want to do it. We want to take a medication, we want to present ourselves… we want to clothe ourselves in the world, in happiness, and joy and present to the world someone who is together and with it and doesn’t feel emotions that are arresting.

But we have emotions and we have leadings that are arresting, that we need to sit with and we need to take a moment with and that we need to give our full attention to and be distracted by and be in a place of hurt or sadness because that’s the only way we can get the healing. If we ignore it then the place we’re going to go is a place of inauthenticity, we’re going to hold onto that emotion, we’re just going to hide it somewhere in our body, in our muscles or whatever so both ‘Lifted Up’ and ‘The Burden Of Vision’ which I’d like to play for you now are exploring this concept of the value of grief, the value of sadness and what our culture has done with that and embodying this way that art can be our way to navigate through that.

Mark: As Jon said, we’ll go straight into ‘Lifted Up’ and we’ll continue right into ‘The Burden Of Vision’. Jon Watts

Mark: A couplet of songs by Jon Watts, ‘Lifted Up’ and the one you just heard, ‘The Burden Of Vision’, both from his latest release, you can find out all about it, you can see videos related to it at www.ClotheYourselfInRighteousness.com He is Jon Watts. J-O-N-W-A-T-T-S. Jon, I did want to have a couple of comments about those songs. One of them was that in the ‘Lifted Up’… I’ve known you for some years and so I have some sense of who you are but I was trying to sort out what you meant by the phrase, “I salute the Amish and all the other life-affirming products of considering our tolerance for process.” That one bent my mind. I was doing a word diagram, wasn’t sure what I was going to come up with. But I have some sense of the Amish because I think one of the things you did on your performing tour, at one point, you were doing it by bike. You talk about reducing your carbon footprint. So I assume it’s connected with some of that but what did you mean? Do you know what you meant?

Jon Watts: I know what I meant, yeah. Thank you for asking. Well, the bike reference that you’re making is the simplicity thing. I did do my last tour on a bike rather than in a car and what I found was that it was really rather than reducing my carbon footprint and the focus on the negative impact of our culture and society on the natural world, I was focusing on the things like just being in the world. What was amazing about that trip was that I got to use my body, I got to be outside, I got to interact with the places that I was traveling through. So simplicity isn’t just something that we should do out of guilt. Simplicity is something that improves our lives in a deep way. So that’s the first thing I want to say about that.

The Amish line… “I salute the Amish and all the other life-affirming products of considering our tolerance for process.” So Max Carter, I just keep referencing Max Carter in this interview and I want to say that Max has been… Max’s stories and his presence have been the seeds for so many songs for me and so many projects that have changed my life, and there’s just a long list. There’s a long list of elders in my life, elders and mentors and people who have been on this spiritual journey with me who have planted all these seeds in my life for these things, these stories to exist and this journey to be as rich as it is. And after I talk a little bit about the Amish story, about how Max Carter planted that seed I’d love for us to play ‘Giving Life Leaves Marks’ to close things out here.

At the end of ‘Giving life Leaves Marks’ I list off all of these elders and mentors and fellow spiritual adventurers who have made this journey so rich and planted all these seeds for me and that song is about the seeds that have been planted and how they’re sprouting now and also my own personal process of thinking about how I’m planting seeds, and how it feels to be planting seeds and what it means and what our relationship with planting seeds is. So it’s a really vibrant exploration of the past, the present and the future. So the story that Max told me about the Amish, and I don’t know if this was a particular Amish community or if this was sort of… I don’t really understand how the structures work in the Amish community. I know that there are sort of different branches like there are in Quakerism so this might be a really simplified version of what happened.

The story that I heard from Max was about cell phones, about technology, about how new technology is introduced to the Amish, and my assumption was that the Amish have just said, “No new technology! We’re going to use our ploughs and our wagons and our barns and we’re sticking to that, we’re sticking by our guns no matter what cool stuff you guys come out with. We’re not even going to look at an i-phone or whatever.” But the truth is and the story that Max Carter told me is that the Amish communities take on new technologies and have a trial period for them in which they had cell phones for maybe a couple of months or something. And then they get together as a community and make a decision (laughs). They get together and they say how did this affect the body? Was this a healthy addition to the body? Was this sustaining for us? Or was this an unhealthy addition to the body? And is this going to break us apart? They just make a decision; they have a conversation about it.

Whereas out here in the mainstream culture you know we’re just wildly thrown from one direction to the other by the corporations who are coming up with these new technologies and the corporations that are making the decisions about how we’re going to use them. And they’re deeply affecting our communities. The cell phones, the Facebook and YouTube and Twitter. All of these things are just jostling us in one direction to the other and interact. And what I heard from the story is that we can have a more intentional relationship with technology, that these technologies if we acknowledge that they really affect us and we also acknowledge that we’re a part of the body then we can make a healthy, rational decision about how and when to accept these technologies into our communities.

And so, “I salute the Amish and all the other life-affirming products of considering our tolerance for process.” So you know a lot of people complain about the Quaker business process because it takes a long time and we have to sit in silence for a long time and listen to people who we wouldn’t really want to hear from necessarily and we all wish it could be sped up and that we had to have less patience for it and that we could make decisions faster, but process is so important.

Mark: Like microwave popcorn?

Jon Watts: Right, like microwave popcorn. But you know that kettle cooked stuff is so much better. Having that full process and really saying how does this affect us, what do we want to do, and not just what do we want to do, what does God want us to do? What does the body want from us? What would make the body healthy and happy? How am I contributing to that or how am I detracting from that? And to not ask that is to be risking a great deal, is to be risking our relationships with each other and our relationships with God. And so, you know, “all the life-affirming products of considering our tolerance for process.”

Mark: Wow, you’ve really been thinking deeply, and I think in a lot of ways you stand for what’s best, in my opinion, in engaging with religion and spirituality. I don’t get the sense that you feel like you have to do anything except you feel called in a direction, that’s how I take what I see from you. It’s not like “I should…”, “I should look this way”, or “I should be this way”,” I should speak this way”. You’re testing a leading and if I’m giving you too much credit, tell me to shut up but that’s how I end up seeing it.

Jon Watts: Well it’s certainly… I mean, well that’s the burden of vision, right? To be given something by God and God says if you do this, it will affect things; if you follow me and you listen to me that’s what would be best for the body. And I say, “ok God,” you know, it’s easy to say, “ok God, I want to do your will or you know, make me your servant.” But then God asks you to get naked in a public square in England in the 17th century, and you’re like, “oh God, seriously?” I didn’t know it was going to be like that.

So the ‘should’ and ‘should not’… I made a realization at some point in my life that I want the kingdom of heaven on earth. You know, we have this culture of making decisions around what we want to do. Like what do I want right now? I want chocolate. I want to nap. I want to interact with pretty women and these are all things that my ego wants, my body wants, and it’s the superficial and we’re often driven by that in this culture. That‘s what we’re listening to when we don’t have God.

That’s what we’re listening to when we don’t have a greater sense of the body and how we fit into it and what I realized is that yes, I want all of that stuff in the short term. I want sugar, basically I want processed sugar but that it doesn’t make me feel good tomorrow or even in two hours I’m not going to feel great about that decision and my teeth might rot out. And so in twenty years that’s not probably the best decision for me and when you take it further, what’s the best decision for our children? And we’re all having this conversation now about how to change the impact of our industrial society on the earth and how not changing it is going to affect our children and our children’s children. But what about the entire body that we’re a part of which includes the future of our species?

If we are in a loving relationship with God, then we want what’s best for God and ultimately that’s selfish. I mean ultimately what we deeply want is to be loved and to be understood and to be in right relationship with the body that we’re a part of. I mean that’s ultimately what best for each of us, not sugar, not whatever it is that we want right now.

Mark: I think it’s probably a good thing that this is not sponsored by a sugar company, I guess, this program.

Jon Watts: High fructose corn syrup. You can’t make that realization, that what I want right now isn’t necessarily what’s best for me or what’s best for the body that I’m a part of and that what’s best for the body that I’m a part of is what’s best for me, you can’t make that realization without making a radical commitment, in my opinion, making a radical commitment to listening to what the body needs, to what God is calling you to do, to what’s most healthy and to what’s most likely to move us toward the kingdom of heaven on earth. So ‘should’ and ‘should not’ that feels like some sort of external stuff or guilt stuff when really it’s what’s best for me is what’s best for God and so I’m listening for what’s best for God and I’m trying to do that.

Mark: And I love watching it happen. But you spoke of concluding with a specific song. You want to say anything more about that?

Jon Watts: Sure, yes, I’d love to. This is ‘Giving Life Leaves Marks’. It’s the only song on the album that I used the piano. I play the piano throughout the whole song. There are four different sections of the song so this was a really ambitious song for me to undertake with this violinist, Marina, that I play with. Like I said, it explores the process of planting seeds and I can’t do that without exploring where my seeds came from, where my seeds are going. And so I talk a lot about my relationship with my parents. And an interesting story about this song is that my mom found the notes and the last verse to the song is literally a letter to my mom. It starts with “Dear Mom…”

So we have yet to really sit down… she said that she listened to it in the car the other day and she thanked me for it. But it’s this deep relationship with where we came from, where we’re going, and then sort of right in the middle of the song what came through me was to talk a little bit about how we do that, how early Quakers have taught us how to do that. Then this John Woolman quote of letting love be the first motion, focusing on love, letting love guide us. The title of the song is ‘Giving Life Leaves Marks’ and it’s a literal pregnancy thing that that literally leaves marks on your body. And also that this project has been me giving birth to this thing that I’ve been pregnant with for quite a while as we said at the beginning of the interview and it has totally left its mark on my life. My life has changed dramatically because of this art that has come through me.

Mark: From the Clothe Yourself In Righteousness project, the song is ‘Giving Life Leaves Marks’, Jon Watts. Let’s listen.

Mark: How true. ‘Giving Life Leaves Marks’. And Jon, I want to say, since I happen to know your mother, I was wondering what things you had to confess that you did wrong and I don’t know if you want to do this on national radio…

Jon Watts: You know what, Mark, I was just a hard teenager and if she was here she would agree with that assessment.

Mark: And does this relate to the line from ‘Friend Speaks My Mind’, “I got down with some funky behavior…”? Is that a bit about it?

Jon Watts: That’s fair, that’s fair. Actually my mom was what we call, a Friendly Adult Presence at the Young Friends conferences that I went to when I grew up. And she was amazing. It was a space in which I called her “Peggy”, I stopped calling her “Mom” and she called me “Jon” even though she loves calling me “Jonathan” which is my birth name. And we were able to have this very formal relationship which released us from judgment of one another so the funky behavior, she aided and abetted, I have to say. But that was in the later stages of my teenage years and that was when we sort of really solidified our relationship as, I guess, peers or as people who could relate to each other as people instead of as roles.

So often we’re in these roles with our parents and children where we still struggle with this, “She’s my mom, she’s my parent,” and she knew me when I was a baby and she’s having trouble adjusting to the fact that I’m not a baby and I’m having trouble adjusting to the fact that I’m not a baby. But my early teenage years we hadn’t found that connection yet of going to these Young Friend conferences and fully loving and holding each other without the restrictions of the roles of how we had been put into each other’s lives which created a deep relationship between us, but before that and in between conferences there were some… But anyone who’s had teenagers or has been a teenager knows that that’s a difficult time and as I’m sure you’ve garnered from this interview, I can be intense.

I have intense emotions and intense passions and I’ve had a lot of … one of the things that all the elders in my life have done is helped to shape that, helped to shape that passion and provide the loving foundation and joy that that can spring from to be a gift in the world but as a teenager, before any shaping of that, it’s kind of random and it’s out of control, and if I was angry or hurting about something and not knowing how to express it, just being a really passionate person and that I was really intense. And we had some really intense times together around that.

Mark: Well I thank you for the intense times today listening to your music. And hearing what’s behind it. I love the currents that I see flowing through you. Thanks for teaching us, leading us, being faithful to the ministry you’re called to. Thanks for joining me for ‘Song of the Soul’.

Jon Watts: Thanks so much for having me, Mark.

Mark: So that was the end of my visit with Jon Watts on his Clothe Yourself In Righteousness project. Find out more, see the videos and much more at www.ClotheYourselfInRighteousness.com or just follow the link from www.NorthernSpiritRadio.org. So though the interview is over we still have several more minutes to share so I’m going to play some more of Jon’s music. You heard mention last week of the somewhat viral, at least by Quaker standards, of the video that Jon released called ‘Dance Party Erupts During Quaker Meeting For Worship’. Well it’s based on Jon’s song, ‘Friend Speaks My Mind’, so I thought you’d appreciate a chance to hear the full song. Here it is. ‘Friend Speaks My Mind’. Jon Watts.

Mark: ‘Friend Speaks My Mind’ from Jon Watts’ CD ‘The Art Of Fully Being’. Let’s go out with today’s Song Of The Soul with one more song by Jon, another of my favorites from The Art Of Fully Being. It’s called ‘We Are Lovers Of Our Lost Earth’ and the mantra I carry with me from this song is “Inhale exhaust, exhale love. Calling us to a profound alchemy of spirit.” By Jon Watts.

After several months traveling and promoting Clothe Yourself in Righteousness, Maggie and I are back in West Philly for a brief month before we part ways again.

I thought it would be a good opportunity to give away some copies of the CD, Pamphlet and t-shirt. And maybe spread the word about the music video a bit!

So I’m launching a contest on Facebook! Here’s the rules: if you share the video on facebook in the next 7 days, you could win:

A $200 Gift Certificate to American Apparel!!
(1 winner)

-and-

A Clothe Yourself in Righteousness t-shirt, pamphlet, and CD (3 winners)

All you have to do is share my music video on facebook, and get your friends to like and comment on it!

Name: Mark Wutka
Meeting: Nashville Friends Meeting (member of Atlanta MM)
Branch: Liberal/Conservative Quaker

I’m Mary Linda McKinney’s “Plainman”, and I never pictured myself going for Quaker plain dress. During my first School of the Spirit retreat, Lloyd Lee Wilson spoke to our class. I had known LLW for a few years already, he has been a tremendous influence on me, but I hadn’t before felt any leanings toward plain dress. In his talk, he said a bit about his style of dress, including his beard, which he called a Tauferbard (believer’s beard). I found that giving it a name somehow gave it power for me.

When I got back to my room, I wrote in my journal that I felt led to grow such a beard, and it felt like there were three specific reasons why it felt right. First, as a statement of Christian pacifism. Second, as a way of making myself more conspicuous so that I couldn’t so easily blend in with the crowd. It wasn’t that I wanted to show off and say “hey, look at me!” but that I wanted to be aware that people were watching me, so that I would be more aware of my behavior – sort of a spiritual discipline. Third, I wanted to invite people into spiritual discussions.

My wife at the time, Ceal, was a bit skeptical about the beard, but she was willing to let me try it, and eventually found that she liked it as long as I let her trim it occasionally. I tried trimming it once about 2 weeks before she died, she had gotten too weak to do it herself, and it was a disaster. Now I just let it grow.

By my second School of the Spirit retreat the beard had grown out enough that I had shaved off the mustache and I had a Tauferbard going. At that point, I was still dressing the way I always had, t-shirts and jeans, or dockers and a golf shirt. Mike Green, one of the core teachers, remarked that pretty soon I’d be wearing white shirts and black pants. I felt strongly that I would not.

Within two months, however, I felt inclined to go to plainer dress and began dressing in white shirts and black pants with suspenders. I felt that it helped me be more of the person I wanted to be, and that it felt comfortable and right. One person on my SotS support committee remarked that it seemed like my exterior matched my interior.

I also wear sort of a blue plain – long or short sleeved denim shirts and jeans, especially if I am working in the yard or going out for a walk. I also got a couple of hats, one is straw, the other a black felt one. Mary Linda thinks the black one looks too stern and that the straw one looks friendlier. People do occasionally come up to me to talk, although most of the time it is to ask if I am Amish (sometimes humorously, such as the person who confused Mormons and Amish, or the one who suggested that Amish was a nationality).

In addition to not having to worry about what to wear (not that I worried, but now I just pull the next shirt and pair of pants off the hanger), I like the awareness it brings – not that I am stoic or anything, but I do find myself giving extra consideration to my actions.

Name: Patrick Lozada
Meeting: Davidson Friends Meeting
Branch: Liberal Quaker
Web

My relationship with clothing has gotten more complicated since I’ve graduated from college and started a job in Washington. In college, I dressed very simply–mostly jeans and plain t-shirts. But in Washington. I’m swimming in suits, ties, and immaculately polished shoes.

This is relationship is more complicated by the fact that I’m both a Quaker professional and a professional Quaker. Working at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Quaker lobby for peace in Washington, I’m seemingly confronted with a conflict between living my faith and advocating for it. After all, did George Fox dress up in finery and doff his hat to Oliver Cromwell when he went to petition the English leader? No. But I wouldn’t dream of meeting with Senator Cantwell or Representative Garamendi in anything other than the suit I had tailored in China.

I’ve tried to absorb the contradiction by recognizing what I wear most days as a costume. I’m changing from my plain clothed self to play a game–to dress up to play a part. Maybe I am just playing the part of an insincere Quaker, making compromises and walking away from the naked experience of the spirit. But I suspect many of us make these small concessions in our lives to do what we feel we must.

Name: Karla Moran
Meeting: Indianapolis, IN
Branch: Evangelical/Conservative Quaker
Web

Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Revelation 19:8
I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10

God has given us beautiful clothes to dress in. He does care about the way His wife (church) dresses, and the way he wants us to dress is in good deeds by showing love to one another so that everyone will know who we are (John 13:35). Through out the history of humanity the way we dress has been a way to show who we are. Like the saying “clothes make the men”. For example a poor peasant could never dress as a majestic king. The way we dress people know who we are. Quakers for example adopted the plain dress form of dressing but their reasons for dressing this way went further ahead than just trying to be distinguished among society. Quakers dressed this way for equality reasons. God also wants the world to know who we are, but not the way we usually think about it because God has bigger plans for us.

I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. 1 Timothy 2:9-10

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:3

The deeds are not necesary for salvation, but instead we do them to show the world that we are already saved. But what are this good deeds, to treat each other with love. Its interesting how the Quaker testimony of Equality translated into dressing plainly.

Read more…

If you know of others, please feel free to point them out in the comments section.

1: “Who is Quaker?”

“What if we were to confess that none of us are really Quakers anymore? What would happen if we had the courage to stop laying claim to the past glories of George Fox, Margaret Fell, William Penn and Bayard Rustin? What if, instead of basking in the fiction of our status as “Quakers,” we humbled ourselves and started putting our energy into actually nurturing the communities that depend on us?” More…

Micah Bales
on
The Lamb’s War

2: “Called Out, Called In: Maggie Harrison’s Loving Challenge”

“I come to this perspective after days of sitting on the consternation and judgment of thinking Maggie’s words—ironical, creative, or not—were childish and harkening back to some imagined and impossible to recreate period in mythic Quaker history.” More…

Victoria Pearson
on
QuakerQuaker.org

3: “Why Being Told I Wasn’t a Quaker Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”

“All of my knowing that I was a Quaker – heck, all of my knowing what Quakerism was – was flattened by this one mentor-who-seemed-to-care-a-lot-about-me-yet-said-this-really-shitty-thing-that-pissed-me-off. So now I mostly only knew that maybe there were a lot of things about being a Quaker that I didn’t know yet. Like, maybe a whole lot of things. Like, maybe the most important things.” More…

Jon Watts
on
JonWatts.com

4: “Diffident No More”

“Not that I’m signing any manifestos. I’ve already explicitly refused to lay any claim on being able to define “real” Friends. But I still want to know, does anyone care if you or I are Friends? Do you? Does God? Is any person’s life made more whole by the fact that you or I identify with Quakers?” More…

Johan
on
Can You Believe?

5: “The Prophetic Calling: It’ll Break Your Heart”

“I keep bringing politics back into this because for Early Quakers, Jesus, and Dr. King there really was no separation between religion and politics. Becoming clothed in righteousness isn’t your personal ticket to inward purity, no way. It’s about asking to be a servant of humanity’s deepest, most denied dreams. In fact, I actually don’t think “getting naked” is the best metaphor. To become a prophetic revolutionary, you have to have your heart broken, permanently.” More…

Charley Earp
on
Leftist Quaker

6: “Aspiring to Be Quaker”

“In a world full of churches that call themselves Christian but really contain people aspiring to be Christian, it is not surprising that a world full of meetinghouses contains people aspiring to be Quaker. We call ourselves Quakers and Christians, but because that is the path, not a destination we’ve reached.” More…

Simon St. Laurent
on
Light and Silence

7: “Un-Unitarian? “

“I’ve just come across this post, “YOU ARE NOT A QUAKER (so please stop calling yourself one”, which is causing a stir amongst Quaker bloggers. It made me wonder, would Unitarians ever declare someone not a Unitarian? (Other than a Trinitarian Christian perhaps…)” More…

Matt
on
Life in 361˚

8: “I am not a Quaker. But could a naturist be a Quaker? “

“Nonetheless, I believe that beyond the metaphorical nakedness of Maggie and Jon’s clothing-oneself-in-righteousness, actual, literal nakedness has a place in living an authentic life. It’s not only not incompatible with faith and belief, it’s a way to enhancing faith and belief.” More…

Mark
on
Nude, Renewed

9: “A Messy Faith- Inclusivity Within Friends “

“If we start saying, ‘I am a Quaker and you are not.’ We are setting up Quakerism to be an enclosed community, a gated community, again. Who will have the keys? Who will make up the rules?” More…

Greg Woods
on
Reflections and Thoughts

2: “Nakedness”

“How I long to take all the names I wear—Quaker, non-theist, Democrat, American, Cartographer, White, Male, Straight—and take them off one by one like pieces of clothing, to be able to stand there, shivering slightly because it is February in Minnesota.” More…

NatCase
on
MapHead

Name: Katie Wonsik
Meeting: Fairview Friends, Wilmington YM, FUM
Branch: Evangelical Quaker

I love to read fashion magazines. As a magazine editor I could call it “research,” an examination of what works and what doesn’t — layouts, fonts, word count, advertisements, editorials, inserts — but the truth is I love the color combinations, the cuts of the clothing, the photography and the modeling, the lighting on the jewelry, and the ever-changing trends.

The apostle Paul tells us not to be “fashioned after” this world (Romans 12:2, The Amplified Bible) and reminds us that fashions of the world are fleeting (1 Corinthians 7:31, KJV), but does that mean in order to be a Quaker I must give up saffron and turquoise in favor of grey?

Early Quakers elected to wear “plain dress” in order to separate themselves from the hierarchy of the world in the same way that they used “plain language” to level the playing field. But today’s Friends are drawn to dressing plain for different reasons. For some it is a matter of buying clothing that you know was made locally or purchased ethically. For others it is a statement to the world that you don’t support materialism and greed and their accompanying lifestyles. For yet others it is a reminder that beauty comes from within.

Dressing plain can be a method of evangelism — inviting conversation from your friends and neighbors and the guy selling kale at the farmer’s market — providing you with an opportunity to share your faith. It can also be a way to find space in your life to nurture your spirit — imagine how much free time you’ll have to spend with God now that you aren’t staring blankly into your closet in frustration that you have “nothing” to wear.

But does the testimony of simplicity mean you have to dress plain? I don’t think so. The point of simplicity is to remove from your life the things that aren’t life-giving — the things that separate you from God — be they relationships, television, food, work, or matching your shoes to your purse.

If God is asking you to buy secondhand, fair-trade, or locally made clothing as part of your testimony, then do so. If God is asking you to wear solid colors and no jewelry so that you can focus on your inner life rather than your outer looks, then do that. But don’t feel bad if that is not your witness. I love colors and am grateful that at this point God isn’t asking me to mute my style, but God is also dealing with me in lots of other ways. The Holy Spirit speaks to each and every one of us and it is that still, small voice that we are to listen to; we just need to make sure we’ve simplified our lives enough to hear it.

Name: Ashley Wilcox
Meeting: Freedom Friends Church
Branch: Liberal Quaker, Evangelical Quaker
Web

I am in a relationship with clothing and it is complicated.

I have never liked shopping for clothes. For me, it is a frustrating chore. I am short, so it is hard for me to find something in a store that fits (unless it has a petites section), and I never know what is in style.

I also have all of the usual guilt about how our clothing is made. That can be a handy excuse to not buy new clothes. Instead, I wear the clothes I have until they wear out, and mend any holes when they appear.

In addition to being short, I am curvy, which creates a whole other set of issues. Clothing that might seem perfectly modest on a woman with smaller breasts sometimes looks obscene on me. I stopped wearing shirts with writing on them long before I became a Quaker because I didn’t want to draw any more attention to my chest, and now I joke that the clothes I wear to work (usually a sweater and slacks) are my “Quaker plain.”

When I was 20 years old, I was sexually assaulted by a stranger who followed me home. At the time, I was wearing a big, baggy coat and a hat that I had pulled down to cover most of my face. Even so, my then-boyfriend was convinced that it happened because of how I looked.

Afterward, I dressed to be invisible―in dark, solid colors.

A few years ago, my sister gave me a bright red coat for Christmas. I love it and I frequently get compliments when I wear it. At the time, I was feeling led to stop trying to be invisible and to let my light shine. Wearing my red coat is one of the ways I remind myself to do that.

In the picture above, I am wearing that red coat along with my bridesmaid dress from my sister’s wedding (I was determined to wear it again!) on Easter morning at Freedom Friends Church.

Name: Mary Linda McKinney
Meeting: Nashville Friends Meeting
Branch: Liberal Quaker
Web

I posted this on my blog back in August:

Modesty, Humility, and Submission

About a month ago, in a on-line Friendly discussion group for people interested in plain dress and simplicity, in reply to a discussion about modesty, plainness and hair, I wrote this:

“As for modesty, hmmm…I’m not very modest at all. I’m 46 and have had 3 babies. My body looks like what it is but I’m really happy with it and wear some clothes that show lots of skin. Oddly, about the time I became involved with my plain dressing Quaker man, I also became comfortable wearing dresses and summer tops which showed my cleavage, something I’d never done before. He’s fine with it although I’m sure we occasionally discombobulate people.”

Writing that and posting it on a public forum has made me really consider what I said and what I meant.

I’ve never been particularly modest; ok, I’ve always actually been pretty immodest both in attitude and in dress. I’ve always had fun with dress and having fun has been more important than being modest. My clothes are flashy and my demeanor has always been pretty flashy, too. But lately, since falling for my sincere, Friendly and God-led Plainman, I’ve had cause to further examine the ways in which I interact with the world.

From m-w.com:
modesty
1: freedom from conceit or vanity
2: propriety in dress, speech, or conduct

humble
1: not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive
2: reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission

Yeah, uh…ahem…not even close.

I’ve been considering humility and what it means to me. Give over, I think: give over my ego, my self-ishness, my pride, my conceit, the delight I take in my uniqueness but also my gifts, my abilities and my joy; give myself fully over to God. Submit myself to God, allowing myself to be formed by God and used. At the least, it means being aware of how I reflect that of God within me to the world.

I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with wearing a dress and camisole with a little cleavage showing. I don’t think of sin as an action so much as a state of being. I’ve written before how I think sin is whatever we allow to come between us and God. So my wearing clothes that show a lot of skin may have no more meaning than me wearing a coat in winter. On the other hand, given my propensity to have my ego tied up in what I wear and how I choose to present myself in my interactions with others, there’s definitely potential for vanity.

I’m slowly beginning to examine my life and my daily choices. I’m not called to plainness but I am feeling that letting go of some of my attachment to how I package myself when I interact with other people is what I should be doing. I don’t even think I really need to dress differently than I do, only that I allow dressing to be a prayerful activity rather than a self-ful one.

Name: Paul Sheldon
Meeting: Lansdowne, PYM
Branch: Liberal Quaker
Web: peacefulways.com/

At one time I considered going to Quaker plain dress or partial Quaker dress. You mention Max Carter, whom I remember in that regard from when he was in this area. Gave that a fair bit of thought and decided that it might distract as much as it helped re delivering my Quaker message. I’m sure there can be similar considerations re nakedness also. Will the symbolic or the literal action be what dominates the conversation?

Anyhow, my attitude toward clothing is sort of “who cares.” As far as I’m concerned, I’d be just as happy if everyone went naked. Would love to get rid of the status that relates to clothing. I do require clothing or a blanket or two for warmth, but may skip clothes in the house when it gets very hot.

Personal background in this regard: I was fortunate to be brought up in a loving and educated family that was more than typically liberal, while still being rooted in the culture of the times (aren’t we all). Clothing was strictly functional and neat and appropriate – hand-me-downs were fine. This was New England – it gets cold there. Naked was generally not healthy. I know friends in New Orleans who always went naked. Very understandable there.

More to your point. I said earlier “who cares” about clothes, but then what are the appropriate opportunities to go without? It didn’t always work for early Quakers, as I understand it. Couple of months ago Fran and I hiked to the White House for GMO labeling right-to-know. We had Dr. Bronner’s fire truck accompanying the group to provide showers for hot and tired hikers. No one bothered with clothing and no one cared a hoot. One night this was on a public street in Tacoma Park. Ho hum. But I think everyone understood that this group was focused on protecting the natural world, and that we (as physical bodies) were a part of that natural world. So it was all very natural and fitting. One must acknowledge that there can be a sexual issue with nudity, but one gets over it. One doesn’t get over sex (we’re in our 60s and not over it yet, thank God), but with time one gets over the automatic connection of nudity and sexuality that predominates in this country.

But be realistic – not everyone is at that place at any particular time. In fact, most are not. I have Muslim friends who would be very offended by this. One can always look at a naked woman lustfully. But then, one can always look lustfully at a clothed person. This testimony requires appropriate consideration, as does any testimony in my experience.

Peace, Paul
http://blog.peacefulways.com