Etude for Belonging

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April 25, 2020 At the end of this email, I will invite you to put on headphones if you have them, or find a quiet place and take five minutes away from everything stressful. To listen. To be encouraged and strengthened. To rest. But first I want to tell you about Bethany Lee. You might already know her! Bethany is a regular contributor to Fruit of the Vine as well as an accomplished musician and poet-adventurer. She published The Breath Between in May 2019 with our imprint, Fernwood Press, and she is bringing out a second collection of poems, Etude for Belonging, under that same imprint in just under a year. Barclay Press is a small nonprofit publishing house. Along with Illuminate and Fruit of the Vine quarterlies, we produce and distribute books in small quantities – books that might never bring in the kinds of sales it would take to interest a larger, for-profit press. Barclay Press can focus on the work of people like Bethany because the support of individual donors like you gives us the freedom to seek out uniquely beautiful collections with timeless messages of truth. So far this year, we have received 111 financial gifts (28 percent more than last year) for a total of $14,227 (26 percent higher than this time last year). And every gift moves us forward in our mission as publishers of truth.  If you would like to help Barclay Press continue the work we do, you can make a one-time or monthly donation by clicking on the Donate button in this email or by visiting barclaypress.com/donate. Thank you for your generous support, and now, please put on headphones if you have them, or find a quiet place and take five minutes away from everything stressful. To listen. To be encouraged and strengthened. To rest. Scroll down for the embedded video from Bethany Lee! Thank you, Eric Muhr BARCLAY PRESS 211 N. Meridian St. #101 Newberg, OR 97132 503.538.9775 www.barclaypress.com

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To construct for yourself a refuge

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April 22, 2020 Writing about the importance of reading for pleasure, English playwright and novelist W. Somerset Maugham noted that “to acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge.” Maugham said he always kept on hand a book of poetry in case he was in the mood for it, and next to his bed was one of those books into which you can dip at any place. Do you have a book or two that you can slip into at some point during the week? I’ve collected a short list of recommendations below: BARCLAY PRESS 211 N. Meridian St. #101 Newberg, OR 97132 503.538.9775 www.barclaypress.com

Consider the moments in this collection—a mother is buried, a son is born, Alaska melts—each event a signpost. Reflect on the signs of rest and restlessness, simplicity and complexity, life given and taken and throbbing. This is the way of faith. We watch for truth’s brilliant appearance, and in the midst of our heartbreak-while-waiting, we pray. Jeffrey Johnson’s poems listen to the angels, they sing the doxologies, they pay loving attention to life. They are prayers. They will help you feel the power of life. They will teach you to pray. Our Life is Love describes the transformational spiritual journey of the first ­Quakers, who turned to the Light of Christ within and allowed it to be their guide. Many Friends today use different language, but are still called to make the same journey. Focusing on ten elements of the spiritual journey, this book is a guide to a Spirit-filled life that affects this world. It was 1970. Fighting between the Jordanian Armed Forces and the Palestine Liberation Organization had been escalating, but a Quaker serving at a school for Palestinian children in Ramallah reported that things were quiet. That quiet would come to an end just days later, and that Quaker, Max Carter, a conscientious objector who would return to the Middle East again and again over the years, reflects on his travels in the region and the lessons he learned from his growing network of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim friends in this memoir covering the time from 1970 through the second Intifada. When you have an experience and tell the story of that experience to someone, something sacred happens inside of you. And as you store up all those stories and share them, you grow your world’s boundaries. Glory Happening is a book of stories and prayers that remind you to take a closer look at your everyday circumstances, to find the magical beauty in everyday experiences. It is an invitation to live deeply into every moment with the expectation that something good will find you at the end of the day. And once you experience glory, you have words to speak, a prayer to pray, and a story to tell. Copyright © 2020 Barclay Press, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

This might be the time

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April 20, 2020 A year ago this morning, we were just six weeks away from the day that roughly a thousand Friends from across the country were starting a thirteen-week study of the book of Exodus. They were preparing to engage the Scripture as Friends have been doing for centuries by thinking about how their own experience intersects with the text and what that might mean for their local faith community as it seeks to bear light in the world. This year will be different. Most Friends churches and Quaker meetings are not gathering physically on Sunday mornings, and several of them have put their Illuminate Bible study orders on hold. It’s unfortunate. This coming quarter on the Gospel of Matthew contains a breadth of diverse voices and a depth of scriptural insights that might just make it the best study guide we’ve ever produced. And now – more than ever – people need ways to stay connected with each other, with community, and with Scripture. It makes me wonder if this might be the time to try something new. Here at Barclay Press, we have heard reports of half a dozen communities that are meeting for virtual Bible study. In addition, a handful of Sunday school classes and small groups are using Illuminate as individual study guides – each person works through the quarterly at home, sticking to the same calendar as Friends in their community and across the country. This is a unique opportunity for Friends across branches and around the world to be on the same page. It might also be a time for Friends to use Barclay Press curriculum as a tool for generating virtual, online conversations, engaging with the Scripture together in cyber space as well as through shared spiritual experience. Maybe you’d like to be on the same page with other Friends. Maybe you’d like to start or join a virtual study for this coming quarter. Maybe you’d like to support Barclay Press so we can keep working on the next quarter and all the quarters to come.   Send me an email to get a free sample lesson – a week out of the upcoming Illuminate study – so you can see for yourself if this might be a good fit for you. Reach out to the people you know and start an online group, or let me know if you need help finding a good group to join. I can help make connections. Finally, if you just want to help Barclay Press make it through so we can continue the work we do, you can make a one-time or monthly donation by clicking on the Donate button in this email or by visiting barclaypress.com/donate, and you can pray for us. Thank you, Eric Muhr BARCLAY PRESS 211 N. Meridian St. #101 Newberg, OR 97132 503.538.9775 www.barclaypress.com

Copyright © 2020 Barclay Press, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list