September 2011 – Jon Watts

Quakerism 101 with Max Carter

When we were filming the scene in the hut for the music video, Tom Clement and I had some down time with Max Carter and, having asked him to prepare a brief lecture on the history of Quakerism for the video, decided to let him run once through the whole thing.

What’s amazing about what follows is that Max did this without flinching, as Tom and I were moving around the room trying to get everything ready for filming the music video.

As I looked back over the footage, I realized that there is simply no online resource as concise and comprehensive as the (less than) five minute talk Max had just given. I went to work with the visuals, and would say, humbly, that the result is as good as the music video (some might say better!)

The Story of James Naylor, The Most Controversial Quaker

During the time of George Fox, Quaker — and the Valiant Sixty — James Nayler (or Naylor) was a powerful and respected Quaker preacher, who, at the beginning of the formation of the Religious Society of Friends, traveled extensively preaching the Quaker message and writing prolifically.

After being in prison in Exeter, Nayler and a group of followers traveled North, embodying “signs” in each town they came across, eventually getting arrested in Bristol. Nayler was tried in front of Parliament and convicted of high blashphemy, whipped through the streets of London, branded with a ‘B’ and had a hole bored through his tongue with a hot iron.

I first discovered Nayler while working on my Senior project for the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program (QLSP) at Guilford College. The project (and this song especially) convinced me of Quakerism.

Tom Fox Music Video

Friends,

As the tenth anniversary to 9/11 came and went, I found myself reflecting on the past ten years… especially our reaction to being attacked and the results of that reaction.

I found myself reflecting on my elder, Tom Fox, who joined the Christian Peacemaker teams to try to heal some of the damage we were doing in Iraq. And I found myself mulling over the song that I wrote about Tom’s subsequent abduction and death.

What resulted was very unexpected. I am working full tilt on a new album (due for release in 2 weeks… yikes!) and certainly did not have the spare time. But of course I had to listen, and be faithful to the call. Take a look:

How to Heal from 9/11

“What’s important is not your emotional reaction to something, but how you hold and interact with that emotion”

It will continue to become clear that 9/11 was a turning point for our country. Not because we were attacked. Because of the way we responded to being attacked, which was far more damaging (to us) than the attacks themselves.
Continue reading “How to Heal from 9/11”