Jon Watts performs his “Quaker hit” from the “Dance Party Erupts During Quaker Meeting for Worship” video, “Friend Speaks My Mind” at Friends Meeting at Cambridge on his 2010 two wheel tour.

See his vlog from Boston:
http://bit.ly/azyxe5

Cream in My Coffee
“The video itself is like a family movie. Every single archetype that defines our modern “Quaker experience” is there. The lyrics, particularly the line about “I’m not a Christian, but I’m a Quaker”, bothered me in the same way that they bothered my mother [but] I did a little… research… This song is a testimony from one point along his journey from being a un-Bible-d liberal Friend to very possibly becoming a deeply spiritual, faithful leader in the community.”

Read More…

Pendle Hill’s daily Quaker Worship transforms into a raucous dance party as the result of some unconventional ministry from Jon Watts. Filmed and edited by Ben Schilling. The music video for “Friend Speaks My Mind.”

• Lyrics to “Friend Speaks My Mind”, the song featured in the video

Learn more about Jon Watts:

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Watch more videos on Jon’s Youtube Channel!

Reposted from the 2009 Friends Center Newsletter

Max Carter, Director of Friends Center at Guilford College

I am not adept at most of the modern social networking devices. No Blackberry or cell phone, even. At the insistence of Friends Center staff and students, there is a Facebook account with my name attached – for purposes of getting the word out on campus ministry programs. But I don’t know how to operate it.

Thus, I was unaware of a YouTube video that recently went “viral” – at least in proportion to Quaker numbers – until friends referred me to it. The video shows 2006 QLSP graduate Jon Watts rising in the silence of worship in the Barn at Pendle Hill. His vocal ministry turns into a “rap” about Quaker history and theology, focusing on the diversity of views among Friends and his own upbringing in Friends General Conference. All around him, the worshipers gradually begin to dance about, sing, and play musical instruments. It turns into quite the “Quaker Holy Ghost Revival” – if liberal, unprogrammed Friends emphasized the Holy Ghost!

Anyone familiar with Jon’s QLSP senior project, a compilation of original songs based on the spirituality of George Fox, James Nayler, and Solomon Eccles – or his subsequent recordings through his own Bull & Mouth label – would recognize some of the themes in the video. He gives a “shout out” not only to his Quaker heroes, but also to Guilford, QLSP, Baltimore Yearly Meeting camps, and other influences on his spiritual journey. While emphasizing his deep roots in the liberal tradition of Friends, he makes a clarion call for mutual listening, understanding, and sympathy across the Quaker spectrum.

I dare say that some Friends might be taken aback by theological statements made in the video, but those of us who have known and worked with Jon are taken aback even more by how much he has grown and developed in his Quaker faith. I encourage Friends to read the “Proceedings” of Friends Center’s November 2008 Quaker Renewal Program conference on Convergent Friends (available on the Friends Center site). At that conference, young adult Quakers shared their deep concern that they had been shortchanged by their Friends meetings: pastoral Friends by the lack of teaching on Quaker distinctives and the testimonies; liberal Friends by the lack of teaching about the Bible and Christian beliefs.  Jon’s video displays that he has, indeed, become aware of the rich tapestry of a broader Quakerism – and that he is finding his home in it.

In Friends Center programs such as QLSP, campus ministry, the Quaker Renewal Program, and academic offerings, we have witnessed many students and older adults come into an awareness of a richer, deeper, more complex Quakerism. Few have had the capacity to express that growth in entertaining YouTube videos and music, but their journeys are no less fascinating. In this year’s Friends Center newsletter, you will be introduced to some of our ongoing work in continuing the mission to “strengthen Friends and their institutions” and to be companions along the way of spiritual pilgrimage. I hope you enjoy the articles.

And if you are inspired to create your own video on YouTube, be sure to let us know! But we’ll continue to maintain that the theological views and opinions will not necessarily be those of the management!

-Max L. Carter

Three months ago I traveled to the Sierra Friends Center in California to take a break from the spotlight… I had been traveling in the ministry and performing all over Philadelphia Yearly Meeting for two months.  It was my intention to get some rest and do some discernment about my next steps, including some experimentation with internet outreach.

While on tour in PYM the previous April, I had arranged for a short filming session for what was to be my first music video, set to my most blatantly Quakerism-oriented song, “Friend Speaks My Mind”.  Now, four and a half months after that afternoon filming session, filmmaker Ben Schilling sent the final edit.  Great… we released it on youtube, hoping it would get a bit more attention than the videos already posted, all wavering around 100 views.

I returned from camping with my brother and his family the next day to find the video had 1,500 views overnight.  In a week it would have 8,000.  I had an inbox full of emails from all over the United States and England – from all sorts of folks… Friends missing Pendle Hill and joyful to see it depicted, other artists wanting to introduce themselves, old f/Friends who I hadn’t connected with in years.  One email was from a Pee Wee Herman-esque talk show host in Italy (no joke… hi Mr. Zed, if you’re reading this!), a self-described ‘secret’ Quaker.  Amidst all of the enthusiasm and joy there was also a more hesitant thread… some simple comments clarifying the historic relationship between Quakerism and Christianity and others more critical, even some hostile messages.

When asked by one Friend why I thought that there were such strong reactions to the video, my answer was long.  There were so many different reactions to the video, many of them strong for different reasons.  With regards to the discomfort with that particular line in the chorus, my response is: the splits are here, the splits are real and the splits hurt.

The internet is ushering in a new era for Quakers, I am learning.  The small-world immediacy of the web is bringing a broad spectrum of Friends into the same space, whereas they would have never normally occupied the same physical/social space.  It is one thing for me to recite “I’m not a Christian but I’m a Quaker” in the safety of the community from which the song originated, and another thing entirely to share it in a setting in which the culture described in it is alien and incomprehensible and possibly even offensive.  Sharing the song online could easily have been neither.  I have been posting my music on the internet for years and 99% of it has gone almost completely under the radar.  This video, on the other hand, became both.

Being unprepared for the video to go viral was a big mistake (though to be fair, I had no experience with this type of success online).  If I were planning on sharing the song in an Evangelical Friends Church, for example, I would do a great deal of preparation beforehand with my elders and with a support committee.  I would be ready for anger, confusion, joy, distress, and… everything.  All of the emotion directed at me would travel through me and fall into the lap of God, who would know what to do with those feelings.  Strangely enough, I did less preparation for the release of this video, which now has over 14,000 views, than I normally do when I perform for a Meeting of 20 people.

Unprepared as I was, I was tossed about like a ship in a storm… responding to a gushingly positive, enthusiastic email in one moment, absorbing a scathing criticism the next.  I was away from home, community and support and – ungrounded as I was – easily fluctuated between knowing that I have done something powerfully alive and full of Spirit and wholeheartedly agreeing that I somehow represent the downfall of Quakerism (as was alluded to in more than one reaction).

In one particular email interaction, I was told that my work in this song and video is counter to the truth.  I was directed by this Friend to seek deeply and see how God may be calling me to reverse myself.  Unsure of anything other than Spirit’s ability to get me through this, I happily obliged, retreating deeply inward.

I know that there were many Friends praying for me during this time and I am very grateful.  I believe that many of the Friends who delivered criticism were also directing prayers toward me.  I feel that I have been held up to the Light (in it’s many meanings) by a large part of the body of the Religious Society of Friends.

It is only in these past few weeks that I have been emerging from my inward retreat.  I emerge feeling clear that I am not called to reverse myself, that I have created a piece of art that is powerfully alive and full of Spirit.  I do understand the concerns that I’ve heard about the lyrics of the song… and whether or not the protagonist in the song accurately characterizes the whole of Quakerism, the future of Quakerism or the movement’s past, I believe it is a true story, a story worth telling, and a story that I have been called to tell for a reason.  And… it was a whole lot of fun.

My one ongoing concern is upon seeing the reaction from some as though the song is a sermon rather than a narrative… I suppose that only time will demonstrate that I am not an emerging religious leader gathering a base of followers behind the rallying cry: “I’m not a Christian but I’m a Quaker!” but a storyteller who saw a story worth telling.

So.  I don’t know how hung up folks are going to stay on the controversial elements of that one song that I wrote, but it’s time for me to move on.  There is just too much other art and beauty that I’ve been called upon to love and hold up – and too much that I have already done that most folks haven’t yet heard of – to get stuck on it myself.

I do hope that Quakers can find a way to peacefully dialogue about the differences among us*.  There is so much more that should be asked of us, but that seems to be quite enough for now.

feeling blessed
Jon Watts

*in those times for which dialogue about differences is necessary

QQQQandA is a great resource: a blog made up of answers to questions sent to FGC’s Quaker Information Center. Recently they received a question inspired by my music video, “Dance Party Erupts During Quaker Meeting for Worship”:

Please explain — what is the deal about Quakers and music? Is it true that music is considered sinful? Why? If music is bad, how do you explain the video “Dance Party Erupts at Quaker Meeting for Worship”?

I recommend that you check out Joan Broadfield’s response.

Six days ago I released this music video, which has been shared widely among Friends.

Some of the lyrics have provoked dialogue, specifically about the relationship between modern Quakerism and Christianity. Here are a few of my own thoughts…

Let’s start with:

“I’m not a Christian
but I’m a Quaker
I’ve got Christ’s Inner Light
But he’s not my savior.”

Full Lyrics

If you visited my website seeking an anti-Christian Quaker manifesto, you were probably disappointed. After a Guilford College education and a year living in community with all types of spiritual seekers at Pendle Hill, I am decidedly “Christian-curious” and have no illusions about the roots of my religion.

One job of the artist is to tap into the pulse of a community and give voice to the knots that need to be unraveled in order to move toward clarity and healing.

So if you are surprised and slightly offended by the theological statements in the song, you might be amazed by the number of Friends who approach me in solidarity with its handling of the Quakerism/Christianity relationship.

Alternately, if you find yourself in solidarity with the song’s message, you might be surprised by the number of Friends who contact me, confounded and upset by this particular approach.

Or, you might not be surprised at all.

Sometimes these two types of Quakers are living in the same communities and attending the same Meetings, but they have watered down their language so much that they never have to confront their differences.

More often, their Meeting houses are separate but in the same cities, ignoring each other altogether.

Please start talking to each other.

(If it sounds a bit like I’m talking to my parents, estranged from one another and stubborn about an old conflict, it’s because I am. Many folks in my generation – the generation that is inheriting the religion – are dissatisfied with the branches we’ve been given and the older generation’s resignation. See: convergent Friends)

Truth-telling often breaks open a scar – previously painful, static and hidden – now painful and fluid, out in the open. It is up to us to breathe mindfully and speak our hearts, doing our part to see that the breaking open moves toward healing and reconciliation rather than furthering the divides between us.

…and as happy as I am for my artist-character to be receiving attention around a controversial idea, the important thing is that there is peaceful, clarifying and reconciling dialogue in our communities (here’s my plug to book me to come to your Meeting and help foster that dialogue in person).

It can be overwhelming to think about “healing” the splits, and perhaps it is not God’s intention for Quakerism to return to being one big whole. But certainly we are not meant to simply ignore the discrepancies in our spiritual identity without engaging in dialogue…? It is uncomfortable, but for God’s sake, can we just speak our truth, breathe, examine it, love ourselves, each other and the truth as it is in the present moment? Be truthful, be courageously faithful, the next step will be revealed in good time.

We are not Christians and non-Christians. We are humans: beautiful, afraid, in pain. Love your neighbor.

I just returned from a camping trip with my brother and his wife and baby in the Sierra Nevadas to find that my first music video has been widely shared amongst Quaker circles in it’s first three days in existence! Tons of emails in my inbox, facebook messages and a semi-fiery conversation in the “comments” tab of the video.

Wow. I must say, I’m quite impressed and overwhelmed. So glad to see folks stimulated by my music and ministry (I recorded and released that song two years ago!) and to see that all of my work this Spring and all the work of Ben Schilling has paid off. Go go gadget internet!

My first feeling was nervous and a little self conscious. Sure, I wanted to share it with the world. And was hoping it would help get the word out. I’m just seeing for the first time the real viral qualities of the internet. 2,200 views in three days! (it takes me months and months to get that many plays on my MySpace!)

Anyway, my second reaction was to build up JonWatts.com as now potentially hundreds of folks may be visiting it. Done.

Now I’m sorting through the responses on Youtube and recognizing the conversation that is being held online (the same one the song has inspired so often in person).

For now, I would like to point folks to a blog entry of mine that I wrote a while ago about the potential helpfulness/hurtfulness of “Friend Speaks My Mind” and it’s abrasive chorus (“I”m not a Christian but I’m a Quaker/I’ve got Christ’s Inner Light but He’s not my Savior”).

The “Friend Speaks My Mind” Study Guide

…until I feel more clear about what my relationship is with online dialogue begun by a piece of my art:

peace.
Jon

Greetings, Friends!

TODAY I AM RELEASING MY FIRST EVER MUSIC VIDEO!

Sorry for the “all-caps,” but I have to express my excitement.  This has been a long time in the making and I only get to release my first music video once!

Plus… it is really good!  I promise.  We filmed it in April at Pendle Hill with many familiar resident faces.  The concept of the shoot was “Meeting for Worship turns dance party” and it came out so well!  …thanks to filmmaker Ben Schilling, his helper Allie and all those who graciously came to worship, dance and be filmed.

So, without further ado… watch this!

(and please – share it with your friends, relatives, relative strangers, others in your Meeting… spread the fun!  Just send them to that url!)

News and Tidings

Since last I wrote to you, I attended FGC, which was in-tense.  My performance went very well (check out my enthusiastic audience!) but besides the Gathering’s normal intensity of a week overflowing, there were a few tragedies, including a major skateboarding accident and Bonnie Tinker’s bicycle accident which resulted in her death.  Emotions ran high – Friends looked to the Spirit and to each other to guide them through grief.

Now, as promised, I get to do some fishing.  I am here at the Woolman Semester in Northern California where I am living with my brother and his wife and newborn and helping with various projects, including promotion and outreach.

So… if you know of a (more or less) high school aged teenager who could benefit from a transformational semester of Truth-seeking with other amazing young Quakers, send them to www.woolman.org!

My questions about my own near future plans remain unanswered, though I’m certain that everything will find it’s right place.  I ask for your prayers.

Further Youtubery

I believe that I mentioned once in a newsletter a few months ago that it was my intention to set out into the strange and wild world of Youtube.  I can say this much: I’ve embarked!

My Youtube channel is a place where I will be uploading videos of my performances, lectures and other visual presentations.  I’ve already put up a few:

• Several videos from the FGC performance in Blacksburg this summer: Faded, Instructions for Us(e), and We Are Lovers of Our Lost Earth
• The story behind the song “I’m Great” and performance at Solebury Monthly Meeting this Spring.
• An interview about the artistic concept behind Mixed Vice Work
• My performance of “Friend Speaks My Mind at FGC Gathering ’08 in Johnstown, PA
• THE BRAND NEW MUSIC VIDEO FOR “FRIEND SPEAKS MY MIND”!!!

(no more caps, I promise.)

Since most folks on this mailing list are Quakers and probably have no reason to know much about Youtube, I’ll explain:

Youtube.com is a website where anyone can register to have an account to which they may upload videos, subscribe to the videos of others or just generally be friendly (though if you’ll notice the comments section below some videos, “friendly” isn’t always an accurate description.)

If by some strange mishap you’ve found yourself with a Youtube account, you can subscribe to my videos and I can subscribe to yours!  Let’s be Youtube friends!  Alternately, you could keep up with my RSS feed (though that is an internet lesson for another newsletter…)

For now: watch, enjoy, share! 

It is my intention that my art be healing, stimulating, helpful, enriching.  A source of joy, letting go, inspiration and passion.

Peace, Friend!
Thanks for Reading!
Watch my new music video!

Jon

A week ago I got this email from a Meeting in Pennsylvania who had some questions about the song “Friend Speaks My Mind” after I performed for them this past April. Their questions were not uncommon, and so I took the time to respond carefully and in depth and am re-posting the response here. Hope it is helpful.

Here is the original email:

Dear Jon Watts,

Sadsbury Friends Meeting enjoyed your time with us in April. Thanks for that!

In the time since then some of us are wondering about a line in a refrain from one of the songs you sang for us.

“I’m not a Christian
I’m a Quaker
I live a Christ-centered life
But Jesus is not my saviour”

Some of us are curious as to your definition of “Christian” in the context of that refrain. (We plan to discuss this at an adult forum in a few weeks.)

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Connie
Sadsbury Monthy Meeting

And my response:

Hi Connie!

Sorry to take a while with this response… I have been busy in the recording studio.

The song that you’re referring to is “Friend Speaks My Mind”, which is available to listen to for free at http://www.myspace.com/jonwattsmusic (and can be downloaded for a dollar on itunes or http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/wattsjon). The chorus begins:

“I’m not a Christian
but I’m a Quaker
I’ve got Christ’s inner light
but he’s not my savior”

I’m am very glad to hear that the lines have sparked discussion in your Meeting. I am pulled into conversation about the topic often, as it deals with a somewhat touchy subject in FGC Quakerism.

My process for writing the song was to think back to my adolescence growing up in Young Friends in FGC and other Quaker organizations and to try to capture the attitude towards Christianity that – though rarely spoken this brazenly – is pervasive.

Judging from the number of Quakers from across the generational spectrum who approach me in solidarity with these particular lines, I would venture to say that I hit the nail on the head.

Thus – and I hope it doesn’t sound like I am dodging your question – the song is not about me, but rather, it’s about modern FGC Quakerism and a relatively common FGC approach to Christianity.

So what might be perhaps more valuable than asking me how I define the word “Christian” in the song is to create a space for members of your Meeting or discussion group who identify with those lines to explain their personal connection.

“What makes a person a ‘Christian’?” is a great question to start off with! Some other queries that might be valuable to explore are:

• What is your inward reaction when someone asks you if Christ is your savior? (or says that Christ is theirs?)
• In your practice, what is the relationship between the Quaker concept of the “inner light” and Christianity? (if there is one)
• Can Quakerism thrive without Christianity?

…and we’re just getting started! Again, this is a very valuable discussion and I’m glad to see you engaging with it. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to support your process.

in peace
Jon Watts