John W. Baird, Head of School, Westtown School

“Friend Jon connected well with students from both Quaker and other backgrounds. His vibrant spoken word messages touched on themes of environmental stewardship, peace, equality, justice and other quaker testimonies with an authenticity and immediacy that expanded the vocabulary of worship for all of us.”

Read the rest of John’s letter…

Tom Hoopes, Religious Studies Teacher at George School

“Jon Watts brings people together across boundaries of age, theology and musical taste. After Jon’s recent performance at George School, I heard a wide range of affirmative responses from various people. A spiritually-seeking teacher in his late twenties remarked, “Wow. Jon Watts is the real deal. He’s got it.” A very savvy girl of 18 said, “He is SO hot! I have all of his CDs.” A colleague in her 50’s noted, “I love his stuff. And my kids and their friends all have his music on their iPods.”

Read the rest of Tom’s letter…

Walter Hjelt-Sullivan, Academic Dean of Pendle Hill

“Jon Watts is a skillful and perceptive performer. His performances take on the flavor of a Meeting for Worship. It is clear to me that Jon both prepares the play list to create that atmosphere and listens carefully to follow the leadings of the Spirit in the moment. What I appreciate most about Jon and his ministry is the honesty, sincerity, and transparency of his journey. He continuously seeks to be faithful – to find the true message that has been given to him.”

Read the rest of Walter’s letter…

Max Carter, Director of Friends Center at Guilford College

“After witnessing the profoundly positive impact Jon’s work has had on the Quaker community at Guilford, I have felt moved to share the fruits of his labor with the wider Quaker world. I hope that Jon’s music will inspire others to dig deep into the experience of early Friends and discover, as Jon did, deep resources for our lives today.”

Read the rest of Max’s letter…

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

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
• Download the song

Learn more about Jon Watts:

• About
• Listen
• Upcoming Shows

I stopped by Pendle Hill in early September to help them set up their social networking system and interviewed with Shirley Dodson for their September newsletter.  The interview came out quite well.

Shirley was a patient and deep listener, asking questions like How did your musical ministry develop and What do you see Quakerism offering to the world?  Take a look:

http://www.pendlehill.org/blog/266-jonwatts

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.