Matt Boswell

Trail on the ridge in the mist

Wind blown trees on mossy rocks

Dense forest

Orange mushrooms on a branch

This morning at the Hardy Ridge Loop Trail to Phlox Point. #PNW

Ten suggestions for how to be more spiritual:

1. Shout!
2. Have integrity
3. Be curious
4. Get over yourself
5. Reduce harm
6. Be non-violent
7. Get your hands dirty
8. Break yokes
9. Nourish bodies
10. Be truly you

(According to Isaiah 58:1-7, one of today’s lectionary texts)

Family walking toward bridge and falls

Tall thin waterfall

Waterfall

Kid’s foot coming out of hole in tree

Family hike at Latourell Falls Loop trail today. #PNW

Split tree with trail

Trail between two trees

Mushroom

Small white flowers

This morning on the Green Mountain trail, north of Camas. #PNW

Looking west over the river

Looking at trees in the distance

Looking northeast over the river

A clump of trees

This morning on the Angel’s Rest Trail. #PNW

Looking down at a snowy ridge

A snowy summit

A snowy trail and valley below

Snow covered summit, blue sky in the background

This morning at a wintry but sunny Silver Star Mountain.

Snow in forest

Forest trail

Trail on oaky hillside

Hole in tree

Yesterday on the trail: Oak Ridge to Bald Butte. ❄️ #PNW

A radical left scum manifesto:

“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

Trail through forest bending left

Orange mushrooms

Trail through forest bending right

Puddle between tree roots

A wet morning in Forest Park. #PNW

Fellow Advent observers: Christ is coming! Not at the end of time or in our nostalgia, but in every person seeking food, drink, refuge, warmth, care, and inclusion.

Young adults turn to Quakers' silent worship to offset — and cope with — a noisy world There’s been an unprecedented surge in the numbers of attendees at Sunday worship at the Quaker Arch Street Meeting House in Old City Philadelphia.

A nice piece on Quakers. Arch Street Friends Meeting is unprogrammed (Camas Friends is “semi-programmed”) but this article captures the spirit of our community.

Triple Falls

Looking past yellow leaves into the gorge

Looking over red and yellows down to the creek

Close-up of a yellow leaf

This morning on the Oneonta Gorge Trail. #PNW

How about “No *Shame* November”? A daily practice of rejecting any religion-informed messaging that tells us or others that we’re bad, impure, illegal, inadequate, unacceptable, or undeserving. A daily opportunity to undo any harm we’ve caused others by sustaining ministries built on toxic shame.

“When we’re hungry, love will keep us alive.”
~The Eagles, correctly

Love is creating a world where it’s easy to get food, care, and connection and difficult to go hungry, not get the care you need, or be excluded.

Self-love is not selfishness. It’s not a personal flaw to need something. It’s not naughty to want something. Impulses can be trustworthy. Desires can be holy. Fears can be clarifying. Tears can be healing. Doubts can spark needed change.

Seeing lots of people voicing their needs and/or offering support to others, in this fraught time. This is community. This is what it’s all about.

The seeds of Love are planted within every person. How can we nurture these seeds, in one another? How can we create more fertile conditions so that the Love in each can grow and thrive?

Fall colors on the river

Light brown mushrooms

Looking through red-orange leaves

Purple mushrooms

Returning to a favorite this morning: the Salmon River Trail. #PNW

Fall colors on a forested, lakeside trail

My favorite place to run in Camas—the Heritage Trail (Lacamas Lake). #PNW

The way we’ll survive this is Love: crowd-feeding, foot-washing, table-flipping, truth-telling, nap-taking, stranger-welcoming, wound-tending, community-building, laugh-inducing, risk-taking Love.

Two people with signs that say “love your neighbor” and “stop the inhumanity” and one waving frog (me)

Peaceful protest with Quakers at the Portland ICE facility this morning. As my Friends’ signs say: stop the inhumanity. Love your neighbor.

Fall colors on the ground

Fall colors along the trial

Snowy footbridge

Path through the snow

This morning on the east side of Sahalee Tyee (Indian Heaven Wilderness). Fall meets winter. #PNW

Speaking of frogs and unicorns let me tell you about a time Jesus used whimsy to oppose fascism, it all started with a donkey and a few palm branches…

White nostalgia and stubbornness won’t save us. A more reverent connection to the land and to each other might. Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

There are many ways to be violent and to be complicit in violence. It’s a good day to ask whether the theology that soothes you is actually making you more violent.

My autistic friends and family do not need to be fixed! What needs to be fixed are hearts, communities, practices, and structures that make it needlessly difficult for autistic folks to fully participate and be cherished as their beautiful, authentic selves.

Reverence for every person and the Love within them is the beginning of wisdom.

Happy World Quaker Day! Where are my fellow Friends? Or, where are those listening deeply, speaking truth to power, nurturing the love within yourself and others, resisting authoritarianism, responding to needs of vulnerable neighbors, and remembering to breathe? That’s the Quaker way at its best.

”Love your neighbor” is not just something that happens in your heart but something tangible we do, together.