More than half a year has passed since my first day on the job as publisher at Barclay Press. In that time, we've shipped roughly 10,000 items—books, study guides, CDs. We've shared 23 newsletters (this is 24). We're in the middle of two book projects with half a dozen more in the works. We've partnered with EFM in producing Easter Offering materials. We've helped Tilikum Center for Retreats develop an application process for the Christian Writers Cabin they're building. We've replaced three sets of fluorescent tubes, addressed a plumbing problem in the upstairs bathroom, had the carpets cleaned, and saved a failing hard drive. We've taken out the trash on Tuesday nights and brought in the empty trash cans on Wednesday mornings.
This is how life goes. We do what needs to be done, try not to drop any details, and take what time's left over to think about what might come next.
So what comes next?
Well, it won't be long before we're mailing out orders of Illuminate for Fall 2016, a study on Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. The quarterly includes writing from Bruce Butler, Priscilla Hochhalter, Judith Shoemaker, Nancy Thomas, and Catherine Trzeciak. After that, we'll send out Fruit of the Vine.
In the meantime, we're building an online imprint, which will remain separate from the work we do here at Barclay Press. We hope to have more than a thousand readers and 30 contributors by the end of this summer.
We're also dreaming.
About what God is doing and where God is leading. About how we might plant seeds today—little, tiny seeds—that might one day break into bloom. About what we can do that might make a difference in the world.
Eric Muhr
Deeper than promises
Katie Comfort reminds us in this morning's Fruit of the Vine that, where God is concerned, covenants "go beyond generations. The covenant God made with Abraham is ongoing. The covenant God made with David was finally fulfilled through Christ." And what about God's covenant with me? with you? with us?
Looking out my office window here at Barclay Press, I count three buildings that are part of the George Fox University campus. If I walk out to the parking lot, I can see the yearly meeting offices. Just like the existence of Barclay Press, these buildings are physical reminders of covenants that "go beyond generations." More than one hundred years ago, a generation of small-town Quakers allowed God to use them "to orchestrate elaborate plans for the future," plans that my generation - "both precious and temporary" - gets to be part of as well.
Sometimes, I'm only aware of the temporary part, especially in the day-to-day tensions of unfinished tasks, of looming deadlines, of fear that I'm not enough. I forget that God has been working. Is working. Will continue to work. That I need not fear.
Katie's devotional reflection on Genesis 15:1-6 reminds me that "covenants go deeper than promises," and "they often require more faith." Which is why I find comfort in her prayer "that God will reveal how he is using [me] for his glory in his covenant promises with the church, and that [I] will be faithful to that."
Eric Muhr
To see through fresh eyes
Maurice Roberts offers a friend's paraphrase of Ephesians 1:18 in this morning's Fruit of the Vine: "My prayer for you is that your heart will be able to see through fresh eyes so that you can comprehend the reality of the hope that is yours." Not tomorrow, but today. Right now. Just waiting for us to notice "that, with God in control, he has the whole world in his hands, including my world - today."
Today, I'm working on two books that we hope to have ready by the middle of July. Close to the Ground is a beautiful collection of poems from Nancy Thomas with cover art from Donavon Aylard. Face to Face: Early Quaker Encounters with the Bible from T. Vail Palmer is the first of a three-volume study on Friends, God, and the Bible. I'm proud of the role Barclay Press gets to play in the making and distribution of these books. Part of that work, though, requires that I figure out how to finance editing hours, design work, the initial print run (and a whole host of details that don't make sense to me yet [because I've never done this before!])
So today, I am thankful for this prayer from Maurice: "Lord, we want to be able to see your ways and your will through fresh eyes today. Deliver us from getting caught up in expectations of our own choosing."
What are you facing today? Whatever it is, remember that our hope comes from "knowing who holds the tomorrows as well as each today."
Eric Muhr