Stephen G. Cary Memorial Lecture 2025: Earthquake, Wind, and Fire – Seeking the Calm Center

With Max Carter

We are living in a time of “earthquake, wind, and fire.” Many of us are searching for “still, small voice of calm,” a Living Center, where we can hear the voice of the Divine and find the strength to carry on.

What lessons can we learn from the work of those living through war and catastrophe in Palestine and Israel, as they speak truth to power in the cause of a just peace? How might their experience inform us as we seek a calm Center in the eye of the storm?

This lecture takes its inspiration from the last line of John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem, “The Brewing of Soma,” familiar to many in the last verse of the hymn “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.” The poem references 1 Kings 19:11-12, in which the prophet Elijah is confronted by God in the wilderness. Elijah faced tumultuous times in his prophetic task of speaking truth to power. Whittier, a Quaker abolitionist, similarly dealt with seismic issues in his commitment to the cause of anti-slavery and social reform. This lecture will invite the audience to listen to the resonances of these words in our times.