Walking with the Bible Series

WALKING WITH THE BIBLE SERIES: A monthly series of Bible hours on the first Sunday of the month. Sponsored by Woolman Hill and Beacon Hill Friends House.

Peter Blood-Patterson will welcome a series of different Friends as guest leaders. We will have a chance to hear what role the Bible plays in each of these Friends’ lives and to hear what approaches to the Bible they find work in their personal practice and group settings.


We will then spend some time listening to and reflecting together on a passage that is rising for our guest leader. This will be a participatory event with a chance to let God speak to our hearts through the Bible — and to share what we are hearing with each other in small breakout groups and in the group as a whole.


This is an opportunity to learn from and spend time with a variety of Friends for whom the Bible provides a doorway to the living Spirit. Welcoming to all whatever your previous experience is with the Bible!


Friends are welcome to attend single sessions or the whole series.


The sessions will run from 4:00 - 5:15 pm Eastern Time on the first Sunday of the month. The Zoom room will be open anytime after 3:45 pm to settle in and get any tech assistance needed. There will be an optional informal Q&A discussion from 5:15 to 5:30 pm.


Accessibility: Closed captioning will be provided through the computer-generated service Rev.com


Dates and Guest Leaders: 

Sunday, October 4: Carl Magruder ** Event Passed - email [email protected] if you are interested in the recording **

Sunday, November 1: Adria Gulizia

Sunday, December 6: Colin Saxton


Eastern Time
3:45pm optional settling in, tech assistance
4:00pm Program begins
5:15pm optional informal Q&A discussion


Cost: Pay-as-led 

Give any amount that feels right to you, either by selecting one of the suggested amounts or entering a custom amount in the space provided. 

  • $15 - Suggested standard rate for one session (or $40 for series of all 3 sessions)

  • $35 - Suggested supporter rate per session—helps others attend and supports the presenters and host organizations (or $100 for series)

  • $5 - Suggested reduced rate for all three sessions (or $10 for series)

  • Attend for free: Email [email protected] to reserve your place for free if that is what works for you. We do not ask for proof of income.


Peter Blood-Patterson has been writing and leading retreats and adult religious ed courses for Friends for many years. He is a graduate of the spiritual direction program of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. Peter carries a special concern for helping 21st century Friends bring a prophetic voice to the challenges facing our world today. He is a member of Mt Toby Meeting (NEYM) and likes to keep busy making “good trouble” in Western Massachusetts. Writings & resources at inwardlight.org.


Carl Magruder, M.Div., BCC, is a “cradle Quaker” of the waiting worship tradition. He lives in California, where he works as a palliative care chaplain. An EarthQuaker, Carl finds God in the world around him—“the text God wrote Herself.” He has come more recently to an appreciation of Biblical texts. In this time of transition, Carl wonders at the Jack Pine, whose cones only open and germinate in fire. Can Friends be a people of faith on fire? Surrender our fears to God, to find new life, purpose and vitality? Carl is a member of Strawberry Creek Friends Meeting in Berkeley, CA. His ministry is under the care of the meeting, with a four-member clearness committee that has accompanied Carl for more than a decade. He led the Bible Half Hours at the 2020 FGC Gathering on the theme of “Trickster Jesus”. See the videos.

Adria Gulizia is a lawyer, mediator, teacher, mother and Young Adult Friend. For the last few years, she has carried a concern for how Friends’ traditional faith and practice translate into an increasingly unstable, atomized and uncertain world. In her ministry activities and in her daily life, Adria is passionate about inviting all into deeper relationship with the Spirit of Christ, which spoke so strongly to early Friends and continues to speak today. She is a member of Chatham-Summit Monthly Meeting (New York Yearly Meeting), the Friends of Jesus Fellowship and the Board of Advisors of Earlham School of Religion. She co-led with Peter a workshop on the “Revolutionary Roots of Quakerism” at FGC summer gathering in 2018. Adria's blog, In the Shadow of Babylon, can be found at shadowofbabylon.com. 

Colin Saxton brought his gifts as an engaging, passionate and joyful minister to Bible Half-Hours at New England Yearly Meeting’s 2019 sessions. As an Everence Stewardship Consultant, he works to nurture generous, thriving communities of faith. Colin and his wife, Janine, live in Newberg, Oregon. Prior to coming to Everence, Colin was a Quaker pastor, superintendent of Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends and General Secretary of Friends United Meeting. He has an M.A. from Eastern Mennonite Seminary and D.Min. in leadership and spiritual formation from George Fox Evangelical Seminary.