Quaker Meeting: for ... Business; Membership
QUAKER MEETING: for ... BUSINESS
453. A Practical Mysticism: How Quaker Process Opens Us to the Promptings of the Divine (by Elizabeth Meyer; 2018)
About the Author—In this essay, Elizabeth Meyer draws on her experience clerking her monthly meeting, yearly meeting, and many committees, as well as her practice as a worshiper for over 40 years.
[Introduction]—I had just become meeting clerk; [there seemed to be an real] need for an Information Technology (IT) Committee. I expected this to be an easy approval, so I was stunned when a Friend rose in business meeting to object [on the grounds that] we didn't have enough rooms to hold meetings of the committees we had; he called for a moratorium on any new committees. Would plans for this necessary committee be derailed by a side issue? Then I heard a whisper of [an inward voice], "Don't lay this over; it can be resolved today."
[I aired the feelings of Friends feeling the need for the IT committee and] came back to the objecting Friend, who was as adamant as ever. [Then I realized that] his frustration, though not strictly relevant, had to be acknowledged before he would let go of his objection. When the Friend's underlying concern was acknowledged [as one shared by others], he withdrew his objection and we approved the new committee. I knew credit belonged to a messenger of the Divine. The Spirit is present with us, leading and teaching us, and angels are hovering 'round, [even or especially in business meeting].
Sometimes Friends business meetings don't feel very worshipful. At times, business meetings feel: boring; like going through the motions; [same old, same old]; or contentious. How does a worshipful business meeting happen? The worshipping community is the best incubator for leadership among us. All present must engage faithfully, trusting the process, which is a discipline that opens the blessed community to the Divine presence. Business meetings are worshipful when Friends understand and willingly take on this mystical process. What draws the group closer to, or away from the Divine? I have identified 12 Friendly practices, characteristics of Quaker process, which open us up to the prompting of the Divine. The 2nd part of the essay offers advice for clerks. This information may be helpful to committees seeking to name and nurture clerking gifts, and the whole meeting's understanding of what clerking involves.
FRIENDLY PRACTICE 1: The Clerk is the Shepherd of the Process—The shepherding of the process clerks provide helps open Friends to Divine leadership rather than focusing on human desires or ends. A proposal was brought to give the meeting founder's stone to the museum. It sat in the meeting's burial ground, rarely seen & no longer needed as a boundary marker. As meeting clerk, I had to be sure that all interested parties in the meeting had an opportunity to consider the proposal. The Trustees Committee and meeting in general were ready to approve. But the Graveyard and Grounds Committee had not yet considered the matter; [another month was needed]. [Friends were impatient to move on the matter], but I said, "Friends, if we are going to have committees, let's give them a chance to work." [A seasoned Friend] reminded the meeting of the importance of process rather than outcome. [It turned out after full approval that the stone could not be moved]. Mindful of the Presence in the Midst and the blessed community, the clerk prayerfully prepares agendas and helps Friends understand and navigate the process, with the clerk's sound judgment, strong faith, and deep listening.
FRIENDLY PRACTICES 2 & 3: We Share our Light, always Speaking with Kindness/ Meeting Business Submitted with Humility, Received with Gratitude—We might come with opinions on the agenda, but in worship we loosen our grip on opinion, and invite Spirit to give us new insight. There are no adversaries in business meeting. We are all on the same side: the side of Truth, and discerning truth. We must be careful to speak with kindness and avoid sharp tones, personal attacks or insults. In a contentious meeting, a clerk or other discerning Friend can remind the body that our process isn't adversarial but discerning, as in seeking God's will.
When Friends bring a report or proposal to a business meeting, they lay out the information as honestly as possible. They then humbly turn to the clerk, trusting the clerk to shepherd the process, which keeps it from becoming adversarial. The meeting listens with respect to all concerns raised as it seeks discernment. We are grateful for the work that went into bringing the proposal forward. We are grateful to God for the faithfulness of all who participate in business meeting.
FRIENDLY PRACTICES 4 & 5: Search Engines cannot Participate in Worship/ All Business Meeting Matters are Spiritual—Our electronic devices can be a blessing for business meeting, or they can be a tempting distraction; emails, video games, and search engines have no place in worship. Finding helpful information online and sharing it during a deep and worshipful discussion can break the sense of worship within a group, [and/ or distract individuals from being part of the worship process]. Because of instant fact-checking, attention to accuracy in presentations is a must; presenters should avoid making unverified side comments. Take the time outside of worship to obtain accurate information; spend precious business meeting time in worship.
Everything brought to business meeting is a spiritual matter. Even seemingly mundane business matters are essential to our spiritual communities. They are services performed with care and love; they are spiritual. If you find yourself growing impatient with a boring report, ask the Inner Teacher to reveal the spiritual in the mundane. As presenter, articulate for Friends how the Divine has worked through the committee. Why is the proposed business action Spirit-led?
FRIENDLY PRACTICE 6: Unity does not Require Unanimity—[Our meeting was split over what to do about a disruptive member. Some believed in trying harder to find that of God in the disruptor]. Others, citing the long tradition of Quaker eldering, insisted discipline was appropriate. How could we find unity around the disruptor? [We tried writing a letter forbidding him from coming onto the meeting campus, and then enforcing the letter through the county courts; the judge dismissed the charges].
The whole meeting needed to confront this disruptive behavior & the disruptor's membership. At business meeting, a few Friends expressed discomfort with taking away membership, but a sad unity covered the meeting. Several Friends who felt a leading to work with the disruptor & who offered off-campus worship for him accepted the clerk's offer to be recorded as standing aside. They recognized that the meeting had reached unity, & by their actions let the disruptor know they were available for spiritual support. 2 visitors, who seldom attended, but had connections with the disruptor or the meeting, were respectfully recorded as standing aside. Meeting for business is worship, not an opinion poll. When a few Friends agreed the business meeting was being led to terminate the membership, but each individual wasn't willing to give up on the disruptor, they rightly stood aside.
A Friend can stand in the way of a decision—prevent unity from being recorded or action taken—only when absolutely clear the Spirit requires it. It must result from a clear leading that the meeting has missed the mark in its discernment. Anyone seeking to stand in the way must have the weight to do so, must have labored with the meeting concerning the issue. [One could not show up only at the end of the decision process, and expect to have the weight to stand in the way]. Seek help from a spiritual friend or clearness committee to ensure the clarity of your leading. If you do feel led to stand in the way, express yourself humbly and worshipfully.
FRIENDLY PRACTICES 7 & 8: Difficult Matters are an Opportunity for Spiritual Growth/ We Accept God's Will, even When we do not Like it—The people saved from enslavement in Egypt were not yet ready to enter the Promised Land. They had leave behind their slave mentality, and be transformed into a people willing to be obedient to the Divine before they could find their way out of the wilderness. In business meeting, we seek the Divine together, and are transformed along the way. Sometimes it takes a difficult issue to break us open so that Spirit can come in. In brokenness, we let go of what separates us from the Divine to receive a new & willing spirit, and our souls are fed as with manna from heaven.
We confronted a Friends United Meeting (FUM) personnel policy which defined marriage as "between 1 man & 1 woman," excluding [actively] gay Friends from participation in FUM. Baltimore YM (BYM) felt torn between its longstanding relationship (100 years) with FUM, & FUM's unsupportable, offensive, & discriminatory policy. We suspended financial contributions, & labored for many years. We talked about FUM Friends as the other, stereotyping & name-calling. We felt led to begin a program of intentional inter-visitation: a ministry of presence, visiting one another in love, with no agenda. In 2008, we prayerfully considered the responses of our monthly meetings to the question of continuing in membership with FUM. We felt called to stay as a member YM of FUM in patient witness to our experience of God's all-inclusive love.
Skilled BYM members served on the FUM board, and specific FUM projects overseas were financially supported, without involving FUM's Richmond, IN office and its personnel policy. Though we had not come to clearness regarding general financial support, we felt God's presence with us as we worked; BYM became a deeper worshipping community. In 2010, BYM's Interim Meeting discerned that the time to revisit the FUM funding issue. Our gay and lesbian members let us know we must be led by Divine guidance rather than by loyalty to them. It soon became clear that BYM was led to resume general financial support of FUM. The Interim Meeting's discernment met with much displeasure in monthly meetings.
Howard Brinton writes: "At its best, the Quaker method does not result in a compromise ... The Quaker method [of discovering] Truth will satisfy everyone more fully than did any position previously held. Each can say, 'That's what I really wanted, but I didn't realize it.' ... The deepest Self of all is that Self which we share with all others [and God]. To will what God wills is ... to will what we ourselves really want." We may expect that there will be times when we come to a discernment we do not like. The Presence in the Midst's movements may defy logic. We may not always like where the Spirit leads, but we go anyway; that's faith.
FRIENDLY PRACTICE 9: The Community is more Important than Being Right—For as long as anyone could remember, there had been an Overseers Committee at Sandy Spring Meeting. This committee decided that it was time for a new name. We proposed "Membership & Pastoral Care Committee. We presented the proposed name change, carefully explaining that "pastoral care" didn't imply paid clergy. We hoped that more education would convince objecting Friends. A person who had been quiet through the discussion took me aside & said, "If one person in the meeting is uncomfortable with the term, you shouldn't use it. Technically, we on the committee were right, but our committee's mission was to build up the community. This was more important than being right. We needed to select a name that was user-friendly to all. The Overseers Committee became the Membership & Spiritual Care Committee. By choosing a more welcoming name, our committee demonstrated true pastoral care to the community.
FRIENDLY PRACTICE 10-12: We Worship God rather than Quakerism/ Quaker Process Fosters Love, and Love Facilitates Unity/ Business Meeting can be about Teaching and Learning Quaker Process—We need to take care that our devotion to meetings, traditions, and practices does not morph into worship of Quakerism for its own sake, which is self-righteousness. [Over the centuries] Friends have been willing to let go of practices when they no longer bring them closer to God in worship and in daily life. One of the reasons plain speech died out was Friends recognized their language had become a means of exclusion rather than a testimony.
How will a proposed action: bring us closer to God; deepen our worship; strengthen our spiritual community; witness to our faith? [Caution needs to used in asking "how Quakerly" a practice is. If it meets any of the concerns of the preceding question, whether Friends of the recent or distant past did it or would have done it is not very important or relevant, and might actually hinder the meeting of those concerns].
In discernment of a building project, "God doesn't care what kind of building we build. God cares about how much we love each other in the process." When we faithfully keep to our Friendly practices we build a loving spiritual community. The clerk, as shepherd of the process, puts aside personal opinions, inviting all into participation. Immersion in this Spiritual love enables us to unite on a way forward. [Even a very practical logistics problem can be solved with a sense of love in the meeting, and unexpected solutions can come for-ward]. Our process was loving, and love facilitated unity.
Even longtime Friends experience spiritual growth & transformation as we go deeper together, seeking Divine guidance. To a newcomer, it may appear that Quakers operate like a consensus-based organization. The differences are the Friendly practices listed above. [It is a 3-way consensus including the Divine]. It is incumbent upon each of us to teach Quaker process to those who are new to business meetings. Someone may need to explain some part of the process during the business meeting. We need to seek to learn from the Inner Teacher.
ADVICE FOR CLERKS—The most important thing a clerk can do is sit before Friends with faith in the Divine, inviting God's presence to be felt in the meeting. Use language that includes "prayer" and "discernment." Some matters are routine agenda items. Other items require considerable judgment in discerning whether they should be brought before the whole body. How important is a particular, possible agenda item? How can an item be put on the agenda without disenfranchising the committee responsible? What should the committee clerk do on behalf of the committee and what should be brought to the whole committee? How can a committee clerk keep all members of it informed and engaged? Does the body have all the information needed for discernment? Has the committee responsible reached unity on its recommendation? Agenda preparation is a prayerful endeavor; invite the Spirit to be involved in it. With the agenda, invite the blessed community to enter the spiritual adventure we call business meeting.
Make sure you are clear on what items require approval, what requires 2 readings, etc.; Friends count on you to know this. But don't fake it, ask for help. What exactly is the business meeting proposal? Put complicated proposals in writing. Clarity is needed as much in committee meetings as in business meetings as to what action is expected. It is the job of clerks to help Friends following a leading navigate the process. Clerks promote harmony and efficiency by paying attention to clarity.
Listen deeply to underlying concerns, even when not entirely relevant to the issue. Always seek to reflect all concerns in the minutes, and to articulate some underlying unity, even if it is only "our deep care for this meeting." Try to view controversy as a gift, a sign of engaged Friends. Set out explicit expectations to encourage Friends to respect the process. [Clerks need to dispel the misconception brought in by newly convinced Friends that only "elite Quakers" have power in a business meeting]. The power is where we meet the Spirit in worship.
Friends need constant reminding of each person's importance in the discernment process. Treat all present with a welcoming respect. [Feel free to use some "clerking from the sidelines," others reading the sense of the meeting]. Only you sit in the clerk's seat, with a view of Friends faces, [& are officially charged with discerning the sense of the meeting]. Trust your discernment. I invite Friends into a renewed commitment to worship each time we attend to business. What practices draw us closer to the Divine mystery as we attend to business?
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307 Beyond Consensus: Salvaging Sense of the Meeting (by Barry Morley; 1993)
About the Author—Barry Morley belongs to Sandy Spring (MD) Meeting. He taught in Quaker schools for 25 years & directed Catocin Quaker Camp for 23; he has had a variety of jobs. He has become [very] concerned about “doughnut Quakerism” [i.e. those who] diminish the spiritual core from which the values & concerns originally emanated. [He believes in a Religious Society of Friends, not an Ethical Society of Friends].
I. Never Consensus—Sense of meeting is a gift. It came to the Quakers through their commitment to continuing revelation, which could lead them to revealed corporate decisions. For some reason, present-day Quakers seem intent upon rejecting sense of the meeting. I hear “consensus” everywhere. I hear “consensus” whenever Quakers gather to conduct business. I do not believe in consensus; I am committed to the sense of the meeting.
Streamlining the language has affected the name Quakers use. Very few Quakers know that their founders considered themselves Friends of the Truth. [Friends seem to need reminding] that they are the Religious Society of Friends. Through a similar process, Quakers may already have arrived at a place where they are more comfortable with consensus than with sense of the meeting. What is the difference between consensus and sense of the meeting? Reaching consensus is a secular process. In sense of the meeting God gets a voice. Sense of meeting is a commitment to faith. Sense of meeting hears all of the concerns, then moves beyond the verbal expressions to the spirit of the concern in order to discern what is ‘right’ for the group.
A consensus, a decision that all of us can accept brings us to an intellectually satisfactory conclusion. Because everyone has given up something to attain consensus commitment to the conclusion is often shallow. [At Catocin Quaker Camp, I tried to force a consensus without imposing my authority. We all compromised and reached consensus]. It was clearly not a sense of meeting. I found later that I had gotten agreement without commitment. [There was an issue around the availability of drugs at camp. After giving them the opportunity to ask questions about this issue, I said: “I think we should set this aside for now. Talk among yourselves. I suggest that I not be at the next business meeting, so that you can talk more freely.”]
Whatever process counselors & staff were working their way through seemed to spark their sense of purpose. [In the 1st week of camp, counselors asked to meet with me. In the discussion process, one counselor started forming queries without realizing what they were. I suggested they write a set of queries, & ask one of them at each business meeting & meditate on it]. We had another meeting to arrange language & clarify meaning. [In the midst of the meeting we found the sense of the meeting. The queries were shared at the yearly meeting, who thought they were wonderful. When a similar issue involving alcohol arose, a minute was written which said]: “We encourage each other to refrain from using substances which might harm our performance or reputation.”
[The difference between a consensus & sense of the meeting is that consensus aims at making decisions that produces a product. Sense of the meeting involves nurturing a process which is completed when God’s re-cognizable presence settles over us in silence. [At camp], our immersion in the process elevated the quality of work & the atmosphere in which it was done. We arrive at a place of Intended Resolution in which an elegant solution is delivered to us out of the Light; we allow ourselves to be directed to the solution that awaits us. We've allowed ourselves to be led to a transcendent place of unmistakable harmony, peace, & tender love. When we allow ourselves to be led to & gathered by Light & Love's peace where unity rests in silence, bonds are forged which extend infinitely. [Even long after we had left camp], members of that group still sensed an ongoing depth of connection that is uncommon in ordinary comings and goings; we had acknowledged the Presence together.
II. Allowing the Process—A Quaker meeting for worship is particularly vulnerable to abuse by [people who place more faith in their flawless reasoning than they do in the work of Light and Spirit]; meetings for business are subject to the same kinds of abuse. When we are all able to set our ideas aside, doors are opened which allow [the sense of meeting] and solutions to enter on a shaft of Light. Compromise and consensus can assist early in the process; they must be laid aside as we reach for the Inward Presence.
Ideas should be offered & explained, rather than argued. Pressures imposed by urgency must not be allowed to erode process. At Sandy Springs, the need for a balcony caused a very contentious dispute. At issue were the 2nd -story partitions, which had to be removed to build the balcony. [They had been part of the meetinghouse so long that many Friends resisted their removal]. “Those beautiful old panels” became the symbol of the impasse, [which lasted 3 years]. One day a Friend stood up in worship and said: “I see a balcony in this room & it is faced with the panels from the partition.” The next business meeting adopted that vision [as the sense of the meeting]. There was increased sensitivity to each others feelings during the 3 years, and even now I still find myself connected with the elderly Friends, long gone, who loved the partitions.
3 components are essential in the process leading to sense of meeting: release; long focus; & transition to Light. Friends whose feelings have been aroused by an issue need to release them. They should be listened to lovingly & no effort should be made to intervene. Release should be encouraged & appreciated. Loving encouragement allows feelings to emerge at any point in the discussion. Tender attentiveness is the meeting’s gift. The sense of a [place where feeling may be safely expressed] is essential in reaching sense of the meeting.
In long focus, we should focus our attention beyond the immediate discussion toward the sense of the meeting. Strong feelings, really important issues, personal investment—these push us towards consensus. Contention and compromise narrow our focus. Experienced Friends who treasure sense of the meeting stand on an inward high place and look beyond the ideas being discussed, where ideas lose the sharp edge of immediacy.
In transition to Light, long focus brings us to the Source of resolution & clarity, & we turn increasingly inward in to transcend differences. Transition to Light makes possible a gathered meeting. Once, when a distressing issue was raised in meeting for business, sadness, upset, & anger needed to be released. One Friend, by shifting focus from the cause of the upset to the upset person, began to lengthen the focus. The upset caused by the Nixon Presidency began with a letter asking his Meeting to read him out the meeting, triggered the response, “I had hoped that Friends had reached a place where they no longer read people out of meeting,” & ended with a letter expressing support of his home meeting for the pressures they might be feeling at this difficult time.
It is not essential that all 3 components be employed every time a sense of meeting is sought. The nature of the issue and the feelings generated by it will determine the mix. By opting for consensus we decide that the immediacy of a decision is more important than moving toward spiritual completion as a gathered people; urgency and impatience are uncentering. We are products of a culture committed to products. The process by which we produce the products is, at best, secondary. In seeking sense of the meeting, process is paramount. The gifts generated by that process seem endless. Quakers at their best are people who perceive the world differently, [influenced by the Presence that is found in the sense of the meeting]. It is not decisions they respond to, but a process and Presence through which they sense their joyful connection to one another.
III. The Great Testimony—Sense of the meeting is a Quaker equivalent of Communion. [In sense of the meeting] we form invisible bonds among ourselves; it came through us & for us, not from us. We participate in each other’s well being. We take to ourselves the gift of experiential faith which the early Friends promised us. We make decisions which feel good to us long after they cease to be germane.
Since George Fox’s time, Quakers have sought to take away the occasion of all wars. Somehow we haven’t done it. At times our efforts seem feeble & ineffective. George Fox implies that we aren’t required to end war. We are encouraged to live in the virtue of Life & Power, to center ourselves in it. That will take away the occasion of all wars. Do I dwell consistently in the Life & Power so that occasions for war may dwindle?
Quakers’ faith in the sense of the meeting fades. But Catoctin Quaker Camp has been run through the sense of the meeting for 25 years. [It has been so successful] that the governing board of the camp has ceased promulgating functional policy for the camp. Board decisions affecting day-to-day functions are passed on to the camp as suggestions. When offered a raise for experienced counselors, the sense of the meeting was that salary increases were inadvisable as they might encourage people to seek jobs at the camp primarily because of the pay scale.
[Sense of meeting had many uses at camp, from deciding acceptable risks in challenging the campers’ physical, emotional, & spiritual well-being, to honoring the staff’s place in the decision-making process, to training young campers to grow in the depth of their answers & the sensitivity of their listening. In response to the Catoctin experience of sense of meeting, administrators of other Quaker institutions sometimes say that running summer camp is different from running a year-round, day-to-day operation. But no Quaker institution of which I have direct experience makes day-to-day decisions whose immediacy is as critical or far-reaching as in a summer camp. My daughter’s college rowing crew uses a similar process in preparing for a regatta. Each of the young women in the boat, as it slid upriver toward the starting line, had reached a place of internal harmony which manifests in collective outward harmony.
The world craves this gift. But if Friends are to give it, we must 1st come to cherish it ourselves. And before we can do that we must rededicate ourselves to making sense of meeting work among us. Encouraging the learning of the sense of the meeting can easily be incorporated into adult education programs, and become a staple in offering to adults. Inspiration and instruction for centering, which is integral in seeking the sense of meeting, should be readily available. Yearly meetings can offer workshops on sense of meeting. The world is filled with people who long for sense of the meeting without even knowing what it is. Perhaps it is not too late for Friends to recover the gift intended for them which they seem willing to toss aside.
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About the Editor—Michael Birkel teaches in the Religion Department at Earlham College in Richmond, IN. He travels as [Quaker] lecturer & workshop leader. He wrote the PHP # 398 The Messenger that Goes Before: Reading Margaret Fell for Spiritual Nurture. His most recent book is Genius of the Transcendent: Mystical Writings of Jakob Boehme. Michael is also active in interfaith relations, particularly Muslim-Christian dialogue.
Editor's Introduction—William P. Taber Jr. (1927-2005) was a beloved minister among Friends, as a Friends school and Pendle Hill teacher, as a Conservative Friends released Minister, as retreat center director. Bill touched the lives of Quakers of all theological sorts. Bill was deeply gifted in worship, not only in vocal ministry and prayer, but in a radiant silence that drew others into a greater sense of the Divine Presence. I found 2 promising projects in Bill's notes that Fran Taber asked me to look through. This essay is the 2nd, more modest project. I draw chiefly on 6 separate talks. There is wisdom here, and a warm invitation to experience God's power in our midst when we gather to consider the church's affairs and seek guidance in our decision-making. There are explanatory notes given in places where Bill assumed common knowledge of a particularly Quaker usage of scriptural language. This present pamphlet may serve as companion to another Bill Taber pamphlet, (#306) Four Doors to Meeting for Worship, to assist readers in understanding the spirit of meeting for business.
1st Impressions/ ... The Body of Christ—In a Friend's business meeting: they begin [after] people suddenly are silent; the meeting's clerk behaves differently from the chairman of meetings outside of Friends; process is different in a Friend's business meeting. We just sit & talk, be silent & then talk some more. Then suddenly, the clerk tells the meeting what we've agreed to, we agree we've agreed to it & move on to the next item. [For all this], the meeting is still, in worship. We wait to find a truth which is for all as one body in Christ, a body that dwells & works "in the mind of Christ." Leadership of the Spirit may speak great truth from the most humble.
The meeting for business is a hands-on, experiment in which the fellowship comes face-to-face with the Spirit's demands for the sacrifice of time, treasure, convenience, & prejudice. When spiritual discernment becomes crucial, we are driven to seek spiritual covering, which alone can give the Spirit's fruits, & can sustain harmony while waiting for right leading. Friends business meeting is an essential part of the every seasoned Friend's spiritual formation & growth, for it is that place where we learn to walk hand-in-hand with each other & the Spirit.
This process works best when there is a common sense of discipleship among the participants in a business meeting, and when there is a profound commitment to Truth. Then we are eagerly teachable, reachable & malleable in the hands of the loving Teacher. [Pentecost & discipleship] brought an experience & a knowledge of being part of the Body of Christ. Paul uses this metaphor to describe the intimate unity among believers [Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4: 15-16; Colossians 3:15 inform Bill Taber's use of the expression "the Body" and are cited in this essay].
As people learn to find and to rest in this reality, they are then able to give attention to the otherwise subtle signals of the Body & to pay attention to its needs for health & action. We need a disciple's dependence on the Holy Spirit. We should be as deeply dependent upon it as were Christians in the Book of Acts. At the heart of any successful business meeting there is a significant core of people whose lives are daily in touch with the Holy Spirit, the Inward Christ, the Universal Light. If we want the Spirit's fruits to be present in business meetings, we need to help each other experience that Spirit daily & in small groups.
Waiting—As we wait, we can sense a living flow which unites us, a light-filled plasma or fluid, & in that wonderful flow we are bathed, rested & nourished. We do well to remember the large spaces given to worship throughout most of our 3 centuries of Quaker business meetings. Fox didn't speak of a passive, empty waiting; it was an act of going very deep. We sometimes discover that the great depth of our need & our yearning can take us sometimes very quickly to that inward place for which we wait; it may be our greatest service to meeting if we stay there throughout the entire business meeting. There we feel an almost bodily sense of our invisible, spiritual bonding with these people through the Spirit of God, while our mind competently follows the discussion of an issue. This is our service & our primary ministry. We know that the true inward motion to speak often lies far beneath our 1st instinct to respond to an issue. [The more practice we have in true waiting], the more quickly we learn to recognize the True Motion, even in an instant, and thus respond to the Spirit's timing and not our own.
5 Gut Feelings—An English Quaker scholar and I agree that one important aspect of Quakerism is its gut feelings. Let us then reflect on 5 feelings and perceptions I call the "5 gut feelings" of the meeting for business: Joy in being together (1) and with God (2); [Blessed] Assurance (3); Trust (4); and Excitement(5). Gut feelings can be seen as a necessary prerequisite for the meeting for business; they can be experienced simultaneously and [beyond] the opening worship before a business meeting.
1. Joy in Being Together/ 2. ... with God—There is joy in coming & being together with familiar faces, blessed fellowship, the redeemed community, or if you prefer, the freed community, freed [especially] from slavery to unthinking assumptions & drives of whatever temporal culture surrounds us. For some Friends, joy of being in fellowship, koinonia, has layers of meaning: truly, deeply belonging to one another; mutually identified with one another, taking risks together; participating in one another's life; being in communion & community.
Then, there is the joy, awe, and comfort of being once again in the presence of the Great Friend ... Healer ... Forgiver ... Transformer ... Restorer ... Inward Peace Giver ... Inward Teacher ... Source of all Good. As we sit in growing attunement with the Presence, our folder of business meeting details lies untouched and, hopefully, forgotten at our side. The secret of the successful Friends meeting for worship for business lies in the individual Friend's ability to lay everything aside while becoming attuned.
Reaching attunement can include a variety of activities: inward prayer; relaxing into the Presence; worldly demands falling away; visualizing prayer, [with image-language rather than word-language]; or mantra. In old Quaker language, we "wait upon the Lord." Contemporary language would say we are moving into an altered state of consciousness where we become amazingly relaxed and amazingly alert at the same time.
[There are unprogrammed and programmed Friends]. Unprogrammed Friends devote their time to waiting in silence for divinely inspired ministry, experienced inwardly or expressed outwardly, delivered by any worshiper. Most programmed Friends include unprogrammed worship in their service, enhanced by prayer, hymns, scripture reading, sermon, and placed where other Christian denominations would have the sacrament of Communion. The vast majority of Friends worldwide observe programmed worship. Younger Friends are bringing the many branches of Quakerism together in a way that challenges historical divisions and seeks a deeper unity. All Friends need to bring to worship before business meeting a strong inward intentionality that matches the care that traditional church lavishes on the words and rituals of their opening moments.
3. Assurance [in the Mind of Christ]—In that Presence, we find ourselves moving into the altered state of consciousness from joy to assurance. It is the deep assurance of being filled with the water of life of which Jesus spoke. I call it the Stream of the Quaker Process, which is so real you can feel it. As a stream it is the same stream even though it is always moving, always changing. It is the stream of the apostle Peter and Mary, mother of Jesus; we share it with them across 20 centuries of time. We do well to recognize that there are boundaries to this stream, boundaries of safety in the infinite and trackless mazes in the varieties and states of consciousness.
This altered state of consciousness is what the New Testament (NT) describes as being in the Mind of Christ, [& results] from being a living part of the Body of Christ. In the Mind & Body of Christ, we are touched on many deep levels, so that we may become bold in the Truth & even bold with ourselves as we face new ideas & as we face our own prejudices & fears in the business meeting. [In the Mind], the boundaries of the self are blurred & melded, and the intense pressure to maintain the ego [is absent]. This makes it possible for the Quaker business process to proceed in love and unity, [without ego], even while it works through differences in opinion.
We need to use the discernment process to give more attention to assurance, [& to extend assurance beyond initial worship into the business process]. A business meeting in touch with the Mind of Christ may seem to be slower; it may actually get more done. Spiritual discernment seems to flourish best from this contemplative, reflective, nonlinear state of mind, which is a wide, nonjudgmental, almost unattached, but very alert attentiveness. Analytical faculties are surrounded & cushioned by a much vaster mind, which takes all things into account. The surface mind is the tool rather than the master of the more integrated person we become in the Mind of Christ.
The Mind of Christ also lets us see more deeply into ourselves, which is necessary for discernment. Does our fear of a new idea come from true discernment or from an unconverted, unfaithful part of ourselves? The meeting or committee can be discerning enough to acknowledge the concern behind the proposal, even though the proposal may be unworkable. When a meeting operates in this Mind, it is as if there is a restful, sustaining energy flowing through the room, so that participants are rested, fed & energized on some deep level. [With deep] discernment, significant new openings may be more likely to arise, even in routine affairs. Meetings for business & committee meetings can be covered, [gathered] meetings through dwelling in the Mind of Christ.
Each of our business meeting skills need to be understood as functioning in harmony with the ability to remain in touch with the Mind of Christ throughout our long business meetings. At Pendle Hill, a Netherland student insisted that our Pendle Hill business should properly write the minutes by writing each minute as it was decided, with the meeting remaining in silence while the recording clerk drafted the minute, which was read back and approved before the meeting went on to the next item. The skill of being & staying in Christ's Mind is done with an awareness of living as Christ's Body. This skill includes speaking with precise clarity without slipping into an orator's, a partisan's, or college professor's mind. In worship, there is a big difference between listening in the Mind of Christ, & listening in an "audience" or "critic" mind. The more people who exercise sustained, Spirit-fed attention, the more possible it will be for individuals or the meeting to experience George Fox's "gospel order," that quiet unified inward [discernment] about the next step to take or not take.
4. Trust/ 5. Excitement—As the silence deepens and the power grows around us, there grows upon us a trust in the immense Power at the heart of the universe, which is also our own heart. This translates into a deep trust in our business process, as it resides in the Mind of Christ. We come to trust the Divine Process, trust being in the eternal stream, [both of] which now own us as much as we own them. Only as we trust this Process are we able to let go of our personal and partisan obstacles to the working of God among us. If the process breaks down it is often because of a lack of this gut-level trust. We cannot will faith, but we can will to be faithful.
[The excitement I speak of] is the excitement of a Holy Expectancy. Every time we enter the business meeting room, there is a mounting sense of excitement as [we meet with] the utter unpredictability of God at work, [never knowing when we will make a significant contribution or change]. Those who have known [and lived in] the Living Stream's power never know how it will affect the course of their lives forever, by taking up a cause, crossing the ocean, giving up a cherished dream or concern. And yet there is trust.
Even the clerk—especially the clerk—should enter with this faithful, joyous excitement, this willingness to face the unpredictable, the unknown, secure in the Mind of Christ. A good clerk often anticipates ahead of time how and when an agenda will be disposed of. A faithful clerk is always prepared for the Holy Spirit to do some very unexpected things. Such excitement and daring are sustainable and safe only as they occur with [deep awareness of]: Joy in being together and with God; [Blessed] Assurance; Trust.
Practical Suggestions for the Clerk's Role—What is the Clerk's role in business meetings?: Wait until we cross a threshold into unity with the Spirit and the "5 gut feelings"; slow down or stop when the unity grows thin; say just enough and no more; let God work in meeting; set the tone [with a balance of] silence and inspirational words; be aware that quiet, [patient ones] may be more centered; 1 minute at a time and read it back.
Practical Suggestions for Participant's Role—What is Participant's role in business meetings?: Hold meeting in the Light before & during; come, settle into worship early; enter room with respect, awe, expectation of unexpected; perceive Body & its Divine/ human reality; rest & trust in Process; absorb & hear words spoken, bathing speakers & clerks in wordless prayer; wait for deep inward motion [beneath] a surface emotion or idea; before speaking, wait to see if Love is there; be satisfied if your only ministry is invisible, constant, silent prayer; stay in a softer, non-reactive, quieter mind, where thinking does not get in the way of feeling, or waiting.
Going in & out of deeper worship is a normal rhythm; bring the mind gently back to deeper worship; recognize that there needs to be space between messages & minutes to reconnect with deep underlying unity beneath & beyond words, [especially] when we seem to have strong verbal disagreement; in disagreement, pause long enough, [perhaps to the point of discomfort], for God to reveal a new creative perspective; listen beyond words of a disagreeable proposal, to find pain or problem it addresses; do not assume verbal agreement is absolutely necessary for progressing or functioning; be sensitive to the quiet, less aggressive ones; be aware of the clerk.
Prayer that we may stay in touch with the great and living Stream and other, personal prayers [is an important part of the meeting for business.
Queries—What is being "surrounded by a matrix of Worship?" Why is it important to Quaker business sessions? What is having a "dedicated intention that seems necessary for Quaker group discernment" like? What difference does it make for a Quaker meeting for business understand themselves to be "the body of Christ?" What is the "waiting" that George Fox and Bill Taber are talking about? How can all speaking in Quaker business meetings be ministry?" How have you experienced joy in being together and with God, [blessed] assurance, trust, and excitement in meeting for business? How is one "in the Mind of Christ?" What is preparing a minute like?
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47. The Nature of Quakerism (by Howard H. Brinton; 1949)
About the Author—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in the summer of 1936 with a solid background of academic achievement at the colleges of Mills & Earlham, & became co-directors of a new sort of education enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school and community. They retired in the 1950s & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in 1969; Howard continues to serve by lecturing, writing, and simply being.
The Society of Friend’s primary doctrine declares that God’s Presence is felt at the apex of the human soul; humans can know and heed God directly without church, priest, sacrament or sacred book. God is for humans immanent and transcendent. The Divine Presence is “Light,” “Power,” “Word,” “Seed of the Kingdom,” “Christ Within,” “That of God in every man.” Human endeavor should be to merge one’s will [and actions] with the Divine Will, as far as they can comprehend; all human beings have experienced this. The Society of Friends is a Christian society. The Bible is considered a necessary but secondary source of religious truth since it must be interpreted by the Divine Spirit in people through which it was written. Quakerism holds that present experience must be checked and tested by the experience of those who lived in the past.
Quakerism’s secondary doctrine is meeting for worship and meeting for business. In the meeting, a person aspires upward toward God and horizontally toward fellow worshipers; the divine-human relationship and the inter-human relationship blend and reinforce each other. Worshipers wait in silence, making themselves as open as possible to the Divine Life and the still, small voice. [Any message] is a simple, brief statement of insight born in the silence. In the meeting for business, matters before the meeting are discussed in a spirit of submission to the Divine ordering until unity reached; there is no voting, no coercion of minority by a majority. The search for truth and unity is sometimes long and difficult, requiring much love and tolerance. The Quaker school endeavors to represent the world as it ought to be rather than the world as it is.
All the Society of Friend’s social doctrines can be derived from primary doctrines of Inward Light & Jesus' teachings, which act as a check on revelation partly obscured by wrong thoughts & actions; social testimonies may evolve slowly. Actions seeming right today may seem wrong tomorrow in the light of more insight.
Community—Community is present in the meeting’s attempt to become a unified, closely integrated group of persons, a living whole which is more than the sum of its parts. Monthly meetings join to form Quarterly Meetings; Quarterly Meetings join to form Yearly Meetings. Community becomes a testimony which aims to increase the interdependence of people everywhere. Friends have been engaged in some form of relief work for the past 3 centuries; in the last century it was the Friends Service Committee (England) & the American Friends Service Committee. Today they seek by experimental measures to right this or that wrong as the way opens.
Harmony—Peaceable-ness, harmony exists as a positive power by which an inner appeal is made to the best that is in humans, rather than as an external pressure by forces from outside them. Harmony appeared at an early date in the refusal of Friends to take any part in war, and in finding non-violent and sympathetic ways of dealing with the insane and criminals. They believe that civil disobedience may sometimes be a Christian duty, as the will of God revealed in the conscience must take precedence over the law of the state.
Equality—Equality is represented in the meeting by the equal opportunity for all to take part in the worship or business. Every opinion expressed must be taken into account according to its truth and not according to status of the person who utters it. Equality as applied to sex, race, and class, was a doctrine which developed early. Friends were fined, imprisoned, and died for religious liberty, and were prosecuted for not showing “proper” respect to the “upper” classes. Equality does not mean that all men are essentially uniform. It does mean equality of respect and that rights and opportunities of all should be equalized.
Simplicity—Simplicity can mean absence of superfluity, or the use of simple direct statements unadorned with rhetoric. Judicial oaths, implying 2 standards of truth-telling, weren't in accordance with “the simplicity of truth.” Friends succeeded in altering the law to allow for an affirmation to be substituted. Quaker merchants initiated the one price system. Music, painting, drama, & fiction are no longer considered inconsistent with the simplicity of truth. Simplicity is still needed in the attempt to lessen the increasing busyness life's complexity.
To what extent can a type of behavior, developed within a small community become a standard for action outside that community? Before the 20th century it was comparatively easy in isolation to draw the line at taking part in war or preparation for war for that limit could be clearly defined. If we cannot be [as] consistent [as early Quakers] we can at least take an unconventional stand on some issues. Each individual must answer this problem of consistency according to their own light and leading
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Waiting—As we wait, we can sense a living flow which unites us, a light-filled plasma or fluid, & in that wonderful flow we are bathed, rested & nourished. We do well to remember the large spaces given to worship throughout most of our 3 centuries of Quaker business meetings. Fox didn't speak of a passive, empty waiting; it was an act of going very deep. We sometimes discover that the great depth of our need & our yearning can take us sometimes very quickly to that inward place for which we wait; it may be our greatest service to meeting if we stay there throughout the entire business meeting. There we feel an almost bodily sense of our invisible, spiritual bonding with these people through the Spirit of God, while our mind competently follows the discussion of an issue. This is our service & our primary ministry. We know that the true inward motion to speak often lies far beneath our 1st instinct to respond to an issue. [The more practice we have in true waiting], the more quickly we learn to recognize the True Motion, even in an instant, and thus respond to the Spirit's timing and not our own.
5 Gut Feelings—An English Quaker scholar and I agree that one important aspect of Quakerism is its gut feelings. Let us then reflect on 5 feelings and perceptions I call the "5 gut feelings" of the meeting for business: Joy in being together (1) and with God (2); [Blessed] Assurance (3); Trust (4); and Excitement(5). Gut feelings can be seen as a necessary prerequisite for the meeting for business; they can be experienced simultaneously and [beyond] the opening worship before a business meeting.
1. Joy in Being Together/ 2. ... with God—There is joy in coming & being together with familiar faces, blessed fellowship, the redeemed community, or if you prefer, the freed community, freed [especially] from slavery to unthinking assumptions & drives of whatever temporal culture surrounds us. For some Friends, joy of being in fellowship, koinonia, has layers of meaning: truly, deeply belonging to one another; mutually identified with one another, taking risks together; participating in one another's life; being in communion & community.
Then, there is the joy, awe, and comfort of being once again in the presence of the Great Friend ... Healer ... Forgiver ... Transformer ... Restorer ... Inward Peace Giver ... Inward Teacher ... Source of all Good. As we sit in growing attunement with the Presence, our folder of business meeting details lies untouched and, hopefully, forgotten at our side. The secret of the successful Friends meeting for worship for business lies in the individual Friend's ability to lay everything aside while becoming attuned.
Reaching attunement can include a variety of activities: inward prayer; relaxing into the Presence; worldly demands falling away; visualizing prayer, [with image-language rather than word-language]; or mantra. In old Quaker language, we "wait upon the Lord." Contemporary language would say we are moving into an altered state of consciousness where we become amazingly relaxed and amazingly alert at the same time.
[There are unprogrammed and programmed Friends]. Unprogrammed Friends devote their time to waiting in silence for divinely inspired ministry, experienced inwardly or expressed outwardly, delivered by any worshiper. Most programmed Friends include unprogrammed worship in their service, enhanced by prayer, hymns, scripture reading, sermon, and placed where other Christian denominations would have the sacrament of Communion. The vast majority of Friends worldwide observe programmed worship. Younger Friends are bringing the many branches of Quakerism together in a way that challenges historical divisions and seeks a deeper unity. All Friends need to bring to worship before business meeting a strong inward intentionality that matches the care that traditional church lavishes on the words and rituals of their opening moments.
3. Assurance [in the Mind of Christ]—In that Presence, we find ourselves moving into the altered state of consciousness from joy to assurance. It is the deep assurance of being filled with the water of life of which Jesus spoke. I call it the Stream of the Quaker Process, which is so real you can feel it. As a stream it is the same stream even though it is always moving, always changing. It is the stream of the apostle Peter and Mary, mother of Jesus; we share it with them across 20 centuries of time. We do well to recognize that there are boundaries to this stream, boundaries of safety in the infinite and trackless mazes in the varieties and states of consciousness.
This altered state of consciousness is what the New Testament (NT) describes as being in the Mind of Christ, [& results] from being a living part of the Body of Christ. In the Mind & Body of Christ, we are touched on many deep levels, so that we may become bold in the Truth & even bold with ourselves as we face new ideas & as we face our own prejudices & fears in the business meeting. [In the Mind], the boundaries of the self are blurred & melded, and the intense pressure to maintain the ego [is absent]. This makes it possible for the Quaker business process to proceed in love and unity, [without ego], even while it works through differences in opinion.
We need to use the discernment process to give more attention to assurance, [& to extend assurance beyond initial worship into the business process]. A business meeting in touch with the Mind of Christ may seem to be slower; it may actually get more done. Spiritual discernment seems to flourish best from this contemplative, reflective, nonlinear state of mind, which is a wide, nonjudgmental, almost unattached, but very alert attentiveness. Analytical faculties are surrounded & cushioned by a much vaster mind, which takes all things into account. The surface mind is the tool rather than the master of the more integrated person we become in the Mind of Christ.
The Mind of Christ also lets us see more deeply into ourselves, which is necessary for discernment. Does our fear of a new idea come from true discernment or from an unconverted, unfaithful part of ourselves? The meeting or committee can be discerning enough to acknowledge the concern behind the proposal, even though the proposal may be unworkable. When a meeting operates in this Mind, it is as if there is a restful, sustaining energy flowing through the room, so that participants are rested, fed & energized on some deep level. [With deep] discernment, significant new openings may be more likely to arise, even in routine affairs. Meetings for business & committee meetings can be covered, [gathered] meetings through dwelling in the Mind of Christ.
Each of our business meeting skills need to be understood as functioning in harmony with the ability to remain in touch with the Mind of Christ throughout our long business meetings. At Pendle Hill, a Netherland student insisted that our Pendle Hill business should properly write the minutes by writing each minute as it was decided, with the meeting remaining in silence while the recording clerk drafted the minute, which was read back and approved before the meeting went on to the next item. The skill of being & staying in Christ's Mind is done with an awareness of living as Christ's Body. This skill includes speaking with precise clarity without slipping into an orator's, a partisan's, or college professor's mind. In worship, there is a big difference between listening in the Mind of Christ, & listening in an "audience" or "critic" mind. The more people who exercise sustained, Spirit-fed attention, the more possible it will be for individuals or the meeting to experience George Fox's "gospel order," that quiet unified inward [discernment] about the next step to take or not take.
4. Trust/ 5. Excitement—As the silence deepens and the power grows around us, there grows upon us a trust in the immense Power at the heart of the universe, which is also our own heart. This translates into a deep trust in our business process, as it resides in the Mind of Christ. We come to trust the Divine Process, trust being in the eternal stream, [both of] which now own us as much as we own them. Only as we trust this Process are we able to let go of our personal and partisan obstacles to the working of God among us. If the process breaks down it is often because of a lack of this gut-level trust. We cannot will faith, but we can will to be faithful.
[The excitement I speak of] is the excitement of a Holy Expectancy. Every time we enter the business meeting room, there is a mounting sense of excitement as [we meet with] the utter unpredictability of God at work, [never knowing when we will make a significant contribution or change]. Those who have known [and lived in] the Living Stream's power never know how it will affect the course of their lives forever, by taking up a cause, crossing the ocean, giving up a cherished dream or concern. And yet there is trust.
Even the clerk—especially the clerk—should enter with this faithful, joyous excitement, this willingness to face the unpredictable, the unknown, secure in the Mind of Christ. A good clerk often anticipates ahead of time how and when an agenda will be disposed of. A faithful clerk is always prepared for the Holy Spirit to do some very unexpected things. Such excitement and daring are sustainable and safe only as they occur with [deep awareness of]: Joy in being together and with God; [Blessed] Assurance; Trust.
Practical Suggestions for the Clerk's Role—What is the Clerk's role in business meetings?: Wait until we cross a threshold into unity with the Spirit and the "5 gut feelings"; slow down or stop when the unity grows thin; say just enough and no more; let God work in meeting; set the tone [with a balance of] silence and inspirational words; be aware that quiet, [patient ones] may be more centered; 1 minute at a time and read it back.
Practical Suggestions for Participant's Role—What is Participant's role in business meetings?: Hold meeting in the Light before & during; come, settle into worship early; enter room with respect, awe, expectation of unexpected; perceive Body & its Divine/ human reality; rest & trust in Process; absorb & hear words spoken, bathing speakers & clerks in wordless prayer; wait for deep inward motion [beneath] a surface emotion or idea; before speaking, wait to see if Love is there; be satisfied if your only ministry is invisible, constant, silent prayer; stay in a softer, non-reactive, quieter mind, where thinking does not get in the way of feeling, or waiting.
Going in & out of deeper worship is a normal rhythm; bring the mind gently back to deeper worship; recognize that there needs to be space between messages & minutes to reconnect with deep underlying unity beneath & beyond words, [especially] when we seem to have strong verbal disagreement; in disagreement, pause long enough, [perhaps to the point of discomfort], for God to reveal a new creative perspective; listen beyond words of a disagreeable proposal, to find pain or problem it addresses; do not assume verbal agreement is absolutely necessary for progressing or functioning; be sensitive to the quiet, less aggressive ones; be aware of the clerk.
Prayer that we may stay in touch with the great and living Stream and other, personal prayers [is an important part of the meeting for business.
Queries—What is being "surrounded by a matrix of Worship?" Why is it important to Quaker business sessions? What is having a "dedicated intention that seems necessary for Quaker group discernment" like? What difference does it make for a Quaker meeting for business understand themselves to be "the body of Christ?" What is the "waiting" that George Fox and Bill Taber are talking about? How can all speaking in Quaker business meetings be ministry?" How have you experienced joy in being together and with God, [blessed] assurance, trust, and excitement in meeting for business? How is one "in the Mind of Christ?" What is preparing a minute like?
http://www.pendlehill.org/product-category/pamphlets
www.facebook.com/pendlehill?fref=ts
47. The Nature of Quakerism (by Howard H. Brinton; 1949)
About the Author—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in the summer of 1936 with a solid background of academic achievement at the colleges of Mills & Earlham, & became co-directors of a new sort of education enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school and community. They retired in the 1950s & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in 1969; Howard continues to serve by lecturing, writing, and simply being.
The Society of Friend’s primary doctrine declares that God’s Presence is felt at the apex of the human soul; humans can know and heed God directly without church, priest, sacrament or sacred book. God is for humans immanent and transcendent. The Divine Presence is “Light,” “Power,” “Word,” “Seed of the Kingdom,” “Christ Within,” “That of God in every man.” Human endeavor should be to merge one’s will [and actions] with the Divine Will, as far as they can comprehend; all human beings have experienced this. The Society of Friends is a Christian society. The Bible is considered a necessary but secondary source of religious truth since it must be interpreted by the Divine Spirit in people through which it was written. Quakerism holds that present experience must be checked and tested by the experience of those who lived in the past.
Quakerism’s secondary doctrine is meeting for worship and meeting for business. In the meeting, a person aspires upward toward God and horizontally toward fellow worshipers; the divine-human relationship and the inter-human relationship blend and reinforce each other. Worshipers wait in silence, making themselves as open as possible to the Divine Life and the still, small voice. [Any message] is a simple, brief statement of insight born in the silence. In the meeting for business, matters before the meeting are discussed in a spirit of submission to the Divine ordering until unity reached; there is no voting, no coercion of minority by a majority. The search for truth and unity is sometimes long and difficult, requiring much love and tolerance. The Quaker school endeavors to represent the world as it ought to be rather than the world as it is.
All the Society of Friend’s social doctrines can be derived from primary doctrines of Inward Light & Jesus' teachings, which act as a check on revelation partly obscured by wrong thoughts & actions; social testimonies may evolve slowly. Actions seeming right today may seem wrong tomorrow in the light of more insight.
Community—Community is present in the meeting’s attempt to become a unified, closely integrated group of persons, a living whole which is more than the sum of its parts. Monthly meetings join to form Quarterly Meetings; Quarterly Meetings join to form Yearly Meetings. Community becomes a testimony which aims to increase the interdependence of people everywhere. Friends have been engaged in some form of relief work for the past 3 centuries; in the last century it was the Friends Service Committee (England) & the American Friends Service Committee. Today they seek by experimental measures to right this or that wrong as the way opens.
Harmony—Peaceable-ness, harmony exists as a positive power by which an inner appeal is made to the best that is in humans, rather than as an external pressure by forces from outside them. Harmony appeared at an early date in the refusal of Friends to take any part in war, and in finding non-violent and sympathetic ways of dealing with the insane and criminals. They believe that civil disobedience may sometimes be a Christian duty, as the will of God revealed in the conscience must take precedence over the law of the state.
Equality—Equality is represented in the meeting by the equal opportunity for all to take part in the worship or business. Every opinion expressed must be taken into account according to its truth and not according to status of the person who utters it. Equality as applied to sex, race, and class, was a doctrine which developed early. Friends were fined, imprisoned, and died for religious liberty, and were prosecuted for not showing “proper” respect to the “upper” classes. Equality does not mean that all men are essentially uniform. It does mean equality of respect and that rights and opportunities of all should be equalized.
Simplicity—Simplicity can mean absence of superfluity, or the use of simple direct statements unadorned with rhetoric. Judicial oaths, implying 2 standards of truth-telling, weren't in accordance with “the simplicity of truth.” Friends succeeded in altering the law to allow for an affirmation to be substituted. Quaker merchants initiated the one price system. Music, painting, drama, & fiction are no longer considered inconsistent with the simplicity of truth. Simplicity is still needed in the attempt to lessen the increasing busyness life's complexity.
To what extent can a type of behavior, developed within a small community become a standard for action outside that community? Before the 20th century it was comparatively easy in isolation to draw the line at taking part in war or preparation for war for that limit could be clearly defined. If we cannot be [as] consistent [as early Quakers] we can at least take an unconventional stand on some issues. Each individual must answer this problem of consistency according to their own light and leading
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65. Reaching Decisions (by Howard Haines Brinton; 1952)
[About the Author]—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in the summer of 1936 with a solid background of academic achievement at the colleges of Mills & Earlham, & became co-directors of a new sort of education enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school and community. They retired in the 1950s & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in 1969; Howard continues to serve by lecturing, writing, and simply being.]
Advised, that Friends keep all our meetings in the wisdom of God and unity of God’s blessed spirit, wherein they were created and settled. [Proceed without] contentions and doubtful disputations …that the affairs of Truth may be managed in the peaceable, tender spirit and wisdom of Jesus Christ … with charity toward each other. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1721
[Introduction]—The Quaker movement began as a group held together by no visible bond but united in its own deep sense of fellowship. There was immediate need of systematic help for persons suffering loss property. [There was need for the validation of marriages, and various administrative details]. How can a free fellowship based on Divine guidance from within set up any form of church government providing direction from without? Advice was given on 20 points of behavior with the proviso that: “These things may be fulfilled in the Spirit, not in the letter; for the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life … that all may be directed and left to the Truth, in it to live and walk and by it to be guided… That the power of the God-head may be known in the body, in that perfect freedom which every member has in Christ Jesus … that truth itself in the body may reign, not persons or forms.” Only the authority of the group acting by the dictates of Truth was valid.
[General Meetings,]/ Monthly Meetings (MM), Quarterly Meetings (QM), Yearly Meetings (YM)—General meetings drawing Friends together in limited areas at periodic intervals developed from 1650-1660; [some for worship, some for business. There was persecution, imprisonment, fanaticism, & resistance to man-made devices]. Leading Friends issued a letter asserting a meeting’s authority to exclude from fellowship persons who kept on rejecting its judgment; this marked an important step in Quaker development. Fox then went about England & Ireland for 4 years setting up Monthly Meetings as [standard] executive units of the Society of Friends.
A Monthly Meeting [MM] was made up of the Friends in a given district. The constituent parts of a MM were called Preparative Meetings. Combinations of MM were organized into Quarterly Meetings [QM], & QMs in turn were united in Yearly Meetings [YM]. London YM started as a group of Friends concerned with ministry; it was open to all friends by 1760. The 1st Quaker Meetings for Business [MB] were for men only, but by 1656 women’s meetings began to appear; they consisted of matters felt to be of peculiar interest to women. Today all Quaker business meetings, except in 2 or 3 conservative American areas, are made up of men & women.
The system of MM, QM, and YM as it finally developed in England and America suggests the organic principle of the affiliation of cells or small units in a large organism; membership resides in the MM. George Fox wrote: “The least member in the Church hath an office and is serviceable and every member hath need one of another.” The larger group exists, not to exert authority, [but to] widen the range of acquaintance and judgment and to carry out undertakings to big for the smaller group. A concern may arise in any individual. The power of the individual to accomplish what is felt to be laid upon the person is many times multiplied if the concern is taken up by MM, QM, and YM; the process can work in reverse if brought to YM or QM first. The YM issues Advices and Queries [in an effort to meet the needs of QM and MM].
The Book of Discipline—Early in the 18th century, selections from the minutes of YMs were gathered in book form in alphabetical order. The Philadelphia YM title in 1762 was: A Collection of Christian & Brotherly Advices Given Forth from Time to Time by the YMs of Friends for NJ and PA; the book form was printed in 1797. Later a topical arrangement replaced the alphabetical order. Under the heading Negroes or Slaves, 24 manuscript pages show Friends’ progress from 1743-1776 in dealing with the slave issue, the final query being: “Are Friends clear of importing, purchasing, disposing of or holding mankind as slaves?” The evolution of the Book of Discipline is a testimony to the power of the Quaker method in educating and sensitizing conscience. Quakers did not support their own revolution by violence, but they carried it through in a thorough-going way.
The Individual & the Group—The perennial problem of the rights & responsibilities of the individual & the group was never so clearly solved that there were never difficulties. The separation in Philadelphia was due to the individualistic vs. authoritarian trends in the Society of Friends. Meeting for worship focused upon being in a divine-human relationship; the meeting for business is mainly concerned with the doing of inter-human co-operation. True worship overcomes too much individuality by producing a super-individual consciousness. For such a MB the only essential is a clerk whose business it is to see to it that the sense of the meeting is recorded.
The Method of Reaching Unity—When the clerk senses a reasonable degree of unity, the clerk announces what is believed to be the sense of the meeting. If the meeting agrees, it is recorded in the minutes. On important matters, care is taken to secure the vocal participation of all who feel able and willing to express themselves. A majority would have voted slavery out in 1700; instead [the sense of the meeting slowly progressed] until in 1776 the society was united in refusing membership to persons who held slaves.
The weight of a member in determining the decision of the meeting depends on the confidence which the meeting has in the validity of his judgment. If an individual lays a concern before the meeting, feels it deeply enough and continues to bring it up in spite of opposition, the meeting may finally acquiesce. If a serious difference of opinion exists on a subject which cannot be postponed, decision may be left to a small committee. The decision may be along lines not even thought of at the beginning.
The clerk is theoretically a recording officer, but in practice he must frequently preside over the meeting. He must decide on how much expression he can safely base his minute. The clerk may occasionally find himself having to exercise some authority. If this Quaker method of arriving at unity doesn’t succeed, the difficulty is usually because some members have not achieved the right mind & heart. Debate & appeals to emotions are out of place in this process. Opinions should be expressed humbly & tentatively in the realization that no one person sees the whole truth & that the whole meeting can see more Truth. When the method has not succeeded, as in the divisions of the 19th century, spiritual life was low & Friends too impatient to wait for unity to develop.
Advantages of this Method/Conditions Favorable to Success—At its best, the Quaker method does not result in compromise. The Quaker method seeks to discover the Truth which will satisfy every one more fully than did any position previously held. To discover what we really want, we must go below the surface of self-centered desires to the deeper level where the real Self resides. The Quaker method produces synthesis in which each part makes some adjustment to the whole. A new creation emerges through the life or soul of the whole which was not completely present in any of the parts.
Quaker pioneering in social reforms shows that conservatism has not generally prevailed. In the end a more novel decision may result. The Quaker method works better in small rather than large groups; it is easier to achieve unity in an intimate group. If a MM becomes overgrown, it should divide. Such cell division is the organic method of growth. The simple [2- and 3-person] method of growth gives Friends a strategic advantage. When differences arise, Paul said that love is really the only solution.
The Binding Force within the Group/Freedom and Organization—Agape, unselfish love is the highest binding force within a religious group. It signifies the Spirit which draws men together & to God without. Agape is closely akin to friendship, a uniting force which respects individuality & freedom. It was more appropriate that the Quakers should call themselves a Society of Friends than a Family of Love, [a name that was used early on]. It is from Jesus saying, “No longer do I call you servants, … but I have called you friends.” The Society of Friends was based on friendship as distinguished from a code of duty. If God’s will is revealed by the Light of Truth within, the relationship is one of friendship & freedom based on understanding. In addition to the religion of friendship and the religion of obedience, there is the Spiritual Marriage, [in which] individuality is lost.
The Society of Friends endeavors to maintain an organization which does not destroy freedom. To love the truth is to follow that which draws humanity together into a unity of friendship. The problem of freedom within an organized group was faced by the early Christians. Paul wrote a passionate letter that indicated that Christianity was not the old law, neither is it a new law. He wrote: “Christ has set us free; stand fast; therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” It is not surprising that the Christian Church has been slow to understand Paul or has not striven to understand him. The Quakers stand alone in having attempted a form of Church Government which allowed in theory for the liberty of those who are led by the Spirit.
The Value of Differences—Unity is not Uniformity. Some Friends will state their religious or social views, always with the reservation that the Spirit of Truth may lead to further insight. Differences are tolerated, provided they are being actively explored in a spirit of friendship and a search for truth. Christ said, “let both grow together until the harvest.” But differences cease to have value when fundamental principles are ignored.
In science a difference between 1 theory which is based on the scientific method & another theory based on a different method such as magic wouldn't be productive of new scientific truth. A view based on free search & a view based on blind agreement of an authoritarian pronouncement wouldn't be productive of new truth. The Quaker method won’t progress without acknowledgement of the great truths which have been discovered in the past. The religious genius must be allowed to given to those who are not geniuses the full measure of guidance.
Stages of Growth—A group synthesis of opinion isn't good simply because it is a synthesis. Unity can occur at a low, [amoral] level. If the proper method is followed, the Light which unifies the group will be found to be an elevating Principle. The group will rise through deliberation to a higher level than where it started. The organic method of arriving at decisions by consensus appears at the primitive pre-individual level where self-centeredness hasn't developed as well as the post-individual level where self-centeredness has been overcome.
[Quakers found in their dealings with Indian councils that their methods strongly resembled Quaker business meetings], and that women participated as well as men. Such councils where sex equality is maintained and voting unknown indicate that the organic method is in accord with human nature. In the 1st stage there is unity, in the 2nd individuality, and in the 3rd the synthesis of unity and individuality which makes possible participation in group life with freedom.
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About the Author/ Introduction—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in 1936's summer with a solid background of academic achievement at the colleges of Mills & Earlham, & became co-directors of a new educational enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school & community. They retired in the 1950s & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in 1969; Howard continued to lecture, write, & simply be; he died in 1973.
This guide is written largely with new Friends meetings in mind. . . It will also be useful to new members in older meetings, & [as a reminder] to old members. This guide may be useful in supplying a summary based on Quaker practices ... prior to the appearance of [the historical branches of 19th Century Quakers.] The practices presented here went through a development period from 1650-1750 & were formulated from 1750-1850.
Practice & Belief—Quaker beliefs are those which condition Christian behavior in general & those which give rise to unique practices. Friends have . . . the conviction that no form of words can adequately convey the living, growing truth of the Christian religion. [Friends neither minimize Church history, nor underestimate the various interpretations of it.] The Society of Friends accepts into membership a person who is willing to follow the Quaker method, based on belief in a God-centered spiritual universe, regardless of where it might lead. The Quakers religious and social doctrines are subject to new interpretation as more new Truth is apprehended. Neither the severe discipline of the 18th Century nor the laxity of the early 20th will meet the needs of today.
Structure—The basic unit in the Society of Friends is called a Monthly Meeting, because its official business sessions are held monthly; as few as 2 or 3 persons constitute a meeting for worship. Membership in Society of Friends is through a Monthly Meeting, which may be part of Quarterly Meeting. Several Quarterly Meetings may join to make up a Yearly Meeting. Individual members have the same rights & responsibilities in the larger groups [as they do] in the smaller group. The individual may [express a concern to the Monthly Meeting, which will pass it upwards, or the individual may] express his concern at the Quarterly or Yearly Meeting.
[Because of the historical branches of 19th Century Quakers] some Monthly Meetings belong to 2 Yearly Meetings, or have individuals who claim membership in one or both Yearly Meetings. The fluidity in the present organization of the Society of Friends is a sign of growth and development. The larger bodies exist, not as an authority over, but as an aid in undertaking matters smaller bodies cannot easily handle. The union of smaller bodies may take place on the basis of a similarity of views and practices. The Yearly Meeting issues to Monthly Meetings Queries, Advices, and reports of its proceedings. A Monthly Meeting may be set up or laid down only by the authority of a Quarterly Meeting. An individual may appeal a disciplinary action to a higher meeting. Meetings beginning under the care of an established Monthly Meeting are called Indulged or Allowed Meetings.
Meeting for Worship—Meetings gather monthly for business, and at least once a week for worship, [which is] the only Quaker practice which has existed from the start without [having] a process of development. Quakers accepted the theology of their time, but they added . . . direct contact with the Divine Source [of] . . . the Sacred Book, the “Light Within,” “Christ Within,” “that of God in every man.” It is the Absolute Value which is the source of all relative values, however imperfectly it may be comprehended by the human understanding. The Light . . . affords knowledge of religious truth, the strength to act on it, and it inspires cooperation and unity [as Friends are “joined to the Lord, and to one another”.]
What is peculiar [to Quakerism] is the type of religious worship based entirely on this experience . . . centered in the Divine Life flowing into and through human hearts whereby we commune with God. The Society of Friends has never issued specific instructions regarding what the worshiper should do during the silence . . . that would limit the freedom of the Spirit. Friends say that outward observances [i.e. sacraments] cannot carry more of Divine grace than is found in the inward baptism of the Spirit and inner communion with God. [Audible] words should be the spontaneous outward expression of an immediate inner condition.
While the surface of the mind may be ruffled with passing winds of thought or fantasy, the deeper regions may at the same time be active in prayer and worship. Useful exercises included: self-examination to remove obstacles to a deeper communion with God; repeating to oneself a Biblical or devotional passage; reviewing in imagination some event; prayer with learned words, one’s own words, or without words. The worshiper’s path does not lie over a well-marked road, for in worship one is on the frontier of one’s conscious being.
Prayer . . . imperceptibly passes over from a person’s outreach toward God to God’s answer. Such experience is seldom attained by struggling, for it [may not be given a name.] Friends . . . nearly all report intervening periods of dryness when God seems far away & meeting for worship is formal and unfruitful. To the intellectual silent worship offers one essential ingredient of life that cannot be obtained through books, lectures, or sermons: one [again becomes aware] of one’s roots in the deep, spiritual soil of one’s existence. The experience which lifts us out of the world carries us back to it; we cannot know the God’s joy and peace without seeking to bring joy and peace to others [by] changing something on earth that it may more resemble the Kingdom of God.
The success of meetings for worship depends somewhat on preparation . . . a general preparation of life & character. An important type of preparation for group worship is individual devotion. The time immediately preceding First Day morning meeting is important in preparing for worship, [and should involve quiet reflection].
No one should go to a Friends meeting with the expectation either of speaking or of not speaking. As the worshiper sits in silence a message may arise which is recognized as one intended not simply for oneself but for the whole gathering. A peculiar sense of urgency is usually the sign of divine requirement. The [vocal ministry] should contain some, if not all, of the following: a religious focus (i.e. see the matter as God would see it); spontaneity; being an instrument through which the Spirit speaks; stating a message vs. arguing a case; simplicity; brevity; cease speaking when the message has been delivered; vocal prayer. Friends are cautioned to be patient with themselves and with one another, to endeavor to perfect the instrument, or to allow it to become perfected.
The best worship is achieved when the worshiper is unconscious of the passage of time, and is no way reminded of it. The suitable length of a meeting was judged not by a [time limit] but by the judgment of two responsible Friends. In recent years the First Day morning meeting for worship has tended to last about one hour. [Daily meetings may be a half-hour long. The room should be of satisfying size and proportion. It should be plain, including only necessary equipment. Friends should not be scattered about, but should gather in an orderly manner comparatively near to one another. The traditional seating arrangement is 2 or 3 rows of raised benches along the longer side of the room facing the other benches, occupied by the older and more experienced friends. The newer meetings have the seats drawn up in a hollow square or circle.
One early type of meeting was the retired meeting, where a small number gathered before regular worship, and little or no speaking was expected. The threshing meeting was held with the express purpose of convincing people of the doctrines of the Society of Friends. The “opportunity” was applied to a meeting for worship which began suddenly and unexpectedly in a group assembled for social or other purposes. Another religious exercise of great historical importance was the daily reading of the Bible in the family.
Very early in the Quaker movement certain Friends were recognized as qualified to have more responsibility for the meeting's good order (i.e. Elders). Elders or their equivalent, are still appointed by most meetings ... [from a group of] tactful, discerning persons who naturally draw to them those in need of help. The duties of elders are mainly concerned with promoting conditions favorable to the success of the meeting for worship. [They encourage those reluctant to share ministry], & deal firmly with persons who abuse the freedom of the meeting with too much discourse. Recorded ministers & elders still meet to consider the meeting’s spiritual life.
Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business—Every meeting should hold a business session at least once a month, preceded by a time of worship. [Corporate] Guidance [is central to Quakerism and] is sought from the Spirit of Truth and Light. In the transaction of business the meeting assumes that it will be able to act as a unit; no vote is ever taken. The clerk of the meeting apprehends and records the decision of the meeting. The business before the meeting is generally presented by the clerk, but it may come through a committee report or from an individual speaking under a sense of concern. When the discussion [reflects] a fair degree of unity, the [presiding] clerk or [recording clerk] prepares a minute which states the judgment [or sense] of the meeting as the clerk understands it; the minute is read to and approved by the meeting.
[Anyone] still unconvinced may remain silent or withdraw their objections. If they aren't able to withdraw their objection, the clerk generally feels unable to make a minute, especially if the objection’s source is known for wisdom & experience. If a strong difference of opinion exists on an urgent decision, the subject may be referred to a committee with power to act. . . it must be remembered, minorities are sometimes right. A time of silence [may be called for in times of tense disagreement]. Theoretically, the clerk isn't a presiding but a recording officer. A clerk’s most difficult problem is to determine the right speed with which business can be satisfactorily transacted. [Other concerns of the clerk include]: discussing one topic at a time; unfinished business; keeping discussion addressed to meeting as a whole; clarifying remarks or encouraging someone to finish theirs.
Minutes are preserved and, for more important meetings, they are printed. Such minutes of previous meetings as will aid the meeting in deciding what business should come before it should be read. The meeting may employ a secretary to attend to keeping a current member list, notifying committee of meeting time and places and supporting their work, arranging lectures and hospitality.
This method of conducting a meeting requires more patience and takes more time. The Quaker method differs fundamentally from several other consensus methods; debate is out of place here. The object of speaking is to explore as well as convince. The Friends method of attaining results exhibits principles typical of organic growth . . . often obtained by a kind of cross-fertilization. The early speakers on a subject affect those who follow; the process concludes with an expression by some individual as can be endorsed by the whole meeting.
Even if it requires years, this way may still be more expeditious than other methods in producing the right result. It often happen that neither the majority nor the minority is right, in which case the Quaker way may provide time for the truth to become apparent. Unity is always possible because the same Light of Truth shines in some measure in every human heart tending toward the same goal. By prayer, meditation, and worship that goal gradually becomes apparent.
Subjects of the Business Meeting [Appendix of original content]—Committee members for special and less crucial purposes are nominated from the floor. Key positions and standing committee members are nominated by a special nominating committee. A Yearly Committee usually finds it convenient to empower an executive committee to act for it on matters which cannot be postponed in the intervals when it is not in session. Committee business is conducted by the same methods as in the business meeting.
In most meetings shepherding the flock is assigned to the Overseers or the Committee of Overseers. They are expected to visit all the families at least once a year, and more often in times of crisis. If any member is guilty of acts seriously contrary to Society of Friends principles, the overseers should deal with them in a spirit of love in order for their help and the meeting’s reputation.
All money needed for the work of the Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings is raised by the Monthly Meeting and entrusted to its Treasurer. Application for membership is made to the Monthly Meeting by letter addressed to the overseers or to the clerk. A [membership clearness] committee ascertains whether or not they understand the beliefs of the Society of Friends, and agrees to them, and intends to abide by them. The Monthly Meeting grants the application with a minute made to that effect. Children are welcomed into the religious community for the same reason that they are welcomed into a family; they come from the very beginning under the care and oversight of the meeting.
If the meeting approves members to “travel in the service of Truth,” they are given a minute, which should be presented to the meetings to which they go, and turned in along with a report at the conclusion of their service. The Meeting should be sensitive to the needs of its neighborhood and to the larger population around it. Social evils of many sorts call for alert attention. The interest which the meeting’s members take in the business of the Monthly Meeting will largely depend upon the variety and validity of the activities engaged in and reported upon. New meetings should be regularly cared for by the parent meeting.
Records of membership, removals to and other meetings, births, deaths, and marriages should be accurately kept. Certificates of Removal may be granted to members wishing to remove their membership to another meeting. Sojourning minutes are granted to meeting members attending another meeting.
Marriage of members or of others wishing to be married after the manner of Friends are under the care of the Meeting. A [marriage clearness] committee is appointed to make sure that no obstructions appear. After approval, a marriage oversight committee is appointed. The union of man and woman in marriage being an act of God rather than of humans, it cannot be consummated by anyone other than the contract parties.
After the meeting is well settled, the bride and groom enter, arm in arm. After a short silence, the bride and groom rise and repeat the ceremony. The ushers bring forward the marriage certificate which is signed by the contracting parties. This certificate which contains the words of the promises which the bride and groom have made to each other is then read aloud; later the certificate is signed by the guests. The vows are followed by a meeting for worship. Funerals or memorial meetings are conducted according to the principles which govern a meeting for worship. In all matters pertaining to burial, simplicity is urged.
The Ministry of Teaching—The Society of Friends' religion is based on an inward experience deeper than intellectual concepts, it can't be taught in same way that subjects are taught in a school curriculum. First Day (Sunday) Schools didn't exist among Friends until recently. Today Friends have for the most part adopted the usual Protestant form of Bible Teaching. Many important facts about religion can be communicated by the usual teaching methods. To be aware that one is part of a great stream of religious thought & experience flowing out of the remote past into the future is a necessary part of attaining insight into the problems of the present. The Bible furnishes the language & figures of speech in which religious experience is expressed in the West.
The Adult Discussion Group may be a part of the First Day School program or it may meet on a week day at some member’s home, in order to educate opinion. A good leader will draw out the opinions of others rather than expressing their own, ask pertinent questions at appropriate times, and not be afraid of prolonged silence for reflection before, during, and after the discussion. Lectures should occasionally be arranged by the Monthly Meeting to enlighten members and others; religious political, educational, and industrial leaders should be heard.
Schools were set up by many Monthly Meetings as the Quaker movement spread in the 17th & 18th centuries throughout the American colonies. With the coming of public schools, the number of Friends’ elementary schools rapidly declined. The object [of the schools] was not to equip the pupils for success according to worldly standards, but to live according to the Quaker pattern. A few of the boarding schools and academies became colleges. The conference’s program consists of meetings for worship, lectures, and discussions.
Adult Education is of peculiar significance in the Society of Friends because of the important duties which are shared by all its members rather than being laid on specialists trained in theological schools. Woodbrooke in England was founded in 1903 for this purpose. Schools at Haverford and Swarthmore colleges in Philadelphia filled this role from 1917-27. These same efforts now focus at Pendle Hill, Wallingford PA, which was opened in 1930 as a center for religious and social study and for training persons for foreign work under the American Friends Service Committee. Friends have always had a testimony against verbalism (i.e. emphasis on language skills, rather than the substance the words point to).
The result of both the meeting for worship and the meeting for business depends to a large degree on the [social] inter-play of understanding, friendship, and love among members. When a meeting succeeds in making persons of various races, [degrees of] education, and economic status feel genuinely at home it has come a long way toward [the gospel goal of having] “neither Jew nor Greek, bond or free.”
Social Testimonies—People should begin the reformation of society in that area where their most immediate responsibility lies, that is in themselves, & work from there outward as the way opens. The Friend with an uneasy conscience . . . can secure a measure of inward satisfaction by doing what one feels called upon to do regardless of results of success or failure. The Quaker appeal has generally been based on the spiritual harm wrongdoers were doing to themselves & the resulting loss of inward peace. The ideal pattern of society should be incarnated in the meeting as a social unit in which the various parts are organically related so that it becomes in some degree the “mystical body of Christ,” . . . the feet & hands through which Christ’s work is carried on in the world. . . The Society of Friends is still very far from discovering all consequences of its religious premises.
The Quaker social doctrines [is here outlined] under 4 heads: community, harmony, equality, and simplicity. Community within the meeting becomes manifest as an attempt of the members to share with one another, spiritually, intellectually, socially, and economically. A religious family, being larger, could have greater stability in sharing with each other economically. Friends encourage the kind of social service [outside the meeting] in which the work is done with rather than for those who are helped [e.g. American Friends Service Committee, especially in the aftermath of war].
[When] in Harmony, those holding peace testimony seek to reconcile individuals to one another so that ... cooperation replaces conflict. These methods can be applied to the settlement of disputes in the world at large [without war, which] is a test of strength, not a search for truth & justice. Quaker pacifism is based primarily on religious insight which often gives clear indication that certain actions are wrong irrespective of the humanly foreseeable results. One must live up to one’s own conscience which reveals to one the highest moral values that one knows, whether this conscience leads one to fight or to refrain from fighting. Friends have been pioneers in methods now universally used in dealing with [criminals], prisoners, the mentally ill, and children.
Equality means that all have equal worth in the sight of God; equality was the earliest social testimony. Equality in the ministry between men and women was recognized in the Society of Friends from the beginning. [Outward] distinctions . . . should never be used either to flatter or humiliate. Doing away with accepted usages based on social inequalities caused extensive suffering through fine and imprisonment.
The coming of religious liberty to England was a triumph of non-violent method after the usual method of violence had failed. . . Quaker tradition also exercised a powerful influence on the US Constitution. Work in line with the testimony of racial equality developed more slowly & has failed to keep pace with the need. The doc-trine of equality as far as it refers to economic status is as yet, largely undeveloped. Friends today are groping for light on these difficult questions which are rendered even more highly complex by contemporary conditions.
Simplicity means in general: sincerity; genuineness; avoidance of superfluity. In dress, simplicity first led dispensing with useless ornaments at a time when the dress of the fashionable was excessively elaborate. Though [traditional] “plain dress” has largely disappeared, much ornamentation is still considered out of place. In speech, simplicity means that the truth should be stated as simply as possible without affectation, excess words or rhetorical flourish; in business it meant a one price system in selling goods. Making an affirmation rather than taking an oath falls under simplicity of speech. “Plain language” included: the use of “thou” for second person singular; omitting titles such as “Mr.,” Mrs.,” and “Your honor”; numbering the days of the week and months of the year instead of using pagan names. [Most of “plain language” is no longer used]. In behavior, simplicity means avoiding pretense or affectation, [and not] “engaging in business beyond their ability to manage.”
Members of the Society of Friends are far from living up to what they profess. They realize that they are partly responsible for the social evils by which they have materially benefited. They also believe [that] the power of God enables them to “get atop of” these things. They seek [as best as they are able], to “Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
The Queries—In early times the Yearly Meeting sent down to its Quarterly and Monthly Meetings a series of questions in order that it might keep informed as to the condition of its meetings and their members. In the course of time the Queries . . . became a means of self-examination and evaluation as well as [their original purpose]. Most meetings today have kept the queries as a kind of Quaker confessional. Queries in various forms can be found in Yearly Meeting disciplines. The following revised Queries are [the most remarkable] ones formulated by the two Philadelphia Yearly Meetings in 1946.
Is there a living silence in which you feel drawn together by the power of God in your midst?
Is the vocal ministry in your meetings exercised under the direct leading of the Holy Spirit, without prearrangement, and in the simplicity and sincerity of Truth?
Are your meetings for business held in a spirit of love, understanding and forbearance?
Do you seek the right course of action in humble submission to the authority of Truth and patient search for unity?
Do your children receive the loving care of the Meeting and are they brought under such influences as tend to develop their religious life?
Do you counsel with those whose conduct or manner of living gives ground for concern?
What are you doing to ensure equal opportunities in social and economic life for those who suffer discrimination because of race, creed or social class?
What are you doing to understand and remove the causes of war and develop the conditions and institutions of peace?
What are you doing to interpret to others the message of Friends and to cooperate with other in the Christian message?
Do you make a place in your daily life for inward retirement & communion with the Divine Spirit?
Are you careful to keep your business and your outward activities from absorbing time and energy that should be given to spiritual growth and [your right share of] the service of your religious society?
Do you faithfully maintain our testimony against military training and other preparation for war . . . as inconsistent with the spirit and teaching of Christ?
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About the Author—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in the summer of 1936 with a solid background of academic achievement at the colleges of Mills & Earlham, & became co-directors of a new sort of education enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school and community. They retired in the 1950s & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in 1969; Howard continued to serve by lecturing, writing, and simply being.
Distinguishing Principles—The Society of Friends formed the English Reformation’s extreme left wing in the mid-17th century; it was neither Protestant nor Catholic. [They believed with the early Christians that] the Spirit would be poured out upon the congregation ready to receive it, uniting the worshiping group into the Body of Christ. This silent communion with God is perhaps the only distinctive contribution of the Society of Friends to Christian practice; individual inspiration is second in importance to group inspiration. The Light Within, when unresisted, can permeate and transform human reason and conscience, bringing inner peace and serenity.
Anyone may become a vehicle of vocal ministry, [which provides] spiritual guidance in prayer, meditation, and worship. Because this Light is continually capable of revealing new and living truth, Friends use no written statement of belief which has the authority of a creed. All, including ancients and heathens could be saved if they lived up to their own measure of the Light. In the Meeting for Business votes are not taken, because decisions are reached on the basis of unanimity.
Membership in the Society of Friends is obtained through membership application in a particular monthly meeting. For the consistent Quaker war is wrong because of the spiritual damage done to those who participate in it. [Quaker] doctrine doesn't eliminate use of force in law enforcement, provided that force is used impartially. Their equalitarian doctrines brought upon the Quakers severe persecution by persons who wished to safeguard their status as superiors. The doctrine of simplicity called for avoidance of superfluity “in dress, speech, & behavior.” The oath was objected to as recognizing a double standard of truth-telling & because it was an externally imposed religious exercise. The arts are no longer considered superfluous & untruthful. The Quaker-controlled colonies of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Jersey & North Carolina supported religious liberty.
History—The History of the Society of Friends falls into: the apostolic age (1650-1700); conservation and cultural creativity age (1700-1800); conflict and decline age (1800-1900); modern age (1900- ). In the apostolic age, the first Quakers set out to bring all Christendom back to its primitive state. The Puritans tried to keep them out of New England, and between 1662-1689 the severest persecution took place in England. At the end of the persecution, Quakers emerged as a respectable sect.
In the 18th century, some of the early fervor disappeared, but there continued to be a powerful non-professional itinerant ministry. Before the Declaration of Independence, members of the Society of Friends freed their slaves. At the beginning of the 19th century, the evangelical elements were accentuated by the influence of the Weslayan revival. American Quakerism in this century was torn by divisions. Elias Hicks, a mystic who attracted followers from the country separated over the issues of elders’ authority and the divinity of Christ. John Wilbur and Joseph John Gurney became focal points of a separation over the authority of the Spirit vs. the authority of the Bible. A majority of the meetings throughout the West, New England, and the South changed their way of worship to a programmed Protestant–like service. Friends were slow in creating colleges because they did not feel the need for a trained and scholarly ministry. Almost every meeting had an elementary school.
The chief “Friends” are: Friends General Conference is made up of 7 yearly meetings (Philadelphia, Baltimore, Canada, Illinois, Indiana, New England, New York). The Conservative (Wilburite) group is made up of 4 yearly meetings (Ohio, Iowa, Western, North Carolina) along with some Canadians. There was also the spontaneous growth of 200 Independent Meetings all over the US (These meetings are unprogrammed. Programmed, pastoral meetings from 11 yearly meetings have formed the Five Years Meeting (Baltimore, California, Canada, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, New England, New York, North Carolina, Western, Wilmington). 5 independent pastoral yearly meetings (Ohio, Kansas, Oregon, Central in Indiana, Rocky Mountain). Old distinctions are ceasing to have their former importance. The London Yearly Meeting makes up The Society of Friends in England. Groups of Friends also exist in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, China, India, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, [Kenya,] Costa Rica, [Cuba, El Salvador, Bolivia], & Mexico.
American Friends Service Committee was organized in 1917 and has headquarters in Philadelphia. The Friends World Committee for Consultation represents all branches of Friends. Under it is the Wider Quaker Fellowship, a group of several thousands persons who wish some affiliation with the Society of Friends, but who do not desire to join it. Adult education institutions at Woodbrooke in England and Pendle Hill in America have increased awareness of Quaker history among Friends. The old tension between mystic and Evangelical still persists. The mystic tends to see some truth in all religions, and the evangelical tends to emphasize belief in the historical events with which Christian began; each has something of the other.
Modern science has directed its attention to gaining power over the external world; this brings neither peace nor happiness. Quakerism offers a means for obtaining inward peace and order, producing the only kind of peace which can propagate itself in the outer world.
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About the Author—Tom Gates has been a member of Lancaster (PA) MM since 1995. He enjoys serving on clearness committees for prospective members. Tom spent 8 years as a family practitioner in rural NH; from 1991-94, he and his wife Liz and their sons Matthew and Nathan served at Friends Lugulu Hospital in Kenya, (See PHP 319 and 341, Stories from Kenya, and Sickness, Suffering, and Healing, resp.).
Introduction—I've had the privilege to serve on clearness committees for perspective members. After membership process formalities, some have grown in their understanding of membership commitment, while others stagnate or drift away from community. When asked, "Why now?" most applicants answered that they were now ready to ask for recognition of a reality they already felt, sometimes for many years.
[My questions are]: "What is the underlying spiritual movement by which individuals find their identity in the meeting community? How do they find a full sense of belonging? How do we come to be "members one of another? This is a simple description of [what happens in membership], a vision & a challenge to us to lift up a corporate vision of spiritual community, where we are truly "members one of another." How are you maturing into the fullness of membership in this spiritual community? Is our meeting a community which nurtures the spiritual growth and transformation of its members?
Individual and Community—When I speak of the "dynamics of membership," I have in mind the Quaker version. These dynamics are "characterized by an equilibrium of parts which considered separately are unstable." The meeting and the individual need one another; they exist only in this dynamic relation of mutual dependence. The individualistic culture we live in tells us we must separate ourselves from the community. We may long for community, but our individual choices are more likely to reflect "unfettered individualism." Undoubtedly some are attracted by our appearance of spiritual individualism. Quakers have inherited a lofty image of the meeting as a spiritual community, called out of the world and called together by God. Our most "counter cultural" claim is that true community and true individuality reinforce one another. Joan Chittister said: "It is not that there is no room for self here. it is just that self grows best when self is not its end."
Images of Membership—Our images of membership must capture the complexity and growth [of the individual] over time. I have in mind a fluid process, with individuals moving back and forth freely between the various stages as circumstances of their lives change. I visualize a series of concentric circles. The 1st stages are represented by the more peripheral circles, subsequent stages progressively closer to the center. God is at the center, and surrounds the process; all stages are near to God. We do not leave behind the earlier stages. We deepen and move toward the center. Another image is the rooms of a meeting house. There is the "meeting room," with the "gathering room," "social room," "library." What goes on in each of the rooms is valid and essential to the meeting's life, yet the focus remains on the meeting room. In a similar way, in the journey toward the fullness of membership, you may find yourself lingering in the outer rooms. We should not lose sight of the fact that the earlier stages were preliminary and serve to prepare for what comes later.
Meeting as a Place of Acceptance—Most Friends today come to membership from some other religious tradition, or perhaps from no tradition. For various reasons, our 1st need is often for meeting to be a place of refuge, a shelter from the world, a place of belonging and acceptance. Some who come to us from outside and enter into this stage may feel a sense of joy, liberation, and a accepting community. Others may be extremely sensitive to any disappointment and feel "unsafe." Individuals at this stage of their involvement with meeting need to feel warmly welcomed, and often at the same time "need their space." The task for the meeting at this stage is to balance the need for hospitality and welcoming with the equally important need to respect the newcomer's boundaries. Spirituality requires great sensitivity to the different balance of these 2 things each individual has.
There are 2 dangers in this early stage. The 1st danger is falling into "pseudo-community." Scott Peck writes: "In pseudo-community a group attempts to purchase community cheaply by [the] pretense ... [of] denial of individual differences." True community comes to understand & value its members' diversity & is able to both accept & transcend those differences, rather than ignoring them. A 2nd danger is mistaking this 1st & preliminary stage for the whole meaning of membership, of confusing the periphery for the center. [It is okay to linger in this sense of acceptance & belonging, as long as they become aware at some point, of the deeper ways of being a Quaker].
Meeting as a Place of Shared Values—Sooner or later, both the individual seeker & the meeting will come to the realization that acceptance by itself does not provide a sufficient basis to sustain spiritual community. True community requires something more: a sense of core beliefs, values, and commitments that are understood and shared by all. Our testimonies are the biggest attraction for many prospective members. They provide the closest thing Quakers have to an articulation of shared beliefs and values.
As a young man of 18, I was trying to convince my local draft board that I was a conscientious objector. I had read about the Quakers and their peace testimony. I found a group of Quakers who could know something of my struggle, who could encourage and inspire me with their own stories. There can be a reinforcing interplay between the 1st & 2 stages of membership. Although understandable, this attitude risks turning a meeting into an exclusive club of the like-minded individuals, instead of a spiritual community that transcends differences.
[It is important as a meeting to point out the source of our historic peace testimony]. It is a conviction that arises (or should arise) from our understanding of God's nature, based on our experience of the transforming power of God's love in our lives. The corresponding task for the individual is to absorb, to be open, to grow, "to be formed into" the community. The shared narratives of our history can shape us and form us, providing us with inspiration and the spiritual resources for living our lives with integrity in a world that does not share our values.
The 1st danger is that of disillusionment, when a newcomer realizes that the meeting doesn't always live up to its professed beliefs. If they are a reason to be a Quaker, then it behooves us to show in our action how these lofty ideals make a difference in our lives. 2nd, if we focus on testimonies but forget where they come from, then our meeting may look like an ethical society or a political lobby, instead of a faith community. The testimonies were specific, concrete actions that testified to [& were the result of] the Truth of God's transforming power in Friends' lives. Finally, there is the danger of making Quakerism into an organizational endorsement of [people's current stance]. We need to find ways to lift up the possibility that the tradition which we have chosen may have something to teach us, & may be calling us beyond the certainties of our past to a life of transformation.
Meeting as a Place of Transformation—"Membership is, or ought to be, about transformation ... of individuals ... [&] of a community." [Helen Rowlands]. Up to this point, we have been talking about the conventional, the comforting, the secure. What begins at this stage is challenging, uncomfortable, transforming. The dynamic relationship between individual, community, & God becomes central. Before, we have been seeking, now we are aware of being sought. Before, we have been turning toward God; now we sense God turning toward us.
In the early years of the Quaker movement one became a Quaker not by meeting with a clearness committee, but by being convinced of the Truth through an experience of the transforming power of God. Although a transforming spiritual experience as a prerequisite for membership has receded with time, our Quaker tradition nevertheless continues to provide ample opportunities that can lead us toward transformation. In allowing the testimonies to search our lives, change is almost inevitable. Are there ways I can help guide the world away from violence and toward peace? How can I change my life to be less complicit with violent and oppressive systems? What would simplicity look like today? [Answering these questions] may lead us to make changes in our lives. As my meeting confronts complicity with [the racism in] a cultural system that is so contrary to our professed ideals, we begin to look for specific ways that God is leading us to change.
There is a man in our meeting [who went from leadership in the meeting's resettling a Bosnian refugee family, to being an election monitor in Bosnia in 1997, to advanced training in Alternatives to Violence Program (AVP), to helping develop an AVP in Bosnia]. Our traditional Quaker encouragement of individual spiritual discipline & practice is being reclaimed through "Spiritual Formation Programs," which includes daily spiritual practice, small local group meetings, & monthly regional group meetings. The deepening & growth of individuals has affected the entire meeting.
A major tenet of Quaker spirituality is the belief that leadings are the single most important way that God is potentially present in our lives. Whatever the outward results of our leadings, they always demand from us spiritual growth, & even transformation. An important milestone in my spiritual development was [my leading] to leave my medical practice in rural New England in order to go live & work among Kenyan Quakers at Friends Lugulu Hospital. The "way opened" to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The most important lesson was that only when we are willing to put ourselves in situations beyond our power to control [will] the transforming power of God become fully manifest in our lives. The smallest leading has a way of growing into something big. Leadings faithfully followed have a way of begetting more leadings, and eventually, transformation.
From the individual's perspective, we start by recognizing that transformation can come at any time, with or without a Quaker meeting's contribution. When a person begins to be aware of the movement of the Spirit in his or her life, a crucial step comes when the individual turns to the community and asks for help in discerning what is being asked of them. The meeting will appoint a clearness committee, where ideally, the individual will find his or her leading validated. Asking the meeting for help may serve as a prelude to the essential step in transformation, which is asking God for help. The meeting's most important contributions at this stage are an attitude of expectation and the capacity to respond authentically to requests for help. A meeting will foster transformation to the extent that it lifts up the expectation that individuals will have leadings, has a mechanism for responding to requests for clearness, and can confidently assist in the discernment process.
The meeting is challenging the individual to be true to his leading even at a cost. The meeting is being challenged to make room for the Spirit, to be willing to change in response to the genuine leadings of its members. Challenge and transformation are central to our understanding of how God acts in our lives. The experience of having been loved by God is primary; everything else follows [in response to that love]. How is it that we experience God's love in our lives? 1st, there is unconditional acceptance that is not dependent on anything I do, [a rejoicing in my existence]. 2nd is a love that is never quite satisfied with the way we are, but always inviting and encouraging us to become what we are meant to be.
These 2 facets of God's love complement each other as they become intertwined in a tapestry of intricate detail. [We need both comforting, accepting love, and challenging, transforming love]. Our own love and our community's love also need to reflect loving acceptance and support, as well as loving challenge and transformation. A Quaker Meeting is not just a collection of individual seekers, but a community of faith. God calls us into community, because it is only in community that we can learn God's transforming lessons of love, service, compassion, and forgiveness. Helen Rowlands writes: "Membership is costly ... It is about belonging, feeling at home ... [and] being stretched, challenged, discomforted ... The process, taken seriously, will call us to change."
"The end of this process ... is to produce ... the man or woman who goes through life endeavoring to decide every question as it arises, [not by passion, prejudice, or solely by reason], but chiefly by reference to the light of God that shines in the prepared soul." William C. Braithwaite
Meeting as a Place of Obedience—What is the goal of this [spiritual] transformation? If obedience is our goal, then in a certain sense it gives meaning and purpose to everything that precedes it. Meister Eckhart writes: "There are plenty to follow our Lord halfway, but not the other half. They will give up possessions, friends and honors, but it touches them too closely to disown themselves." In the Christian tradition, the pattern of thought for obedience is the earthly life of Jesus, who said: " Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."
"Obedience" is open to misunderstanding, because it can mean acquiescence to some external authority or code of behavior. As I use it, obedience conveys a willingness, surrender, an openness, a relinquishing of control to the presence of God in our lives. Obedience means that "deciding every question as it arises ... chiefly by reference to the light of God," becomes second nature. In the Quaker tradition obedience is both theoretically and practically possible. Quaker "perfection" [is related to obedience]. Robert Barclay writes: " It [perfection] is by no means a claim to be pure, holy, and perfect as God ... This is not a perfection that has no room for daily growth ... It is sufficient to keep him from transgressing the law of God and to do what God requires of him." Caroline Fox adds: "Live up to the light that thou has, and more will be granted thee."
This stage of obedience seems to be identical to what Howard Brinton has called "the Quaker doctrine of inward peace." This peace is disturbed by a vague sense of disquiet, [of some specific task that needs to be done]. After discernment & resistance, the leading is followed, & inward peace is restored. Obedience is invariably accompanied by love, joy peace, patience, and compassion (Galatians 5:22); humility is also characteristic. A life of obedience is also like to be a life of prayer, however broadly we may define that. "Prayer is attending to our relationship with God." As this relationship grows in intimacy, we cultivate a sensitivity to what is required of us. For most it requires a disciplined intention and attention to the spiritual life of prayer and worship.
For most of us, the obedience to which we are called isn't great deeds in the world, but small deeds within our intimate circle of community. An individual member often comes into a time of great, but possibly invisible service to the meeting community. The 1st of 2 pitfalls for the meeting is putting the life of obedience on a very high pedestal, a once-in-a-generation person like John Woolman, Elizabeth Frye, or Rufus Jones. Too often, the implicit message is that a life of obedience is out of reach for us today. The 2nd pitfall is that our meetings don't take it seriously enough. If we do not provide a vision of "the fullness of membership," then how will any grow into that fullness? For both pitfalls, the end result is the failure to lift up the life of obedience as a practical and worthy goal to us here and now. As a meeting we will only be able to take them halfway.
Conclusion—Membership in a Quaker meeting is a kind of journey, a journey from individualism to "individual-in-community, to being "members one of another." The stages in that journey exists as a complex totality, interpenetrating one another at all times. The sense of belonging and acceptance is never left behind. And while transformation is described as a single profound experience, most of us probably experience this stage as a series of smaller experiences stretching out over most of a lifetime. Finally, obedience is not a once and done achievement, but rather a possibility that is continuously before us. What are the implications of this process of belonging, acceptance, transformation, and obedience for the formal process of membership?
The formal process of membership is a small part of a much larger process that is lifelong. Quakers at least should know that the outward formality of the membership process by itself can't produce true members. Different prospective members may very well be at different stages in the process when they ask for formal membership. What is important is one's commitment to travel this particular path we call Quakerism. Patricia Loring writes: "Membership is simply a rite of passage in that process, the moment of adult declaration that this is the church structure, this is the spiritual community within which we feel called to live out the process of spiritual maturing." Worthiness has nothing to do with membership. God has already accepted us in our imperfection. Both meeting and applicant need to remain faithful to the development of the process within Quaker tradition.
This dynamic can allow us to meet prospective members where they are, while at the same time lifting up to them a vision of where they might be going, especially if they already know something of transformation, for we can validate the importance of that experience and encourage them toward disciplined obedience to the Light. Our clearness committees needs to communicate some sense that the journey has a direction and a goal.
Membership in a Quaker meeting is a spirit-led journey on which we experience meeting as a place of: acceptance; shared values; transformation; & obedience. These stages represent the 4 points of the compass, a way to locate ourselves and describe our progress. We have a rich and inspiring tradition, we have each other, and we have the Spirit of God, all to guide us. We are promised that these things together will "lead us into all things."
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439. Marking the Quaker Path: Seven Key Words Plus One (by Robert Griswold; 2016)
About the Author—Robert Griswold has been a convinced Friend since 1947. [He has gone from a Friends Church to Mountain View Friends (unprogrammed) to Anchorage, to Director of Scattergood Friends School to West Branch Friends (Iowa YM Conservative) to Brinton Visitor in Pacific YM; he welcomes other views of Christianity]. He has published several articles in Western Friend and Friends Journal. His other Pendle Hill Pamphlet is #377, Creeds and Quakers: What's Belief got to do with it?
Introduction—Becoming a member has only a little bit to do with being a Quaker. [It was a long time before I realized that] being a Quaker means being on a lifelong path. When George Fox said, "Now I am clear, I am fully clear," it meant that he hadn't been called to take up any more service or leadings. Quaker membership can seem to be even easier than with groups using creeds, because we have no hurdles of belief to memorize. That is not the case; much more is required of us.
How do Friends become aware of the Quaker path & the need to keep growing? How do we let new seekers know they are starting a spiritual journey? How do we guide them? [How do we find & correct mistaken assumptions new seekers bring with them? Even experienced Friends may sometimes lose sight of where we've been & where we're going. How do we know we are making personal & community progress?
There are words that have special meanings & connections to our inherited wisdom, that we have developed to guide us on this path. Many of the words I will review are separately studied & thought about by Friends. We can benefit by looking at them as a sequence. They point to something that is integral to inner spiritual life, & a witness to the world, but only if we bring them into our personal experience so that they are sealed in our hearts. [They need to lead us to live who we are]. The 7 words & their sequence that I suggest is: condition; experience; covenant; discipline; discernment; authority; & beloved community. [The "plus one" of the title is submission].
Condition—Condition has the least familiarity among modern Friends. I wasn't asked about my condition when I applied for membership. We can't gather the strength to undertake a genuine spiritual path unless we are aware of the condition that has been keeping us from moving forward; it is likely we cannot easily perceive it. The kind of emotional blackmail present in threats of eternal suffering was indigestible for me. Without an acute awareness of ourselves as being in a condition requiring change, we will not be able to even begin the journey.
George Fox wrote: "I did discern ... what it was that did veil me ... & couldn't give up self to die by the Cross, God's power." Sense of self or ego is developed unconsciously & becomes the core of who we think we are. Self deception keeps us lost in our notions & certainties. Self comes to be in charge of our lives. "Divine Reality won't be heard ... unless we surrender authority of the voice we have been given & taken to be our Self. He was [only] self in man ... doing good & performing acts under a show of religion ... but all done in his own will, time, & iniquity ... His salvation wholly consists in surrendering up self-ability, letting it die ... & returning to ... full submission to ... the inspiring spirit of God." Elias Hicks. If you're in charge, you're in trouble.
If we think upbringing & culture hasn't affected us, we haven't explored our condition enough. [All the well-meaning people of our childhood] almost certainly taught us to place self in charge of life, before we were able to be aware or critical of what was happening. We were given a choice of roles & images to be filled. These roles & images alone won't lead to spiritual life. Where do we find the meaning of life? How are we connected to the Eternal? We can choose to get in touch with that within that allows us to live in authentic relation to what is.
Early Friends felt it necessary to keep even their dress & manners plain so that they could adequately attend to their spiritual lives. [Distractions that led back to serving self had to be avoided]. These distractions have been an ongoing struggle for me. How do we avoid falling back into the illusions our egos provide? How do I do good without feeling excessively proud of my work? We need a sense of our condition that totally humbles us and brings the "still small voice" near, making it the center of our experience and our continuing guide.
Experience—An experience of Divine Reality changes us from fearful, wounded, and lost people into a safe, healing and compassionate people on a meaningful journey. In order to have this experience, George Fox writes: "Stand still in that which is pure, after you see your self, and then mercy comes in ... Stand still in the light and submit to it,and the other will be hushed and gone ... Your strength is to stand still." Isaac Penington writes: "The main thing in religion is to receive a principle of life from God, whereby the mind may be changed, and the heart made able to understand the mysteries of God's kingdom, and to see and walk in the way of life."
A great obstacle in coming to this experience is that [culture denies existence to anything which can't be] verbalized, rationalized, or scientifically explained. Inner experience is never provable under these conditions. [How is something that doesn't lend itself to a narrow range of expression automatically non-existent]? The person who is strictly determined not to allow for spiritual experience's existence may very well never have one. We are part of a Reality that includes our self but is greater than we. As a part we can never grasp the whole. We need to let go of notional life, quietly open, & be. Our life will be grounded, & we will own it while we live.
A 2nd obstacle to spiritual experience is thinking it can be taught. Naomi Remen said: "Spiritual experience ... is found [within], uncovered [from layers of deception], discovered [to be our inheritance], recovered [from where we left it as children]." We can look everywhere outward & never find it. [The light in every man is the basis for seeing all external signs]; the light itself must be immediate without external sign. God is uncreated and infinite, so it is impossible to express God in created, finite words].
What did early Friends mean by their use of "being convinced," & "convincement?" It sounds like the outcome of a debate or an argument before a jury leading to the acceptance of a doctrine; what happened to early Friends was entirely different. They were convinced [by experience, not argument, of the Inward Light] that they were in a condition that needed to change. Inward experience provides knowledge of who & where we are, & a basis for putting faith & trust in the Inward Light. We can make this knowledge our friend & daily companion (& let belief & notions be things we visit rarely). [The "external sign"] of our knowledge will appear in the life we lead. We can't afford to stop short of this experience of the Spirit. We must be patient & wait in openness un-til the experience comes; there is nothing better to do, for it leads us into a covenant of peace with all of creation.
Covenant—[A covenant is like traditional, open-ended marriage vows]; it isn't a contract, where I don't agree to anything that isn't specified. I agree to do certain things in return for other things I want from someone else. A lot of people want a contract with the Divine; they want to bargain with God. Bargaining tries to limit our relationship with the Divine, which is unconditional & permanent or it's nothing. Divine Reality doesn't bargain; if we try we will fail. Our relationship with the Divine has to be a covenant, or else we are fooling ourselves.
The only genuine relationship we can have with the Divine is when we enter into a covenant that is open to whatever may come, including suffering and pain. Jesus' narrow gate and [destructive paths is about an open covenant relationship]. A Sacred Covenant is a promise of the heart to perfect a relationship to Divine Reality. [The promise includes the idea that], "I will stay open to what is so that I can live what I am." Covenant is about holding to a relationship in order to overcome mistakes, & coming back if we get off track. A new, covenant relationship is a new relationship with the people in our lives; the covenant spreads to enfold all, friend and enemy.
Early Friends declined to seek legal redress for wrongful imprisonment & deportation, even when advised that they could. Refusal to exercise legal rights may seem strange to us, yet it isn't when we consider that our new covenant with the Divine requires us to bless as we have been blessed, to love our neighbors & enemies, not to exact recompense. We can't coerce anyone to a [conversion] experience. The covenant blesses us, so our relation with others will be a blessing too. We no longer need to gather to our self more than what will help serve to fulfill our covenant. When we open our self to the Divine, the ego's demands subside, & our needs are simpler. We must be slow to judge & loving toward all, quelling the unruly spirits we have in us. This requires discipline.
Discipline—No discipline is needed or desired in a consumer shopping culture. Sometimes we spread our shopping habits to religion. [Picking and choosing] appealing aspects of other religions probably won't harm us, and can help us appreciate of the faith experiences of others. They may also distract us from the disciplines we need to grow as Friends. [Besides the better-known epistles], I recommend reading Steven Crisp, William Sewell, and Elizabeth Bathurst to provide a strong counter to the cacophony of the culture surrounding us.
Discipline must involve a practice. A little thinking is fine, but unless we have the experience of following a discipline, we won't even begin to have the tools we need for useful thinking. Without it even being part of our awareness, discipline can give us confidence that we are capable. We can benefit from discipline without an intellectual endorsement. Being a Quaker is like perfecting a craft or a skill. Quaker disciplinary practices have been forged in the depths of personal experience and tested in the fires of persecution. [Discipline must be practiced or it remains a good-sounding idea]. There are 2 kinds of discipline needed—personal discipline and group discipline. We won't come close to Gospel order, to aligning our actions with the truth, without discipline.
Confession, genuflecting, ritual bathing, bowing toward icons or certain places, smoking tobacco, or fasting, are traditional disciplines. These things aren't bad in themselves, but are easily corrupted into forms, or even empty forms, [over which our self is in complete control]. Friends have tried to avoid these forms in favor of a silent presence discipline. Penington writes: "Take heed of the fleshly wisdom, [thy understanding, reasoning or disputing]; these are the weapons by which witness is slain ... Wisdom & understanding must be destroyed ... that understanding brought to naught, & thou become [& learn as] a child ... if ever thou know the things of God.
Queries—How we retire daily into silence and quiet the turmoil of our minds? How do we study the words of Early Friends, their trial and their gains? How do we know in our hearts what the Gospels have to tell us when opened by the Spirit? How do we encourage other Friends to question us about our inner life and the trajectory our life is taking?
Early Friends spoke of nurturing the Seed within. Spiritual discipline could be seen as tending the soil that nurtures the seed. Unless we add nutrients by reading the words of those who have gone before, & water the soil with serious discussions with other Friends, the Seed may fail to bring forth fruit. The Light within us must be kept shining on all aspect of our lives, or it will fade. As new members and religious refugees, we tend to suspect any instituted uniform practice. Friends have worked out practices that can help us, and new members especially need to submit to them, even when our understanding of the practices' spiritual [roots] is limited.
Friends don't get to be Sunday worshipers. [Worship in a meeting, without office, teaching, or committee work leaves out] a key element that will let us grow as a Quaker. Spiritual tasks go better alongside others. Busy-ness in society at large isn't a virtue, or an excuse for not sharing the meeting community's work. When we work with other Friends, some Light coming through other Friends may shine into corners unfamiliar to us, revealing gifts we never knew we had, or illuminate a dark corner in our self that we hadn't noticed. Lessons teaching love, courage & patience through sharing work don't take root in us by our thinking about or wishing for them; they become our humble strength by practice. If we shirk this discipline, we place our self & our meeting in peril.
Listening is a discipline that must be cultivated. It must be more than listening only to make a quick & snappy reply, or a listening that hears only words, & gains only intellectual understanding. The message is in words, tone of voice, body posture & motion, & in face. How do I listen so as to get all the messages from the whole person? How long do I wait for all the message to register before I reply? As Friends we need to learn the discipline of listening fully & compassionately. In clearness committees we have to learn to listen closely, & we will witness others hearing things we missed. Secondary benefits that come to all who serve on them are vital for the spiritual growth of the community. If we practice our disciplines faithfully, we will be led to discernment.
Discernment—We know how easy it is to be wrong in our understanding, and that actions and judgments based only on the intellect and information are not adequate. We need to take the time to bring our hearts and heads to a point of humility that makes unity of action possible; gathering facts is not enough. Facts, opinions and the deepest feelings of our hearts all need to be sifted. Actions and judgments have to be lived out. Believing that everyone's measure of truth and viewpoint is equal is a misunderstanding of our testimony on equality. It is true that the Divine is accessible to all, but it is not true that all of us, in equal measure, have disciplined our self in our commitment to a spiritual life. Until we submit our measure to be aligned with the measure of others who are undertaking the same discipline, we will not have done what it takes to be a Friend.
All aspects of an active Quaker life must be subjected to a discernment process. George Fox writes: "[After being turned by that of God from evil, and emptied of it, there will be some room in them for something of God to be revealed and inspired into them." Our culture thinks it can ignore the wisdom of self-restraint by ignoring connections between what is done and the consequences." The consequences of achievements and inventions are ignored until the new and greater problems slap us in the face. George Fox wanted Friends to "stay within their measure" by employing the discernment process. He also said that Friends need to "keep in discerning that you may not be ensnared nor made prey" to the wiles of ego and others.
[We need to discern within our self] & within the group as part of our progress. We expose our self to the other Friends' counsel. We withhold judgment until the ground of Divine Reality manifests itself & we can stand on it together. Patience is required to not "run before" one's true Guide. By not aligning understanding with other Friends' discernment, we aren't Friends but only Quaker "fellow travelers." We like the ideas but are unwilling to trust the process. We want to be saints but recoil from submitting [to Divine Guidance].
Friends are sometimes not very trusting of each other, and do not share struggles and doubts. This keeps us safely in a bubble, where other Friends cannot help us grow. Discernment requires trust in other Friends and in the Truth's accessibility. George Fox writes: "All Friends ye must come into [certain things]: patience; moderation; wisdom; knowledge; understanding; sobriety; gravity; seasoned state above all the world."
Authority/ The Beloved Community—If we stay committed to the discernment practice, we will acquire authority. Until we have courage to exercise authority we have been given, our development as Friends is stunted. George Fox writes: "Be bold in Truth's Power, & valiant for it upon the Earth ... triumphing over ... all Deceit ... inward & outward, having done it in your self ..., ye have the power over the World in general." Failure to exercise authority can damage a meeting. Questioning authority may have a good side because there are false authorities that seek to oppress, but we must be careful to affirm [& exercise] true authority that belongs to us individually & collectively. The strength of every meeting is reflected by the willingness of members to take on duties & [exercise] the authority that goes with those responsibilities. Individuals will strive to respond positively to calls from the nominating committee, even when they initially feel unready or not inclined to say "yes."
This authority is an authority to love, and the world desperately needs to be authoritatively loved, which may require us to confront others and speak to them when they are out of good order. Only when this authority is at work in our meetings can we hope to be part of a beloved community. How can we be clear that authority is working? Eldering is loving authoritatively. Eldering probably became suspect because we forgot how to do it lovingly. We must be able to offer each other the correction and encouragement we need; the Divine will not let us off the hook. Things swept under the rug in our meetings will blow up in our faces later. Or people will drift away in frustration for the lack of vitality among us. The world will hear the authority of our message when we learn how to exercise authority in our own meetings. We cannot exercise the authority of our lives unless we reveal and share our doubts and fears. It is too easy to satisfy our self in our own minds that we know what to do. A clearness to act needs to be tested with those who are committed to discernment.
We need a community loving us & helping us find Truth, & that we can love & help. A beloved community doesn't come about by wanting it. The beloved community is the fruit of lives lived in covenant with the Reality of Divine Love. Loving each other isn't a [friendly suggestion]. We are commanded to love & be a blessing; no exceptions. Isaac Penington described community as "a heap of fresh & living coals, warming one another ... Our life is love, & peace, & tenderness, & bearing with one another ... not laying accusations ... but praying one for another, & helping one another up with a tender hand." [To recap briefly], we need to: know our condition; seek to experience Divinity Reality; accept a Divine covenant with God; practice a spiritual discipline; practice discernment; exercise authority given to us; & bring these practices together in beloved community.
Submission—Progress in the Spiritual Life isn't one aspect of our life; it is our life. If you think you can be the primary manager of your life, you will be ... But you will miss being a manifestation of the Divine Reality that would give ... life meaning. Elias Hicks writes: "I was led, in a clear full testimony, to show ... why all have not faith ... The means of obtaining it are freely offered to the acceptance of all; yet it [can] be obtained only by & through operation & inspiration of God's grace & spirit, as man yields in obedience & submission thereunto. He comes to know God, by inward experimental touches of his own life ... [Those who] exercise themselves in their own speculative wisdom, & refuse submission to the manifestations of divine grace, have not faith, because they reject the only means by which it can be obtained."
Pride & a stiff neck are a greater weakness than submission, Being blind to anything that doesn't fit our notions makes us a danger to ourselves & others. If we have submissiveness with a deep humility, we will see more of Divine Reality, & act more wisely. When we recognize an authority as false we stand fast in the truth we are given & let their falseness break itself against us. We fully submit to: the reality of our condition; the knowledge of our experience to the Divine; the terms of our Divine covenant; the necessary disciplines; the discernment process; the proper exercise of our authority; and the power of love that binds us in loving community.
Queries—How have you prepared your self to follow this journey wherever it may lead? How can Friends seek to avoid a "notional" faith? How would you describe your present "condition?" How do you imagine or how was your actual "experience of Divine Reality?" What does a "sacred covenant with the Divine Reality" mean to you? Why is being willing to take on committee work important? What are the problems of trying to discern the way forward by one's self? How does group discernment work? What does "proper use of our true authority" look like? What does your beloved community look like? Why is "submission" critical to the Quaker spiritual journey?
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Meeting as a Place of Obedience—What is the goal of this [spiritual] transformation? If obedience is our goal, then in a certain sense it gives meaning and purpose to everything that precedes it. Meister Eckhart writes: "There are plenty to follow our Lord halfway, but not the other half. They will give up possessions, friends and honors, but it touches them too closely to disown themselves." In the Christian tradition, the pattern of thought for obedience is the earthly life of Jesus, who said: " Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done."
"Obedience" is open to misunderstanding, because it can mean acquiescence to some external authority or code of behavior. As I use it, obedience conveys a willingness, surrender, an openness, a relinquishing of control to the presence of God in our lives. Obedience means that "deciding every question as it arises ... chiefly by reference to the light of God," becomes second nature. In the Quaker tradition obedience is both theoretically and practically possible. Quaker "perfection" [is related to obedience]. Robert Barclay writes: " It [perfection] is by no means a claim to be pure, holy, and perfect as God ... This is not a perfection that has no room for daily growth ... It is sufficient to keep him from transgressing the law of God and to do what God requires of him." Caroline Fox adds: "Live up to the light that thou has, and more will be granted thee."
This stage of obedience seems to be identical to what Howard Brinton has called "the Quaker doctrine of inward peace." This peace is disturbed by a vague sense of disquiet, [of some specific task that needs to be done]. After discernment & resistance, the leading is followed, & inward peace is restored. Obedience is invariably accompanied by love, joy peace, patience, and compassion (Galatians 5:22); humility is also characteristic. A life of obedience is also like to be a life of prayer, however broadly we may define that. "Prayer is attending to our relationship with God." As this relationship grows in intimacy, we cultivate a sensitivity to what is required of us. For most it requires a disciplined intention and attention to the spiritual life of prayer and worship.
For most of us, the obedience to which we are called isn't great deeds in the world, but small deeds within our intimate circle of community. An individual member often comes into a time of great, but possibly invisible service to the meeting community. The 1st of 2 pitfalls for the meeting is putting the life of obedience on a very high pedestal, a once-in-a-generation person like John Woolman, Elizabeth Frye, or Rufus Jones. Too often, the implicit message is that a life of obedience is out of reach for us today. The 2nd pitfall is that our meetings don't take it seriously enough. If we do not provide a vision of "the fullness of membership," then how will any grow into that fullness? For both pitfalls, the end result is the failure to lift up the life of obedience as a practical and worthy goal to us here and now. As a meeting we will only be able to take them halfway.
Conclusion—Membership in a Quaker meeting is a kind of journey, a journey from individualism to "individual-in-community, to being "members one of another." The stages in that journey exists as a complex totality, interpenetrating one another at all times. The sense of belonging and acceptance is never left behind. And while transformation is described as a single profound experience, most of us probably experience this stage as a series of smaller experiences stretching out over most of a lifetime. Finally, obedience is not a once and done achievement, but rather a possibility that is continuously before us. What are the implications of this process of belonging, acceptance, transformation, and obedience for the formal process of membership?
The formal process of membership is a small part of a much larger process that is lifelong. Quakers at least should know that the outward formality of the membership process by itself can't produce true members. Different prospective members may very well be at different stages in the process when they ask for formal membership. What is important is one's commitment to travel this particular path we call Quakerism. Patricia Loring writes: "Membership is simply a rite of passage in that process, the moment of adult declaration that this is the church structure, this is the spiritual community within which we feel called to live out the process of spiritual maturing." Worthiness has nothing to do with membership. God has already accepted us in our imperfection. Both meeting and applicant need to remain faithful to the development of the process within Quaker tradition.
This dynamic can allow us to meet prospective members where they are, while at the same time lifting up to them a vision of where they might be going, especially if they already know something of transformation, for we can validate the importance of that experience and encourage them toward disciplined obedience to the Light. Our clearness committees needs to communicate some sense that the journey has a direction and a goal.
Membership in a Quaker meeting is a spirit-led journey on which we experience meeting as a place of: acceptance; shared values; transformation; & obedience. These stages represent the 4 points of the compass, a way to locate ourselves and describe our progress. We have a rich and inspiring tradition, we have each other, and we have the Spirit of God, all to guide us. We are promised that these things together will "lead us into all things."
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About the Author—Robert Griswold has been a convinced Friend since 1947. [He has gone from a Friends Church to Mountain View Friends (unprogrammed) to Anchorage, to Director of Scattergood Friends School to West Branch Friends (Iowa YM Conservative) to Brinton Visitor in Pacific YM; he welcomes other views of Christianity]. He has published several articles in Western Friend and Friends Journal. His other Pendle Hill Pamphlet is #377, Creeds and Quakers: What's Belief got to do with it?
Introduction—Becoming a member has only a little bit to do with being a Quaker. [It was a long time before I realized that] being a Quaker means being on a lifelong path. When George Fox said, "Now I am clear, I am fully clear," it meant that he hadn't been called to take up any more service or leadings. Quaker membership can seem to be even easier than with groups using creeds, because we have no hurdles of belief to memorize. That is not the case; much more is required of us.
How do Friends become aware of the Quaker path & the need to keep growing? How do we let new seekers know they are starting a spiritual journey? How do we guide them? [How do we find & correct mistaken assumptions new seekers bring with them? Even experienced Friends may sometimes lose sight of where we've been & where we're going. How do we know we are making personal & community progress?
There are words that have special meanings & connections to our inherited wisdom, that we have developed to guide us on this path. Many of the words I will review are separately studied & thought about by Friends. We can benefit by looking at them as a sequence. They point to something that is integral to inner spiritual life, & a witness to the world, but only if we bring them into our personal experience so that they are sealed in our hearts. [They need to lead us to live who we are]. The 7 words & their sequence that I suggest is: condition; experience; covenant; discipline; discernment; authority; & beloved community. [The "plus one" of the title is submission].
Condition—Condition has the least familiarity among modern Friends. I wasn't asked about my condition when I applied for membership. We can't gather the strength to undertake a genuine spiritual path unless we are aware of the condition that has been keeping us from moving forward; it is likely we cannot easily perceive it. The kind of emotional blackmail present in threats of eternal suffering was indigestible for me. Without an acute awareness of ourselves as being in a condition requiring change, we will not be able to even begin the journey.
George Fox wrote: "I did discern ... what it was that did veil me ... & couldn't give up self to die by the Cross, God's power." Sense of self or ego is developed unconsciously & becomes the core of who we think we are. Self deception keeps us lost in our notions & certainties. Self comes to be in charge of our lives. "Divine Reality won't be heard ... unless we surrender authority of the voice we have been given & taken to be our Self. He was [only] self in man ... doing good & performing acts under a show of religion ... but all done in his own will, time, & iniquity ... His salvation wholly consists in surrendering up self-ability, letting it die ... & returning to ... full submission to ... the inspiring spirit of God." Elias Hicks. If you're in charge, you're in trouble.
If we think upbringing & culture hasn't affected us, we haven't explored our condition enough. [All the well-meaning people of our childhood] almost certainly taught us to place self in charge of life, before we were able to be aware or critical of what was happening. We were given a choice of roles & images to be filled. These roles & images alone won't lead to spiritual life. Where do we find the meaning of life? How are we connected to the Eternal? We can choose to get in touch with that within that allows us to live in authentic relation to what is.
Early Friends felt it necessary to keep even their dress & manners plain so that they could adequately attend to their spiritual lives. [Distractions that led back to serving self had to be avoided]. These distractions have been an ongoing struggle for me. How do we avoid falling back into the illusions our egos provide? How do I do good without feeling excessively proud of my work? We need a sense of our condition that totally humbles us and brings the "still small voice" near, making it the center of our experience and our continuing guide.
Experience—An experience of Divine Reality changes us from fearful, wounded, and lost people into a safe, healing and compassionate people on a meaningful journey. In order to have this experience, George Fox writes: "Stand still in that which is pure, after you see your self, and then mercy comes in ... Stand still in the light and submit to it,and the other will be hushed and gone ... Your strength is to stand still." Isaac Penington writes: "The main thing in religion is to receive a principle of life from God, whereby the mind may be changed, and the heart made able to understand the mysteries of God's kingdom, and to see and walk in the way of life."
A great obstacle in coming to this experience is that [culture denies existence to anything which can't be] verbalized, rationalized, or scientifically explained. Inner experience is never provable under these conditions. [How is something that doesn't lend itself to a narrow range of expression automatically non-existent]? The person who is strictly determined not to allow for spiritual experience's existence may very well never have one. We are part of a Reality that includes our self but is greater than we. As a part we can never grasp the whole. We need to let go of notional life, quietly open, & be. Our life will be grounded, & we will own it while we live.
A 2nd obstacle to spiritual experience is thinking it can be taught. Naomi Remen said: "Spiritual experience ... is found [within], uncovered [from layers of deception], discovered [to be our inheritance], recovered [from where we left it as children]." We can look everywhere outward & never find it. [The light in every man is the basis for seeing all external signs]; the light itself must be immediate without external sign. God is uncreated and infinite, so it is impossible to express God in created, finite words].
What did early Friends mean by their use of "being convinced," & "convincement?" It sounds like the outcome of a debate or an argument before a jury leading to the acceptance of a doctrine; what happened to early Friends was entirely different. They were convinced [by experience, not argument, of the Inward Light] that they were in a condition that needed to change. Inward experience provides knowledge of who & where we are, & a basis for putting faith & trust in the Inward Light. We can make this knowledge our friend & daily companion (& let belief & notions be things we visit rarely). [The "external sign"] of our knowledge will appear in the life we lead. We can't afford to stop short of this experience of the Spirit. We must be patient & wait in openness un-til the experience comes; there is nothing better to do, for it leads us into a covenant of peace with all of creation.
Covenant—[A covenant is like traditional, open-ended marriage vows]; it isn't a contract, where I don't agree to anything that isn't specified. I agree to do certain things in return for other things I want from someone else. A lot of people want a contract with the Divine; they want to bargain with God. Bargaining tries to limit our relationship with the Divine, which is unconditional & permanent or it's nothing. Divine Reality doesn't bargain; if we try we will fail. Our relationship with the Divine has to be a covenant, or else we are fooling ourselves.
The only genuine relationship we can have with the Divine is when we enter into a covenant that is open to whatever may come, including suffering and pain. Jesus' narrow gate and [destructive paths is about an open covenant relationship]. A Sacred Covenant is a promise of the heart to perfect a relationship to Divine Reality. [The promise includes the idea that], "I will stay open to what is so that I can live what I am." Covenant is about holding to a relationship in order to overcome mistakes, & coming back if we get off track. A new, covenant relationship is a new relationship with the people in our lives; the covenant spreads to enfold all, friend and enemy.
Early Friends declined to seek legal redress for wrongful imprisonment & deportation, even when advised that they could. Refusal to exercise legal rights may seem strange to us, yet it isn't when we consider that our new covenant with the Divine requires us to bless as we have been blessed, to love our neighbors & enemies, not to exact recompense. We can't coerce anyone to a [conversion] experience. The covenant blesses us, so our relation with others will be a blessing too. We no longer need to gather to our self more than what will help serve to fulfill our covenant. When we open our self to the Divine, the ego's demands subside, & our needs are simpler. We must be slow to judge & loving toward all, quelling the unruly spirits we have in us. This requires discipline.
Discipline—No discipline is needed or desired in a consumer shopping culture. Sometimes we spread our shopping habits to religion. [Picking and choosing] appealing aspects of other religions probably won't harm us, and can help us appreciate of the faith experiences of others. They may also distract us from the disciplines we need to grow as Friends. [Besides the better-known epistles], I recommend reading Steven Crisp, William Sewell, and Elizabeth Bathurst to provide a strong counter to the cacophony of the culture surrounding us.
Discipline must involve a practice. A little thinking is fine, but unless we have the experience of following a discipline, we won't even begin to have the tools we need for useful thinking. Without it even being part of our awareness, discipline can give us confidence that we are capable. We can benefit from discipline without an intellectual endorsement. Being a Quaker is like perfecting a craft or a skill. Quaker disciplinary practices have been forged in the depths of personal experience and tested in the fires of persecution. [Discipline must be practiced or it remains a good-sounding idea]. There are 2 kinds of discipline needed—personal discipline and group discipline. We won't come close to Gospel order, to aligning our actions with the truth, without discipline.
Confession, genuflecting, ritual bathing, bowing toward icons or certain places, smoking tobacco, or fasting, are traditional disciplines. These things aren't bad in themselves, but are easily corrupted into forms, or even empty forms, [over which our self is in complete control]. Friends have tried to avoid these forms in favor of a silent presence discipline. Penington writes: "Take heed of the fleshly wisdom, [thy understanding, reasoning or disputing]; these are the weapons by which witness is slain ... Wisdom & understanding must be destroyed ... that understanding brought to naught, & thou become [& learn as] a child ... if ever thou know the things of God.
Queries—How we retire daily into silence and quiet the turmoil of our minds? How do we study the words of Early Friends, their trial and their gains? How do we know in our hearts what the Gospels have to tell us when opened by the Spirit? How do we encourage other Friends to question us about our inner life and the trajectory our life is taking?
Early Friends spoke of nurturing the Seed within. Spiritual discipline could be seen as tending the soil that nurtures the seed. Unless we add nutrients by reading the words of those who have gone before, & water the soil with serious discussions with other Friends, the Seed may fail to bring forth fruit. The Light within us must be kept shining on all aspect of our lives, or it will fade. As new members and religious refugees, we tend to suspect any instituted uniform practice. Friends have worked out practices that can help us, and new members especially need to submit to them, even when our understanding of the practices' spiritual [roots] is limited.
Friends don't get to be Sunday worshipers. [Worship in a meeting, without office, teaching, or committee work leaves out] a key element that will let us grow as a Quaker. Spiritual tasks go better alongside others. Busy-ness in society at large isn't a virtue, or an excuse for not sharing the meeting community's work. When we work with other Friends, some Light coming through other Friends may shine into corners unfamiliar to us, revealing gifts we never knew we had, or illuminate a dark corner in our self that we hadn't noticed. Lessons teaching love, courage & patience through sharing work don't take root in us by our thinking about or wishing for them; they become our humble strength by practice. If we shirk this discipline, we place our self & our meeting in peril.
Listening is a discipline that must be cultivated. It must be more than listening only to make a quick & snappy reply, or a listening that hears only words, & gains only intellectual understanding. The message is in words, tone of voice, body posture & motion, & in face. How do I listen so as to get all the messages from the whole person? How long do I wait for all the message to register before I reply? As Friends we need to learn the discipline of listening fully & compassionately. In clearness committees we have to learn to listen closely, & we will witness others hearing things we missed. Secondary benefits that come to all who serve on them are vital for the spiritual growth of the community. If we practice our disciplines faithfully, we will be led to discernment.
Discernment—We know how easy it is to be wrong in our understanding, and that actions and judgments based only on the intellect and information are not adequate. We need to take the time to bring our hearts and heads to a point of humility that makes unity of action possible; gathering facts is not enough. Facts, opinions and the deepest feelings of our hearts all need to be sifted. Actions and judgments have to be lived out. Believing that everyone's measure of truth and viewpoint is equal is a misunderstanding of our testimony on equality. It is true that the Divine is accessible to all, but it is not true that all of us, in equal measure, have disciplined our self in our commitment to a spiritual life. Until we submit our measure to be aligned with the measure of others who are undertaking the same discipline, we will not have done what it takes to be a Friend.
All aspects of an active Quaker life must be subjected to a discernment process. George Fox writes: "[After being turned by that of God from evil, and emptied of it, there will be some room in them for something of God to be revealed and inspired into them." Our culture thinks it can ignore the wisdom of self-restraint by ignoring connections between what is done and the consequences." The consequences of achievements and inventions are ignored until the new and greater problems slap us in the face. George Fox wanted Friends to "stay within their measure" by employing the discernment process. He also said that Friends need to "keep in discerning that you may not be ensnared nor made prey" to the wiles of ego and others.
[We need to discern within our self] & within the group as part of our progress. We expose our self to the other Friends' counsel. We withhold judgment until the ground of Divine Reality manifests itself & we can stand on it together. Patience is required to not "run before" one's true Guide. By not aligning understanding with other Friends' discernment, we aren't Friends but only Quaker "fellow travelers." We like the ideas but are unwilling to trust the process. We want to be saints but recoil from submitting [to Divine Guidance].
Friends are sometimes not very trusting of each other, and do not share struggles and doubts. This keeps us safely in a bubble, where other Friends cannot help us grow. Discernment requires trust in other Friends and in the Truth's accessibility. George Fox writes: "All Friends ye must come into [certain things]: patience; moderation; wisdom; knowledge; understanding; sobriety; gravity; seasoned state above all the world."
Authority/ The Beloved Community—If we stay committed to the discernment practice, we will acquire authority. Until we have courage to exercise authority we have been given, our development as Friends is stunted. George Fox writes: "Be bold in Truth's Power, & valiant for it upon the Earth ... triumphing over ... all Deceit ... inward & outward, having done it in your self ..., ye have the power over the World in general." Failure to exercise authority can damage a meeting. Questioning authority may have a good side because there are false authorities that seek to oppress, but we must be careful to affirm [& exercise] true authority that belongs to us individually & collectively. The strength of every meeting is reflected by the willingness of members to take on duties & [exercise] the authority that goes with those responsibilities. Individuals will strive to respond positively to calls from the nominating committee, even when they initially feel unready or not inclined to say "yes."
This authority is an authority to love, and the world desperately needs to be authoritatively loved, which may require us to confront others and speak to them when they are out of good order. Only when this authority is at work in our meetings can we hope to be part of a beloved community. How can we be clear that authority is working? Eldering is loving authoritatively. Eldering probably became suspect because we forgot how to do it lovingly. We must be able to offer each other the correction and encouragement we need; the Divine will not let us off the hook. Things swept under the rug in our meetings will blow up in our faces later. Or people will drift away in frustration for the lack of vitality among us. The world will hear the authority of our message when we learn how to exercise authority in our own meetings. We cannot exercise the authority of our lives unless we reveal and share our doubts and fears. It is too easy to satisfy our self in our own minds that we know what to do. A clearness to act needs to be tested with those who are committed to discernment.
We need a community loving us & helping us find Truth, & that we can love & help. A beloved community doesn't come about by wanting it. The beloved community is the fruit of lives lived in covenant with the Reality of Divine Love. Loving each other isn't a [friendly suggestion]. We are commanded to love & be a blessing; no exceptions. Isaac Penington described community as "a heap of fresh & living coals, warming one another ... Our life is love, & peace, & tenderness, & bearing with one another ... not laying accusations ... but praying one for another, & helping one another up with a tender hand." [To recap briefly], we need to: know our condition; seek to experience Divinity Reality; accept a Divine covenant with God; practice a spiritual discipline; practice discernment; exercise authority given to us; & bring these practices together in beloved community.
Submission—Progress in the Spiritual Life isn't one aspect of our life; it is our life. If you think you can be the primary manager of your life, you will be ... But you will miss being a manifestation of the Divine Reality that would give ... life meaning. Elias Hicks writes: "I was led, in a clear full testimony, to show ... why all have not faith ... The means of obtaining it are freely offered to the acceptance of all; yet it [can] be obtained only by & through operation & inspiration of God's grace & spirit, as man yields in obedience & submission thereunto. He comes to know God, by inward experimental touches of his own life ... [Those who] exercise themselves in their own speculative wisdom, & refuse submission to the manifestations of divine grace, have not faith, because they reject the only means by which it can be obtained."
Pride & a stiff neck are a greater weakness than submission, Being blind to anything that doesn't fit our notions makes us a danger to ourselves & others. If we have submissiveness with a deep humility, we will see more of Divine Reality, & act more wisely. When we recognize an authority as false we stand fast in the truth we are given & let their falseness break itself against us. We fully submit to: the reality of our condition; the knowledge of our experience to the Divine; the terms of our Divine covenant; the necessary disciplines; the discernment process; the proper exercise of our authority; and the power of love that binds us in loving community.
Queries—How have you prepared your self to follow this journey wherever it may lead? How can Friends seek to avoid a "notional" faith? How would you describe your present "condition?" How do you imagine or how was your actual "experience of Divine Reality?" What does a "sacred covenant with the Divine Reality" mean to you? Why is being willing to take on committee work important? What are the problems of trying to discern the way forward by one's self? How does group discernment work? What does "proper use of our true authority" look like? What does your beloved community look like? Why is "submission" critical to the Quaker spiritual journey?
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