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Faith and Practice

Faith and Practice: The Books

From its beginning, the Society of Friends has been non-creedal, rejecting any requirement that members atest to a specific creed or doctrine. Friends instead seek the religious guidance that comes out of collective worship. Nonetheless, as the Society gradually established itself in the late 17th century, meetings began to systematically record their thoughts about Quaker practice.

Over the subsequent three centuries, this work has been collected and refined by various meetings. The resulting documents combine practical advice on how Quaker meetings function, historical and contemporary reflections on the nature of Quaker life and worship, and "queries" that serve "as a guide to self-examination, using them not as an outward set of rules, but as a framework within which we assess our convictions and examine, clarify, and consider prayerfully the direction of our lives and the life of the community" (Faith and Practice, Philadephia Yearly Meeting, 1997, p. 205). The links below will take you to two such works.

Faith and Practice (Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1997, 2002)

Quaker Faith and Practice (The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain, 1995)

Children's Queries

Members of Oread Friends Meeting in Lawrence, KS revised the queries from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting to be more suited to children so we could better integrate the queries into the education of the Meeting′s children.

First Month - Meeting for Worship

Why do I sit with others in silence?
Do I listen carefully so that I may hear?

Second Month - Meeting for Business

What is business?
How can business be spiritual?

Third Month - Ministry of Word and Deed

How do we encourage and help each other?

Fourth Month - Care for the Meeting Community

How do we create a loving meeting?

Fifth Month - Education

How do we learn from each other at the Meeting?

Sixth Month - Equality

Am I open to and appreciative of everyone?

Seventh Month - Social Responsibility and Witness

What am I doing to help improve my community?

Eighth Month - Peace

How do I work for peace in my community?

Ninth Month - Outreach

How do we tell others about Quaker life and beliefs?

Tenth Month - Stewardship of the Environment

What can I do to care for nature?

Eleventh Month - Stewardship of Resources

What can I do to take care of the Meeting?

Twelfth Month - Integrity and Simplicity

How do I show integrity and simplicity at Meeting and in my life?
Why is it important to tell the truth?

Queries suggested by Doug Crawford-Parker

Friends,

We had discussed the possibility of using a query in the newspaper ad and/or the brochure. Here are some adapted from Catherine Whitmire's book Plain Living: A Quaker Path to Simplicity, which also has a host of wonderful quotations. A few other queries in the list are just made up. But we can change them any way we like, so feel free to adapt and suggest new ways to phrase things.

Peace, Doug

The most alarming sign of the state of our society now is that our leaders have the courage to sacrifice the lives of young people in war but have not the courage to tell us that we must be less greedy and less wasteful. --Wendell Berry

QUERIES

  • Do I seek to simplify my life by listening for guidance from an inward holy center?

  • In what ways do I allow my possessions to determine my sense of worth and self-esteem?

  • Do I make my work, whatever it may be, an avenue for doing good?

  • Do I have more trust in money or in God?

  • Do I prize my time as a gift from God?

  • How do I recognize and deal with moral complexity in daily life?

  • How do I contribute to the corporate identity of the communities of which I am a part?

  • Am I living by values that will help create a better, more sustainable future for the world?

  • Am I swift to hear and slow to speak, avoiding long, heated debates?

  • Am I careful to say what I mean, avoiding sarcasm, excessive politeness, and self-aggrandizement designed to impress others?

  • What criteria do I use to evaluate how much financial security ids enough for me?

  • Do I look at my investments, clothing, furniture, and other possessions to see if they sow the seeds of war and oppression?

  • Do I prayerfully discern how to use my financial resources for the common good?

  • Do I seek to make my partnership or marriage reflect my faith and the values I aspire to stand for in the wider world?

  • Do I convey a sense of hopefulness to the children in my life, and do I foster in them the imagination and confidence that they can change the world?

  • Am I a grateful recipient of the gifts that life provides? How do I express my gratitude?

  • Do I live with a grace and lightness that make joy and laughter part of my everyday life?

  • What would I do if I were not afraid?

  • In the midst of suffering do I look diligently for points of encounter with God?

  • During times of despair do I stay present to the feeling of emptiness and wait for God to fill it with new life?

  • In what ways does my life generate hope for others?

  • What gives me hope that a brighter future world is possible?

  • When I listen within to my place of deepest spiritual knowing, what is it I most long for?

  • How do I distract myself with busyness in order to avoid the One who is seeking me?

  • Do I live with my eyes and heart open—watching and listening for the One who seeks me?

  • How does my understanding of God determine the way I live?

  • What do I know about God experientially?

  • Do I understand my life as a journey of faithfully seeking Truth?

  • What process do I use to listen and pay attention to the deepest thing I know?

  • What texts and literature are holy for me? Why?

  • Am I willing to obey the still, small voice within when it speaks to my instruction?

  • Do I stay mindfully and spiritually present to each moment?

  • Do I listen to the insights that come to me from beyond the margins of my understanding? How do I know when to act on them?

  • Am I cultivating a discipline of listening and watching so that I recognize the messages that come to me through dreams, prayers, meditations, friends, or my own body?

  • How open am I to being led by the Spirit in my daily life?

  • How well do I reach out to the people who are difficult and who live on the margins of our community? What can I learn from them?

  • During conflict, do I adhere to the discipline of speaking truth in love?

  • When involved in disputes, do I seek truth and reconciliation rather than victory?

  • Do I seek to hear the causes of misunderstanding, fear, or defensiveness in others, and do I try to share something of myself that may help explain anxiety and fear around an issue?

  • How does my unwillingness to accept God’s forgiveness keep me tied to the past?

  • Do I accept that my forgiveness and healing cannot be dependent on others taking responsibility for their harmful action or apologizing to me?

  • Do I endeavor to face the pain of the world and match it with forgiveness?

  • How am I practicing nonviolence within myself, my family, and my community?

  • Do I treat wrongdoers in loving ways that allow them to rise above their wrongdoing?

  • Do I look for and recognize that of God in all people?

  • How do I monitor and challenge the deep-seated prejudices I have acquired from my family, church, community, and culture?

  • Am I committed to learning the skills necessary to end racism and other forms of prejudice and discrimination?

  • Do I look for and see the face of God in all creation?

  • Do I spend time in wild places listening for what I might learn?

  • Have I mourned the loss of species and harm done by pollution, and am I aware of my part in these losses? Do I endeavor to change my personal as well as societal practices as an expression of hope for the future?

  • Do I seek opportunities to both provide loving care for my family and do service in my community?

  • Do I remember that it is the spirit of my service that makes love visible?

  • Am I faithfully serving God by seeking justice and showing loving kindness to all I meet?

Quaker Quotations from Misty Gerner

Some Quaker quotes, long and short, that may be less familiar than those we have been looking at thus far. I can track down dates, etc. if we want to use any of them (or a part of one) for the new brochure or in our advertisements. At minimum, I hope they provide some food for thought for others as they have for me. -- Misty

  • "If contemplation, which introduces us to the very heart of creation does not inflame us with such a love that it gives us, together with rich joy, the understanding of the infinite misery of the world, it is a vain kind of contemplation, it is the contemplation of a false God." - Marius Grout (French Quaker, died 1946)

  • "Concerned people are struggling over the meaning of inwardness, transcendent reality, and ethical actions, and it is impossible to consider any one of them in isolation from the others." - Paul Lacey, 1969.

  • "It is good, so very good, to experience the quiet ministry of the living spirit of the living God." - Howard Thurmon, 1961

  • "I especially want to suggest that we impoverish ourselves spiritually when we close ourselves off too quickly from the witnesses with whom we disagree, or when, to appropriate their words for our own beliefs, we translate or transpose what they say into the worlds and ideas with which we are already comfortable." - Paul Lacey, 1995

  • "And in this I saw the infinite love of God. I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness. And in that also I saw the infinite love of God; and I had great openings." - George Fox

  • "The spiritual life has many sources of nourishment, among them the companionship of other seekers, the pleasures of solitude and silence, keeping faith as we wait for leading, experiencing the confirmation of having followed the leadings we have been given, and times of testing. In each of these, when I know I am being nourished and nurtured, I know something of joy. And there are other times I receive joy - as a gift of serenity, balance, deep happiness, and I know this is good for my spirit now and through the rest of my life.

    When we share about the spiritual life, let us not be afraid to say what we know. Let us not, above all, be afraid to share the fact of joy, the gifts of joy. Joy is finally the greatest source of nourishment for the spiritual life, because it is God's greatest gift to us." - Paul Lacey, 1995

  • "Let your lives speak." - George Fox

  • "The only true standard I can have to direct myself by is that which experience proves to give me the most happiness, buy enabling me to be virtuous. I believe there is something in the mind or in the heart that shows its approbation when we do right. Let me take courage and try from the bottom of my heart to do that which I believe truth dictates." - Elizabeth Gurney Fry

  • "Oh, that I could talk less and pray more, I should be better prepared to live, and better prepared to die." - Edward Hicks, 1851.

  • "True godliness don't turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavor to mend it: not hide their candle under a bushel, but set it upon a table in a candlestick." - William Penn, 1682

  • "There is a spirit which I feel delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end. - James Nayler

  • "In the gathered meeting the sense is present that a new Life and Power has entered our midst.Ê We are in communication with one another because we are being communicated to, and through, by the Divine presence." - Thomas Kelly

  • "Art thou a child of Light and hast walked in the Light, and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God?" - George Fox, 1652

  • "When one rises to speak one has the sense of being used, of being played upon, of being spoken through. It is as amazing experience as that of being Prayed through, when we the praying ones are no longer the initiators of the supplication, but seem to be transmitters, who second an impulse welling up from the depths of the soul." - Thomas Kelly

  • "Dearly beloved Friends, these things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all, with the measure of light which is pure and holy, may be guided; and so in the light walking and abiding, these may be fulfilled in the Spirit, not from the letter, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." - General meeting at Balby, 1656

  • "Now to act with integrity, according to that strength of mind and body with which our creator hath endowed each of use, appears necessary for all." - John Woolman

  • "One thing I understand now is that one's intellect alone won't pull one through, and that the greatest service it can perform is to open a window for that thing we call the divine spirit. If one trusts to it alone, it's like trusting to an artificial system of ventilation -- correct in theory but musty in practice. How I wish it were as easy to throw everything open to the spirit of God as it is to fresh air." - Hilda Clark, 1908

  • "Trouble of soul can teach us things that raptures never could -- not only patience and perseverance, but humility and sympathy with others." - Edward Grubb, 1033

  • "There is that near you which will guide you. O wait for it and be sure you keep to it." - Isaac Penington, 1678

  • "I have never lost the enjoyment of sitting in silence at the beginning of meeting, knowing that everything can happen, knowing the joy of utmost surprise; feeling that nothing is preordained, nothing is set, all is open. The light can come from all sides. The joy of experiencing the Light in a completely different way than one has thought it would come is one of the greatest gifts that Friends' meeting for worship has brought me." - Ursula Franklin, 1979

ENVISIONING GOD

Close to the Millennium, the Oread Friends Meeting decided to ask members and attenders to contemplate how they envisioned God and to share their responses with the Meeting. The requests were made formally by federal mail, and the responses, which were returned in writing, were capacious and diverse. The Meeting makes them available to everyone here, with and without the names of the respondents, according to their wishes.

God is a concept created by people in an attempt to understand their world. God is seen as an all-knowing, all powerful creator/parent/judge. God has become a powerful force for good and also for evil in the world.

To me, God represents the seed of goodness everyone is born with that connects each of us together. This seed grows and flowers when people treat each other well and have the things they need to survive—things like food, clothing, and a safe, warm place to sleep. This is one reason why I believe in equality, fairness, sharing, and peace. When we treat people unfairly, or hurt people, we destroy the goodness that is in each of us and hurt the bond—that bit of God that is in everyone—that connects us together. Deborah Altus

The earth is God to me. The trees and flowers and everything have a little bit of God in them. Even we have a little bit of God in us. This means that everything is nice in its heart. You have kindness in your heart. That is why you should treat everyone and everything well. That’s all I have to say. Elijah Jost

To explain love or beauty is to explain God.
. . .
My body is God’s home.
I take care of my body and
everything I do with my body glorifies God.
Before my body existed, my soul was part of God
Right now, the soul inside my body is part of God.
After my body is gone, my soul will forever be part of God.
. . .
God is light and love.
Each person is this same light and love,
Equipped with one’s own light switch.
The best way to live
is to keep the eternal light switch on
so we can see and act clearly
with love and courage.
The light of God is always in us.
It’s up to us whether to turn it on or not.
. . .
God is inside you.
Be silent and listen for God’s words
Look and see God in everyone and everything.
It takes much more than 50 to describe God.
It takes silence.
Carol Pilant

God is a spirit of good.

The Bible says that God is love. That seems true to me. Harold Washington

Sometimes people call things they cannot understand "God." Some questions begin with the word "Wow" and other questions begin with the word "Why." "How" questions are often answered by science: How do rainbows or earthquakes occur? "Why" questions are sometimes answered by reference to God: Why are we here? Why should we behave in certain ways? Bob Fraga

God is like a big fuzzy dog that keeps you warm, and safe, and happy.

Before we were brand new babies, God was smiling on dinosaurs, stars, and dandelions. When we are lonely, God may be watching over us. It we listen, we may hear God whispering in our ear. God laughs and claps when we take care of each other and are joyful together. To God everything tastes good. Jean Grant

God is. This feels like the most important thing.
. . .
The creative energy that gives us life and healing is coming from God. Mother God/Father God provides something outside of ourselves to turn toward. We can feel connected with everyone in the world and also that, little as we are, we are loveable and loved.
. . .
This feeling of being connected, not only to people, but to animals, plants, and all of nature means that inside of us too, there must be a part of God. That is special and needs to be cared for in ourselves and in others.
. . .
God is. God’s love for us is like the love that we get from out parents—it is always there if we are willing to receive it. When you fall and hurt your knee, having it kissed seems to help. When we are older and get hurt we need to be hugged too and comforted by the prayers that [people are sending our way, channels of God’s love for us. Just because God is always around doesn’t mean we are usually aware of that presence. So we need to pay attention to the look in someone’s eyes, the joy of people playing and the suffering of someone who is hurt. Look at people’s eyes, listen to what they say, and see if something happens.
. . .
God is—like a warm hug, maker of rules we cannot ignore, right beside us, able to make us feel good, a teacher by allowing us to be hurt, a helper when we need help.
Anne Moore

God is always present. God is always aware of you and me and everything. When I was younger, I thought of God being like a man who was the best listener I knew—fair, kind, and understanding. Another way of knowing what God is like is reading in the Bible about Jesus. Tom Moore

I envision God as the force/energy that creates nature and great art. I feel this energy in meeting for worship. Sometimes I envision God as Jesus, a man. I rarely envision God as a bearded white man in the sky. Francis Elling

Spirit Is Is. Is. Is. On Earth. In Earth. Under Water. Through Sky. In Every Every Every Being. Spirit Breathes. In and Out. In and Out Is. Is. Is. Smelling. Touching. Eating. Moving. Talking. Thinking. Feeling. Living. Laughing Loving. Growing. Dying. Is. Is. Is. Now. . . Beth Schultz

I think we see God in creation--the created world around us and in ourselves. If we want to be like God, we should be creative. That is when I think I experience God the most, when I find a creative solution to a problem, or when I create Art, or when I see what others have created. Jill Allen

Just like a fish in the sea doesn’t notice the water, I don’t notice how God is all around me all the time. But the fish needs the water, and I need God. When I remember I am "swimming" in God, my life is richer and happier. Charles Gruber

Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." So the Creator is like Jesus. Jesus went about doing good, healed the sick, loved and taught love and forgiveness, and even forgave those who killed him. Then he came back from the dead to prove that death has no final victory. Anne Haehl

I envision God as the source of all life, the bright sun, the winds which blow from Heaven, the beauty of flowers and the smile which always shines from the glowing face of the moon. God is the creator of rainbows and the peace of winter snow. God is the beauty and joy of friendships and family. God is the source of life that lives inside every man, woman, boy, and girl. God is the happiness behind all blessings. God is love, and love is God. Donnell Joseph

Sorry. I can’t think about this right now. Howard Baumgartel

God the Creator is the power of all we know and experience. God is not a person. We use the pronoun "He" or "She" only because "It" is too impersonal. When I pray to "God," it is to better understand my place in all of Creation. Sometimes it is easier for me to feel closer to this power when I can relate to "It" as "She." I believe that each of us has a place in God’s Creation and our place is better fulfilled if we listen and feel the creative force in our own lives. Saunny

Bea is still thinking about her response.

God is like air. God is in me, in my lungs and blood vessels; and God is everywhere around me, everywhere I go.
God is invisible, is everywhere, touches everything, is in everything. God is silent, but things touched by God may speak from their own unique resonance.
God fills our bodies, making it possible for us to live, breathe, speak, sing, whistle, fart. God nourishes us constantly.
We can’t see God, but we can see where God is moving, like we can see where the wind makes the leaves tremble and the trees bend.
God is incredibly powerful, like a tornado, and incredibly gentle, like the lightest breath.
God surrounds the entire earth, and all living things are possible only because of God.
Every person, every animal, every plant, has equal access to God. No one owns God, and God doesn’t play favorites. Natalya Lowther

Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." So the Creator is like Jesus. Jesus went about doing good, healed the sick, loved and taught love and forgiveness, and even forgave those who killed him. Then he came back from the dead to prove that death has no final victory. Anne Haehl

A CONVERSATION ON NON-VIOLENCE


The Oread Friends Meeting is engaged in an ongoing discussion about non-violence. As Quakers, with an historical commitment to pacifism, we would like to share some of our thoughts on war, peace, and non-violence with you in the hopes that in your hearts and minds, you will join us in this discussion.

* * * * *

Non-violence is rooted in the belief that every person has value. Dealing with every human in a full, present way requires the constant effort to assume and act upon their worth, which excludes violence. We must assume all are worth love rather than believing that any one may not be.

History is told as a series of wars and violent conflicts, but too few alternative stories are told. Non-violence’s successes are hidden history’s shadows, waiting for us to shine a light upon them, awakening in more people a sense of the possible that has been hidden from them.

Peace cannot grow out of violence and hate. To harvest true peace and security, one must sow seeds of love and justice. To achieve peace, one must practice it. Acting from and through non-violence, we can reduce injustice and suffering and fear and increase justice and joy and hope.

Douglas M. Crawford-Parker

* * * * *

Being kind is what counts. What we all care for most is life, so the chief way to be kind to others is by helping them to live. When we harm others, we also suffer. Of course, when those in need call on us to help them, we want to respond. Sometimes some people believe, as now in Iraq, the only way available seems violence. This is not so. The trick is finding ways to help the afflicted that do not harm their tormentors. It’s important to try. Much of the allure of Jesus is his confidence that we can be peacemakers, and that we need not be condemned to return blow for blow.

Jean Grant

* * * * *

This is what I try to remind myself of whenever I feel unpeaceful:
* When we see God in each other, we will be able to live together in peace. Mother Teresa
* Peace is a state of mind; lasting peace can come only to peaceful people. Nehru
* Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me. Song Saunny

* * * * *

Ours is a fragile and vulnerable and diverse and beautiful planet, and all the life on our planet is equally fragile and vulnerable and beautiful and necessary and interdependent. As a dominant species and a species with options, we humans can choose to create peace within ourselves as individuals and within our communities, among nations and among ourselves and other species as the primary means for sustaining this fragile and vulnerable and diverse and beautiful planet of ours.

Beth Schultz

* * * * *

Non-violence for me is a calm state of inner being that precludes even the possibility of violent actions or thoughts perpetrated on others.

Adeta Allen

* * * * *

Non-violence requires that individuals recognize value in each human life. In order to do so, we must treat all people of all countries with dignity. Dignity involves attending to the physical and intellectual/spiritual needs of others. In providing food, shelter, healthcare, and equal access to education, and, most importantly, by listening with respect to those views different from our own, we treat others with dignity and foster non-violence.

Sarah Crawford-Parker

* * * * *

Two words come to mind when I think about non-violence: killing and inefficiency. I am joined with the early Quaker statement to "deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretense." Theologically, war is killing: it is a sin. Practically, war is a waste of resources and energy for both the individual and the nation. It is offensive because people die and the world does not get better. It is inefficient and doesn’t work in the long run. There are other ways to resolve conflict but we are human, and we don’t learn this lesson.

Loring Henderson

* * * * *

First, non-violence is expressed by those who are willing to stand strongly and courageously for their beliefs and convictions, regardless of the consequences of any opposition.

Second, such people always use understanding, tolerance, and love in responding to those who disagree with them, never using force in word or deed.

Finally, those committed to non-violence are willing to endure hardship, punishment, and even death for their beliefs, but will never surrender their convictions.

Harold "Hal" Piehler

* * * * *

There are many ways to frame a philosophy of non-violence. Here are three of my current favorites:

* Many friends subscribe to the belief that there is that of God in everyone. If this is your belief, then non-violence is the natural response to interactions between people at all levels.

* Paul Tillich in My Search for Absolutes concludes that the existence of good and evil is an absolute. He further defines evil as anything that devalues another person. Since violence toward another person is devaluing, non-violence is a way to interact with people at all levels that is not necessarily devaluing.

* Pete Seeger puts it simply: "Some people like to take the easy way—poison, bombs—they think we need them. Don’t you know that you can’t kill all of the unbelievers? There is no short cut to freedom." Pete never leaves us hopeless—he goes on: "One blue sky above us, one ocean lapping all our shores. Our earth so blue and round, who could ask for more. And because I love you, I’ll give it one more try to show my rainbow race: it’s too soon to die."

John Poertner

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