While there is no official statement on who Quakers are, this is mine:
Quakerism is a living, vibrant faith with several manifestations that are strikingly different. Quakers refer to themselves and each other as "Friends." The terms are used interchangeably. The majority of Friends world wide are Evangelical Christians. However, in the United States there are various other "branches" of the Quaker tree such as Liberal and Conservative Friends. The lines aren't always clear and some Friends from different branches actively seek dialogue and fellowship with one another . Some Friends are socially conservative others are very liberal. It all depends on the local group and how the Spirit leads that particular group. You can even find progressives and conservatives worshiping in the same congregation! Generally, Friends oppose physical and verbal violence, espouse equality for all people under the law, strive for simplicity in time commitments and material possessions, and testify to the importance of community balanced with private reflection and individual needs. Quakers are united in that we are to search for Truth and be honest in all we do. In Friends' experience, a person can have direct contact with God, without a book or another person or an institution. We do acknowledge the benefits of holy writings, the experiences and wisdom from other people, and the gathered community as important means to keep help us discern the way forward in our journey with the Divine.
In Quaker communities all Friends are considered equals. In Quaker conregations (generally known as Friends Meetings or Churches) members do not vote, but rather seek to find God's will in a form that is often confused with consensus. Pastors, ministers and elders (in the meetings that have them) or committees that offer pastoral care and which tend to the spiritual life of the group only have as much authority as the members of the group give them. Quakers seek God's direction in their hearts, attempting to put egos aside, to discern as a community which actions to take and what statements to make. We call this finding the "sense of the meeting."
Most Quakers attend a Friends meeting or church where they worship in a manner that resembles a protestant service. There will often be a pastoral minister, or ministry team, songs, vocal prayer, a short sermon and a reading from the Bible or the meeting's Faith and Practice. There may be a period of "open worship" that may last only a couple minutes or up to half of the time of worship. These Friends are more commonly found in the South, Midwest and West of the United States. Traditionally, however, Quaker worship is completely based in silence. During this time, Friends seek to quiet their minds (some will silently chant a mantra, a Bible verse or focus on an image to avoid distracting thoughts). Friends find that with practice and time, the "world" can fall away and in that silence we can feel or hear the voice of God. Instead of a pastoral minister, Christ is the spiritual priest who guides the movement of the Spirit in the worshippers' hearts and minds. In that silence worshippers may receive a message and those who do so will labor in that silence to discern if it is from God, and if so, if it is to be shared, and if that's the case, if it's to be shared then and not at a later time. The experience of God calling someone to deliver vocal ministry, vocal prayer or a song can be overwhelming, and can lead to an inner (or even outer) trembling or "quaking!" This type of ministry is prophetic, as it is God through us who speaks. In the line of the evangelists and prophets of the Bible, both men and women (and children) can share in this form of ministry.
Quakers believe that all people have the potential to be ministers, emphasizing the "priesthood of all believers" (1 Peter 2:9) or the "universal ministry." In Quaker worship, God may call anyone to sing, speak or pray aloud. From time to time, individual Quakers are led into a particular ministry which may take many forms from pastoral ministry, prison ministry, missions, youth work, social activism and reform or Gospel Ministry . Some meetings and churches follow the tradition of recognizing gifts ("recording ministers or elders"). While the particular Quaker meeting may not employ a pastor (Evangelical Friends Church of Baltimore does) or even recognize particular ministers or ministries (Homewood & Stony Run do not), you will find a number of Quakers in a given meeting who are actively engaged in ministry and who are given spiritual care by others in their meetings.
What could the Light of Christ within be leading you to do?
About Me
- Kevin-Douglas G. Olive
- Quaker, French-speaker, educator, anti-racist; Southern-born & raised, and talking enthusaist.
2009-08-20
Unity among Friends
I am sitting here daydreaming, while I should be finishing the final accounting for Russell's estate and taking it down to the Orphan's Court to get approved. I need to do this soon. School starts Monday!
I was thinking about my feelings towards Quakers who are not Christians or Christ-centered (to me, there IS a difference -- Christian buys into the entire Christian tradition, where as one who is Christ-centered could be focused on the Resurrected Christ and may have philosophies that are influenced by other faiths or none. I consider Messianic Jews to be Christ Centered, but they aren't Christian, for example. There are liberal Quakers who are Christ-centered, but not Christian). It is simply a fact that one does NOT have to be a Christian to be a Quaker. There are thousands of Quakers who are members and who aren't. It is a fact that the vast majority of Quakers are Christians, and the majority of those Quakers are Evangelical. Many Christian Quakers are also fundamentalist, liberal, mystical Christians, though each of those is a minority among Quakers). We also have pagan Quakers, Buddhist Quakers, and other, um, bi-religionist Quakers (all, again, small numbers compared to the entire family). So, when we look at Quakers as a world body of under 1/2 million people, we're talking about a predominantly Evangelical group concentrated in Africa or of African descent the wealth of said group being in the United States.
Since I was a kid, I've struggled between paganism and Christianity. It is very true that early Quakers were anti-pagan. I think, though, that this had more to do with the trappings found in the liturgical churches than because they had problems with pagans. Early Quakers worshiped with Native American pagans without qualm. So, I think the anti-pagan sentiment was more of a "not in our church, but you can do it if you're not Christian." One missionary concluded Islam was "valid" after talking to the Sultan of Turkey. For me, the spirituality of paganism is.. well... earthy. However, I believe in the One God, the God of Ruth, Elizabeth, Elijah, and Jesus, and my heart loves Jesus with all its might. This isn't something I chose. God came to me, God has shown himself to me. Indeed, when I pray that I want something, I can't off the top of my head think of it ever being "answered." At least, not in enough time that I remembered having asked for it. And yet, God has come, God has revealed himself on God's terms. The writings and witness of Early Friends all but yanked me out of my pre-teen years and sent me on an early quest towards God. I know Christians have done horrible things over the past two thousand years, but that's not Jesus' fault, nor the religion's. Rulers of pagan lands have enslaved, murdered and tortured just as many or more people in history. Communist Russia and China have committed their share of atrocities and they are atheists! So let's not blame Christianity, Christians or Jesus for the world's problems. Let's not place paganism in some make-believe light of being some purer alternative to Christianity. They are what they are on their own. Both are powerful, both are magical, but they have very distinct philosophies about the relation of Creation to the Creator, and humanity to the Divine. My own thoughts on these topics put me squarely in both camps, evidently, though my mind and heart are focused on Jesus Christ.
So what's this all have to do with unity among Friends? Well, I will say this: it is really hard for me to worship in a Quaker meeting where I cannot be expressly Christ-centered and share my Christian understanding of our relationship to God. How can I speak of Christ's redeeming power, of his death on the cross, the importance of taking up our own cross, of being made right with God and allowing the Inner Light to reveal the Son in us, to reveal the truth of the Gospel? How can I speak of being baptized with fire and spirit or of joining in communion with God? I have been eldered at liberal meetings for even speaking of Jesus, let alone all that. Even my own meeting, when I was new, sent their M&W (of which I am now clerk) to speak to me about liberal Quaker diversity (even though I grew up a liberal Friend and attended ESR for a year or so). I have found that in many liberal Quaker meetings I can feel God, but the growth is slow. The most growth, however, has come not so much in my relationship with CHrist, but in learning to love, understand, and still grow spiritually to some degree and moreso emotionally with people who are very different from me (and then not all that different in other ways). More plainly, I have grown up, matured even having spent the majority of my time as a Quaker surrounded by Quakers who have issues with Christians and who do not consider themselves as such.
So, when I hear of formal schism or separation from these Friends, it makes me sad. It would be a huge loss for me. Even though I'm now worshiping with a very small group in Baltimore, all of whom are Christ-centered and maybe most of whom are Christian, I find myself still in some sense connected to the Quakers who do not share my Christ-centered faith. I don't see them as mission fields or me as a missionary. Indeed, I have often felt that the result has been the opposite, that they have had more of an influence on me than I'll ever have on them. I see the world as a universalist, though I see God through JEsus Christ. Does that make sense?
Still, I have found, that the worship I get among just a handful of those dedicated to Jesus Christ is more powerful than any worship that I've experienced in at least a decade if not longer. The power in the silence is tangible. The presence of Christ is known, not just assumed or believed. I can't really go back, now. That is, not until God is through with whatever it is God is doing with us at Old Town Friends. Even in writing this I've glimpsed something: I don't need to worry about paganism or Christianity. Either is a distraction, now. I need to keep focused on the Son. There is where right thinking comes from and where the path forward is revealed. In the Son, there is only Love.
I was thinking about my feelings towards Quakers who are not Christians or Christ-centered (to me, there IS a difference -- Christian buys into the entire Christian tradition, where as one who is Christ-centered could be focused on the Resurrected Christ and may have philosophies that are influenced by other faiths or none. I consider Messianic Jews to be Christ Centered, but they aren't Christian, for example. There are liberal Quakers who are Christ-centered, but not Christian). It is simply a fact that one does NOT have to be a Christian to be a Quaker. There are thousands of Quakers who are members and who aren't. It is a fact that the vast majority of Quakers are Christians, and the majority of those Quakers are Evangelical. Many Christian Quakers are also fundamentalist, liberal, mystical Christians, though each of those is a minority among Quakers). We also have pagan Quakers, Buddhist Quakers, and other, um, bi-religionist Quakers (all, again, small numbers compared to the entire family). So, when we look at Quakers as a world body of under 1/2 million people, we're talking about a predominantly Evangelical group concentrated in Africa or of African descent the wealth of said group being in the United States.
Since I was a kid, I've struggled between paganism and Christianity. It is very true that early Quakers were anti-pagan. I think, though, that this had more to do with the trappings found in the liturgical churches than because they had problems with pagans. Early Quakers worshiped with Native American pagans without qualm. So, I think the anti-pagan sentiment was more of a "not in our church, but you can do it if you're not Christian." One missionary concluded Islam was "valid" after talking to the Sultan of Turkey. For me, the spirituality of paganism is.. well... earthy. However, I believe in the One God, the God of Ruth, Elizabeth, Elijah, and Jesus, and my heart loves Jesus with all its might. This isn't something I chose. God came to me, God has shown himself to me. Indeed, when I pray that I want something, I can't off the top of my head think of it ever being "answered." At least, not in enough time that I remembered having asked for it. And yet, God has come, God has revealed himself on God's terms. The writings and witness of Early Friends all but yanked me out of my pre-teen years and sent me on an early quest towards God. I know Christians have done horrible things over the past two thousand years, but that's not Jesus' fault, nor the religion's. Rulers of pagan lands have enslaved, murdered and tortured just as many or more people in history. Communist Russia and China have committed their share of atrocities and they are atheists! So let's not blame Christianity, Christians or Jesus for the world's problems. Let's not place paganism in some make-believe light of being some purer alternative to Christianity. They are what they are on their own. Both are powerful, both are magical, but they have very distinct philosophies about the relation of Creation to the Creator, and humanity to the Divine. My own thoughts on these topics put me squarely in both camps, evidently, though my mind and heart are focused on Jesus Christ.
So what's this all have to do with unity among Friends? Well, I will say this: it is really hard for me to worship in a Quaker meeting where I cannot be expressly Christ-centered and share my Christian understanding of our relationship to God. How can I speak of Christ's redeeming power, of his death on the cross, the importance of taking up our own cross, of being made right with God and allowing the Inner Light to reveal the Son in us, to reveal the truth of the Gospel? How can I speak of being baptized with fire and spirit or of joining in communion with God? I have been eldered at liberal meetings for even speaking of Jesus, let alone all that. Even my own meeting, when I was new, sent their M&W (of which I am now clerk) to speak to me about liberal Quaker diversity (even though I grew up a liberal Friend and attended ESR for a year or so). I have found that in many liberal Quaker meetings I can feel God, but the growth is slow. The most growth, however, has come not so much in my relationship with CHrist, but in learning to love, understand, and still grow spiritually to some degree and moreso emotionally with people who are very different from me (and then not all that different in other ways). More plainly, I have grown up, matured even having spent the majority of my time as a Quaker surrounded by Quakers who have issues with Christians and who do not consider themselves as such.
So, when I hear of formal schism or separation from these Friends, it makes me sad. It would be a huge loss for me. Even though I'm now worshiping with a very small group in Baltimore, all of whom are Christ-centered and maybe most of whom are Christian, I find myself still in some sense connected to the Quakers who do not share my Christ-centered faith. I don't see them as mission fields or me as a missionary. Indeed, I have often felt that the result has been the opposite, that they have had more of an influence on me than I'll ever have on them. I see the world as a universalist, though I see God through JEsus Christ. Does that make sense?
Still, I have found, that the worship I get among just a handful of those dedicated to Jesus Christ is more powerful than any worship that I've experienced in at least a decade if not longer. The power in the silence is tangible. The presence of Christ is known, not just assumed or believed. I can't really go back, now. That is, not until God is through with whatever it is God is doing with us at Old Town Friends. Even in writing this I've glimpsed something: I don't need to worry about paganism or Christianity. Either is a distraction, now. I need to keep focused on the Son. There is where right thinking comes from and where the path forward is revealed. In the Son, there is only Love.
The Inner Light
Someone wrote about Quaker belief in the Inner Light. He was objecting to it. Here is the link:
http://apprising.org/2008/08/contemplating-the-inner-light-of-the-quakers/
Here is the letter I wrote him:
Hi. I am a Quaker, and read your posting. In many ways you aren't off base. However, I think you could write an even better argument or critique if you have a few more facts. First, there is a LARGE number of Evangelical Quakers who have rejected the belief of the Inner Light. Second, there is a new book (text book) on Quakerism which I think you'd find fascinating. It explains what early (17th & 18th century) Quakers believed of experience and of the Inner Light. The concept of the Inner Light about which you write is commonly held by LIBERAL (maybe 22-35%) of European and American Quakers but not by the majority of Quakers world wide who still do believe in the Light (but use the term synonymously with "Holy Spirit." The book is by Pink Dandelion (yeah that's really his name, and he's legit) called Introduction to Quakerism. Then I would suggest, if you have the patience for it, the basis of Quaker theologies (both liberal and evangelical) from the 2nd generation of Quakers Barclay's Apology in Modern English, ed. Dean Freiday. I don't think this will convince you of anything, other than perhaps, as Dandelion writes, you will conclude that the concept of Inner Light about which you write is NOT what was originally meant, that one DOES have to be born again (be Justified and sanctified) and that EXPERIENCE is NOT what early Quakers would have said is a good measure of knowing God. In fact, I'd LOVE to see you as a 3rd party compare what you've written about modern Quakers and where we came from. I think you'll disagree with even our early teachings, but will also find where we've... well, strayed. If you do actually do this and write about it, I'd be eager to read what you wrote. In any event, I love my Religious Society, and I love Jesus. I do disagree with you here and there, but appreciate your passion for bringing people to the Word (Jesus) and for people understanding Scripture more (too many of us do not). Peace, KD
http://apprising.org/2008/08/contemplating-the-inner-light-of-the-quakers/
Here is the letter I wrote him:
Hi. I am a Quaker, and read your posting. In many ways you aren't off base. However, I think you could write an even better argument or critique if you have a few more facts. First, there is a LARGE number of Evangelical Quakers who have rejected the belief of the Inner Light. Second, there is a new book (text book) on Quakerism which I think you'd find fascinating. It explains what early (17th & 18th century) Quakers believed of experience and of the Inner Light. The concept of the Inner Light about which you write is commonly held by LIBERAL (maybe 22-35%) of European and American Quakers but not by the majority of Quakers world wide who still do believe in the Light (but use the term synonymously with "Holy Spirit." The book is by Pink Dandelion (yeah that's really his name, and he's legit) called Introduction to Quakerism. Then I would suggest, if you have the patience for it, the basis of Quaker theologies (both liberal and evangelical) from the 2nd generation of Quakers Barclay's Apology in Modern English, ed. Dean Freiday. I don't think this will convince you of anything, other than perhaps, as Dandelion writes, you will conclude that the concept of Inner Light about which you write is NOT what was originally meant, that one DOES have to be born again (be Justified and sanctified) and that EXPERIENCE is NOT what early Quakers would have said is a good measure of knowing God. In fact, I'd LOVE to see you as a 3rd party compare what you've written about modern Quakers and where we came from. I think you'll disagree with even our early teachings, but will also find where we've... well, strayed. If you do actually do this and write about it, I'd be eager to read what you wrote. In any event, I love my Religious Society, and I love Jesus. I do disagree with you here and there, but appreciate your passion for bringing people to the Word (Jesus) and for people understanding Scripture more (too many of us do not). Peace, KD
2009-08-18
Quaker Worship
I was commenting to a friend about unprogrammed worship.
I don't go to regular church services because I usually lose track of what a preacher is saying if it's longer than 10 minutes, I day dream during hymns. I'd rather be left alone to my own thoughts and focusing on the Presence in the Midst for an hour.
To me it's authentic, responsive, and with all of the nuts-o commotion in my world, giving an hour to "be still and know who is God" and to "rise up with strength" (it's actually refreshing) is worth (in my experience). It can be hard if i have some guilt, and sometimes if there is something i have to change and don't want to, or didn't realize i needed to, it bubbles up in the silence. That can be hard and lead to some true inner wrestling (quaking) but there is the Light, and it informs our conscience. so if the Light is shining on some skeleton in some closet, then the Light will also show the way to deal with it. The community is so loving and supportive and non-judging (to a fault) that i know people have my back.
I don't go to regular church services because I usually lose track of what a preacher is saying if it's longer than 10 minutes, I day dream during hymns. I'd rather be left alone to my own thoughts and focusing on the Presence in the Midst for an hour.
To me it's authentic, responsive, and with all of the nuts-o commotion in my world, giving an hour to "be still and know who is God" and to "rise up with strength" (it's actually refreshing) is worth (in my experience). It can be hard if i have some guilt, and sometimes if there is something i have to change and don't want to, or didn't realize i needed to, it bubbles up in the silence. That can be hard and lead to some true inner wrestling (quaking) but there is the Light, and it informs our conscience. so if the Light is shining on some skeleton in some closet, then the Light will also show the way to deal with it. The community is so loving and supportive and non-judging (to a fault) that i know people have my back.
Healthcare Reform
Dear Mr. Obama:
My boyfriend, roommate and I about threw household items at the TV when we heard you diminish the chance of you and the Dems championing the public option. You have made the argument that Medicare and the VA are government run and successful (but in need of some reform to control costs). If those are so good, then we should pass the public option, forcing the hands of the Blue Dogs and ignoring the GOP who won't go along with anything anyway. I left the GOP b/c I was sick of their "rich-only" policies and their corporate welfare over the welfare-of-the-people policies, their preferential treatment of large corporations over small businesses and LLCs, and because of the Religious Right's take over. I'm an active DEM, but always embarrassed that we have no testicular fortitude as a party. You are a weak president who is not using the bully pulpit, you and your aides seem (forgive me if I'm wrong) to have assumed that your charisma would carry the argument. It's time to force blue dogs: if you don't agree with this public plan, then you won't get squat for your states. All concessions in the other parts of the reform plan that were to bring GOP and the Blue Dogs along should be stripped if there is no public option. We may lose our majority (we'll lose seats anyway) in 2010 if we pass the public option. But in the long run it will be a GOOD bill that we can point back to as we are now pointing to Medicare's success. If we DON'T pass this bill with the public option, then it will be a bad one, and the GOP will later point to it as a failed big government Democratic-crafted bill. Health care costs will continue to rise and the GOP will then go after Medicare b/c it will be insolvent. Mr. Obama, it's time you fire your aides (if they'll let you see this) or start being the boss, one or the other. My family in TN is sick over this, my boyfriend, roomie and I are NOT insurable. No one in my family is! We couldn't afford coverage even with our incomes b/c of our health, even if the health insurance companies were forced to cover us. The premiums would be horrible! Please, pass REAL health care reform. First FISA, then your horrible anti-gay letters regarding DOMA (yes, I'm aware of the latest brief, but what's done is done), no movement on Don't Ask Don't Tell, and now no public option because we don't want to lose our majority? So what if we have a majority and we don't use it? Health care for all is a MORAL issue. Right now DEMS are weak, adn we DESERVE to lose seats! I'm close to despair. This letter is being shared on blogs and facebook.
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