Monthly Query from Ministry and Council

WORSHIP SHARING, Nov. 23, 2023
QUERIES
1. How do I prepare my heart and mind to enter into silence?
2. In the stillness, am I merely quiet, or am I actively listening? When I sit in
expectant waiting, what am I waiting for?
3. How does my experience of silence change when I am gathered with others
compared to when I am alone?
Writings
“For when I came into the silent assemblies of God’s people, I felt a secret power among
them, which touched my heart; and as I gave way unto it, I found the evil weakening in
me, and the good raised up…”Robert Barclay, Apology for the True Christian Divinity
(1676)
“Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine
Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts,
pressing upon our time-worn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny,
calling us home unto Itself.” Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (1941)
“And so, the first that enters into the place of your meeting … turn in thy mind to the light,
and wait upon God singly, as if none were present but the Lord; and here thou art strong.
Then proceed from one to another and call the minds of the people, and gather them to
the life, that so ye may feel that there is one body… Alexander Parker, Letters of Early
Friends (c. 1660)
“True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body,
nourishment and refreshment. It is a great virtue; it covers folly, keeps secrets, avoids
disputes, and prevents sin… [It is] the school of Divine Wisdom.” William Penn, Some
Fruits of Solitude (1693)
“They are like a heap of fresh and burning coals warming one another, as a great strength,
freshness, and vigor of life flows into all. … For as the breath of the Lord blows upon this
one body, which consists of many members… they are all refreshed together…” Isaac
Penington, Works (1681)

 

January 2023

Love

Query:  What does Love require of you?

Isaac Penington, (1616-1679) was one of the early members of the Religious Society of Friends in England.  He wrote about the Quaker movement and was and influential promoter and defender of it.

” Our life is love and peace, and tenderness and bearing one with another and forgiving one another, and not laying accusations against another, but prying one for another and helping one another up with a tender hand.”

 

Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient, love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant of rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoings but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, endures all things.

The Friendly Persuasion, Jessamye West  (July 18 1902, February 23, 1984)  Jessamyn  was an American author of short stories and novels and most notable Friendly Persuasion which later was made into a move..  She was a Quaker from Indiana and a graduate of Whittier College.

“ I ‘am eighty years old.  All my life I’ve been trying one way or the another to do people good.  Whether that was right or not, I don’t know, but it comes over me now that I’m excused from all that. I loved Homer, but I tied to do him good.  The way I see it now, that was wrong, that was where I’s led astray.  From now on, Eliza, I don’t figure’s thing asked of me but to love my fellow men…, No Eliza, as far as I can see, there’s not another thing asked of me, from this day forward.”

 

Advice

Attend to what love requires of you during your day, as you deal with conflicts, stress, and sorrows. (Be aware and pay attention)