Monthly Queries/Advices
January 2021 - Worship
- The heart of the Religious Society of Friends is the meeting for worship. It calls us to offer ourselves body, mind, and soul, to wait in active anticipation for the revelation of the Spirit.
- . . . We can worship alone, but when we join with others in expectant waiting, we discover a deeper sense of the Presence. When we worship together in awareness that each of us is expecting communication with the Spirit, the power of a meeting for worship is magnified.
- . . . Faithfulness and sincerity in speaking, even briefly, may open the way to fuller ministry from others. When prompted to speak, wait patiently to know that the leading and time are right, but do not let a sense of your own unworthiness hold you back. Pray that your ministry may arise from the spirit, and trust that words will be given to you. Speak clearly and simply, speaking neither predictably, at too great a length, nor too often. When children are present, bear in mind their understanding and experience. After a message has been given, Friends allow time to ponder and absorb its meaning before another speaks. It is important to maintain sensitivity to what is sacred.
- From the very beginning, a fundamental practice of Friends has been to assemble publicly for the purpose of worship held in expectant waiting for divine guidance. It is important, therefore, that we attend meetings for worship seeking that Spirit that enables us to be fully aware of the divine power of God within as we find our way through the disillusionments and disturbances of the world. It may be helpful to remember that the Religious Society of Friends originated during times of great disturbances. Our belief is in the power of God to lead us out of the confusions of outward violence, inner conflicts, and all forms of willfulness.
February 2021 - Participation in the Life of the Meeting
- The vitality of our meetings depends upon the many and varied gifts of those who take part in their activities. When each member and attender participates actively, the whole meeting is enriched. The Holy Spirit moves through us as we speak in meeting, care for one another, teach First Day school, work on committees, and testify to our lives in the Light. Each one of us has a responsibility for the financial support of the monthly meeting as well as for participation in the structure and function of its programs. When deciding whether to accept a service to which one is nominated, Friends are advised to understand the responsibilities required, to feel a leading to go forward, and to be willing to grow into the task. A meeting functions best when its members take their service to it seriously. Nominations are neither to be accepted, nor to be refused, casually.
- In service to our meetings, we are to be careful to guard against contentiousness and the allure of power, and to be alert to the personalities and needs of others.
- Those unable to attend meeting by reason of distance, infirmity, imprisonment, or other stresses are to be remembered and held in the Light. Visits to these Friends are encouraged.
March 2021 - Mutual Care
- The Religious Society of Friends is a community of people who strive to care for one another. Friends are advised to maintain love and unity, to avoid tale-bearing and detraction, and to settle differences promptly in a manner free from resentment and inward violence. Live affectionately as friends, entering with sympathy into the joys and sorrows of one another's daily lives. Visit one another. Be ready to both give and receive help. Bear the burdens of one another's failings; delight in one another's strengths. Seek to know one another in the things that are eternal. Make the meeting a channel for God's love and forgiveness.
- Cherished friendships grow in depth of understanding and mutual respect. In close relationships there is a risk of finding pain as well as joy. Open yourself to the workings of the Light within when experiencing or witnessing great happiness or great hurt.
- Different ways of understanding the Divine are present in Intermountain Yearly Meeting. It is important that these differences not be ignored for the sake of superficial agreement. When they are recognized and understood, a deeper and more vital unity can be reached. From the wide diversity among us we can broaden our awareness of the spirit flowing through and among us. We are reminded to refrain from applying our prejudices to the life journeys of others. Our community is maintained through faith and fellowship with each other as we wait in the Light for the unity that draws us together.
April 2021 - Family
- Ideally, a family is held together by emotional and spiritual ties. It is a precious and sometimes tenuous bonding of people that may arouse anguish as well as joy. A family unit is usually thought of as consisting of parents and children. But a family may include aging parents in need of care or persons not related by blood who are intimately connected with one's household. Families also include single parents and their children, couples without children, and couples (heterosexual or homosexual) living in committed relationships. For individuals living alone, including those who are single as a result of the death of, or divorce or separation from a partner, the meeting may provide a sense of family.
- In our homes, we have the opportunity to practice living in a way that expresses the Quaker way of life. Irrespective of the type of family unit, the same opportunity exists – to nurture and cherish the seed of God. In the family setting, individuals can become aware of the Spirit living in them and in the world. It is important that adults and children share the experiences they find precious – of people, books, art, music, drama, dance, poetry, and the Divine.
- Ideally, a family is held together by emotional and spiritual ties. It is a precious and sometimes tenuous bonding of people that may arouse anguish as well as joy. A family unit is usually thought of as consisting of parents and children. But a family may include aging parents in need of care or persons not related by blood who are intimately connected with one's household. Families also include single parents and their children, couples without children, and couples (heterosexual or homosexual) living in committed relationships. For individuals living alone, including those who are single as a result of the death of, or divorce or separation from a partner, the meeting may provide a sense of family.
May 2021 - Religious Education
- The Bible and other religious literature is the rightful heritage of us all. The study of sacred books expands and deepens our awareness of our own spiritual heritage and that of others. What we read means little unless it helps us understand our own personal religious experience, the work of the Spirit behind the words. It helps to know that our search for truth can include a multitude of experiences.
- It is essential that children be taught the meaning of silence and vocal ministry in meeting, and the history of the Religious Society of Friends. Knowledge of our testimonies and their evolution is equally important to their religious education. Work camps, community activities, and opportunities to serve others enhance their experience. We must be gentle and respectful as our children seek their own spiritual truths, appreciating whatever insights they bring to us.
- All adults in meeting can benefit from religious education in the form of Quaker Studies programs, spiritual formation groups, prayer groups, worship-sharing groups, or adult First Day school classes. Like a garden, the spirit within must be tended and nurtured. The meeting is enriched when all those participating care for their own spirits.
June 2021 - Integrity
- Our witness to the world comes from our perception of the Divine Spirit moving through us. The reliability of our words, essential to all communication between one person and another and between one person and God, has always been important to Friends. Friends profess a genuineness of life and speech that leaves no room for deceit or artificiality. Throughout our history, therefore, we have borne witness against judicial oaths as suggesting a double standard of truth. Devotion to what is true and eternal requires openness, honesty, and careful speech in social, business, and family relationships. As early Friends took care to avoid flattering titles and phrases, modern Friends need to discourage the insincerities and extravagances prevalent in our society. It is also advisable to avoid hurtful criticism and provocative language. With courtesy and kindness, Friends are called to speak the truth, in love.
- Our witness is most effective when we are in touch with the Spirit within. Each of us has a particular experience of God; each must find the ways to be true to it. There are times when we may need to remember that the truth is greater than the knowledge any one of us has of it. God did not put all the fruit on one tree.
- Bear witness to the humanity of all people, including those who break society's conventions or laws. Seek to understand the causes of injustice, social unrest, and fear. As members of the Religious Society of Friends, we commit ourselves not to words, but to a way of life.
July 2021 - Peace
- We affirm that our first allegiance is to our experience of the Divine. If this conflicts with any compulsion of the state, our country is served best when we remain true to our higher loyalty. Over the centuries, Friends have valued their part in shaping the laws of our country so as to achieve a more just and evenly balanced social order. The peace testimony of the Religious Society of Friends is a positive expression of goodwill in human relationships, not just a negative statement calling us to abstain from all that leads to war.
- As Friends, we are urged to identify the seeds of war within ourselves individually and in our way of life. Any element of fear, restlessness, discontent, unhappiness, and poverty of spirit can lead to violence and war. We are cautioned not to bury these feelings, but to acknowledge their presence, pinpoint their sources, and transform pain and anger into the power of positive action. Thus, we heal ourselves and become free and able stewards in the healing of others.
- When working toward peace in the broader community and wider world, we look to change the conditions that spark violence in others – poverty, despair, fear, hopelessness, dehumanization, and hunger, among others. We return to our roots in the truth to establish secure conditions where cooperation, equality, justice, and freedom can flourish. We work toward improving the environment and toward right sharing of the world's resources.
- Our responsibilities to God and our neighbor may lead us to take unpopular stands. In carrying out principled decisions and actions, we may struggle against the desire to be sociable, the fear of seeming different or peculiar, or the fear of possible consequences.
- If, by divine leading, we focus on a law contrary to our perception of divine law, we proceed with care. It is important to seek clearness before taking action. Consultation with other Friends helps us consider the views of those who might be affected by our decision and see more clearly what actions are needed. When clarity is reached, we act with conviction. If our decision involves disobedience of the law, we make the grounds for our action clear to all concerned. If there are penalties, we face them without evasion. When a meeting supports a member's leading to engage in civil disobedience, the meeting has an obligation to assist the member in dealing with the consequences.
August 2021 - Equality
- Since the time of George Fox, Friends have believed that all people are spiritually equal before God. Believing that, it is important the Friends everywhere question the prejudices (often deeply hidden) within the Religious Society of Friends and challenge the assumptions we make about others. In the past, Quakers helped foment vast societal changes by challenging the oppression they saw. Today our voices do not ring as loudly nor are they as unified when we confront oppression and inequality. For example, we are deeply divided among ourselves regarding same-gender marriage.
- Friends need to be mindful that continual reflection is required to recognize that our race, gender, nationality, or economic status may grant us privileges which separate us from those different from us. At the same time, those among us who do not have such privileges must be careful not to empower that sense of privilege by acknowledging the inequality.
- Since the time of George Fox, Friends have believed that all people are spiritually equal before God. Believing that, it is important the Friends everywhere question the prejudices (often deeply hidden) within the Religious Society of Friends and challenge the assumptions we make about others. In the past, Quakers helped foment vast societal changes by challenging the oppression they saw. Today our voices do not ring as loudly nor are they as unified when we confront oppression and inequality. For example, we are deeply divided among ourselves regarding same-gender marriage.
September 2021 - Simplicity
- It is important to ensure that our lives are not so full that we lose sight of the Light within. By consulting the Light, we are able to discern whether to take up or turn down responsibilities without indulging our pride or our guilt. We are advised to consider our capabilities and possessions not as ends in themselves but as God's gifts entrusted to us. We are to share them with others, using them with humility, courtesy, and affection.
- Friends are advised to distinguish between ways to happiness offered by society that are truly fulfilling and those that are potentially corrupting and destructive. We are responsible for the manner in which we acquire, use, and dispose of our possessions. This does not mean our lives are to be poor and bare, destitute of joy and beauty. Do not be persuaded into buying what you do not need or cannot afford. . . A simple lifestyle freely chosen is a source of strength. Each person must determine, based on the Light given to them, what promotes and what hinders their search for truth.
- We are advised to be aware of and to take a stand against the great waste of human and economic resources resulting from all forms of addiction, knowing that they lead to self-absorption and to forgetfulness that each person's humanity is shared by all persons. It is the experience of Friends that feelings of emptiness and a failure to listen for the voice of God can lead to addiction. . . Friends are reminded that being a Quaker is no absolute defense against having these problems. When our lives are filled with the Spirit, there is no need to indulge in excessive and addictive use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs, or to engage in gambling and other addictive behaviors. . .
- In the context of our complex lives, let us strive to maintain our ideals of sincerity and simplicity, to keep before us the essential truths, and the measure our lives by those truths. Be diligent in seeking the faith that is the foundation for the inner peace that holds firm in the face of outward confusion.
October 2021 - Stewardship
- We must be grateful for all that we have, neither reveling in our own gifts nor coveting those of others.
- The principle of stewardship applies to all that we are given and to who we are as individuals, members of groups, and inhabitants of the earth. We are each obliged to use our time, abilities, strength, money, material possessions, and other resources in a spirit of love, aware that we hold these gifts in trust and that we are responsible for using them wisely. We need to be aware of pollution, overpopulation, and all forms of wastefulness.
- As Friends, and as members of other groups, we seek to apply the same spirit to the use and contribution of our corporate resources. We are obliged to cherish the earth and to walk gently upon it, recognizing that it is not ours to own or to dispose of at will. We are to protect all its resources in a spirit of humble stewardship, committed to the right sharing of these resources among all peoples and creatures of the world.
November 2021 - Harmony with Nature
- Implicit in our testimony on simplicity is an understanding that we will not take more than we need – particularly if it means depriving others, including future generations, of their basic needs.
- The earth is not in bondage to us nor are its riches ours to dispose of at will. We recognize that we are part of the natural world. Humankind is not a species to which all of creation is subservient. Rather, it is one of many interrelated and interdependent facets of a creation more vast than human understanding can grasp.
- Part of understanding one's place in the world is forming right relationships with things. Such relationships are as much a consequence of observation as they are the product of activity. Let us exercise our power over nature responsibility, with due reverence for life. Let us strive to show loving consideration for all creation and seek to enhance the beauty and variety that surrounds us.
December 2021 - Service
- The Religious Society of Friends challenges each of us to live a life reflective of our beliefs. We take our faith into the broader community in many ways. Some are led to do acts in full view of society; others are led to work where their service is less visible but no less valuable. Each of us holds a part of the whole. None of us could consistently do what we do, no matter how little, without drawing from the well of our faith. Among us all, we make a greater impact than we may realize as individuals.
- Quaker service springs from our deepest convictions and is the natural expression of our beliefs in justice, equality, and community. Our service may lead us to practice a profession in which we serve others; numerous opportunities exist for those of us whose professions are not directly service related. We can work with integrity on school boards and in community associations; we may influence our families and friends to examine their consumption of natural resources and to find various ways to recycle more fully; we may help rebuild devastated homes or lives; we may soothe and comfort those with wounded souls. It is important to discern whether our service is inspired and led by the Spirit so that we do not take on tasks beyond our strength or capabilities. By ever returning to the Light within we can trust we will find ways in which we can.