I am thrilled that the Board of Western Friend will be coming to Orange Grove Meeting this weekend, even though I am a little overwhelmed by the prospect of coordinating arrangements for them. Nonetheless, I am glad that I took on this responsibility. I love this magazine. For eleven years I was its editor when it was still called Friend Bulletin, the name that Anna Brinton bestowed on it in 1929. Editing this magazine was a life-changing experience for me and I hope for many readers. I came to know Friends from the three Western Yearly Meeting--Pacific, North Pacific and Intermountain--from states including Montana, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. I attended over 33 Yearly Meeting sessions (my favorite location was Ghost Ranch in New Mexico) and had the joy of seeking out the most interesting and passionate Friends and convincing them to write articles. I also had the opportunity to edit three timely books: Western Quaker Reader, Compassionate Listening and Other Writings by Gene Hoffman, and EarthLight: Spiritual Wisdom for an Ecological Age.
Western Friend continues to publish relevant books, most recently Eastern Light by Steve Smith, an outstanding Quaker philosophy professor and former clerk of our Yearly Meeting. I am eager to read Steve's book, which is intriguingly described as follows:
This spiritual autobiography integrates perspectives of early Quakers, Zen Buddhists, and contemporary Christian thinkers. Smith draws from these sources as he tells a personal tale of his Quaker childhood, his years of spiritual crisis, and his ultimate return to Quakerism by way of Zen Buddhism. Along the way, Smith explores and explains the Quaker peace testimony and liberal Quaker views of gender, power, education, and care for the natural world."
Today Western Friend is in the capable hands of Mary Klein, a Friend from Palo Alto Meeting who shares my concern for social justice and spirituality. This is the unabridged version of the article that I wrote for the most recent issue of Western Friend:
When
I asked Mary Klein if I could write an article about the Friends World
Committee on
Consultation, she suggested that I write about it for the issue on
“Limits,” with April 1 as the deadline. My initial response was: “Is she
kidding?” I was grateful for her offer, but something in me bristles at the
word “limits.”
As I
reflected and prayed about this topic, however, I realized that some limits are
Spirit-led and necessary for our spiritual health and social well-being. Deadlines,
for example, are limits that magazines set to stay in business, as I learned
when I was editor of this magazine.
At a
deeper level, there are divinely inspired or mandated limits, such as the idea
of Sabbath. Sabbath sets a limit on our human tendency to workaholism, and also
on the tendency of employers to impose limitless work on their employees.
Rabbi
Arthur Waskow, a leading interfaith peace and justice activist, explores both the
inner and outer dimensions of Sabbath in his compelling book Journeys of Freedom: The Tale of Exodus and
Wilderness Across Millennia (2011). He notes that Pharaoh made the Hebrews
work seven days a week, well beyond their limits; and when they were finally
freed from bondage, God gave this community of newly freed slaves a day off.
This day was called Sabbath and was considered holy, part of the very fabric of
the universe (even God rested on the seventh day of Creation!). Sabbath also has
an inward dimension: it is a day in which we are commanded to refrain from work
so we can enjoy our families and commune with God. How liberating, and yet how
hard for those of us who can’t say ‘no’ to requests to do good but sometimes
overwhelming committee work!
Sabbath
also imposed limits on debt and land use. Every seven years there was a Shabbaton, a Sabbath year, in which the land
was to rest and debts forgiven. Every seven times seven years, there was an
even bigger Sabbath, called Jubilee, in which land was to be re-distributed so
that the poor who lost their land would regain it. The ultimate goal of Jubilee,
and thus of the Jewish people, was to end poverty. “There should be no poor
among you, for the LORD your God will greatly bless you in the land he is
giving you as a special possession” (Deuteronomy 15:5). To fulfill this divine
mandate, Jesus began his prophetic ministry by saying: “I have come to proclaim
good news to the poor…. And the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18). Scholars
agree that the “acceptable year of the year” meant Jubilee. In other words,
Jesus’s mission was to bring about Jubilee—the redistribution of land and wealth—and
that’s why his followers sold their property and shared their wealth “so there
was no poverty among them” (Act 4:34-35). The Bible also makes it clear that
there are limits imposed by God on the accumulation of wealth, with the
ultimate goal being social and economic equality. Sounding like a socialist, Paul
say, “At the present time your plenty will supply what they
need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is
equality” (see 2 Corinthians 8:14).
Limits
are also necessary in our personal and lives. Those in the counseling
professions call them “boundaries.” To be psychologically healthy, we need to
establish limits or boundaries so we feel safe and secure. We also set limits
on ourselves when we assume, or discover, our identity. For example, when I
became a Quaker, I realized that some behavior was “un-Quakerly” (like sarcasm
and violent speech); and I needed to refrain from doing and saying certain
things. Moral and ethical codes require setting limits on our behavior.
Some
limits stand in the way of our spiritual and psychological growth, however. For
example, when we try to define God, or when we exclude people based on our
personal prejudices or ideological assumptions, we are setting limits that
aren’t divinely sanctioned.
Quakerism
began as a movement that tried to dispense as much as possible with man-made limits,
such as rituals and dogmas. Because Quakerism
aspired to be a Spirit-led religion, it was hard to define and therefore was
suspect to many Christians. Spirit is mysterious, unpredictable, and beyond our
control. Unlike rules and “guidelines,” Spirit cannot be defined, it can only
be experienced, like a breeze blowing through a room.
As
Quakerism evolved, especially in the United States, this lack of clearly
defined doctrines began to trouble some Friends. If we don’t have dogmas, required
beliefs that define who were are, are we really Christian? What does it mean to
be a Christian, or a Quaker? What defines the boundaries of our faith?
Power
struggles occurred over who could set the boundaries of Quakerism. In the 1820s, Quakerism in America split into
two opposing groups: the Orthodox and Hicksites. Followers of the charismatic Elias
Hicks wanted Spirit and the Inward Light to be the ultimate authority, while
Orthodox Friends felt that the Bible and traditional Christian beliefs should
be authoritative. Over the next century, Quakerism in America split into
multiple groups, each with boundaries based on more or less clearly defined
beliefs and practices.
These
splits were about setting limits to Quakerism. Some felt that if you didn’t
profess certain beliefs, you weren’t a real Quaker. Others felt if you engaged
in certain practices, such as hiring a pastor, you weren’t a real Quaker.
Defining what it means to be a “real Quaker” led to painful divisions that
persist to this day.
At
some point, Friends grew weary of this game. They recognized that real
differences exist among Friends—different spiritual needs, different
understanding of Quaker faith and practice—but we could “still be friends” and
we need to work together. In 1917, feeling the urgent
need to affirm the Peace Testimony in the midst of a terrible world war, London
Yearly Meeting invited Friends from throughout the world and across the various
branches of the Religious Society to come together. An All Friends’ Conference
took place in August 1920, hosted by London (now Britain) Yearly Meeting. This
was the beginning of efforts to heal the divisions among Friends. In 1937 Rufus Jones help start an
organization called Friends World Committee for Consultation to facilitate
ongoing dialogue among Friends. This organization has helped many (including
myself) to have a deeper and broader understanding of Quakerism.
When
I first became a Quaker thirty years ago, I had a pretty clear idea of what
Quakerism was, based on my experiences in unprogrammed meetings and reading
Howard Brinton’s Friends for 300 Years. Later, when I came to California and attended
Whittier Friends Church, I saw that some Quakers had paid pastors and an order
of worship similar to those of other Protestant churches; and my sense of what
it meant to be a Quaker broadened. As I studied Quaker history and moved more
widely in Quaker circles, I had to readjust my thinking about what “real
Quakerism” means.
My
leading as a Quaker has been to practice a ministry of reconciliation. In the
1980s I reached out to Russians and after 9/11 I reached out to Muslims. But
something was missing in my reconciliation work. I was on friendly terms with
those of other faiths, but I had little or no connection with Evangelical
Friends. Something felt wrong with this picture!
This
need to reach out to Evangelicals led me to become involved with FWCC, and
perhaps also to marry my wife Jill, who is an Evangelical Christian. Over the
past five years I have attended numerous gatherings sponsored by FWCC,
including the World Conference of Friends in Kenya (2012), the Section of the
Americas gathering in Mexico City (2015), and the World Plenary in Peru (2016).
I have also attended Section meetings in Philadelphia, Indiana and California.
Through these gatherings I have come to appreciate the beautiful and sometimes
perplexing diversity of Friends. Jill has accompanied me to gatherings in Latin
America and has helped me to deepen my friendships with Evangelical Friends.
Experiencing
the diversity of Quakers has led me to wrestle with the question: What do
Quakers have in common? I have come to accept as a fact that Quakerism arose as
a Christian movement, and that Christianity is still an essential part of
Quakerism’s DNA. Even in unprogrammed meetings where many are non-theists,
humanists, or universalists, our core Quaker practices and beliefs derive from profoundly
Christian roots. World-wide, the vast
majority of Quakers are not only Christians, but Evangelicals. But because Quakerism
has no required dogmas, there is room for spiritual seekers and practitioners
who are non-Christian, or even non-theist. This, too, has a biblical
foundation. The Gospel of John affirms that “The Light that shines in everyone
was coming into the world…..” Quakers
have interpreted this passage to mean that everyone has access to the Inward
Light, whether they call it the light of Christ, the light of the Buddha, or
simply the light of conscience. This universal Light shines in us all and can
lead us to unity.
Two distinctive Testimonies unite
us. First and foremost is the Peace Testimony. This is what brought together
the first World Conference of Friends in 1920, and it is still a core part of
our Quaker identity world-wide.
The second Testimony that unites us
is Sustainability. This is a more recent Testimony, but it is implicit in our
Testimonies on simplicity and community, as Doug Gwyn makes clear in his recent
book A Sustainable Life: Quaker Faith and
Practice in the Renewal of Creation (2014).
During recent FWCC gatherings, Friends have come to
unity on minutes relating to the sustainability. During the 2012 Friends World
Conference in Kabarak, Kenya, FWCC produced a powerful statement calling for
"peace and eco-justice." This statement emerged from a deeply felt
sense that Spirit is calling us to recognize the urgency of the climate crisis.
"We must change, we must become careful stewards of all life,"
insists this statement. It evokes biblical language as well as Quaker tradition
to remind us "we are called to be patterns and examples of peace and
eco-justice, as difficult and decisive as the 18th and 19th century drive to
abolish slavery." Powerful as this call is, it lacks specific advice on
how Friends can become the change we so urgently need.
Since
the 2012 consultation, there has been a growing sense that FWCC needs to offer
concrete recommendations on what Friends can do to make a difference. During
our 2016 gathering in the Sacred Valley of Peru, the spiritual heart of the
Inca civilization, we became aware that local rivers are polluted, insecticides
and pesticides are poisoning the farmland, and indigenous people are protesting
the mining that is desecrating their sacred mountains.
Feeling
deep pain in the midst of a breathtakingly beautiful Andean landscape, we
wrote: "Our hearts are crying out for our beloved mother Earth, who is sick
and in need of our care."
This
pain was felt by the people of Israel when they failed to follow divine
mandates, including the Sabbath; they lost their land and wept bitterly over
this loss in the “Book of Lamentations.” Paul describes the pain felt by whole
creation because it has been held in bondage to “corruption” and is groaning,
like a woman in childbirth, “awaiting with eager longing for the revealing of
the children of God” (this passage from Roman 8:19 was the theme of our
conference).
Feeling
the pain and the eager longing of creation for restoration can lead us to take
action to heal the earth. As a starting point, we came up with 27 specific
actions that individuals, monthly meetings and yearly meetings can take to
foster sustainability. They range from "grow your own food and plant
trees" to "support Quakers in politics and international work."
Hopefully, we will also support and partner with non-Quakers who are doing
important environmental work!
During
this World Plenary of Friends, we acknowledged our diversity of worship styles,
cultures and theological understanding of Quakerism, seeing them not as
limitations, but as opportunities for spiritual growth. We also found unity in
the Spirit that brought us together for a purpose greater than any of us could
imagine. I’d like to close this
reflection with words from the 2016 Plenary Epistle that sums up the spiritual
heart of our work:
“We are one. We are one in the spirit of God which does not wash away or
hide our differences, but allows us to celebrate them and enables us to move
beyond the spiritual boundaries that may separate us. We are able to do this by
coming together in worship where, while its form may be unfamiliar, God was
present throughout. Through listening deeply and tenderly to each other and to
God we reached a place where we can hear and
sense where the words come from even when we may not understand the tongue they
are spoken in….”
“In making the choice to come together and be willing to share deeply,
pray boldly, and listen lovingly together, we seek to move beyond our
differences, see beyond our labels and find ways to connect with each other ….”
In coming together, and
following the leadings of the Spirit, I feel we truly became Friends. I hope
others will join in FWCC’s ongoing work of reconciliation.
.
