Reparations: A Quakers Tool For Integrity QuakerSpeak 2024-02-29 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! LEARN MORE AT: www.reparation.worksSUPPORT QuakerSpeak with a donation! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Filming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Transcript:LucyQuakerism started with a vision of reviving primitive Christianity and the belief that we're trying to live as Christ lived, to see the seed of God in everyone and recognize it. And early Quakers understood themselves as creating heaven on earth. As Quakers evolved they were affected by the larger society, and white supremacy became a lot more part of the faith.There were definitely prophets among us: Benjamin Lay, Lucretia Mott, John Woolman. But as we move forward, we colonized Pennsylvania, we are responsible for the displacement of many many indigenous people, Lenni Lenape here. William Penn brought slaves from Barbados to Pennsylvania, and I think these were among the first enslaved people that were here. We have really perpetuated the system, and I think that reparations is a way for us to look back at that history and revive that revolutionary spirit in the faith and return to the sense that we, together with our resources, with our spiritual work, with our labor, with others in deep solidarity, with the people who were most impacted by these things, can create the new Jerusalem now. We are the religious society of Friends of Truth. We need to tell the truth, the full truth about ourselves, and do the repair that that truth calls us to.I’m Lucy Duncan, my pronouns are she/they. I attend Green Street Monthly Meeting and the Queer Abolitionist Quaker Worship Group. I'm from Philadelphia. I've lived here this month, 25 years. RobRob Peagler, he/him are my pronouns. Grew up in the suburbs of New York and have lived in the Northeast and a little bit in Atlanta, and then in Philly for about 13 years. And I don’t officially consider myself a Quaker, but I spent a lot of time with Quakers.reparationWorks started out functioning as a consultancy. We led a racial justice capacity building cohort for Quaker Meeting. We helped community organizations do community engagement. Some of the work has always been about supporting the reparationist ecosystem in Philadelphia and connecting it to reparationist beyond.Lucy and I both share a fellowship with the Truth Telling Project, a national organization that supports learning how to do reparations and understanding reparations better. And so we've shifted from à la carte focusing on other people's problems, to setting our own agenda for being a good movement, player, and fertilizing the ecosystem.LucyI like to quote Dave Ragland, who's the co-director of the Truth Telling Project, who says that, “Reparations is the midpoint between truth and reconciliation.” It definitely is, resource redistribution, I think that land back and all of that is really elemental. But it's also deep spiritual repair. It's really healing on the level of relationships, spirit and resources. RobIt's a practice, it's a spiritual practice, but it's like an ethos, a set of actions, a set of values. So, it's many things. And one really helpful way to think about it, and I feel it's an experiment that we and the people we're connecting with are figuring out is how, is reparations a spiritual practice and a lifestyle? I find usefulness and excitement in not knowing what the answer is. One aspect of that is we don't know what the answer is. We haven't done it yet. I hadn't given reparations much thought and didn't know much about reparations, but the way I was able to make it make sense for me is like, deal with it as a design problem. Like what's the frame, what's the approach, what's the design brief on making the world, what Benjamin Lay, a Quaker, would call the New Jerusalem?LucyPeople in the United States are haunted by the past, by chattel slavery, by the genocide of indigenous people. That is animating us. It's animating what we do and how we live. And in order to really turn those ghosts from ghosts who are haunting us and making us behave in ways that we don't necessarily want to, that we have to go back and reckon with that past.RobI think there’s a very strong invitation to be self satisfied and smug and live in the past for Quakers. From Benjamin Lay being out in front to the Germantown declaration, the idea that like Quakers were reparationists. Like...yeah...yes...and, living in the past, resting on laurels, a culture of politeness and non conflict lets a lot of stuff fester and reparations, again, a great disinfectant and catalyst for burning that off...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Benjamin Lay: The Radical Quaker Abolitionist Who Challenged the World QuakerSpeak 2024-10-10 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Transcript:[Marcus Rediker]In the 1650s, Quakers were extremely radical. They would disrupt meetings, They would go naked for a sign, as they put it. They believed in acting out their ideas. Benjamin Lay was born in Copforde England, unusually for his time since he was born in 1682, a third generation of Quaker. And he himself was a much more ardent and more radical Quaker than either his grandparents or his parents. That tradition of radical Quakerism, even though it had to some extent died out by the 1680s, was revived by Benjamin and attached to the issue of slavery.Benjamin's education about slavery actually began during his time as a sailor. Some of his fellow sailors had been on slave ships. These sailors were famous for telling stories -- the sailors yarn, as it's called -- and some of the stories were about the violent exploitation of African women. And he was horrified by this. So when he felt the need in 1718 to leave London, where he had gotten in trouble with the local Quaker meeting, he and his wife Sarah decided to sail to Barbados. But he actually entered the world's probably leading and most violent slave society at that time. Well, when Benjamin got to Bridgetown, Barbados, and set up his shop, he was shocked to see what kind of society this was. Enslaved people would come into his shop and they were literally starving to death. Gaunt. He also saw the whippings, the floggings, the tortures. He knew a man who ended up committing suicide because he wouldn't bear any more beatings from his enslaver. And he saw that a lot of Quakers participated in this system. Benjamin and Sarah as they put it, they couldn't breathe In the smoky darkness of Barbados society, and they felt that they might become like these other Quakers. They would lose their heart by living amidst such oppression. They left Barbados in 1720, after about a year and a half. But that was a decisive time and Benjamin was an abolitionist ever after.When Benjamin and Sarah set sail for Philadelphia, they were very excited to go to this Quaker colony. This was Pennsylvania named for the Penn family. This was a place where Quakers were in charge of the state legislature. They made the laws. They ran society. This was going to be a place of liberty and tolerance -- and when Benjamin gets there, he discovers that there's slavery there, as there was in Barbados. More than half of the members of the Philadelphia Monthly meeting owned slaves. So Benjamin says, “What is going on here? This is supposed to be a kind of Quaker utopia, and you've got slavery?” He believed that people were sleepwalking, that they weren't awake and alert to the injustice that was going on all around them. And he thought it was his job to wake them up. [Benjamin] studied a group of very radical philosophers in ancient Greece called the cynics, and one of their main ideas is that a truly moral person must speak truth to power. You must go into lair of power and confront people who are doing the wrong thing. And Benjamin did that. Benjamin Lay's most famous act came in 1738. Benjamin's enemies were the older Quakers who had a real base of power in the Philadelphia yearly meeting. They were the wealthier Quakers -- the weighty Quakers, as I think they're still called -- and they didn't like this ministry against slavery at all. Many of them were slaves themselves.Benjamin went to the Philadelphia yearly meeting held in Burlington, New Jersey, And all of the weighty Quakers were there. And Benjamin went with a plan. He had found military uniform. And, of course, Quakers in 1738 were committed pacifists. So this was already a provocation. He had a sword that he buckled at his waist. And then he took a book, And he cut out a secret compartment and filled it up with bright red poke berry juice. Then he threw an overcoat over his shoulders and went into the Burlington meeting and sat in a conspicuous place near the weighty Quakers. People rise and speak as the spirit moves them. And Benjamin waited a good while, and then he rose to speak, and he said that “slavery is the biggest sin in the world.” People expected that knew he would say that...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
My First Quaker Meeting For Worship QuakerSpeak 2024-09-26 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Transcript:At the point where I met Quakers for the first time, in October of 2018, I had already been on this journey of spiritual discovery quite some time -- trying to find what's true for me and faith and religion. So I was in this category of “Oh, I'm spiritual but I'm not religious.”, and realizing I didn't really know what I meant by that. I had talked to some Christians, I talked to Jewish people, I talked to Bahai, to Muslims. I guess you can say I came to my first meeting with housing my and prepared. And the beautiful experience was that, joining Quakers, it almost felt as if this community of faith, this faith that I was discovering fell cleanly through my head and into my heart. It didn't insult my intelligence, It didn't discourage me from questioning. It allowed me to to think about it deeply and to explore and at the same time help right from the very start.My name is Paula Christophersen. I am from Lüneburg in Northern Germany. I worship at Hanover meeting. I belonged the northwest area meeting. And I'm here representing European and Middle Eastern Young Friends. At my first ever meeting for worship I was late -- not knowing what a Quaker meeting house looks like. Does it look like house people live in? Does it look like a church? Does it have like a meeting house and big letters on it? Or do I have to, like, scrutinize the signs in front to see where I'm going. And so by the time I'd found it, it was ten past the hour. So I thought, “Oh, you know, now I know where it is. I'm just going to come back next Sunday. But I'm going to get a bit closer. Just have a look. And so I, I went through the glass window in the front door and a friend opened the door for me and said to want to come in. And I was the insecure, sayin “I-I don't know if I've never been here. I’m late.” He said, “Oh it doesn’t matter. You can come in.” And so I followed his invitation and went into the meeting room. 15 or 20 friends gathered silence. I've never met any of them. I've never spoken of words to any of them. And I was determined to just be there and experience, right? Knowing that I'm a guest in this community once experience a meeting for worship. And I was very sure that I was not going to speak. I know myself and I do like to talk. I I have a lot of ideas and thoughts, but I really felt that being respectful to this community would be not to barge in and tell them anything of mine to come open, to listen to what they have to offer. And I found it surprising easy to settle into the silence. Usually meditation is very hard for me. I have a very active ADHD brain who wants to get up to all kinds of things, and just being present on my own is hard. But being in that silence I felt so comfortable, so calm, so held. And a Friends stood up and gave ministry. And there was silence again. A second friend gives ministry. Silence again. I was moving these words in my heart. And then words came, and I told myself, “This is your ego speaking. You do not have to be part of every conversation just because you have thoughts in the matter. You’re not the one who has to speak right now. You're a guest. You're not here to minister. But my heart started beating so fast, and I remember I kind of found myself on my feet. I don't really remember standing up; and thinking, if I try to speak now, I'm going to forget all of my English. But I also read that you should trust that words will given to you. And I did. And they were. I gave ministry on understanding culture as a living thing, something that needs diversity to evolve. And I sat back down and immediately my heart was again.And that was a profound experience and it was followed by some more delicious silence and my first round of tea and biscuits and friends and I came back the next Sunday and the Sunday after that, this and that. And then every other Sunday until my time in the UK came to its end. I think the idea of sitting in silence for an hour with people you've never met before, it's quite daunting to a lot of people. You might say that it's an awkward silence or a very boring silence. Nothing much happens. You might be afraid that you're doing it wrong. So I think everyone's curious about it, I just want to affirm that meeting for worship, means being together in warm silence and welcome and silence. In a silence that we stay in because we know what we are gathered around is beyond words...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Making Your Own Small Difference #quaker #religion #belief #carrienewcomer #music QuakerSpeak 2024-09-19 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/UDVeUrS6ccEQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell Music: Keith CalmesThe views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Carrie Newcomer: The Transformative Quaker Practice of Being QuakerSpeak 2024-09-12 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Transcript:You know, people have asked me, you know, “You are a musician, you're a songwriter, and you make your life in sound and you attend a silent Quaker meeting. What's with that?” You know, and I have to say that some of my best language has emerged out of the silence and the listening part of that. You know, I think in the kinds of spiritual communities I grew up, you know, we do a lot of talking at whatever is sacred. You know, we praise we ask we...you know, there's a lot of talking at whatever is sacred in the world. And I really appreciated when I discovered a silent Quaker meeting that all I need to do is listen. In fact, something lovely happens when...I when I quiet myself and I quiet my heart and I actually listen to what is coming up from the spirit, from the depths. You know? From the community. From something, if not greater, at least wider and larger than myself.My name is Carey Newcomer. She and her. And I grew up in northern Indiana, close to Chicago. And then, now I live in Bloomington, Indiana. I didn't grow up Quaker. But I went to several colleges. I was on the how many colleges can you go to and lose credits transferring program. But one of the colleges I went to was Goshen College, which is a small Mennonite college in northern Indiana. Everyone who graduates from that little college needs to do at least a semester or six months of service.So while I was there teaching school in this little town in Costa Rica, one of the other students told me about a Quaker community up in the mountains in the northern part of the country called Monteverde.There were four of us and in that little town, and so we decided to take a holiday when we had a long weekend and we went up to Monteverde. We took the train as far as it would go, and then we took a bus as far as it would go, and then we started walking into a rain forest. This was before it became an eco-tourism kind of destination, it was mostly just these Quakers living up in the mountains and one morning we went to Sunday meeting. And so my first Quaker meeting was in the middle of a rain forest. And the silence was so lovely. I felt like home. This feels like home, something that my heart had been longing for and hadn't encountered yet.Interesting things happen in the Quaker meeting. You know, sometimes They're just quiet and somebody's stomach rumbles, and then there's popcorn meetings when there's a lot of people who speak out of the silence. But sometimes it's just being with one another in community as we listen to something deeper. It's been transformative in my work as an artist. There's something that happens in the creative process that is mysterious. You know, that I'm writing a song and I know that I'm writing the song and that it's coming from me -- but often it feels like there's more than me. Some people will call it the zone or, you know, being somehow really engaged in a way that's on a deep level. And you know, that's a wonderful thing. You know, I don't know if there's anything better than being in the artistic zone. But it is mysterious, it's personal, and it's also a practice. You know, like I think for songwriting, it's asked certain things from me. You know, it's asking me to pay attention -- that you can't write a song if you weren't there. You know, if you're writing a poem, if you're writing a piece, if you're just a writer, you know, it takes a practice of paying attention. Mary Oliver said “It's our first and most important work to pay attention”. And, you know, in that process of paying attention, going deeper into the moment and into the now and into the experiences that you have every day -- you need to be here.In terms of encountering a work of art, you know, we know when someone is being really true and authentic. When someone puts their finger on the open palm of something true, it shakes the world just a little bit. And why would I want to write any other way? Why would I want to be any other way? I've always written songs because I had a question. And that good questions can be asked more than once. You know, what do I love beyond words and measure? What do I hope for the world? When I pull back all the distractions in my life, what do I find at the very center? When I go regularly to the well -- to a deep and spiritual, sometimes mystical well -- what can I take from there that will help ground me in my daily life?...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Feeling That of God Within Yourself #quaker #belief #religion #god QuakerSpeak 2024-09-06 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/UDVeUrS6ccEQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
The Quaker Simplicity of Talking to God QuakerSpeak 2024-08-29 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Transcript:Silence is a power of, you know, many things -- Like, the silence will stop the war, silence will restart the joy, and the silence will restart the love. That's why I like silence and I am continually trying to get connected with the friends around the world; so I can participate and engage and contribute whatever I can.I am Mr. Pradip Lamichhane from Nepal, so I go to Bhaktapur Evangelical Friends Church in Nepal. I have experienced poverty, I have experienced difficulties, I have experienced conflict. So during this period of years, the God help me to go through all of these difficulties, poverty, sorrows, pains, starvations. Even all.That's all given by God. That's what we say in evangelical way. You know, if you follow the all door will be opened, all the wisdom will be poured to you and all the circumstances will be clear. That's what I believe. So every morning I wake up, I say “Thank you, God”. That's all. Before going to bed, “Oh God, thank you very much. How lovely you are.” Many people things they have to do lots of things to talk to God, you know? You don't have to do anything. You just live with the God. But saying that, you need community. You know? So community help you to guide you to connect to God.Sometime people say, “So why should I go to the church? Why should I go to the meeting? It's all old out there.” The young people says, “They are not speaking what we need. They are speaking old traditions. Old culture.” The Friends church and Friends community started from this problem actually. During that time, everybody is complaining. What they are complaining? They complaining Pastor is not good, they are complaining church is not good, they are complaining the meeting is not good, they are complaining seating chair is not good.George Fox said that you can directly talk with God and your problem will be solved. [No matter] how difficult that your questions or problem is. You don’t need to go and complain, but that of God is inside of you. Then why do you complain to others because that is inside of you? If you complain, complain for yourself. Because the problem is not outside. The problem is the inside. You don't need to go outside, you ask inside and you will get peace, you'll be blessed, and then friends will join you. They will feel that of God in you and they will also bless. The blessing is like that: You get blessing, and you pass the blessing. That's how it would work. Give and pass.In other culture of religions, there is a lot of thing you have to do. You have to wake up early morning, go to bath in the cold waters, and there are lots of materials you have to prepare in order to worship. And for us, just say. “Thank you God, how are you doing?” How is he? People don't understand, you know? Why they make things complex? I don't know. Why they want to make things complex? It is very simplex. Before, IT used to be very complex. This information technology, old traditional types of things. Now the IT innovation they are making very simplex way. You just deploy software in one place. You want that tomorrow in another cloud? U.S.? You want to run from UK? You don’t need to do anything, you know? It's called seamless. You can seamlessly transfer. You don't need that guy who do the coding, who do the IP, all these things. Why we are making complex? I don't know. It's okay. I go with a simplex. God is love. God is full of mercy. God will be there always for you, but you need to talk with him.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
A Quaker Approach to Prayer #quaker #religion #prayer #belief #inspiration QuakerSpeak 2024-08-22 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/KkGQ1mD7lhQQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell Music: Keith CalmesThe views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
How Do Programmed Friends Worship? QuakerSpeak 2024-08-15 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Cherice Bock recently spoke with us about the programmed worship at North Valley Friends Church, and how the format differs from the "silent" sort of meeting most people associate with Quakers. One of the key differences is the inclusion of song in worship services. "Music allows us to express different feelings," Cherice says, "and it's a way to express those feelings together as a community." "Music can also be prayers," Cherice adds. "It can be cries of our heart. It can be ways that we express the desires that we have for connectedness with the divine and with our community... It can inspire us to live in the ways that we would like to live."___Transcript:When we went through the pandemic and we didn't sing together for that whole time, that was something that I missed the most about meeting for worship. We can meet in silence, or we can listen to a message on Zoom, and you miss some of the being in-person part of that but it's doable. But singing over Zoom just does not work. And so, a really powerful experience for me was actually the first time after the pandemic started that I sang with other people. I was in Minnesota for the treaty people gathering where the addition of people invited others to come and support their activism against the Line three pipeline. We were taught some songs that we could sing together that were kind of protest songs -- but also kind of holding the spiritual space -- and just to hear and feel everyone's voices resonating with each other, and we're all there to to be in community with the natural world and with one another, the sound and the ways that the sound moved through my body was just incredibly powerful.I'm Cherice Bock and I use she/her pronouns. I'm from Oregon. I live on Kalapuya land, Willamette Valley. I'm a member at North Valley Friends, which is a programmed to friends meeting. We differentiate programmed and unprogrammed among friends because unprogrammed is Friends who come together and meet in silence for an hour until somebody feels a leading to share something, and then they sit down and maybe somebody else feels a leading to share something. A programmed meeting generally has elements that you might see in another church service from another denomination or Christian tradition. You know, it doesn't have as much liturgy as maybe a Catholic service, but it has several of the same elements. In programmed Friends meetings, many of them release a pastor, which means they pay the pastor to do the work of ministry. And this allows those folks to feel called to this ministry, to not have to have another job. You know, surface level it seems kind of the opposite of Quakerism. Quakers at the beginning got rid of hireling ministers because they're seen as, you know, they're just kind of working for the money. But at this point in history, if we do this well, I think it can be really meaningful to be able to, as a community name that we see gifting in this person and that we see that God or the Spirit is calling them to a particular ministry and we want to support that ministry so much that we are going to offer funds from our own coffers, of every level that we have, to contribute toward that ministry and release them to be able to give their gifts among us. Being able to release someone from the concern of having to earn a living in another way is a way to open up space for the spirit to move in their life when they have a particular calling to care for the community as a pastor.For a programmed meeting, we have a program. We have a plan of what is probably going to happen, and that is always subject to change -- especially for Friends. They may be paying attention to the movement and the spirit and be like, “Well, this is what we planed, but we feel like the spirit is moving us in a different direction right now.” There may be a a time for announcements, of course. We can't have a Quaker meeting without announcements. And also there's usually a prepared message. Somebody gives a message and the community spends time in waiting worship, listening and kind of processing that message and seeing what the spirit has to say to them and maybe through them, if they feel that to speak out of the silence. Usually there's a time for prayer requests or sharing joys and concerns, music, and scripture reading. Music is a big part of that. Usually, there will be several songs in a programmed worship service...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
How Stories can Inspire Knife Making #quaker #religion #knife #belief #inspiration QuakerSpeak 2024-08-08 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/BTO0TpAZvqoQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell Music: Keith CalmesThe views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
7 Quaker Approaches to Prayer QuakerSpeak 2024-08-01 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Transcript:(Khary) My prayer is basically through meditation now. I think the humility of meditation is me praying. That's my prayer. Just saying like, God, I ain't got all the answers. I ain't got...give me the strength. Let me sit back and listen to you. Keep me humble, keep me...that's my prayer, you know? And that’s me sitting back and closing my eyes and sitting back like, “let me still my mind.” Because my mind is it's like a stallion! You know? It could be ridden by train. It is hard the still your mind! Every time you think it was stilling it some thought comes in to your mind. Do you know what I mean? So our mind is really our worst enemy. You heard? It's the sentry in front of the gate of God. That says like, “you're not getting past me!”. You heard? (laughing)(Paul)I do pray. I pray before every meal. But usually my prayer is, “Help me.” I mean, that's it. Sometimes my prayer will be, “Thank you.” And sometimes my prayer will be, “Okay, what do you want from me?” But usually it's just “Help me.” I have on very, very, very rare occasions, felt that I actually heard words. But, without words, I do feel I'm being given answers. (Henry)My wife and I do devotions every morning at 7:00. It's the best thing. We've been doing it for probably seven or eight years. It's probably been one of the best things for our marriage because we center. And we know that's the time when we can talk and...Prayer has become increasingly important to me, probably the older I've gotten. It's a way for me to center on what I think is important. I don't see prayer is something that I get answers. But more I get the questions. And it helps me understand, "Am I my asking the right questions?" If we really focus on the question, it's much easier to separate and say, “What is the answer separate from what's good for me.”(Lucy) I attend, as much as I can, Pendle Hill Worship in the morning. And this morning, there was somebody who sang “Everything is Sacred”. Got his guitar out and sang. And the prayer, it's probably not in a Christian vein. It is holding in the light. I love that as a translation of prayer.(Pamela)I pray in my own way. I take a walk every morning and I hold an intention and I hold my heart open. And I think that's probably the same thing as prayer.(Lynette)In addition to being a Quaker, I'm also a vowed consecrated woman. Just in case anyone doesn't know what that is, I've taken the traditional evangelical vows that a sister would take. A nun. And I was accepted into a largely Catholic community as a Quaker. I’m, to my knowledge, the only Quaker sister in our community. So prayer is my life. Formalize prayer I do multiple times a day in community with my sisters or with brothers from other communities. We partake in things like daily office.(Adam)In terms of whether, you know, I recite a set text or something...no. But, in some ways, I think being a Quaker one is trying to be always in a sort of prayerful approach to life.(Lucy)I also think of my life as a prayer. Like, how do I step through my days understanding that how I walk is a way to praise God, and be in relationship with God, and invite transformation that God is helping, is trying to bring into being. I wrote a prayer called “Prayer for the Coming of the Light”, which is about worship, and talk about how we are to midwife the spiritual birth. And I think prayer is one way to do that. And I think that how we walk in the world is a way to live those prayers(Lynette)Life itself is prayer. Sometimes it's not about just formalize words, but journaling is prayerful. Walking and thinking theological questions is a form of prayer. Eating can be a form of prayer. The more that I grow in my knowledge of what God is to me, the more I realize that my life is prayer. That I am, in general, a prayerful person.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
The History of George Fox #quaker #religion #history #belief QuakerSpeak 2024-07-25 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/YJmPdKrLMx0QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell Music: Keith CalmesThe views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
A Quaker Way of Knife Making QuakerSpeak 2024-07-18 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeSee more of Henry Freeman at: hfreemanknives.comFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Addendum: Henry Freeman is a member of Clear Creek Friends Meeting___Transcript:As I started making knives, a real transformational moment was when I looked over in a corner and I had my dad's old walking stick that I had inherited when he passed away. But then there was this other walking stick that he had that had broken, and I just kept it in the corner for several years. And one day that old walking stick just looked at me and said, I need new life. So I made a knife out of that wood. My dad is in body and that wood. So what over time developed was a love of old wood and trying to connect the stories of people behind that wood with the stories today.I'm Henry Freeman. He and him are my pronouns. I live here in Richmond, Indiana. I grew up in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Grew up as a Southern Baptists. My knives, I would describe them as comfortably at home in your great great grandmother's kitchen. I started out with a small ad in Friends Journal and started selling them at the local farmers market. Making knives brings me a lot of joy, and it brings me joy as a Quaker because I connect to that of God within me, through this, in a way that I'm not otherwise. Making a knife for me is sort of like meeting for worship in that you settle in. And there are parts of making that knife that are very routine that you can visually see: the forging of the steel, the shaping of the handle. I've gotten to the point that I can do that almost without thinking. The place that I really get to feel centered is when I get to the part of making the knife that really matters. With this cleaver, there’s all of this. But the cutting is in that minute end. When this cleaver is really sharp, when it cuts through something, the blade waves. That minute 1000th of an inch moves. And the only way you can do that, that you can even know it's there, is feel. During some of the processes I'll shut my eyes and just go into my fingers because it's all “here”. It's not here (pointing to his head). It's here (pointing to his fingers). And there's a connection with a reality that all of a sudden nobody else around knows. I mean, it's your secret space as a knife maker.People wonder, why do I refer to them as Quaker kitchen knives? And it's because there's a Quaker story behind most of my kitchen knives. This little paring knife, for example, is modeled after one that Jackie Stillwell, the head of Right Sharing of World Resources, well-known Quaker organization, (owns). I said, “I'm looking for a paring knife with a Quaker history.” Jackie showed me her little paring knife, held it up on Zoom, and she said, “Well, this one has been in my family for over 100 years. Now you can't touch it.” I said, “Why?” (Jackie said), “Because when I was a little girl, my mother said, ‘No one touches this knife but me.’” The reason was that her mother said, “No one touches this knife, but me.” There are three generations embedded in that knife, and I want to make a knife, like Jackie's knife, that is going to be around in 100 years and passed down.This cleaver is modeled after one, another Quaker, John Helding. A cleaver that's been in his family for 100 years and he still uses it. It was made in 1921 by his great grandfather as wedding gift to his bride. It's the story that matters to me. That's why I get up in the morning and do this because I just love stories. I'm not as much interested in making knives is I am making vessels that tell stories. For the kind of knives I make, there's nothing frivolous about them. They're just plain. They're just metal and they’re old, old wood. And the wood has a story.Let me give you an example. This wood is American chestnut. Which died out 100 years ago, and so it has the worm holes in it. The fact that the wood is extinct, the fact beetles made those holes, I don't want to cover up the holes. I want to say, “Hey, I wonder what that beetle thought of when he was making that hole?” I view my job as a craftsman as bringing out the character of what's there. So, the artist is the wood and the beetle and all of that. I'm just a vessel for bringing it out. This is a piece of cherry. It was a beam. It held up a barn in Randolph County, founded by Quakers in the 1840s. I've made these knives out of this cherry...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
The History of George Fox QuakerSpeak 2024-07-05 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Transcript:Being born in 1624, George Fox is coming of age at a time when England is involved in a civil war that pits the forces of Parliament on one side against the king on the other. One of the results of this is a breakdown in the control that the Church of England had over religious life. So you have dozens of new religious groups manifesting themselves. The one thing all of these competing religious groups had in common was that they insisted “We are the only true Christian church, and if you're not part of us, you're going to burn in everlasting hellfire after you die.” George Fox believes in the reality of hell and eternal damnation, and he desperately wants to escape that.I am Thomas Hamm. I live in Richmond, Indiana, where I taught for many years at Earlham College. I use he/him pronouns and I am a member of West Richmond Friends meeting. George, in his journal, tells us that he grew up a pious young man. When other youths were dancing on the village green or bowling at nine pins, he would go into the village tavern and exhort the men drinking there to consider the evil of their ways. In short, he was a very serious person. very concerned about the state of his soul, Even as a teenager. When he was 19 years old, George Fox. set off on a kind of spiritual pilgrimage. First, he traveled around southern England seeking out people who had reputations for piety and godliness. But as he recorded it, “...there were none that could speak to my condition.”In 1646, 1647, he wanders up into the north of England. And it was on the moors of Yorkshire here and Lancashire, places where even today there are often more sheep than people, that George Fox had a series of spiritual experiences. Today, I think we would probably call them revelations because they're experiences where he is convinced that God was speaking directly to him. and those would become the basis of the Quaker movement. Perhaps the most important of all of these to him was this realization, “There is one, even Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy condition. ”He saw an experience of Christ as the answer to all his problems. It was the response that would satisfy his soul. It's pretty clear that for the rest of his life, that realization is going to be central to how George Fox sees the world and his role in it. That is the first of his openings, but he has several others that are going to be central to the Quaker movement as it develops in England in the 1650’s. One was his conviction that all people have within them a certain divine light; the light of Christ inwardly revealed. And this is true even if people have never heard of Christianity, where they've never seen a Bible. They still have that light within them. Which, if it is obeyed, if people are obedient to the light that is within them, then it will lead them to lead a good life that is acceptable in the eyes of God. Another one of Fox’s openings: Revelation. The same spirit that inspired the writers of the various books of the Bible still inspires human beings in the 1640s. That shapes Quaker worship. Quakers gather together without any one person appointed to be the leader or pastor. There is no set of rituals to be followed, no set prayers or creeds to be recited. Instead, friends gather together, confident that if God has a message for the assembled group God will inspire someone to speak. God can inspire anyone, literate or illiterate, young or old, both men and women. For Fox that is fundamental.In 1652, George Fox was moved to climb Pendle Hill, which had a local reputation as a somewhat dubious place. Earlier in the century there had been accusations that witches held their meetings there. Fox seemed to a perceived it differently. He was led of the Lord to go there, and while he was on Pendle Hill, he described having a vision of a great people to be gathered. From the 1640s onward he will preach anywhere he can collect a group. Whether it's on a village green or in a private home or in a barn or a tavern. He felt he had a message to share. But after his experience on Pendle Hill, he really seems to have a vision of his message being the basis for a movement that would be primitive Christianity revived. Some people who hear Fox were deeply moved by him. We have a number of accounts by his hearers that talk about how profoundly he moved some of them. He seemed to have a sense of what their spiritual needs were and spoke to them...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Are the SPICES Quaker Testimony? #religion #quaker #faith #spirituality QuakerSpeak 2024-06-27 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/mzAAbRtzjCEQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell Music: Keith CalmesThe views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Are SPICES the Quaker Testimonies? QuakerSpeak 2024-06-20 | For more info, read the pamphlet this interview is based in! "Quaker Testimony: What We Witness to the Worldpendlehill.org/product/quaker-testimony-what-we-witness-to-the-worldQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Transcript:About 10, 15, years ago I began noticing that a particular set of testimonies known by the acronym SPICES (Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality and Sustainability or Stewardship) they were being treated as if they were ‘the testimonies’, to the exclusion of all others. That then led me into the question, “What are testimonies? Where do they come from? Do these go all the way back to George Fox? Did did he come down from Pendle Hill with a stone tablet that had: Simplicity, Peace, Integrity...”. I didn't think so, but I didn't know.I'm Paul Buckley. I live in Richmond, Indiana, and I attend Clear Creek Friends meeting, which is part of the Ohio Valley yearly meeting. What is a testimony? It seemed to me that there were five essential characteristics when you talk about a ‘Quaker’ testimony. First of all, that it originates in God. And if that term God isn't one that you use, that's not what's critical here. It's something that I have been given that has touched me in my soul.Secondly, a testimony has to testify. It's got to be outward public behavior. Something that I do privately by myself, might be a deeply held belief, but it doesn't testify.Third, a testimony, if it's a Quaker testimony, has to be communal. I have personal testimonies. I've been called to travel in the ministry. That's a testimony, but it's a personal one. The entire Society of Friends is not called to do those things. But, there are some things that I feel we are called to as a community, and those deserve the label of being Quaker testimonies.Four, this is the good one I think. Testimonies, and this goes back to the very beginning, are challenging. Early friends, for example, wore what we call plain clothes. They didn't just wear them because it was something that Quakers did. They did it because they felt called to it by God, and they did it because wearing those plain clothes was a challenge to the people around them. Because, what I am implicitly saying is, “You don't need to spend extra money to look that way.” And even more, a challenge to themselves because you had to dress in a way that made you stand out from everyone else. That made you look somewhat ludicrous.And then finally, getting back to the characteristics, a testimony is rooted in love. If it doesn't come out of love, if it comes out of pride, or it comes out of showing off in some way not a testimony. It's an expression of love. So, five characteristics. If something doesn't have all five, it's not a Quaker testimony.You can go back to the 1940s and Howard Brinton wrote a Pendle Hill pamphlet in which he talked about what Quakerism is. And one of the things that he put in there was a statement about social testimonies. People began talking about these social testimonies more and more as being characteristics of being a Friend. By the 1990s, somewhere I think probably in the mid 1990s, this particular acronym catches on. Research that I've done and that other people have done seems to indicate that early in the use of SPICES it was for children. SPICES became an easy way of telling children some Quaker values in a format that made it easy to remember. And it's catchy. It really is catchy. It's a great way to introduce these things to kids and people realized well, that's a pretty good way of answering the question from the newcomer on Sunday morning who says, “What do Quakers believe?” Well, trot out the SPICES, “Well, we believe in peace and integrity and, well, simplicity. You don't want to forget that one.” One thing that we've lost when we put so much emphasis on SPICES is that these testimonies, all testimonies, are fruits of the spirit. They're things that we're led into by God. But by using spices so frequently we lose that sense of them being the products of our relationship with God, and begin thinking about them as if they're their roots. They can be a good way of starting things if you recognize how little they are, and if you don't use them as a substitute for really thinking about...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
What Do Quakers Believe? #religion #spirituality #quaker #belief QuakerSpeak 2024-06-13 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/xt17hnlfIQgQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell Music: Keith CalmesThe views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Do All Quakers Hold the Same Beliefs? QuakerSpeak 2024-06-06 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell Music: Keith Calmes___Transcript:My favorite metaphor about God is the story of the blind men and the elephant. And each man feels a different part of the elephant and thinks ‘this’ is what the elephant is about. And I think that in a lot of ways, that's the way we are about God, is that we all see different aspects of God and the totality of God is greater than all of that. My name is Adam Segal-Isaacson. I attend Brooklyn meeting and my pronouns are whatever you like them to be. I'm not particular. Quakers are very broad in their beliefs. I think it works by getting at some fundamentals of what a lot of religions have preached, which is to bring people together. Traditionally Quakers were Christian. Mostly because in England in the 1640s there wasn't anybody who wasn’t a Christian. But even in that first generation of Quakers, there was a reaching out to others. And so there was always a sense of it being a larger group, that we could encompass anybody who was inclined to be encompassed. That has meant that people have come to Quakerism from a variety of backgrounds, and that their experiences can help enhance our experiences so that we learn from each other and we can grow from that.I was raised parallel going to meeting and as a Jewish child. We celebrated certain Jewish rituals at home and I went to temple on a fairly regular basis. And when I was preparing for my bar mitzvah, I would go to Sunday school at the at the synagogue and then I would walk down the street to the Quaker meeting. There's been no conflict for me between Quakerism and Judaism, because Judaism's focus is on doing mitzvot, doing good things. And in the context of what is happening at any given time, friends are trying to see ways to make things better for people. I've known people who've come from a Jewish background, I know people who've come from a Catholic background, I know people who've come from various other Christian churches. At 15th st meeting in Manhattan, where I attended when I first came to New York, there was regularly a a group of Buddhist monks who came to meeting for worship.There is a there's a book by Tom Robbins called Jitterbug Perfume. One of the characters says to the other that, “People who claim to teach you the truth don't have the truth. Because, if they did, they would know that the truth can't be taught. It can only be received.” Friends are able to exist with vastly different beliefs because they see each other as being seekers after the truth rather than people who already know the truth. And so that allows for a lot of different approaches. I think that the blending of different things together can, can create something that's greater. You know, if everybody's singing the same tune, that's not harmony. That's monotony. And when you think about complex pieces of music, you see all sorts of different things happening and and moving together. And they don't always sound perfectly together, but then they do sort of come together in the end. And I think that's a metaphor that has been very powerful for me, is a way of seeing how different viewpoints can join.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Finding Quakerism Through Incarceration #religion #spirituality #quaker #prison #testimony QuakerSpeak 2024-05-30 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtube.com/watch?v=06OTDfg1hQMQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Reducing Violence from Within: Finding Quakerism Through Incarceration QuakerSpeak 2024-05-23 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videosThe Urban Alchemy Project: theurbanalchemyproject.org___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:For me, life is almost like a puzzle. When I first started, they was giving me black pieces. And you get frustrated because you start working out the edges of the puzzle, because when you put it together, you see these black feeling like. “what kind of puzzle is this? Why am I keep on getting black pieces in...” You know what I mean? And you get frustrated and be like, “No, I'm through this, this puzzle gonna be wack.” You get this feeling like “Yo, God don’t love me. God done, he does shift is sights on me”, ya heard? And it's not the case. Your life keeps on and pieces start fall in place, you start realizing that the dark at the beginning, the edges, was only needed to accentuated the picture, the beautiful picture in the front. Everything happens for a reason. Regardless of how dark them pieces is they're meant to fit there exactly how they're supposed to fit. Your life is being molded and shaped for your service going forward. And sometimes you got to get real low, to get real high.Alright, my name is Khary Bekka. I'm from Brooklyn, New York. I attend the Brooklyn meeting and I'm also part of the Scarsdale meeting. I also attend the Scarsdale meeting too. I came from a religious family. Actually, my grandfather was a Baptist minister and my grandmother was heavily influenced in the Pentecostal church in the community. So I was basically a church boy. You know, they asked me, I’m like “I'm a church boy, went to Sunday school and everything. You know, I was young. We was in projects, we was selling drugs. You know, it got to a turf war and we got into a shootout, and an innocent bystander got shot. It was a school principal, Mr. Patrick Daly. And it was a tragic situation for his family, for the community, for my family, for everyone involved. I lost all my faith in God through that process. What, I was just turning to 18 years old?And the turn of events, it was like, if there was a God, what did I really do to deserve this? You know like, you keep on throwing me bad hands after bad hands after bad hands. So, I went from a situation where I had lost all my faithMy first introduction to Quakerism actually came while I was working on a book. I was working on a book on the Civil War, I had order like maybe 15, 20 books to do the research on this, and I end up reading on the Quakers. And I kept on seeing their name, I kept on seeing their name. When I went to Sing Sing in 2011 the prison is separated. So if you want to see a friend that's in A black, and you in B block, I’d be like, “Let’s go to services.” So we went down to services I ain't wanna go actually to the Baptist church. It was ‘ehh’. [My friend said], “Oh they have a Quaker [meeting] downstairs!” And when we went down to Quakers, I'm like, “Oh, I remember this. Okay”. And then it was the silent worship, and I was like, “Yeah, I get this.” When you actually go through the process of stilling your mind and you could actually feel the vibration going through you, especially in a group setting, it’s special. And you come out of it feeling recharged. I don't think when we meditate, go into silent worship, we gonna come out with the answers right then in there. But it gives us a little bit of charger so eventually the answers and the solutions come around. You know, it's like charging up my battery pack. You know, it's a TV, but you got to have it plugged in for actually to work. So, you know, that silent worship is just staying plugged in. Coming here and being able to humble myself and slow down and listen, you know what I mean? It stills my mind, you know? I think it's beneficial in the work that we doing.We wrote a minute while we was locked up, the Sing Sing Workshop Group. We had six, I think at least six, points of what we could do to, you know, reduce violence in our community. So we already had like a blueprint from think tank, that we started in the Sing Sing Worship Group, of things that we could do. It just so happened I was the first one to get out. When you first come home, you’re thinking about getting a job, you’re thinking about housing, you're thinking about getting yourself reestablished -- the transition of getting reestablished, you heard? And it was just fortunate that, you know, at the same time, you know, opportunity was opening up for me on the social front. Urban Alchemy was actually started...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Think Twice Before Calling the Police QuakerSpeak 2024-05-10 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:How have Friends historically responded to police intervention in situations involving conflict? What is our responsibility as Friends today to ensure that police do not inflict harm on vulnerable communities? Is it always just to call 911? Even when we feel unsafe or concerned about the safety of others? Does the ultimately peace testimony compel us to Think Twice Before Calling the Police?My name is Brian Blackmore. I am the Director of Quaker Engagement for the American Friends Service Committee, also known as AFSC, and a member of Gainesville Monthly Meeting in North Central Florida. I welcome He/Him/His pronouns or any pronouns used with respect.Today, I am going to ask Friends to reflect on what they might do in a situation where, at least at first, it feels imperative to call the police. I want to name and honor that many Friends might have very different perceptions and experiences with law enforcement. Some of us may have hadexperiences that were quite painful, irrepressibly traumatizing, leaving impressions on our minds and hearts that cannot be forgotten. Others of us might have had mostly positive experiences with police. Some of us may know police as our close friends, spouses, or family members.Wherever you are coming from, I ask that you stay engaged with a spirit of openness and lean into any discomfort that may emerge in response to what I am about to share.So, let’s get started. Try to imagine yourself in a situation where you are feeling the instinct to call the police. I want you to literally close your eyes, put yourself in a specific place in your mind’s eye, see your surroundings, and picture a situation where you might want to call 911. The first step is to ask yourself some questions. Repeat after me: “I’ll Ask.” ASK yourself ifinvolving the police would help the problem in this situation or create more harm? Is thesituation an inconvenience, or something that merits involving lethally armed law enforcement? If just thinking through these questions has led you to conclude that contacting the police is not necessary, then great! More likely, however, just thinking that you might want to call the police probably means that there is a problem that you feel needs to be addressed. In that case . . .Say, “I’ll ASSESS.” Assess whether you can resolve the situation by talking it through with the people involved and use verbal de-escalation if necessary. If that does not work, say“I'll ASSEMBLE.” Reach out to others in your community for support. Perhaps someone else is nearby. You could call a friend, send a message to a neighborhood group text or facebook page, or contact a local alternative to 911 police response, such as a hotline. If you still feel it isimperative to call the police (you’ve answered the question “Is law enforcement necessary”affirmatively, and you are certain that the situation cannot be resolved or de-escalated by yourown actions or by others within your immediate reach), call 911 after you have...acknowledged, say “I’ll ACKNOWLEDGE.” This means acknowledging your personal identity and the identities of those around you, making sure that those most often targeted by police violence and criminalization, including Black, Indigenous, people of color, immigrants, youth, LGBTQ+, poor and working-class people, are not put in harm's way. Try to anticipate if thearrival of police might lead to the arrest of others. Alert everyone in the vicinity that law enforcement is being called in case they want to leave. Those least vulnerable to criminalization and violence, which might be you, should take responsibility for communicating with lawenforcement.So repeat the tools for Thinking Twice Before Calling the Police with me:I’ll ASK . . . are police going to help the situation or will they cause more harm?I’ll ASSESS . . . whether there are alternatives to calling the police utilizing your own nonviolent strategies and/or...I’ll ASSEMBLE . . . other individuals or resources that may be just as or more effective than law enforcement to bring the situation to a peaceful end. But if I still feel pressed to call the police,I’ll ACKNOWLEDGE . . . my own identity and experience with police as well as interpret the relationship others at the scene might have with law enforcement. I’ll alert everyone that I’m calling the police and take responsibility for the arrival of the police on the scene...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
A New Form of Corporate Witness #religion #spirituality #quaker #meeting QuakerSpeak 2024-05-02 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/gArmrFM0aEsQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Moving Beyond a Minute — Nurturing Ideas for Climate Action QuakerSpeak 2024-04-25 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:I'm always thinking is there more that I could be doing around the things that I care about? And climate is one of the things that I really, really care about. I thought, well, what have we been doing in our meeting? Is there more that I could do? And then I thought we could just get together. People who care about this issue could just get together and talk about what we've been up to. So it was like an opportunity to gather around a shared concern and a shared love and be with each other.My name is Pamela Haines, she/her. I'm from Philadelphia and I attend Central Philadelphia monthly meeting. Thinking about minutes. It's like, how do we move beyond having a common concern -- having a common concern -- to having that concern embodied? We had a plan. We had a three part plan. Let's first connect over what we love about the Earth. Here's a place that we can all kind of join in and kind of settle into that, that reason why we care. And then we wanted people to be able to share things that they're pleased about because again, that's something that hardly ever happens. People are always focused on what hasn't yet been done. And I think that that just erodes our sense of what's possible for us. So we knew we wanted to start first with that grounding and then with the what are some things that you're actually doing that you’re pleased about? And only after that did we want to move on to “Well, you know, if you have a little more support or you were a little more courageous or you just kind of imagined...what might you do?”The part about what could we do more started with one woman who lives in a poor part of the city and she just first out, “What I would really love to do is grow a forest in the ghetto.” And I'm thinking, my goodness, we're on to the stretches. And so her thought was, “I would love to do that, but I can't possibly.” We were able to kind of hold that and wonder together what might actually be possible. This one woman said, “I would like to get more courageous in talking with my family and maybe with people who have different, you know, different perspectives from me around what it is that I care about the cimate.” And I thought, I'm so glad that she said that, because that may seem like, you know, you should just do it or they're hopeless or whatever. But she said, “That's a growing edge for me.” And then we were able to back her in that. Somebody else wanted to be more powerful in her relationship with legislation. We have this very active Quaker action group, Earth Quaker action team (EQAT) that's active in this region. And somebody was saying “Maybe I could...maybe there’s a role for me there.” So it was on a number of different fronts that people were imagining the possibility of doing more.I think it's really wonderful whenever we can find the space to allow that kind of open imagining of new possibilities to come out. It just seems like that's a very nourishing soil in which new things can happen. So then of course we trying to think about, well, what next? We have this great thing and we we knew that some people would be supportive, but is there anything for the meeting that's a next thing That's so...it's so hard to think about because so many people care about so many different aspects of any issue on the environment. Oh my goodness. people say, “Well, if we're doing the environment, we have to address this issue...We really have to address this...This is the most important one... If we're going to talk about the environment, we have to say this...”But do we really? Do we really? You know, one of the things I am so passionate about (is) regenerative agriculture and one of the things that I've learned is that monocultures are bad news. If you're trying to do all the same thing in one place, there's going to be trouble. And then I was also thinking about diversity. You know, we're not really interested in homogeneity here. So is there a way that we could really gather together all of that diversity and claim is all is ours?A lot of times in meeting we put effort into trying to find a minute that everybody can agree with, a statement that we could make that everybody can unite around. So, that's about what we think or what we know or what we care about. But what about... how do we embody that? How do we embody what we care about...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
The Legacy of Ramallah Friends School #quakers #spirituality #religion #history #palestine QuakerSpeak 2024-04-18 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/Suw_fflSXogQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
The Palestinian Quaker School That Survived 150 Years of War and Occupation QuakerSpeak 2024-04-11 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript: RaniaSo my name is Rania Maayeh.OmarMy name is Omar Tesdell. I am the clerk the Ramallah Friends board of trustees.RaniaAnd I am the head of Ramallah Friends School.OmarI attend Ramallah Friends meeting in Ramallah, Palestine.RaniaI attend the Ramallah Friends meeting here in Ramallah.To start with the Ramallah Friends School as part of the history of Ramallah in particular, and the history of Palestine. Ramallah Friends School was founded in 1869 by Eli and Sybil Jones, the two New England Quakers from Maine. At the time. When they arrived to Ramallah, there was no school for girls in Ramallah. Ramallah was the small Christian village of 3000 inhabitants.OmarEli and Sybil Jones, after their pilgrimage, raised money and returned promptly to Palestine, to Ramallah, purchased the land and established a school for girls. Land was purchased in in the city of El-Bireh where the school for boys was established. In the last, I think, 30 years, the two schools were mixed. The campuses are beautiful stone structures from the 19th century. The city has grown up all around the campuses. And so they're really sanctuaries of trees and fresh air and greenery.RaniaThe school has endured two world wars and transitions of power from the Ottoman rule, to the British administration, to the Jordanian governance, to Israeli occupation. OmarIt's been attacked, it's been hit.RaniaPalestine continues to grapple with complex political realities, ongoing challenges, the war in Gaza, the escalation of violence in the West Bank. We're under occupation, and as we continue to endure all of this the legacy the history of are our schools serves as the reminder of the enduring strength and unwavering commitment of Palestinians to education and community that have sustained us through all of those years.OmarWhen it seems that hope is lost we try to provide a sanctuary where people can feel welcome, people can feel, to the extent possible, free when outside the walls they are very much not free.RaniaIt's a place for hope, where Palestinians find education as means of resilience and resistance. Within our Quaker faith and practice here at the French school, we have a very open an integrated understanding of our faith with regard to people of other Christian denominations and of our Muslim friends and neighbors.OmarQuakerism then becomes a kind of channel by which people can access and come to new understandings of their own faith without any expectationRaniaThese Quaker values, there are universal values that as Palestinians and non Quakers, they believe in those values because they exist in every religion. But when we highlight them and they are integrated within our curriculum, this is why it makes the Ramallah Friends School distinguished because it's a value based education.OmarI think friends are called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. And Jesus, stood with people who were being marginalized in their society. It was happening right here in the land where I am now. He sought to bring about justice in a very, very, very powerful way. Which was not to turn to militarism or nationalism or empire, but rather to live his life in solidarity and live that solidarity to the very end. I think that that example inspires and has inspired friends for generations as they put their own lives on the line to stand with people around the world.RaniaQuakerism fosters a strong sense of empathy and compassion towards others, Quakers believe in every person's inherent worth and goodness and dignity. And this is the drive for Quakers to advocate for the rights and well-being of all individuals, for justice and for equality. Especially those who are marginalized and oppressed.OmarI think friends are particularly well placed to call for the freedom of Palestinians,and all people around the world who are yearning for things that all of us want for ourselves and for our families and for our loved ones. Dignified life, dignified work, freedom.RaniaSpirituality provides Quaker activists with their resilience and perseverance in facing the challenges. Because we find the strength and guidance to sustain efforts for social change.OmarIt's a funny mandate to try to think 20 years down the road when you don't know what's going to happen in the next 20 minutes....___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
A Jewish Quaker Speaks On Pacifism QuakerSpeak 2024-03-28 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:I am a Jewish Quaker. I am a Quaker Jew. I am a Pacifist, a Poet, a Jewish Grandmother, A Bubbe, and this is my message.And this is my Message!!! I became a member of the Religious Society of Friends in 2006, when the Israeli Hezbollah War began. I couldn’t sit back and watch the carnage of that war and do nothing, my heart was broken… I had witnessed “pacifism” in awe, among Quakers, I saw them walking the talk. I worked among Quakers, and learned first-hand of the work of Conscientious Objectors who put their lives on the line during WWII in threatening ways, but through humanitarian efforts. They were unable to pick up arms and kill, they were pacifists. The Quakers served the oppressed and I was impressed. AFSC received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 for their humanitarian efforts during the war. I wanted to be part of a place that honored pacifism. I did not, do not, have the conscience for war, it is not the answer.I got involved with the Middle East Working Group out of my Yearly Meeting. We sponsored a YAF Mission to Israel Palestine, where 12 YAF witnessed the Israeli Occupation first hand. We lobbied Friends Fiduciary, to divest from companies profiting from the Occupation. They were the first faith-based organization to do this. I’ve been involved in this war 24/7, since October 7th. From my shattered place, I have been learning as much as I can, trying to figure out, what’s this all about? Why are more people not outraged witnessing this carnage? Why is America, so complicit? Where are Quakers now? If God, he, she, they, them, if, they are overseeing this, I believe it is through technology. We are witnessing this carnage in vivid color, what will we do, who will we be? Back when America coined Manifest Destiny, there were no cameras or iPhones. The Torah says, Choose Life, what will you choose, life or death? I challenge every Quaker, to ask themselves what does pacifism mean for you, and to come to consensus in one’s meeting, is that possible? It is the foundation of Quakerism!!! There are many already doing this work, among Christians, Jews, and Moslems, but more need to step up, and from this country, confront the complicity of our government, that is really all that we can do!!! And I believe Quakers have an opportunity to be at the forefront of a Pacifist movement, among other Christian faiths.I am reclaiming Judaism from Zionism, and have found an opening, through a courageous Rabbi, who actually worked for American Friends Service Committee, he started a non- Zionist Synagogue, in Chicago, and I’ve been attending. It is packed with pacifists, who are putting themselves on the line, they are involved with Jewish Voices for Peace, Not in My Name, and this gives me hope, for Judaism, and for the next generation. This movement was not around twenty years ago. If I could create the perfect Religion, for me, it would be, to bring Pacifism to my Friday night Shabbat Table. I am going to read a poem; it is called Another Mother’s Child; this poem is for everyone.Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil – Isaiah 5:20I heard the vengeance in their heartsI felt their anguish, their painBut mostly I felt shame…Is the child of another mother’s blood not worthy of the same?They are not the ones to blameIt’s all the same, and I take claim for that blamePrecious and damned, the child of another mother’s bloodPlease, please, we all must die, but how is the wonder?To whom shall we sit tonight, for whom shall we light the candles of deathI sit forlorn, a call for the soul of a peopleFor whom I hear the bells tollFor whom with obstinance I will grieve, and rememberHow hard the bombs fallIs the blood of another mother’s child not worthy the candles of my plight?I cry tonight, for the soul of a peopleFor somewhere it has died, and somehow must rise out of the ashes of antiquityLet us all mourn, for death is but a burdensome plight that befalls us allTonight I cry for the souls of a peopleWho live by the shame of those who carry their name?I cry for the souls of a people tonightI will not give up this fight, for the shame that I carryIs in the heart of the vengeance I listen to, but do not hearI cry for the souls of a people for fear that from the ashes a spark might not igniteOut of the thunder and wonder of that child in the nightI cry for the soul of my people tonight, out of fright!___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Silence and Creativity in Quaker Meeting #quakers #spirituality #religion #silence QuakerSpeak 2024-03-21 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/sKxhJRtuXJcQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
How God Speaks Through Creativity QuakerSpeak 2024-03-14 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak with a donation! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Filming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:Writing, for me, is a spiritual practice. It is a practice that I do with God, which I look at God as a God of love and also a creative spirit.My name is Lynnette Davis. I use she/her pronouns. I am recently relocated to western Mass and I am a member of Ujima Friends Meeting. At first, when I came to Quakerism and I sat in a completely quiet, silent meeting, I didn't know what to do with myself because I was so used to being preached at, being told what to do, being told that “God told me to tell you”. I felt like I was always at odds with the church of my upbringing because I couldn't just accept things at face value. I was not really allowed to question without being rebuked for my questioning.When I left the church, I was kind of done with religion, but I wanted to know who God was for myself. I wasn't done with God, that was one of the first lessons that I learned within Quakerism that taught me about the way that God can speak, that God can actually speak to me through the silence as well as in the silence itself. That silence became very sacred ground for me because it represents a blank page. And sometimes we're intimidated by the blank page. What do I do from there? What do I write? How am I supposed to create with this empty canvas? But when it's sacred and you know that there is this creative spirit in the midst of that silence imploring you to reach into your heart and to listen from that silence and to hear what is really authentic. In that silence, that you can be so touched by God, God who is always speaking to you -- sometimes In that whisper of the wind, the drum of the heartbeat that you forgot that was beating because we're rushing so much that we don't take time to feel our face, feel our breath, feel the movement of our feet on the ground.It's a very embodied faith. Even just sitting in silence. And that embodiment pours out as creativity The same way you dance with a partner I feel that I write with God as my partner with that creative spirit. If God did not imagine me, then perhaps I could not imagine God, and that there is this co-process type of relationship that we have with one another. Even when my writing seems secular, it is always a process and a journey that I articulate in communion with God.All writing essentially taps into that creative spirit. Because otherwise, where do the words come from? Where they form from? Why do we come up with the ideas that we come up with? Why are we curious about the things that we're curious about? Why do we want to go deeper? These are also the same questions that we ask about spirituality topics. To me, there is no separation. When I'm looking to write something, even if it's a general marketing copy, I'm thinking this is a story around this and how does it touch your heart? How does it call to action? How does it move us? How can we move with it? How can I paint with words? If God is a poet and we are God's art, then I think it's a beautiful experience to know that we're art that also creates art. And it's like, a cycle that is circular and there's no really one particular opening or ending, but a process that continues and continues to shape and move and make more things, make more words, make more life.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Quaker Reparations #quakers #spirituality #religion #history #reparations QuakerSpeak 2024-03-07 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtube.com/watch?v=yg-eMPq5rA4QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Do Quakers Believe in Heaven? QuakerSpeak 2024-02-15 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak with a donation! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos---Filming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:Rashid Darden:I would like to say heaven is a large bookstore and where all the books are free. I think of Heaven as returning to a singular consciousness with the Creator, the Divine, and with my friends and family who had the mysteries of the universe unveiled to them before me.Lucy Duncan:Early Quakers were not interested in heaven. They believed that it was all about focusing on the life that you had. And I believe that we can -- and our role as Quakers is -- to create heaven on earth. And what is involved in that is in transforming relationships, transforming the earth, transforming and moving beyond capitalism and white supremacy. “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us delight in it and rejoice in it.” We can live as though we're creating heaven in the way that we are with other Quakers, with the people that we're interacting with in our families, that we can really think about our life as a as a fractal, a seed for the what broader heaven that we're trying to create.Erin Wilson:I think the scripture context about heaven and the way that we picture it in society doesn't match. We create songs for children to learn about, you know, the mansion in the sky and, you know, in my father's house, there's many rooms created into this fun song. I mean, we've taken so much of our understanding of what heaven is from a vision that one man had and wrote in a different language and then translated it.And also it had to pass through counsels of men who had their own opinions on things to even be put into the Bible. I don't think that it exists in the way that we're taught that it exists, and I think it would be wonderful to live in a peaceful, beautiful society with people after we die. I don't know that I think the way I've been taught is real, and I'm okay with that. Not knowing is totally fine, but I think the certainty that we're taught about what heaven will be like and the truths that exist in Scripture versus things that we've decided, our truths maybe don't align. Lynette Davis: I think that my background in the Baptist Church still forms a lot of my thoughts around concepts like Heaven and Hell. I'm not so sure that I have sat with that from where I sit as a Quaker, but I will say this: I do believe that essentially we are energy and that energy is not really destroyed. And so, even when we leave this vessel, our flesh, that last breath that we take is spirit, our spirit, our energy evolving into the next level of who we are supposed to be, in whatever form that is. In that, there is a place, a container, for that spiritual energy to reunite with God, with the Oneness. And I feel that heaven is that oneness. Khary Bekka:I don't believe in the Theory of Heaven and Hell. It goes against common sense. And I don’t really prescribe to the tenets of the Bible, as people do. Do yourself a workshop, I call this a workshop, where you ask your self: Jealousy..is that a higher or lower human emotion? Higher means a righteous lower means not so righteous. A lower? Okay...discrimination? Higher or lower human tendency? Showing favoritism, is a higher a lower? Revenge? In the Bible, we attribute all these lower/higher characteristics to a higher power when it don’t make logical sense. Understand where I’m coming from? These are lower human characteristics, so how can you be attribute that to a higher power? It don't make rational sense. God feeling as if he's going to punish me, that's a tyrant, that don’t make rational sense. No, Heaven is a mentality that you make in your mind. You hear me? You work to create a heaven on earth, you hear me? That’s internally and you express outwardly till you get a community of people around you. But, as far as reward and punishment and spirituality...no. That doesn't make rational sense. Rashid Darden:Quakers really like the light and use that illusion a lot. But there is also a children's book about God's holy darkness that I want to sort of reference. I think of Heaven as a swirly darkness where all the colors, the people, the things, the institutions, all the knowledge of the universe is in one place together. And that it's an infinite state of being where everything is perfect. I believe that I have dreamed of heaven at times. I believe that heaven is here. I think it's with us. I think it's in a sense something we can't see and can't know in our current state...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools #quakers #spirituality #religion #history #nativeamerican QuakerSpeak 2024-02-08 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtube.com/watch?v=DDyMKYfoE7cQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
The Lasting Trauma of Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools QuakerSpeak 2023-11-23 | LEARN MORE:friendspeaceteams.org/trrboardingschoolhealing.orgyoutu.be/doYRrXjooo0fcnl.org/issues/native-americans QuakerSpeak will resume February 15th, 2024. SUPPORT QuakerSpeak with a donation! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videosFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:One Dakota woman, Zitkala-Sa, was taken to a Quaker boarding school in Indiana at age eight. She talks about what she lost in order to get to, what she called, the “white man's papers.” Through her schooling, she was awarded certificates and graduation papers. But what she lost was her relationship with the natural world, her relationship with her mother, with her community, her connection to Spirit. And she writes about that with such pain. I think most Quakers still don't know our history as participants in this enterprise of forced assimilation of native people. And so the first thing that we have to do is learn the truth.My name is Paula Palmer and I use she/her pronouns. I'm a member of the Boulder meeting, which is part of Intermountain Yearly Meeting, and I live outside of Boulder in a little town called Lewisville, which is in the homeland of the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Ute Peoples. The indigenous people of this country experienced many traumas, beginning with the arrival of Europeans on these shores. The boarding school experience was particularly traumatic for the children, who were taken away from their families -- intentionally separated from their parents and grandparents and communities. And so you can imagine the trauma that they experienced, not only by being physically separated, but by being told that everything about their lives was somehow wrong and that they needed to change everything. From their names to their clothes to their hair. As they left the schools, they faced another really difficult challenge. As they tried, if they tried, to assimilate as they were taught to do, they were never going to be completely accepted as equals. In a racist society dominated by white European Americans. Many of them had lost so much of their indigenous identity by missing those years of growing up in their families and learning the dances and the stories and the songs and the skills of their people. It was very difficult for many of them to return to their families, into their communities and feel at home there. Trauma is passed from generation to generation. As they grew up and started having children, they experienced their parents as being not genuinely affectionate and loving because they had not experienced that themselves as children. They didn't really know how to be in a family, how to create a family, how to be affectionate to their children. Their children grew up lacking that care and comfort and sense of being loved in their own families. And they usually were not taught the indigenous language that their parents had lost in the years that they were not allowed to speak their language in the boarding schools. That generation grows up also feeling that something is missing. One generation after another, that sense of despair is passed down and it can it can be experienced as: persistent poverty, violence, alcoholism. Friends sometimes ask me, “well, how could Quakers have done this? Didn't Quakers at that time see that of God in indigenous people?” I think they did see that of God in individuals. What they didn't see was the intrinsic value of indigenous cultures as a whole. And that's because they were blinded by white supremacy. They were they were blinded by their certainty that their way of life was superior. What can we do now is not something that we ourselves can answer alone. We can only really answer that through dialog with Indigenous people. Being in touch. Reaching out. Meeting Native people where they are. Learning from them. Participating in their activities. Supporting their work in the communities. Their aspirations. And learning through those relationships. Learning through friendships. One thing that Quakers can do, and that is really important to do, is to support this legislation for creating a Truth and Healing Commission. And FCNL, the Friends Committee on National Legislation makes it so easy for us to do that, to contact our senators and representatives. So that's something that we immediately need to do as individuals and as our meetings.Another thing I think that is a direct acknowledgment that the Quaker Indigenous schools attempted to annihilate indigenous languages...___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
How Spirituality informs Earth Care #quakers #spirituality #religion #climatechange QuakerSpeak 2023-11-11 | WATCH the full video here: youtu.be/Vj2mJStKCjkSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videosBecome a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeThe views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
A Quaker Way to Earth Care QuakerSpeak 2023-11-09 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUPPORT QuakerSpeak with a donation! quakerspeak.com/donateSUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Learn more in Cherice Bock's book, " Quakers, Ecology, & the Light": chericebock.com/2023/05/25/published-quakers-ecology-the-lightFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Transcript:The undergirding of all of these peace and justice issues is environment and climate and natural resources. It just kind of clicked, like “Oh, this is a justice issue.” This is...you know...climate change, the environmental harm that we're doing, all of the various pieces of the environment and climate crisis. This is a social justice issue of our time.I'm Cherice Bock, and I use she/her pronouns.I'm from Oregon. I live on Kalapuya land in Willamette Valley. I'm a member at North Valley Friends and a member of Sierra Cascades. Yearly Meeting of Friends.Spirituality and Social Justice are very connected. Friends have, traditionally at least, a contemplative style of of worship, of spirituality. It's sort of a rhythm of spending time being contemplative, spending time waiting and listening. And then we actually do what we hear. And of course, we're listening while we do whatever action that we're doing, as well. I think there's a lot of power and joy and deep rootedness that can come from combining spirituality with social justice. We sometimes tend to think of spirituality as, sort of, escaping our body. Especially for Quakers where we're coming and we're sitting in silence. And a lot of times it can kind of feel like “I'm going to focus on my spirit, sort of get out of my body, ignore my body as much as possible.” That's kind of a problem because we aren't being our full selves. We're just trying to escape ourselves. There's a long history, particularly in the West, if you want to call it that, in the kind of Western cultures of disconnection from the rest of the natural world. This comes from the kind of dualism of nature versus culture and seeing those as a hierarchy. So if you have “culture is better than nature.” And so we're trying to escape nature or control nature in order to create culture or civilization. As Western cultures or European nations colonized other parts of the world. They brought this idea of Western culture as better and nature is worse. And so we should try to escape from nature. For many of us who have been taught that our whole lives kind of subconsciously, it's really hard to feel connected to the natural world, or we feel it's sort of like subversive to do that, or it's sort of not as good as living, really disconnected from nature. So it's a really hard thing to break down, I think, in many Americans minds and actions.My friend Christy Randazzo and I have been trying to think about “how do we bring a way of caring for the environment from within the Quaker tradition.” And so we started thinking about the metaphor of the light, the light within or the inward light, the light of Christ. People use different terms, but the light is this concept that's important to friends across the centuries and across different parts of the Quaker tradition. And so kind of developed this eco theology of light that helps us transform that metaphor of the light from within the Quaker tradition to something that has ecological significance. We as humans experience some of the light. Many of us can see by the light. We can feel the light on our skin. It keeps us warm. We can't process all of the things that the light has to offer. We need other species in order to process all of the things that the light has to offer to our whole community. As the light comes into our community, different species and different individuals within those species process different parts of the light and are able to make possible different aspects of energy and nourishment within that ecosystem that we wouldn't have if that species wasn't there. All of these systems that we need function because of the light and so humanity by ourselves can't receive all of our nourishment without all of those other species, without the whole community working together....___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
How Quaker Testimonies Combat Racism #quakers #religion #equity QuakerSpeak 2023-11-04 | WATCH the full video here: youtu.be/ScXDV85tlfISUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videosBecome a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeThe views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
How Quaker Testimonies Can Combat White Supremacy QuakerSpeak 2023-10-26 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:I have been very interested in Tema Okun’s work on white supremacy culture, and some of the characteristics of white supremacy culture, that include aspects like: perfectionism, either or kind of binary thinking, one right answer, individualism, urgency. And one of the things that I've noticed is that that is true across my world, my life, and it is especially true often in Quaker communities.Antidotes to white supremacy culture, including an openness to multiple perspectives, a slowing down, connection to reflection and a commitment to reflection -- all of that is reflective of what our Quaker principles are aswell.I am Lauren Brownlee. She/her pronouns. I am from Washington, DC and I am a member at Bethesda Friends Meeting in Baltimore, Yearly Meeting. I believe that Quakers are uniquely called from our principles and practices to lean into racial equity principles, to engage in the antidotes to white supremacy culture. Many of the Quaker testimonies give us guidance for how we might engage in racial equity work. The testimony of peace as an example.When I think about the peace testimony, I think about our being open to a range of ways that people engage. A range of beliefs, that people might have. A range of worldviews and backgrounds and how we are in community, which is another of the testimonies, together. Our peace testimony invites us into and openness. Our testimony of integrity invites us into listening to that of God within us, and being integrous in the way that we listen for that voice of the divine and then act from a place of that deep listening.Our community testimony invites us to think about who all is in our community. How do we have expanding, overlapping concentric circles of community. And how are we caring uniquely for each member of our community? How are we answering to that of God in them, even if it looks different from that of God within us, which it will because we are all unique and our testimony of community says to us we are stronger together -- When we each have a measure of light, when we each have a measure of truth, when we each have that measure of the divine. And then it takes community. It takes listening to everyone in that community to be our best selves, to build that beloved community that I believe we are striving for. That truly is with equity and justice for all.And then when I think about the equity principle, the equality principle that says to me that we need to understand that our measure of truth, that our measure of light is not greater than the person next to us, that we are answering that of God within them as well, and that we have to hold up those different worldviews as different perspectives as being just as important as being just as essential in beloved community building as our own are. Even when that feels uncomfortable for us, that that sense of discomfort is often our growing and leaning into that growth, leaning into something that is unfamiliar, that helps us to be stronger as a community. And then finally, stewardship, which we often think of as environmental stewardship, which is very important as well. And when we think about stewardship of communities, when we think about stewardship of relationships, that stewardship is also an invitation for us to be thoughtful about how we are building relationships across our communities, about how we are stewarding these principles and practices that are at the foundation of our Quaker faith.It is important for us to hold on to the fact that white supremacy culture is ever present in Quaker communities and our antidotes are right there, present alongside these aspects of white supremacy culture that we encounter.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
What is Discernment in Quakerism? #listening #religion #quakers QuakerSpeak 2023-10-20 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtu.be/FgjFbbs2x2oQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
What is Discernment? QuakerSpeak 2023-10-12 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28 http://fdsj.nl/FJ-SubscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:How would I describe discernment...How would I describe discernment? Discernment, on the most basic level is, about differentiating my will versus God's will. We try to do that within ourselves and also in our community.Well, my name is JT Dorr-Bremme. I use he/him pronouns. I live in State College, Pennsylvania. And I attend Upper Susquehanna Quarterly meeting and Three Rivers meeting online. The reason Quakers talk about discernment so much is because we don't have the clergy or the Creed or the book that we can refer to and say, Is this God's will or not? So we have to figure it out for ourselves. And I think that it's actually a really powerful practice if it's done right, because we can find ourselves, sometimes suddenly or surprisingly, in unity about what is the right path forward. And it feels really good when that happens.The process, I guess, varies depending on what the community wants or is used to or is willing to try. I guess let's say, let's say that we're discerning together, and I'm going to help you make a decision. We sit in silence for a while. You get some information out of that and then share it with me, right? To say “here's the choice I'm trying to make. Here's what led up to it. Here's how I feel about some of it, or some concerns that I have. Here's some things that I might want to happen or ways that I want to feel when I'm done.”And I think for me, for my role, it would be a lot of listening to hear all of that and take it in and then to reflect some of it back. And I think that that's how we should attend to each other, because that's how I think we should be attending to the divine, that it will speak.You know, if heard the still small voice, right, that we all carry around that voice of God inside us, we can amplify that voice in each other and we can identify it when we're hearing it and that we can speak from it to each other.It’s an incredible gift. It gives a person a sense of really being attended to and that what they say matters. And that's an act of love, that giving of one's self in terms of time and attention and saying I care about what you have to say and, I'm going to put my whole being into hearing what that is.These days in our country, people talk about how we're so divided. And I really believe that it's that no one feels truly heard. There's suffering on all sides. And that doesn't justify any of the noxious behaviors that result from that. But I believe that those behaviors are the result of unmet needs. And one of those needs is to be valued, to be heard and respected. And it doesn't require agreement, it doesn't require identification. It just requires listening. Because when people are listened to, they will disclose themselves. And I believe that eventually they will understand why they're in pain. And pain is something we all understand. If we could give that gift to each other, I really believe that we'd be better off.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Spirituality in RV Life #rvlifestyle #quakers QuakerSpeak 2023-10-07 | WATCH THE FULL VIDEO! youtube.com/watch?v=IlexherRvrsQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Spirituality on the Road: Five Years of Quaker RV Living QuakerSpeak 2023-09-28 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:As we go, we see so many people in trauma. From health, from the climate, homeless. It’s tragic, and I wrote once of going to the woods and weeping but not being paralyzed because there's still laughter to share, there's courage, there's joy. No matter what I plan or don't plan or what we intend or don't, the Holy Spirit can see you through it. And lots of times what happens is way better than what we planned.I'm Betsey Gray Kenworthy. Pronouns she/her, or any pronouns. And my home meeting is Multnomah Friends Meeting in Portland, Oregon.Our true speaking son said he didn't exactly say “You're getting old”, but just about. “You do realize that this is too much for you, this acre and this old house. And you really need to downsize.” I think we were expected to get an apartment in town, but my husband and I had spent two years way earlier sailing and adventuring, and we thought not quite through with that yet. So I said, careful what you say, maybe we should get a trailer because I don't want to camp on the ground anymore.So within a very short day, we had decided to sell everything. We told them in February, we bought the trailer in March, the house was on the market in April, and we moved in started moving about in May. I knew the that it was the right thing to do. The spirit was clear that this was time, the season to do this.For me spiritually, you ask if it was a spiritual decision, maybe all our decisions are spiritual. But yes, this is a season for me to lay down all these attachments. And it was much harder than I thought. The attachments to my mother's desk, to my early teddy bear, to my dear home and garden and fruit trees, to being able to have anybody come anytime and be welcome, and to be part of that community and to have our grandson come. I didn't have that anymore. I needed to lay those things down and just be present each day.Last April, we had a month planned to visit New Mexico, Grand Canyon, all these beautiful places, Albuquerque. And my dear cousin died suddenly. We turned around. We spent some time at this beautiful desert spot that we found to get centered, and then we spent a month with her family because we can. So having the opportunity to move where we're called to move.For me, one of the richest things is having the time to listen, to listen to what the spirit has to say. So in the morning, I’ll take an hour to just be present with my husband or with and then I'll go off. And over the years I've developed an hour of meditative exercise and song and blessing, and I'll do the yoga and the Tai chi and then walking and singing. How can we keep from singing? Lots of places where we are, there's nobody else. So I can sing at the top of my lungs and bless you to the four directions. So that I will bless those to the east and those to the south and the West and the North with this song and with actual movement of blessing.I have no fear. I guess that's one thing I want to say. People say “Aren't you afraid?” No. Sorrow? Concern? Sure. God, the presence, the sacredness is here everywhere. And if I've learned anything in these five years, particularly, it's that I my security is not in my home and my place, as it kind of was in some ways. This land where I am, this place where I am, is imbued with sacred presence.So I need to take that time each morning to be present where I am and be grateful for that. I mean, I've done it on parking lots and I've just decided that if I'm in an RV park with these big fancy coaches, so what? Maybe they'll think I'm doing Tai chi when I'm doing my four direction blessing. Because I need to center, I need to know that here is part of the blessed planet and the blessed community. And that daily presence is a huge joy. And I want to tell people you can do that no matter what's going on. That Gift of presence is yours.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Supporting Friends With Mental Health Issues — Quaker Faith & Mental Health QuakerSpeak 2023-09-14 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Transcript:Lately, in the last few years, I've had more what I would call “spiritual experiences”, that are hard sometimes to separate them from psychological ones. And, as I mentioned before, the fact that I have a mental illness, bipolar disorder. So you can be very high or very low and especially on the times when I'm very high, that's when I feel more in touch with the universe.Okay, so my name is Carl Blumenthal, and my personal pronouns are he/him/his. I live in West Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, and I attend Brooklyn Monthly Meeting. It was around the beginning of 2000 or so when I decided, I had been an urban planner (urban health planner) for like 25 years, and decided it was time for me to give back to the community that I had acknowledged as being part of, which is people living with mental health conditions.And I became what's called a peer counselor using my experience of of mental illness and adding to that training from other people who have gone through it themselves. So that's what I've been doing for the last 20 years or so. During the pandemic when I was working for NYC Well, it's the city's mental health hotline crisis line, I had many encounters of of a spiritual kind and it's amazing how deeply you can connect with people over the phone or even through chat and texting when you know people are vulnerable and they're reaching out for help and you're their lifeline. I mean, I help people who are in the process of trying to kill themselves, you know, get, get help. You know, essentially, you're recognizing that of God and everyone and encouraging the healing process, the natural healing process that everybody can tap into if they're open enough to it. And I think that spiritual experiences is often an important part of the healing process for for people.The reason I'm interested in the connection between Quakers and mental health is that George Fox himself I think was going through -- you might call it -- an existential crisis, you might call it a severe depression, when he found himself on Pendle Hill and discovered, or rediscovered, Christ and realized that Jesus spoke to his condition. As a result, he went on to heal a lot of people, I think both psychologically as well as spiritually.In the late 1700s, the York Retreat was founded in York, England. At the time, people with mental illness were being chained in dungeons, and that was, you know, they were treated like criminals or poor people, I mean, all lumped together in that same inhumane way. And this Philadelphia Minister, Thomas Scattergood, went over there. He suffered from a depression himself. And he learned from the principles of the York Retreat to bring them back to Philadelphia. And he helped found Friends Hospital. It was called Friends Asylum at the time. This is about 1813. So that was the first private psychiatric hospital in the U.S..So, when I wrote my first article about this was during the pandemic about Quakers and Quaker therapies, how they were reacting to the mental health challenges of the pandemic, I cited this history.My ability to write has at times saved my life. Being able to be in touch with my unconscious, both spiritually and psychologically. And then at other times when I've had writer's block, it's resulted in depression and even suicide attempts. So it's a kind of a double edged sword. I think there's probably a history of creative people who've also had mental health conditions, particularly those who have had bipolar disorder. And so I feel like I'm in that tradition. And I guess you can say I'm a descendant of George Fox in that way. I'm sure on Pendle Hill he was pretty high!___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Connecting Differently Abled Friends and Allies in Quaker Meetings QuakerSpeak 2023-08-31 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Excerpt:Differently Abled Friends and Allies is a working group, under the care of New York Yearly Meeting, where people with or without disabilities can come together and learn from one another's experiences. "I think Quakers are open to discussing things... but sometimes they have to be prompted," says Nichole Nettleton, who joined DAFA for support in living with her disabilities, but has become an active facilitator of the group's work."Because they don't know, they're not sure, they don't want to offend someone," Nichole elaborates, noting that people who have disabilities often want to discuss their experiences. "They want to be asked; they want to be included.… When it's not brought up, when it's intentionally avoided, it gets really awkward, and it makes it feel like they can't talk about it."Nichole offers guidance on how Quakers can be more supportive of members and seekers with disabilities: "Be there for people. Be intentional. And being there doesn't always mean doing something every minute. It can mean listening, just like when you're in meeting for worship—the silence is not passive; it's a very active thing."(In this video, Nichole uses the terms "differently abled" and "people with disabilities" interchangeably. Other people with disabilities may find "differently abled" offensive. If you're not sure how to talk to someone about their condition, follow Nichole's advice and ask respectfully!)___Transcript:I think that Quakers are open to discussing things about different abilities. But sometimes they have to be prompted because they don't know. They're not sure. They don't want to send someone. But I found with people who have disabilities that they want to be asked, they want to be included. When it's not brought up, when it's like intentionally avoided, it gets really awkward and it makes it feel like they can't talk about it, which, I know, is not the intended purpose.My name is Nicole Nettleton and I live in Freeville, New York. I attend the Ithaca meeting and I kind of avoiding pronouns right now. I have autism and it's considered a communication problem, but I find out that I can communicate a lot better than a lot of people who don't have communication problems. Like, diagnosed communication problems. I think that I'm intentional about trying to communicate. Instead of ignoring what I don't understand I ask questions and I try to do it in respectful ways and people appreciate it.I think the Quaker community can support differently abled people as well as regular members. Be there for people, be intentional. And being there doesn't always mean doing something every minute. It can mean listening. Just like when you're in meeting for worship. The silence is not passive. It's a very active thing and people feel that. Remember that everybody is different. And some people it's just more different than others in certain ways and try to be inclusiveDifferently Abled Friends and Allies is a, well, it's a subgroup that New York Yearly Meeting. And I did not start it. And the whole point isn't about the disabilities, it's about connecting to people. You don't have to be disabled to be in this group. I want everybody to come to this group because people should be aware of each other and what each other is dealing with and how they can help. Dealing with disabilities, it's really easy to slip into kind of negative feelings about the world and things, and you have to work really hard to hold onto anything. Anything good that makes you happy, anything good that makes you feel lighter, makes you feel positive. You hold on to all those things. And I do that through music. And one of the ones I was listening to was a song by JJ Heller:Trees are made for climbing, these days are made for sun; puddles made for jumping,fields are made to run. Stars are made for counting,and my wish is coming true.Sleep is made for dreaming,and I have dreams for you. May you never lose the wonder in your soul. May you always have a blanket for the cold.May the living light inside you be the compass as you goOh, may you always know you have my hand to hold.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Growing the Community of Friends - Embracing Diversity in Quakerism QuakerSpeak 2023-08-17 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___The surprising thing about my journey in the Quaker faith is that despite it being a predominantly white faith community, that I'm still able to show up as my entire self and not be penalized for it or punished for it and, in fact, to be celebrated for it. And I notice that about the Quaker faith and people that identify as Friends, that we are all unapologetic in our own way about our ways of being and ways of showing up in the world. And I can't help but think that that is divine intervention. That is nothing but God, that is not "we all read the same book and came to the same conclusions". It's that we looked within, and listened, and were led to the same place.My name is Rashid Darden. My pronouns are he/him/his, I live in Conway, North Carolina. And I worship with Friends Meeting of Washington in Washington, D.C., virtually at the nine o'clock hour It's tough to articulate what you are to people who simply may not be there, may not be interested, or there are other faith communities that are more prevailing. The Religious Society of Friends is one of the smallest denominations, if you will, in North America at least. Quaker faith is largely white in this country and is very, in some places, middle class and in some places very agrarian. So if we want to diversify the religious society of friends in locations like New York or Washington, you are, you know, if you're looking for black people, you're competing with the black Protestant tradition.But I don't think the answer is simply "Let's go find one community. Let's go find a particular segment". There's data out there that discusses people who are making the decision to be spiritual but not religious. What a lot of people are doing is leaving Christianity altogether. And I would say as someone who almost wasn't a Christian myself, that the Quaker faith was the last stop before I decided to not be religious at all. I believe that that ought to be the prevailing narrative and that we can't propagate the Quaker faith by having babies and hoping they decide to be Quakers. We should propagate outwards as much as we propagate up and down, if that makes sense.In addition to understanding that we ought to be catching people before they leave wherever their first home was, we have to do smart things like bilingual literature. That if you're in a city like Washington with a lot of Spanish speaking immigrants, your meeting materials need to be in Spanish or Amharic or French or whatever works for your local community. We have to experiment with meeting days and times. We have to experiment with worship as a community practice, meaning part of a monthly meeting, or worship as a service. Entities like Friends General Conference and Pendle Hill do offer virtual worship, which is very important, and I would hope that those experiences also share the next logical step: Here's how you find a community of your own. Here's how you go from recipients of a service to participant in a community. And if our entities, whatever our Quaker entities are not doing that, then they're not investing in the growth of the Religious Society of Friends.We should invest resources in folks that are conversant in the languages of the communities that we want to attract. And that doesn't just mean foreign languages. That means someone like me who is from a particular Protestant experience, from a particular kind of city that is steeped in a pro-black tradition. How do we generate the conversations around how to attract people that look like me? If people that look like me are not in leadership of those initiatives. Those are things to think about. Those are things to talk about. But most importantly, those are things to act on. Even if we fail, we have to be okay with failing and pivoting and causing the least amount of harm. But we cause more harm to the community when we don't try.I think we have to cast off the fear. And I think that we need to cast on whatever armor we need to do this work. The Quaker faith is not a country club. It's not a legacy society. The most important Quaker is the friend who is yet to be convinced. My personal ministry is one that is so convinced that Quakerism is one of the best possible paths to take that it would be wrong for me to keep quiet about it, that it would be wrong for me not to share my story, George Fox, the Valiant Sixty, whoever your favorite Quaker hero is, did not do this work so that it could die along bloodlines. It's supposed to be continued. The revelation is supposed to continue through bodies, through living people who can then tell others.
Where We Touch God, and God Touches Us QuakerSpeak 2023-08-03 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videosfriendsjournal.org/utterly-naked-before-god___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Excerpt:"Putting language on the experience of that of God within us, I think, is a risky business," says Christopher Sammond. "Any language is inadequate, and language that I might use will not speak to somebody else." Nevertheless, we have to try!"There's a place where I touch God, and God touches me," Christopher explains—and, he tells us, one of the most powerful times he felt that touch was during a retreat at Pendle Hill, when Spirit had a message he wasn't prepared to accept at first.___Transcript:Etty Hillesum, who was a Jewish woman who lived during the Holocaust and then died in the camps, wrote some incredible pieces in her diary before she died. And one of them is talking about how she didn't blame God for their situation and that all she felt that she could do was to take care of that piece of God in her and not worry about tomorrow, but to protect that that tender place in her. And I think there's some real wisdom in that that need for each of us to tend with skill that place in us where we touch God, and God touches us.My name is Christopher Sammond. My pronouns are he/him/his. I live in upstate New York, in the Finger Lakes area, and I worship at Poplar Ridge Friends meeting. Putting language on the experience of that of God within us, I think, is a risky business. Any language is inadequate and language that I might use will not speak to somebody else.The way I experience it and the way I understand it is there's the place within me in the deepest well of my heart, there's a place where I touch God and God touches me and it's like a connection point. You know, Quakers are not the only ones to have had this be part of their experience, although for us it really is foundational. George Fox, one of the founders of Quakerism, his initial experience of hearing that there is one that can speak to your condition.Other mystical traditions also have that and use different language. One of my favorites is from the Upanishads, it's just a short poem, "Two birds sit on a branch. One eats the fruit, the other watches." In our lives, we have the very good and necessary part of ourselves that motors through life, that has a family, that has a job, that has relationships and experiences. That's the bird that eats the fruit and the one that watches would be, what I would name, the divine within.It'd be hard for me to name the first time I experienced something that felt like the divine, either in Quaker worship or in my life, because there were lots of little nudges and smaller experiences along the way that kept me coming back for more. And yet I can say that by the time I'd been attending friends for five years and went on a very powerful leading to go to Pendle Hill, I still didn't have a sense of an ongoing connection with the Living Divine. And I could see 'that' in some of the other residents at Pendle Hill. I could see they had something I wanted, but I didn't even know what it was. But I could tell that they had something that I was after.That was a hard time for me. We had daily worship and after a while, what I started hearing every day in worship was you need to be out of that relationship. And it was the best relationship I'd ever had. And so I felt like "Can we turn the dial and get another living God to speak to me here?"And so I wrestled with that for weeks. And then one day in worship, I was felt a leading to speak the 23rd song. And I got as far as the line "...And I will fear not for thou art with me..." when the reality of that hit me with such force that it was like my whole world split open. And I dissolved in a puddle of tears with the full sense that what I'd been seeking so ardently had always been with me and always been available. I just didn't know how to feel it, recognize it, connect with it.So that was a a foundational moment for me where it wasn't just a little leading or a hearing or giving some vocal ministry that felt like it had some power to it. It was really experiencing that, what we talk about in Friends, as everyone has that of God within them. Experiencing that presence in a full and powerful way.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Coming Out To Myself In Quaker Community QuakerSpeak 2023-07-20 | QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell ___Excerpt:As the members of Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends wrestled with leaving their former yearly meeting over, among other issues, the question of LGBTQ+ inclusion, Erin Wilson felt a strong personal investment in the matter. "I realized that I was getting very defensive about the way that LGBTQ+ folks were being treated," she recalls. "It took several months for me to figure out, 'Oh! It’s because I’m not straight.'"Erin currently identifies as bisexual. "I’m still figuring out what exactly that means," she says, and drawing upon her Quaker faith has been vital in that process. Take, for example, the testimony of equality: "If we’re all equal," she asks, "why does one aspect of our identity matter?"___Transcript:Being able to question things, which I think is important as part of Quaker faith anyway, was very helpful for me to figure out that...Huh? I'm not who I thought I was, and that's okay.My name is Erin Wilson. I use she/her pronouns. I live in Tualatin, Oregon, and I am a direct member of Sierra-Cascades Yearly Meeting of Friends.The history of Sierra-Cascades is challenging for me to name because I was not present for all of the formational aspects prior to becoming its own yearly meeting. There was a lot of tension within Northwest Yearly Meeting, which is the year the meeting that Sierra-Cascades split off of. I think there was a lot more going on, but the issue that they pinpointed it on was LGBTQ+ inclusion.It was through all of that that I came out to myself because I grew up in evangelical culture where a woman is assumed straight and will end up married to a man. Through all of the things going on with the split and the church that I was a part of at the time, and all of the conversations happening, I realized that I was getting very defensive about the way that LGBTQ+ folks were being treated. And so it took several months for me to figure out, Oh, it's because I'm not straight!It also became clear that when I really deconstructed my concept of sexuality and who I could or couldn't marry, there was no reason that I saw for me not to marry a woman other than that I just hadn't been in a relationship with a woman, and I had not been in a relationship with a man, so the possibilities were open. And so I've chosen the label bisexual, and I'm still figuring out what exactly that means.Being able to use Quaker values to help me process that, it was important to me. I mean, I think of the testimony of equality, and that was something that was important to me with the whole experience of the conversation happening in Northwest Yearly Meeting that led to the split and then Sierra-Cascades formation, just knowing that if we're all equal, why does one aspect of our identity matter.But as far as the the process with Sierra-Cascades, I think it was helpful for me to arrive at a place where I was affirming of others in their sexual orientations and gender identities to be able to say, Oh, well, what if mine is not what I have assumed my whole life? And being able to question things which I think is important as part of Quaker faith anyway, was very helpful for me to figure out that...Huh? I'm not who I thought I was, and that's okay.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Healing From Abuse in Quaker Communities QuakerSpeak 2023-06-29 | Life and Power: lifeandpowerquakerdiscernmentonabuse.comDomestic Violence Hotline: thehotline.orgQuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Christopher Cuthrell___Excerpt:Windy Cooler is a survivor of domestic violence within her Quaker community. "It never occurred to me to be angry about my experience because I thought I was just alone," she told us. "And it became clear that I wasn’t alone as I was doing child care as I was doing child care and religious education in my yearly meeting.…As I heard the stories of people that I knew and loved, stories that I never anticipated would be true, I found a tremendous amount of anger inside myself about what was happening in our community."Eventually, that anger came together with the enduring love she had for her community, and she became a public minister.___Transcript:My work to recognize and heal from abuse as a community is entirely informed by Quaker discernment practices and by the theology of the God within. That the God inside of me needs to speak to the God inside of you, and that together we are making the space through corporate discernment for that to happen, through waiting worship for that to happen.Healing From Abuse in Quaker Communities.My name is Windy Cooler. I use she/her pronouns. I attend Sandy Spring Friends meeting in Sandy Spring, Maryland, and I live in Greenbelt, Maryland. As a survivor of domestic violence in a Quaker context, it never occurred to me to be angry about my experience because I thought I was just alone. And it became clear that I wasn't alone. As I was doing childcare and my yearly meeting and doing religious education at my yearly meeting, other women, other children, were having experiences of interpersonal violence. As I heard the stories of people that I knew and loved, stories that I never anticipated would be true, I found a tremendous amount of anger inside myself about what was happening in our community. I thought at first it was just me, and then I thought it was just my monthly meeting, and then I thought it was just my yearly meeting, and then as I kept trying to find a community to find wisdom from I realized it was all of the Religious Society of Friends. And eventually that anger turned into something else.That anger was combined with the love I felt for us, and I became a public minister. Life and Power is born out of many Mother's. Life and power is the culminating project, I think, of this ministry that I have carried for a decade in response to abuse. It is also the result of a fellowship with Odyssey Impact that I received in 2022, and it was brought into life by these listeners and a discernment process that I created with Margaret Webb. It is a project with so many authors and so much effort and wisdom has gone into it.A safer space for Quaker survivors is a safer space for everyone. And I think that Quakers want to create safer spaces for each other because we do genuinely care for one another. Our religious community is one of intense personal connection, so it makes a lot of sense for us to create safer spaces for the real lived experiences of those among us.I think fundamentally a safer space for survivors and for everyone would be a space in which there is no anxiety about telling the truth about your experience of the world, whatever it is. There would be spaces that are clearly made for telling the truth in. And I think that to some extent we already have that in our structures. But a real emphasis on accompaniment in our pastoral care is absolutely necessary for building these safer spaces for all of us. I think that simultaneous to accompaniment work, to finding our wisdom as friends to tell each other the truth about our lives, we are also going to need to find solutions to the problem of having no time. It's absolutely essential in any relationship, including our relationships at meeting, to have the time to be tender.I am completely committed to Quakerism and to Quaker community and to individual Quakers. Despite all the conflict, despite all the ways in which I have been hurt and damaged inside of this community, I've also been healed and lifted up and taught things that I would never learn anywhere else. I stay here because I love us and because I believe that I am loved.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
Examining the Quaker Peace Testimony QuakerSpeak 2022-12-15 | QuakerSpeak is a bi-weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Rebecca Hamilton-LeviMusic: The Caretaker by Isaac Joel___Transcript:The peace testimony today is one of the things that binds, I think, all Friends across our very wide theological spectrum. Friends of all branches come together around the peace testimony and the recognition of the reality that God calls us to walk the path of peace. I think that's a beautiful thing that we still have unity in that even as our practice, our way of experiencing God and worshiping God, can be so different. For me, I'm still very much spoken to by that image of the lion laying down with the lamb and the peaceable kingdom of pounding our swords into plowshares and instead of focusing on ways of imposing our will on others, really living into that nurturing faithfulness.Examining the Quaker Peace TestimonyMy name is Adria Gulizia. I live in Newark, New Jersey and I attend Chatham-Summit Friends Meeting in Chatham, New Jersey.The peace testimony was first authoritatively articulated in the 1660 Declaration to King Charles II, and what's interesting about that articulation is that it was both a theological statement and political statement. The theological statement is, you know, as followers of Christ, we believe that we have been disarmed by the gospel. We are no longer going to lift up weaponry against our fellow man. We instead will only engage in the spiritual warfare described in Ephesians six, what Friends would come to call the Lamb's War, of praying for each other ,of preaching the gospel, of living in the power of the Spirit. The political side, however, is that there was a lot of tumult-- basically civil war in England that time, and by making this declaration it was basically saying, look, as Quakers were harmless. We're not gonna get on any army's side. We're not going to try to overthrow the government. We're safe, please just leave us alone to pray, and by doing that Early friends protected the fledgling Quaker movement from political persecution.Do We Need the Peace Testimony Today?Early Friends were fond of quoting the scripture verse that, you know, we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It's not enough to look at the past and say, oh well those faithful people in the past did X and therefore I today must do X. We have to encounter that spiritual reality for ourselves, and so as we consider the peace testimony it's not enough to say, oh well, George Fox said this and Barclay said that. The question as it was in Fox's time is what canst thou say. And so, you know, I think Friends today certainly, you know— I, in this moment, have to always go back to the beginning. Okay, do I believe that the Spirit that spoke through Jesus that said, you know, lay down your sword; that said, resist not the evil person; that's informed Christians and Quakers for the last 2000 years: do I believe that that Spirit has changed? Have I experienced the reality of that Spirit? Have I experienced that feeling of being disarmed?For myself in my own life, I have been disarmed in several ways. I used to be somewhat—- somewhat. I used to be extremely competitive, verbally more than anything, but with that streak that not only wanted to be right, but wanted to be better than you; that wanted to kind of rub your nose in the fact that you were wrong. That's the spirit of violence. And so what does it mean to lay down violence in interpersonal relationships as well as outward violence, as well as other types of coercion?More: quakerspeak.com/video/peace___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
The Secret to True Communication QuakerSpeak 2022-12-01 | QuakerSpeak is a bi-weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Rebecca Hamilton-LeviMusic: "Currents" by Marie___Transcript:After the Trump election there was a training before the Women's March for people to do bystander intervention training. So I took that training; I started doing bystander intervention trainings at the Meeting and other places, and as it increasingly became clear that the division in the country was becoming deeper and deeper and sharper and sharper, and that it was in part a regional difference and in part a cultural difference and finally a political difference, and that those things all overlay— But you know, I grew up in Texas. I'm 6th generation southerner. In many ways I can talk, as one of my friends put it, NPR versus Nascar. I definitely can talk Nascar but I can also— I'm educated, I hang out with liberals, I can also talk NPR. And so I felt like I had a gift there that I could share with people.The Secret to True CommunicationJ.E. McNeil. Washington, D.C. I'm a member of Friends Meeting of Washington D.C.So I wanted to take this gift that I have of my ability to talk to people who have different viewpoints than mine and try to find a way to help other people do that. So this program first talks about how perspectives-- how we often think that what I see is the only answer. And I created one of those ubiquitous tubes where one side looks like this and another side looks like that and they all interconnect and you know, you go, “Oh, look at that! We're looking at the same thing, but we see different things.” You know, it's a starting point. It's a starting point about just saying, you know, look, I disagree with my Trump supporter friends, I disagree with my anti-abortion birther friends, but we can talk about those topics, and so the whole program is about how do you do that? And it's actually a lot harder than most people think.Strategies for Actual CommunicationThe most effective thing you can do in communication with others is to listen; not to listen in order to format your argument, not to listen in order to come up with what I think is the incredibly passive aggressive system of nonviolent communication. It's to actually just listen. And then the second most important thing you do, which I learned from a young woman who had been an Evangelical Christian who went online and started trying to post to convince people to believe that Jesus was their personal Lord and savior, and she ended up marrying a non-christian, you know, agnostic guy. And she said how she got there was he asked her questions and he asked her enough questions— really asking her questions about her faith, not attacks, but you know, not do you really believe Jesus? You know, not that kind of a question, but can you give me an example of how Jesus is your personal Lord and savior? So a real question, and then that made her free to ask her own questions.So those are the two most valuable tools that I find almost never get used: actually really listening and actually being curious about what the other person has to say. I mean it does work to have a conversation and why is that enough? It's enough, because it's the only way that you will ever get anywhere else. You can't start persuading people until you're actually communicating, and if you're going in with the idea of persuading you're never going to communicate. So that's the program, and I've done it multiple times. I even can manage to do it in a Zoom meeting format, which is not my favorite, but it's possible, and I think it's a valuable program and hopefully at some point I'll be able to get back to traveling and/or by Zoom doing it again.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
My Experience as a Young Adult Quaker QuakerSpeak 2022-11-03 | QuakerSpeak is a bi-weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Rebecca Hamilton-LeviMusic: Moment of Truth by David H___Transcript:I would say a lot of my Quaker practice, when I really started to question and understand and intentionally decide to participate in meetings and in the Faith, really started to happen during my time in college. Quakerism was always a very grounding space for me throughout my whole life, but in college when I was away from my home community, I started to, you know, feel that longing for the space of home and stillness and reflection that Quakerism really brought. So yeah, I've kind of enjoyed continuing looking for that everywhere I go.My Experience as a Young Adult QuakerI'm Calliope George. I'm currently living at Pennington Friends House in New York City and I'm a sojourning Friend of New York Yearly Meeting.I was first introduced to Quakerism as a two year old I believe. My parents were looking for preschool program and they found one at New Garden Friends School. I think learning so much about the Quaker process as a child gave me tools to really listen and search for conversation and understanding, and it became very much part of my life and it has remained part of my life.How Quakerism Serves Young Adult FriendsI've spent time as a young adult Friend in several different meetings, and a lot of times I've been able to find other young Friends who are about my age in those spaces, but you know, we are somewhat far and few between (or can be). I think it's easy to get caught up ad concerned about our different age brackets within the religion, but I think Quakerism speaks for itself in a lot of ways, as it always has, and especially Friends of my generation. This idea of constant conversation and queries and looking within and seeing good in other people and other things; finding bridges to have hard conversations, I think my generation really appreciates that and in a lot of ways is searching for that. So I think continuing to be spaces where we uplift those challenging conversations and provide tools to have tough conversations is really, really important, now more than ever, and that's something that I incredibly appreciate.Recognizing Generational Differences in ContributionSomething that I really want to uplift is the wisdom Quakerism, especially in very weighty Friends, is recognizing that young people's schedules look very different from a lot of weighty Friend's schedules, and I think that's really beautiful to be able to have intergenerational relationships with one another and be able to spend time together. I think sharing actual time and space together, whether now it's virtually or in-person, I think that's really important that we do that and practice that. That being said, Friends (regardless of age) are going to have different responsibilities in their own personal lives that sometimes don't allow for as much contribution. So I think recognizing that and really giving space to thank those who recognize that and are still able to be warm and welcoming and inviting for when Friends do have time and space is beautiful, and I've really, really appreciated all of the communities I've been part of acknowledging that it can be difficult to balance sometimes, but always always being open and inviting.___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
What to Expect at a Quaker Memorial Service QuakerSpeak 2022-10-20 | QuakerSpeak is a bi-weekly video series. New video every other THURSDAY! SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-SubscribeWATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos___Support QuakerSpeak and Friends Journal as a sustaining member: friendsjournal.org/subscribeFilming and Editing by Rebecca Hamilton-LeviMusic: ___Transcript:Peter Murchison: Well, I will say that Quakers really do weddings and funerals well and most people that attend a wedding or Quaker funeral come away going, “Wow.” You know, “What was that all about?” Often more than half the people that will attend are not Quakers and very often they all come away saying, “I’d like to hear a little bit more about this. I've never had an experience like that.”What to Expect at a Quaker Memorial ServiceCarl Macgruder: So Quaker memorials are a marvelous way of memorializing, of remembering someone who has traveled among us, and so I think the Quaker memorial really, it's a beautiful and very accessible way to honor those who have come before.Debbie B. Ramsey: One of the things that I would say that is very, very distinctive is the silence and reflection. That with the Quaker memorials, I feel that ample time is given, for not just the family to reflect but those in attendance to reflect in like fashion, and I have noticed that in doing so we become one in the departure of the person that the memorial is for.Lisa Graustein: I’ve been to a number of Quaker memorial services, some at a Quaker church and some at a Quaker meeting. Most of the ones I've been to have been part of unprogrammed meetings. What I appreciate about a Quaker memorial service is the acknowledgement that it is a time to honor the life that was lived, that each of us present holds some piece of the person that we have lost, and in many of the ones that I've been a part of there's also a real focus on what do the people who are closest to the person who has passed really need in that moment. And so there's a real tending to celebrating a life, being present with grief, and acknowledging those closest and what they might be needing from the community.The History of a Memorial MinuteCarl: It usually starts with a memorial minute, and these memorial minutes used to be collected and Quakers had collections that were called “piety promoted” and they would write down the dying testimony of friends because it was felt that death was a final apotheosis, it was a final joining with God, and that as people got closer and closer to their dying, that their ministry was very spiritual and powerful. And so we have a memorial minute, which is not supposed to be sort of a curriculum vitae or a biography of the person, but it's supposed to be a spiritual biography; it's supposed to be how Spirit manifested in their life and how they were able to make Spirit available or visible to the rest of us.The Structure of a Quaker Memorial ServiceLisa: So the ones that I have participated in, often we meet in a meeting room, we're sitting in a circle or around each other. Sometimes the family members or those closest will come in a little after everyone else has gathered so they're walking into a held space. Whoever has care of memorial will often stand up and explain how things are going to go, that there will be a period of open worship, that friends are invited to share memories of the person who has passed, that at a certain point, the memorial will close, and then often there's a time of fellowship or being with or ways to be with those who are closest to the person who's passed. And then people speak out of the silence, and what I love about it is unlike times when I've written eulogies for funerals where I'm trying to singularly sum up all of somebody's life, in a Quaker memorial I just have to speak to the part that was truest for me about my relationship with a person who has passed.Kerry Wiessman: I will say that they are almost always what we call “popcorn meetings.” You know, they are almost always people speaking one after another because they don't want to miss the opportunity to speak. But even when people don't leave too much silence in between, they're usually very, very rich and I think they're also one of the only ways that other people in our community ever experience Quakers.More: fdsj.nl/memorial___The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
