The power of epiphany
Dear readers,
In my own life, I was steeped in the religious understanding of my Quaker forebears on both sides of the family, and in a closely-bordered childhood on a dairy farm in an Indiana Quaker community. But it wasn’t until a spiritual epiphany in 1964 that led to my becoming a conscientious objector that I made Quaker spirituality experiential rather than “inherited.”
As I sought to create an environment in my classroom that would enable students’ own epiphanies, I found that exposing them to the spiritual insights of Friends did not simply give them another way to “inherit” the spirituality of the past, but helped plow the ground for the seeds of their own experience to grow and flourish.
I hope this week’s quotes have helped “plow the ground of the heart” for you in some small way.
Pax,
Max Carter
P.S. From Maeve: Tomorrow we will begin a month on Truth, inspired by the Isaac Penington quote, “Truth will not lose ground by being tried.” We will also be starting our supporter drive. Please consider supporting this ministry for the long-term sustainability of the project.
Reader Responses
How do these insights from Friends’ offerings speak to your spiritual condition?
In reference to this quote: “To sit down in silence could at the least pledge me to nothing; it might open to me (as it did that morning) the very gate of heaven. And, since that day, now more than 17 years ago, Friends’ meetings have indeed been to me the greatest of outward helps to a fuller entrance into the spirit from which they have sprung.”
— Caroline Stephen, 1890
Quaker philanthropist and author
Isn’t it amazing that possibly a glimpse into a spiritual heaven, that moment remembered from 17 years ago, brightens Caroline Stephen’s life for each meeting for worship thereafter? I can see her smile at that remembrance, with hope and optimism at each subsequent MFW that she might get that glimpse, that taste, yet again.
That, and the communal experience of shared worship makes each MFW a joy for all of us who attend. Hoping for that access into the wonder, the enlightenment, the shared understanding of life’s blessings.
Jeffrey P., Elkins Park, PA, USA
This Week’s Messages
A foundational experience of Quaker spirituality
The immediacy of the Divine
Inward as opposed to outward forms of spirituality
My greatest outward help
Thomas Kelly on the joy of spiritual experience
