“I have been traveling among Friends and writing for Friends for 40 years. I have done workshops and retreats, taught academic classes and short courses, written articles, books, and pamphlets. But preparing the material for this week may have been one of the hardest things I have produced for Friends.”
June 2025: This month’s theme is Simplicity. At a moment in our culture when we are encouraged to revere wealth and excess, we will explore the Quaker roots of plainness. We will hear from Friends who examine their relationships with their material desires, and dare to ask ourselves, “how do we know when we have enough?”
“Do you have the wisdom and the heart to repent of all the things that might obstruct your service? Do you have the heart to forgive even the unforgivable? Do you have what it takes to love the unloveable, to walk and talk with those you think are your enemies? Will you be able to see everyone as belonging to the community of God and not otherwise?”
“Oh! love truth and its Testimony, whether its Witness be to you, or against you, love it, that into my Mother’s house you all may come, and into the Chamber of her that conceived me, where you may embrace, and be embraced of my dearly beloved one, Love is his Name, Love is his Nature, Love is his life.”
“Dwell low in your minds, as it is only in the valley of humiliation that we can have fellowship with the Oppressed Seed.”
“Small Treasure to a resigned Mind is sufficient. How happy is it to be content with a little, to live in Humility.”
“Of course, we are still human, still flawed, and if our meetings are to be beloved communities we must learn to accept others as they are, not as we want them to be—to accept the opportunity to bear one another’s burdens…. We are reminded that forgiveness is not about justice; it is about healing.”
“Hope can arise from places undreamed of. Hope is the intersection of the dreams of ordinary people and the promise of something new that permeates our tradition. Hope can carry a person through fear, past the very real dangers of this world, in ways I don’t pretend to understand.”
“We started the month looking at the historical context of the peace testimony in Quakerism, with writings from George Fox and Margaret Fell, which ran strongly against the militaristic culture of their day. We read that pacifism is not passive and that nonviolent resistance can be an effective, practical solution as much as a moral stance. We went on to read about the experience of conscientious objectors, both historically and in a case currently being litigated in court. We also read that some Friends feel a call to military service and what grappling with that looks like.”
May 26-June 1, 2025: This week’s messages are guest edited by Paul Buckley. Paul is a member of Clear Creek Friends Meeting in Richmond, Indiana. For the last 40 years, he has traveled extensively among North American Friends offering a variety of workshops, seminars, retreats, and short courses. He has published books and articles on Quaker history, faith, and practice. His most recent publication is a Pendle Hill pamphlet, Teach us to Pray.
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