“In our world today, it is entirely too easy to witness all kinds of brutality and alienation, and yet not to bear witness. We can watch the news reports… but if all we do is watch, how is that different from voyeurism? The voyeur’s eyes are not soft, for they look in expectation of titillation, of being stimulated, of gaining something for oneself; and once that is satisfied, they look away. The eyes of a witness see the hard things and do not look away.”
“We need both a deeper spirituality and a more outspoken witness. If our spirituality can reach the depths of authentic prayer, our lives will become an authentic witness for justice, peace and the integrity of creation, a witness which becomes the context for our prayer. Out of the depths of authentic prayer comes a longing for peace and a passion for justice. And our response to violence and injustice is to pray more deeply, because only God can show us the way out of the mess that the world is in. And only God gives us the strength to follow that Way.”
“Dwell everyone in your own light, so will every one have an ear kept open to hear the bridegroom’s voice. He that is born of god knoweth the deciding betwixt the good motions and the bad, and so cometh to know the word of god in himself, and so he beareth not witness of himself, but of the father who hath sent him, and so it is no more I but the spirit of my father which speaketh in me.”
“It is impossible that a mere man, with all his abilities, arts, and acquirements, can turn people from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, which is the very end and work of the Gospel ministry. Indeed, it must be inspired men, gifted by God, taught and influenced by His heavenly Spirit, who are qualified for so great, so inward, and so spiritual a work. Ministers of Christ are said to be His witnesses, and the credit of a witness is that he has heard, seen, or handled something true.”
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
“Generally, ‘witness’ refers to our actions regarding injustices and inequalities in the outside world. Friends are said to ‘witness’ to their beliefs; our daily behavior is our ‘witness’ to the validity of the testimonies. In other words, Friends’ witness is manifested by what we do and how we act in the world outside the meeting. Friends are known to ‘live our beliefs out loud’ or ‘let our lives speak.’ Integrity compels Quakers to notice and address what goes against our testimonies of peace, equality, stewardship, simplicity, integrity, and community. That noticing and addressing — that action — is Quaker witness.”
April 2026: Prophetic Witness is how our Quaker faith translates into action: how we listen to the still, small voice and follow our leadings in our daily lives. From the beginnings of Quakerism, Friends have seen the intimate connection between a rich prayer life and taking action against injustice and inequity. This is how Quakers “let our lives speak.”
“The words we Friends use to describe our prophetic witness ministry—testimony and witness—are judicial terms. They come from a time when Friends believed the world to be under God’s judgment, when we believed ourselves to be witnesses for the prosecution, testifying with our words to the character of God’s judgment, presenting our testimony as God’s righteous indictment of a world fallen out of the Life, and testifying with our lives to the way God wanted humans to walk over the world toward its restoration in Christ.”
We are all living in mortal bodies, in the grief and sweetness of impermanence, with the Mystery. Life is a tragedy and a gift, and as we age, we hope to nurture a spirituality deep enough to embrace both.
This month we heard from Friends in later life, aging with intention. They are opening to love’s mature fullness, finding meaning in their own stories, shifting their focus to the present, and remaining open to new leadings. Since reading the advice of Bradford Smith (3/8) to “taste… everything, both for the first time and the last,” I sometimes find myself overwhelmed with gratitude for the profound beauty of familiar things. I hope this is a change in perspective I can keep up the energy to maintain.
“As we age we need to learn how to grow down. Remember when we were children how adults seemed to delight in telling us—quite emphatically at times—to grow up? Sometimes they were impatiently and unrealistically hoping we’d resist the natural inclinations of childhood and conveniently turn into miniature adults. As we grew older, however, the message was really a hope that we would learn to be responsible and live up to our potential—learn how to climb mountains by tackling appropriate foothills first.”
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