“In 1776, a young person in Rhode Island named Jemima Wilkinson took to their bed with a fever. They fell into a coma, and their family worried they would die. But then, one day, they opened their eyes and stood up. The fever was gone, and so was Jemima Wilkinson. In their place was someone new: a divine messenger sent by God, who was not a man or a woman. They told their family their name was the Public Universal Friend.”
“Spirit invites everyone to come to the Table of the Beloved Community. We are asked to participate as our authentic selves, with our wounds, and gifts, and imperfections. We were fed and challenged by the Spirit and each other as we wrestled with the reality that there are those who do not feel invited or feel they cannot bring their whole selves to the table.”
“When we make efforts to not cause conflicts within our congregations so as to diminish the pastoral benefits that religious community, ritual, and teaching can offer — under the fear that discussing likely contentious and challenging issues will create rifts in our communities — we risk simply offering a Band-Aid when what is actually required is a surgeon. We do not create rifts when we address the lived reality of our congregations; we simply uncover the rifts and conflicts which were already extant.”
“I want to articulate the yoked spiritual legacy of George and Margaret Fell Fox, who married in 1669. This seems to me to be the holistic approach to Fox’s life and legacy, for he did not journey alone. His partnership with Margaret meant the world to him, shaped his thought, and had a profound impact on the development of the Religious Society of Friends. George and Margaret represent the origin of the river called Quakerism. […] George would not have been anywhere near as influential as he was without his longtime relationship and eventual marriage to Margaret Fell. This spiritual marriage uniquely molded early Quakerism.”
“Each of us is responsible for our own actions and our own reactions. We are not responsible for someone else’s actions and reactions. This is very important for women especially because most women have been taught that they are responsible for the happiness of everyone in their family. They are taught that all family unhappiness and discord is their fault. But responsibility rests within each individual.”
“In Friends’ meetings also, from the fact that everyone is free to speak, one hears harmonies and correspondences between very various utterances such as are scarcely to be met elsewhere. It is sometimes as part-singing compared with unison. The free admission of the ministry of women, of course, greatly enriches this harmony. I have often wondered whether some of the motherly counsels I have listened to in our meeting would not reach some hearts that might be closed to the masculine preacher.”
“As we grow in solidarity with one another, enriched by how we express our faith, we will all be enabled to surmount the cultural, economic, and political barriers that prevent us from discerning and following the ways in which God leads us. We honour the lives of our Quaker foremothers as patterns which help us recognise our own leadings. Their commitment, dedication, and courage remain as worthy standards. May our lives be used as theirs were to give leadership to women everywhere to be vehicles of the love of God.”
“There is much work to be done which is not paid, but which is vital, desperately undervalued and undertaken to a large extent by women. I refer, of course, to caring for children and/or elderly disabled relatives and homemaking. The work itself is often hard, stressful, mundane and repetitive, unseen and unacknowledged, with low status. We need a transformation of our attitudes to this work, giving it all the esteem it deserves.”
“Mother love is one of the greatest powers, and it’s universal. Mothers of all creeds and colours, religions and no religions, whatever government they are under, desire the best for their children. I thought we might use that great link between mothers to help break down a little fear and mistrust.”
Imagine Mary’s breasts, / warm brown as the earth / pale gold as the moon, / the breasts of a young girl / ripe as perfect plums.
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