One of the universal responsibilities, especially of elders, but also of all members, is to be sensitive to the latent, but awakening spiritual gifts of others, and to offer encouragement for their increased service to the meeting. A kindly word of appreciation, counsel, or guidance may render a welcome service to one who is very much aware of a strange stirring within, yet somewhat bewildered by it.
We are a busy people (engaged in arduous occupations, in the work of the world, sometimes losing sight of the higher interests of life). And so we have been getting together every two years among other things to catch fresh inspiration from the look into each other’s faces, to learn from each other what can be done, what is being done, in the various fields of right and elevated effort, and to renew our zeal to build afresh the fires of inspiration.
Although God calls each of us personally, as individuals we see only partially. Individual perception, reasoning, and understanding are always limited. Even a person who feels absolutely certain that a specific revelation comes from God may be mistaken as to how it is to be applied. Because God often reveals part of the picture to one person and another part to another person, it is prudent to consult one another to discern God’s counsel, guidance, and direction, even if there is no apparent reason to do so.
We’re not a seminary where beliefs must be memorized and affirmed. We are a community, a collection of people who believe if you create a rich and meaningful and compassionate community, then those who participate in that community will soak up those virtues, will marinate in those virtues, and will become who we ought to be through osmosis, through the gradual assimilation of the highest ideals we can imagine.
Quakers enter the service of silent waiting not alone or in a series of separate reveries but in a company of worshipers; they know something of the needs of their fellow worshipers; they know something of the sufferings and needs of the world. Often they are conscious of a whole redemptive company of faithful departed ones who are engaged in this all-embracing struggle as well.
We light a candle, become aware of God’s loving presence, and take about five minutes of quiet while we each ask ourselves two questions.
We read in silence; we read looking for God. But we read in a particular way. A man drops a rare diamond in the leaves of the forest floor. Carefully, he kneels down. One by one he lifts each leaf. Slowly he searches, knowing his lost treasure is in the leaves. And this is how it is that we must read, listen to another and wait in silence.
A couple weeks ago, we invited our neighbors over for dessert at our table in our backyard. Sue made one of her ‘award winning’ trifles and since our neighbors are Indian, they made some wonderful almond cookies. We sat on our back porch on a beautiful night sharing stories, eating dessert, and learning about how we each had met our spouses. We heard of their journey to America and shared some of our journeys as well.
I do not have any image in mind when I start. I follow the movement within me. I start out with meditation and prayer and thank God for the materials before me to use. I like to have soft music in the background. For me, it’s a form of prayer. It can take me deep within and I feel very close to God.
What is it that makes the contents of a journal spiritual? If they have as their deepest hope the development of a nature as compassionate as God’s own, they will in time leave narcissism behind. When is my life ever so hectic that I can justify not pausing long enough to write down a single line of thanksgiving and confession?
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