. . . IN MEETINGS FOR WORSHIP
. . . WITH A CONCERN FOR BUSINESS

Friends are not to meet [in meetings for business] like a company of people about town or parish business ... but to wait upon the Lord.

--George Fox, Letters

We look with tender hearts, especially during meetings for worship with a concern for business, for one another's spiritual vision. Truths of the Spirit may come from any of us.

In each of us the Spirit is manifested in one particular way, for some useful purpose.... But all these gifts are the work of one and the same Spirit, distributing them separately to each individual at will. For Christ is like a single body with its many limbs and organs, which, many as they are, together make up one body.

--1 Corinthians 12:7,11-12 (NEB)

Our belief that people can continually discover more about the will of God makes us eschew dogma. We search for ways to meet human need in shared worship and open ourselves to disagreement as a path to God's higher truths. The Spirit leads our community to creative action, occasionally in ways that transcend reason, as we listen for God's voice in our prayers and in the messages we have for each other.

LEADINGS AND CONCERNS

Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts, which are the leadings of God.

--Britain Yearly Meeting,
Quaker Faith and Practice, 1995

Early Friends found that the Light opened their lives to the painful knowledge of their own inadequacy. Margaret Fell urged


Prev   26   Next