| Marriage Intro texts? |
[13 May 2008|11:16am] |
I'm on a wedding Care Committee, which is being a real joy. It has been a long while since our Meeting has had a wedding under its care.
I wonder if you might have the text that was spoken (or just provided) for people who've never been to a Quaker service before. I have sample funeral text, but no wedding text.
It might also be interesting to see how different couples do theirs; I bet there is a *lot* of variation.
Thanks.
[Edit to add: thank you all for your contributions so far; these are very helpful.]
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| Do you suppose... |
[11 May 2008|10:32am] |
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moar funny pictures
Did the person mean first day of school or First Day School?
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| A statement of Quagans |
[02 May 2008|02:25pm] |
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I have placed in the first comment to this post a statement of Quaker Pagans. It's long(ish), so I didn't put the whole thing in this post. Please read it.
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[01 May 2008|07:12am] |
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So what are your own requirements for being a Quaker? What do you, personally, believe a Quaker must believe or not believe, how they must act or speak?
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[01 May 2008|11:31am] |
The post about "Quakers going Pagan" got me thinking...
The article i think touched on a big source of anxiety among Friends in FGC, that is to say, the tension between being open and accepting - both in the interests of maintaining Quaker values of equality and so on, but also in the interests of keeping our numbers up when our membership is rapidly aging and shrinking - and between identifying and maintaining a serious Quaker core of belief that I think many Quakers feel is being put at risk by the increasing trend of "hyphenated-Quakers" (i.e. Pagan-Quakers, Buddhist-Quakers, Atheist-Quakers, etc.), basically because, to put it bluntly and without meaning to cause offense, I think many Friends wonder where their loyalties really lie and whether, when push comes to shove, they can really be called Quaker in any meaningful way at all.
What obviously everyone wants is more people - lots, lots more (we've got a population to maintain, here, people!) - who are strongly committed to the Society of Friends, whatever their preferred hyphenation. So this, finally, is my question:
Has the time come for FGC to start actively seeking out potential convincees?
Or to put it more provocatively:
Is it time for FGC to develop a kind of Quakerly evangelism?
What do people think this would entail? How could such a thing be developed or discerned - or could it? Advantages, disadvantages? Great idea? Repellant? Un-Quakerly? Distasteful, but necessary? Any thoughts you've got.
I'm also very curious in the perspective of our Friends over at EFI, who obviously have some experience with this kind of thing - does EFI's evangelism make an effort to be distinctly Quaker? That is to say, do you guys do it differently than other evangelical groups out of concern for maintaining Quaker values - whatever those might be?
Also, do Friends in FUM evangelize? What is your perspective on it?
EDIT: Before this gets out of hand, I want to emphasize that I'm not too interested in once again rehashing the "What is a Quaker?" debate - as someone pointed out, that's been kind of done to death. I'm more interested in people's views on evangelism within a Quaker context, whether it's possible or desirable, and what form it could conceivably take.
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| Christianity Today Article |
[30 Apr 2008|08:21pm] |
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Are the Quakers Going Pagan?
from here.
I think a better, more fitting title would be "Are the Pagans Going Quaker?" My understanding is that more Pagans are exploring Quakerism, not that more Quakers are exploring paganism... Am I wrong? Thoughts and responses to this article?
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| Didn't mean to start an argument... |
[21 Apr 2008|11:36am] |
Perhaps I should've specifically stated it, but the post below was not meant to start an argument. I was hopeful that it would begin a discussion about how others view our religion, and if we feel those views are erroneous, what we could do to help people understand that religion is not necessarily about intolerance.
So let me try again:
I do see that many religions have a side that is very intolerant of views that differ from their own teachings. What can we do to help create tolerance among religions? I would also like to look at tolerance toward religion, for there are a lot of very intolerant athiests, although I suspect some of that is due to poor treatment of athiests by religious folks.
I'll give an example of a personal nature. I have a friend who recently converted to Catholicism. She used to be fine with homosexuals and birth control. Now, however, she is staunchly opposed to these things to the point where she seems, to me, to be very intolerant.
She also complains a lot about people with her beliefs being persecuted (as an example, compelling a Catholic pharmacist to fill birth control prescriptions), but when I mention that perhaps her beliefs are just as much persecution to the the people they affect, my points fall on deaf ears. As far as she is concerned, her beliefs are saving the immortal souls of other people and they are therefore justified.
I feel the most effective way to begin a positive dialogue would be on an individual level, but I haven't been effective. I think that moving things to a higher (i.e. institutional) level turns things into dogmatic wars, which is no more effective.
So how can we go about building tolerance? I know that there were some professors in the middle east, for example, who developed a booklet which showed jews and palestinians how the other side saw several historical events. It was just meant to open dialogue about how things were perceived differently and could thus help people understand where the other side was coming from. What other things can be done...and who should do them?
(And please, I do mean this to be a civil discussion. I have my doubts that the spirit would compel us to use expletives in reference to other Friends...or probably anyone else, for that matter.)
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| This is disappointing... |
[20 Apr 2008|07:47pm] |
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Religion is ‘the new social evil’
Robert Watts
A CHARITY set up by an ardent Christian to fight slavery and the opium trade has identified a new social evil of the 21st century - religion.
A poll by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation uncovered a widespread belief that faith - not just in its extreme form - was intolerant, irrational and used to justify persecution.
Pollsters asked 3,500 people what they considered to be the worst blights on modern society, updating a list drawn up by Rowntree, a Quaker, 104 years ago.
The responses may well have dismayed him. The researchers found that the “dominant opinion” was that religion was a “social evil”.
Many participants said religion divided society, fuelled intolerance and spawned “irrational” educational and other policies.
Read the entire article here.
Cross-posted to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mareserinitatis
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| Help those resisting the war |
[16 Apr 2008|11:55am] |
Many US soldiers who object to the war have gone to Canada seeking asylum, but the Canadian government will not grant it. People in the US who want to convince the Canadian government to do the right thing can go to http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/499/89/ to sign a petition asking Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other officials to grant amnesty to those courageous enough to say "no" to war.
Canadians can write to the Prime Minister and to their MPs directly.
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| Help, please. |
[04 Mar 2008|11:21pm] |
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I thought someone here may be able to help me. I'm trying to add the RSS feed for QuakerQuaker to my feeds, but I can't find a feed that's compatible with LJ because they use feedburner. Does anyone know what it is?
If you do, thanks in advance. :-)
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[04 Mar 2008|04:13am] |
Quaker Teacher fired for changing loyalty oath. Short version, a math teacher at Cal State was fired for adding the word 'nonviolently' to a required loyalty oath. She had altered the oath in the same way at previous schools with no problem. For the record, this is the oath in question (PDF)
To make this a little bit longer, how do you deal with oaths? I've had to sign one or two of those silly things before, and I've always just circled the affirm option.
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| Greetings and salutations, community. |
[03 Mar 2008|08:58pm] |
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The ever awkward first post.
I'm Sarah, 15, and I've got some questions to ask and some musing to do.
I was born and raised Catholic, and while none of my experiences have been truly negative, I've never felt that complete sense of...well. It just never settled with me that I had to do what the church said for me to be accepted by God. A sort of 'why can't I talk to God in my own way?'.
So, being the curious teenager I am, I started research and just absorbing things I've heard from those I trust in my life. I ended up reading up Quakerism, and it really felt fresh and open to me. I don't want to come off as the 'typical teenager', never knowing where they belong and just riding on a fad until they tire of it. God is the farthest thing from a fad for me.
So, here are my questions:
-To converts, what made you 'take the plunge' per se?
-To everyone, how has your life and relationship with God felt during your time as a Friend?
This probably sounds awkward and weird, since I'm not good at these sort of things. I thank you very much for you time and input. This place feels welcoming already.
-Sarah.
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| Une faveur, SVP |
[26 Feb 2008|11:19pm] |
Hi all,
My LJ is used for private posts, and my non-LJ public blog for most everything else. I've been meaning to set up a syndicated account so that my friends here can subscribe to the latter, if they want, but I just realized you have to have a paid account to do that.
Might anyone want to do me a favor? The feed is at feeds.feedburner.com/zachalexander, and the LJ name I'd want is, creatively, "zachalexander."
It's not, strictly speaking, a Quaker blog, but I'm a Friend, and some of what I write there is about Quakers. (My previous, exclusively-Quaker blog was The Seed Lifting Up, formerly "green anarchist quaker".)
Peace,
Zach
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| query re: worship sharing and open worship |
[26 Feb 2008|08:02pm] |
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Hi, folks.
I'm on the Visioning Committee for 57th Street Meeting of Friends in Chicago, IL (USA). During our visioning process, we have been exploring ways to enrich many aspects of our life as a community. Recently, we have been having a time of worship-sharing just prior to Meeting for Business, and it seems to ground our business-worship a lot more than the practice of potluck or even silent reflection on a query from one of our Yearly Meetings (we're a Unity Meeting of Illinois Yearly Meeting and Western Yearly Meeting).
The Visioning Committee is exploring the concept of offering a time for worship-sharing prior to Meeting for Worship, either once a month or weekly, depending on response. We may decide after a trial run that this doesn't work for us (we're a thoroughly unprogrammed Meeting, and are generally happy as such).
However, we don't want to go into this blindly, and we also appreciate the wisdom of others a lot! So I'm here to ask whether anyone has been part of a Meeting that has done something like that -- have a time of intentional gathering (via worship-sharing or some other practice) prior to the general Meeting for Worship.
Concerns among our committee include the possibility that it will create an in-group/out-group effect for those who only come to MfW, rather than for both; we're also trying to balance the desires of those who would like some more grounding/guidance with those who prefer to come into MfW with a completely open heart to whatever the Spirit may say (and therefore might feel stunted/programmed by a query for the general MfW).
Any thoughts?
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| Seeking Young Adult Friends 18-35 in/around Southwestern PA |
[26 Feb 2008|08:45pm] |
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Hola! I am seeking contact info for Young Adult Friends 18-35 in/around Southwestern PA (let's say within an approx 2.5 hour radius from Pittsburgh). In the case of college students, I'm interested in including them in the list whether they attend schools within this region OR return to this region in the summers only. Basically anyone with current ties to the area, even if it's only for part of the year.
If the above describes you, or anyone you know, please email me your/their name and email address (snail-mail address and phone, too, if you are comfortable doing so). I'm developing a list of people to invite to upcoming YAF gatherings in our region, of which there will hopefully be several. The first one I'm helping to plan will be March 22nd.
Information, pleasey-please, to: rachelmichellek [AT] yahoo.
Thank yas, so vewwy much!
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| Final Version of Article |
[21 Feb 2008|04:27pm] |
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Here is the final version of the article I'm submitting for my Monthly Meeting's newsletter:
FLGBTQC, Or: Why Is This Acronym So Long?
Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC) (website: http://www.quaker.org/flgbtqc/) is an organization composed of and run by Quakers who are concerned about the radical love and inclusiveness within the Religious Society of Friends, especially regarding Friends with a variety of understandings and experiences of sexuality and gender. The length of the name and the acronym can be an obstacle to some; but each letter of FLGBTQC represents not only a category of people, but also a witness to their existence, struggle, and oppression. In fact, when FLGBTQC adopted this name (they were FLGC prior), members understood that the acronym was only to be used at their gatherings. Outside of the organization, members were encouraged to say each of the words represented by the acronym. This was known as the “3 second witness”. By exploring what each letter stands for, I hope to make the Meeting community more familiar with FLGBTQC (and better able to remember each letter in the acronym).
( Read more... )
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