By: Bill Ashworth

Bill Ashworth — Fri, 24 May 2024 05:44:45 +0000

Hmmm. When my wife and I were married under the care of Eastside Friends Meeting in Bellevue, WA, in 1967, we underwent a clearness process — called that — which involved a committee appointed by what was then called Ministry and Oversight. The process was identical to that of marriage clearness committees I have served on since. It had the feeling of something well-established and going on for a long time — something akin to the pastoral-counseling process used by the Congregational Church of my childhood to prepare couples for marriage. I could also point to John Woolman’s journal, where he sought guidance before going on his first journey, and although I don’t have the document currently in front of me, I’m pretty sure he used the term “clearness” for this process. The fact that his entire meeting was acting as his clearness committee doesn’t change the fact that the process as we currently know it — seeking clarity through corporate worship and the support, rather than the advice, of others present during that worship — is at least that old. Methinks perhaps thee is too hung up on the terminology and not enough on the process.

Comments on: The not-so-ancient Quaker clearness committee

By: Bill Ashworth