On the face of it, it may be kind of weird for a vegan like me to like an article about hunting (much less publish a recipe for squirrel quiche) but anyone who brings in Thomas Clarkson to talk about Quaker cultural values is someone I’ll listen to.
[Clarkson’s] contemporaries were blinded by tradition and never stopped to ask, “how far are they allowable?” amidst concerns of human conduct. Even the phrasing “how far are they allowable” suggests a limit. Perhaps hunting is an allowable and acceptable way of life up to a certain point: that point being needless violence and danger.
“Speaking into the Silence” from the August 1991 Friends Journal.
People have been commenting a lot on this chart Friends Journal shared on social media last week. Originally published in the August 1991 issue, what I love most about it is its 1990s-era flowchart design. What would it be today — some punchy infographic perhaps? We dove into the archives because this month’s issue is all about Quaker vocal ministry and at least two of the feature articles mention these kinds of charts.
There is a frequently reproduced diagram that graphically guides potential speakers through a series of questions they are to consider when they feel an urge to rise and speak. These examine whether a potential message is divinely inspired; whether it is intended for the speaker alone or for others present; and whether this is the right time and place to deliver it. These resources are all useful, but they only address one half of the act of vocal ministry: one that is, by far, the smaller and perhaps less important portion. The other part is the ministry of listening, and we are all called to be listening ministers.
Since the beginning of the Religious Society of Friends, written advices have guided Friends. Yearly meetings’ faith and practice books, Pendle Hill pamphlets on vocal ministry, and individual monthly meetings’ “Welcome to Quaker Worship” handouts have guidelines for speaking or not speaking in meeting for worship. In 2019, Friends General Conference even published a poster of a circle flow chart with guidelines for delivering a message during worship.
This version is below. Yes, it is very 2020’s infographical in design! (PDF; a similar version was produced for a Pendle Hill pamphlet by FGC staff Barry Crossno and Brent Bill, PDF).
But I link to the articles because these kinds of when-to-speak kind of charts can always become problematic. As Betsy Cazden replied on Twitter: “The people who need it least will spend the full hour obsessing about the flow-chart and will never speak. The people who need it most never will.” Just a few weeks ago I was sitting on a bench in Cropwell (N.J.) Meeting testing and retesting my motivations and leadings to rise and give ministry. I gave a final breath to stand up when I heard the “good morning Friends” followed by the sounds of hands slapping on hands in rise-of-meeting handshakes. Over the years I have learned not spend my whole hour obsessing but had not realized this meeting’s worship was only 45 minutes!
Further reading: An Expected Miracle, a 2023 post about the (often unnecessary) pressures of Quaker ministry.
Thomas Hamm is one of the most literary QuakerSpeak interviewees — you could probably take his raw transcript and publish it as a Friends Journal article. But it’s good to have a YouTube-accessible explanation of one of the only formal compendiums of belief and practices that we creed-adverse Friends produce. It’s also fascinating to learn how the purpose and structure of Faith and Practice has differed over time, geography, and theology.
What do Quakers believe? How do we practice our faith? The best place to look for the answers might be in a book of faith and practice. Here’s what they are and how they evolved over time.
How many skeletons might remain buried? Possibly thousands, according to archaeologists, but no one knows. Historical maps are unclear on the cemeteries’ boundaries, but numerous histories portray the grounds as used first by Quakers and then by the poor, whose numbers increased along with the size of the city.
They quote the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting general secretary, who had heard nothing about this. The article also cites a 1880s article in Friends Intelligencer, the predecessor to Friends Journal.
At some point 18 months ago, we at Friends Journal decided that a future issue would revolve around humor. I remember feeling a lump in my stomach at the time. I’ve learned to stop and poll my motivations before making a Quaker-related joke — not to see if it’s funny, but to make sure that at least most Quakers might think it’s funny. Well, that humor issue is out and available online. Many of the features talk about humor but the first feature actually aims for humor itself. Don McCormick imagines Quaker historical figures brought into modern-day cable news programming as they describe some of our rather odd customs.
George gives the camera a steely-TV-anchorman-type look and says, “Hello, this is the evening edition of Fox News. George Fox speaking. For our first story, let’s turn to Will ‘the Quill’ Penn at the sports desk.”
“Good evening,” says Will. “Well, it’s half-time over at Sierra Friends Center’s outdoor basketball court, and the Woolman Wombats are battling it out with the Quaker Oafs. Both teams just completed the league’s required workshops on nonviolent communication and the Alternatives to Violence Project. The score at half-time is zero to zero. We have some footage from the second quarter.”
Also in Friends Journal’s issue, “Outside the Meetinghouse,” a piece from Brad Stocker of Miami Meeting in Florida:
Most Friends have an understanding of the architectural message that our meetinghouses express. We understand the simplicity of the structure. We understand the reason there are no steeples or crosses on the outside and why we have clear windows placed so as to invite the light to enter. We are equally sensitive to interior design. While we come into frequent, intimate contact with the meetinghouse exterior, and the land it sits on, we may be less aware of the message they convey.
There may be a little whiplash to talk about butterfly gardens after the recent article on Quaker worship from prison but I like the intentionality of Stocker’s observations: we are always making statements with the care (or non-care) of our physical space. Miami’s the kind of coastal city where climate change is very much not a theoretical issue and Stocker is very involved in his yearly meeting’s earthcare education initiatives. The meetinghouse grounds are a place to model good stewardship; taking the care to have them be inviting and quietly demonstrative of Quaker values is important outreach.
Because the Quaker presidential track record is so distinguished (Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon) maybe it’s time to put another Quaker into the Oval Office. John Hickenlooper, former governor of Colorado and raised in the Philly suburbs, has thrown his hat into the ring.
Back in 2010 he told the Philadelphia Inquirer he and his wife were regular meeting attenders living “Quaker values” but when Friends Journal reached out to him a few years ago it sounded like he no longer identified as a Friend.
Friends Journal 