FriendQuaker Advices and Queries, Faith and Practice, Peace

Advices and Queries for the Eleventh Month*

Peace

Advices

Friends oppose all war as inconsistent with God’s will. As every person is a child of God, we recognize God’s Light also in our adversaries. Violence and injustice deny this reality and violate the teachings of Jesus and other prophets.

Friends challenge their governments and take personal risks in the cause of peace. We urge one another to refuse to participate in war as soldiers, or as arms manufacturers. We seek ways to support those who refrain from paying taxes that support war. We work to end violence within our own borders, our homes, our streets, and our communities. We support international order, justice, and understanding.

Become an instrument of peace. At every opportunity, be peacemakers in your homes, workplaces and communities. Steep yourself in the power of the universal Spirit. Examine your actions for the seeds of violence, degradation and destructiveness. Overcome the emotions that lie at the root of violence and nurture instead a spirit of reconciliation and love. Come to know the oneness of all creation and oppose the destruction of the natural world.

Queries

  • Do I live in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars?
  • How do I nourish peace within myself as I work for peace in the world?
  • Where there is distrust, injustice, or hatred, how am I an instrument of reconciliation and love?
  • What are we doing to remove the causes of war and destructions of the planet, and to bring about lasting peace?
  • Do we reach out to all parties in a conflict with courage and love?

*from  PACIFIC YEARLY MEETING FAITH AND PRACTICE (2001), 57-58

FriendQuaker Faith and Practice, Harmony with Creation, Personal Relationships

Advices and Queries for the Tenth Month

Personal Relationships

Advices

In daily relationships with others, both inside and outside the home, our lives as Friends speak immediately and lastingly. In these relationships, our faith may also be severely tested. We are called to respond to that of God in everyone: we are all children of God.

Friends celebrate any union that is dedicated to mutual love and respect,
regardless of the unique make-up of the family. We strive to create homes where
the Spirit of the Divine resides at the center and where the individual genius
of each member is respected and nurtured.

Human sexuality is a divine gift, forming part of the complex union of body, mind and spirit that is our humanity. In a loving adult relationship in a context of mutual responsibility, sexuality brings delight, fulfillment and celebration.

The presence of children carries a special blessing as well as responsibility. Children bring unique spiritual gifts — wonder, resiliency, playfulness and more. Recognize and honor the Divine Light within children and treat them with the dignity and respect that is due to all people. Listen to and learn from children; share with them those values and practices that are central to our own lives. Special care must be given to resolving problems between adults and children in a manner that gives equal weight to the feelings and needs of both children and adults. Tender parenting is one of the critically important peace vocations in our society. Make every effort to offer all parents the personal and institutional support that this challenging work requires.

Take a strong stand against any form of abuse, whether that abuse is minor or severe, and whether it is emotional, physical or sexual in nature. The terrible impact of abuse on the most vulnerable members of our families creates lifelong suffering for its victims and is a major source of violence in our society. Perpetrators are themselves usually victims of similar violence and should be approached with compassion as well as firmness.

Queries

  • Do I make my home a place of friendliness, joy and peace where residents and visitors feel God’s presence?
  • Are my sexual practices consistent with my spiritual beliefs, and free of manipulation and exploitation?
  • What barriers keep me from responding openly and lovingly to each person?
  • Do we open our thoughts, beliefs and deep understandings to our children and others who share our lives and our hospitality?
  • Do we provide our children and young adults with a framework for active, ongoing participation in meeting?

from Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice (2001), 56-57

FriendQuaker Simplicity

Advices and Queries for the Eighth Month: Simplicity

Life is meant to be lived from a Center, a divine Center—a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time.

Thomas R. Kelly, Testament of Devotion, 1941 p.124

Advices

A life centered in God will be directed toward keeping communication with God open and unencumbered. Simplicity is best achieved through a right ordering of priorities: maintaining humility of spirit, avoiding self-indulgence, resisting the accumulation of unnecessary possessions, and avoiding over-busy lives.

Elise Boulding writes in My Part in the Quaker Adventure: “Simplicity, beauty, and happiness go together if they are a by-product of a concern for something more important than ourselves.”

Queries

  • Do I center my life in an awareness of God’s presence so that all things take their rightful place?
  • Do I live simply, and promote the right sharing of the world’s bounty?
  • Do I keep my life uncluttered with things and activities, avoiding commitments beyond my strength and light?
  • How do I maintain simplicity, moderation, and honesty in my speech, my manner of living, and my daily work?
  • Do I recognize when I have enough?
  • Is the life of the meeting so ordered that it helps us to simplify our lives?

from Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice (2001), 54

FriendQuaker Advices and Queries, Harmony with Creation

Advices and Queries for the Fifth Month*

Harmony with Creation

Advices

It would go a long way to caution and direct people in their use of the world, that they were better studied and knowing in the creation of it. For how could [they] find the confidence to abuse it, while they should see the Great Creator stare them in the face, in all and every part thereof?

Adapted from William Penn, Some Fruits of Solitude 1693, 12-13

God is revealed in all Creation. We humans belong to the whole interdependent community of life on earth. Rejoice in the beauty, complexity and mystery of creation, with gratitude to be part of its unfolding. Take time to learn how this community of life is organized and how it interacts. Live according to principles of right relationship and right action within this larger whole. Be aware of the influence humans have on the health and viability of life on earth. Call attention to what fosters or harms earth’s exquisite beauty, balances and interdependencies. Guided by Spirit, work to translate this understanding into ways of living that reflect our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.

Queries

  •  In what ways do I express gratitude for the wondrous expressions of life on Earth?
  • Do I consider the damage I might do to the Earth’s vulnerable systems in choices I make of what I do, what I buy, and how I spend my time?
  • In our witness for the global environment, are we careful to consider justice and the well-being of the world’s poorest people?
  • Does our way of life threaten the viability of life on Earth?

*from Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice (2001), 51

FriendQuaker Advices and Queries, Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business

Advices and Queries for the Third Month*

Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business

Advices

Come to Meeting with hearts and minds prepared to be open and faithful to the leadings of the Spirit. Then the conduct of business will lead to truth, unity, and love.

When a matter is before the Meeting for Business, each person present contributes to the corporate search for a decision that accords with the will of God. Inaction is a form of action. Silent worship in the Meeting for Business contributes to the process of achieving unity.

Listen attentively to others’ words and use the silence between messages to reflect carefully on what you might contribute. When you are clear, speak simply what is in your heart, without repeating what has already been offered. While making your insights clear, lay aside personal opinions and attend to what God requires.

Queries

  • Do I attend Meeting for Business regularly?
  • Do I speak in Meeting for Business only when I am led to speak?
  • Is the Meeting for Business held as a Meeting for Worship in which we seek divine guidance for our actions?
  • Are we tender and considerate of different views, coming to a decision only when we have found unity?
  • Do we give prayerful support for our clerks that they may be sensitive to the movement of the Spirit among us?

*from PACIFIC YEARLY MEETING FAITH AND PRACTICE (2001), 48-49

FriendQuaker Advices and Queries, Spiritual Life

Advices and Queries for the Second Month*

Spiritual Life

Advices

The life of the spirit gains depth and vigor through devotional practices, prayer, study and meditation. Take time regularly for individual and family worship, discussions. Readings from sacred texts and other spiritual refreshment in order to live a more centered life and to bring a deeper presence to the Meeting for Worship. Friends believe that the spiritual path is best found in community. Create opportunities in your Meetings for people of all ages to explore and express their evolving relationship with the Divine, their spiritual highs and their doubts. If different metaphors and language interfere with communication, listen more deeply, honoring the Spirit in which the thought and words have their beginnings.

Queries

  • Do I live in thankful awareness of God’s constant presence in my life?
  • Am I sensitive and obedient to the leadings of the Holy Spirit?
  • When do I take time for contemplation and spiritual refreshment?
  • Do we share our spiritual lives with others in the Meeting, seeking to know one another in that which is eternal?
  • Does the Meeting provide religious education including study of the Bible and Friends’ history and practices?
FriendQuaker Faith and Practice, Meeting for Worship, Testimonies

Advices and Queries for the First Month*

Meeting for Worship

Advices

The heart of the Religious Society of Friends is the Meeting for Worship. In direct communion with God, we offer ourselves for God’s will. Our daily lives are linked with the Meeting for Worship, the Meeting for Worship with our daily lives.

Come regularly to Meeting for Worship, even when you are angry, tired or spiritually cold. Bring your joys and your hurts, and the needs of other people. Accept and support each other in the community where God dwells among us. As you do so, you may find the grace of prayer.

At times the Spirit may prompt you to speak in Meeting. Wait patiently to know that the sense and the time are right. When you are sure, have confidence that the worlds will be given to you. Listen to the ministry of others. After a message has been given, allow time to ponder its meaning and to let the Meeting return to silent worship. In speech and in silence, each person contributes to the Meeting.

Queries

  • Do I come to Meeting with heart and mind prepared for worship?
  • In both silent and vocal ministry, do I respond to the leadings of the Holy Spirit, without pre-arrangement and in simplicity and truth?
  • Am I careful not to speak at undue length or beyond personal spiritual experience?
  • Do we meet in expectant waiting for the promptings of the Divine Spirit?
  • Are we drawn together in a living silence by the power of God in our midst?

*from PACIFIC YEARLY MEETING FAITH AND PRACTICE (2001), 47

FriendQuaker Advices and Queries, Faith and Practice, The Meeting Community

Advices and Queries for the Twelfth Month*

The Meeting Community

Advices

Meetings for Worship and Business are the center of our spiritual community. There, as we come to know each other in the Spirit, we build the “beloved community.”

Mutual respect and care in the Meeting form the foundation from which we can test, support, and exercise leadings of the Spirit. At its best, the Meeting community provides a framework for us to learn and practice mutual care, which strengthens us as we act in the world.

All members of the Meeting community should share in the care of one another. While respecting privacy, we must be aware of and sensitive to each other’s needs. We must also be willing to ask for assistance when we are in need.

Queries

  • Do I strive to be inclusive in my relationships within the Meeting?
  • Do I care for the reputation of others, refraining from gossip or disparaging remarks?
  • Am I committed to the difficult work of forgiveness, and affirming God’s love for the whole community?
  • How are love and unity maintained among us?
  • Do we practice the art of listening, even beyond words?
  • How have we been sensitive to the personal needs and difficulties of members and attenders, young and old?
  • Do we visit one another in our homes and keep in touch with distant members?

*From Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice, pp. 58-59

FriendQuaker Affiliate Organizations, Friendly Water for the World, Harmony with Creation, Projects, Social and Civic Responsibility

Thank you from Friendly Water for the World

A Note of Appreciation

In December 2021, our meeting donated approximately $3000 to Friendly Water for the World, a non-profit organization whose mission is to train and equip communities in sustainable village-scale technologies to safeguard, conserve, and expand essential resources. Our money was used to build two water catchment tanks at Bulovi Friends Primary School (Under Malava Yearly Meeting of Friends) in Kakamega County, Kenya. Because of these tanks, the children at the school no longer need to walk miles to collect water every day.

Below is the text of a thank you letter we received from Eric Lung’aho Lijodi, the Africa Programs Manager for Friendly Water for the World:

Date: 2nd September 2022

To all Friends,
Orange County Friends Meeting,
Religious Society of Friends,
Costa Mesa, California

Dear Friends,

REF: Appreciation

Calvary greetings in Jesus name with an expectation that this letter will find you all well. On behalf of my organization, I would like to express our deepest gratitude for your unselfish contribution towards construction of two Rain Water Catchments at Bulovi Friends Primary School (Under Malava Yearly Meeting of Friends).Your donation was very important to us as it geared us towards our commitment towards serving the community.

Attached to this appreciation note you will find the following documents which I beseech you to find time to read in order to have a deeper understanding of how important your donation has been not only to us as an organization but to the beneficiary community:

We are blessed to have you as our partner and once more thank you very much for your generous support and we look forward to working with you again in the near future. If you have questions or needy clarity, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

Eric Lung’aho Lijodi
Programs Manager