Advices and Queries for the Sixth Month*

SOCIAL AND CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY

Advices

In the words of William Penn, “True godliness don’t draw men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it.” Elsewhere he commented: “It is a reproach to religion and government to suffer so much poverty and excess.”

Poverty within a wealthy society is unjust, cruel, and often linked to skin color, gender, and language. We must examine our own privilege and role in the economic order that deepens this disparity. Friends should be alert to oppression and injustice, and persistent in working against them.

We value our part in shaping the laws of our country. Our task is to see that laws serve God’s purposes and build a just social order. Our first allegiance should be to God, and if this conflicts with any compulsion of the state, we serve our country best by remaining true to our higher loyalty.

If, by divine leading, our attention is focused on a law that is contrary to God’s law, we must proceed with care. Before acting, Friends should pray for further guidance and speak with the Meeting, family members, and all those who might be affected by the decision. If a decision involves disobedience to the law, we should make the grounds of our action clear to all concerned and be prepared to suffer any penalties without evasion. As a community, we must care for those who suffer for conscience’s sake.

Queries

  • What am I doing to carry my share of responsibility for the government of our community, nation, and the world?
  • Am I persistent in my efforts to promote constructive change?
  • How do we attend to the suffering of others in our local community, in our state and nation, and in the world community?
  • Do we try to understand the causes of suffering, and do we address them as a Meeting?
  • How do we, individually and as a Meeting, support the organizations that work to bring the testimonies of Friends into reality in our society?

*from Pacific Yearly Meeting Advices and Queries, 52-55

Quaker Call to Action

Our Meeting has been asked to endorse the following call to action, which was initiated by a group of 18 Friends who were concerned about threats to our democracy.  Before endorsing it, we ask that Members and Attenders read the text, ponder the queries, and contemplate the suggested actions. Other resources related to the project can be found here.

An Urgent Call to the Religious Society of Friends

May 2022

We Quakers, members of the Religious Society of Friends, hold strongly to the principle of speaking truth with integrity. We ground our speaking truth in our worship and our searching of ourselves, as we listen deeply and honestly within and across all differences. Our testimony to the world includes standing up for spiritually discerned Truth, the equality of all persons, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and respect and care for our neighbors and the earth. Right now, we see many forces at work in our country and the world that are undermining these basic values. Accordingly, we call on Friends everywhere to act.

In this country, in 2020, we witnessed an attempted coup. The January 6 assault on the Capitol was a deliberate, violent attempt to prevent Joe Biden — the clear winner of the 2020 election — from taking office and keeping then-president Donald Trump in power. To maintain that the last election was riddled with fraud is demonstrably false. This politically motivated movement has now embarked on an orchestrated campaign to suppress voting by black, brown and young people and to pass new state election laws giving the power to throw out huge numbers of valid ballots to highly partisan legislatures, governors, and state attorneys general. Thus, this lie is being used to deprive people of their constitutional rights and constitutes a major injustice.

As Friends, we feel called to speak out against these falsehoods and anti-democratic actions. We encourage Friends to seek spiritual guidance on any actions that you and your meetings might take to witness against this gross injustice. If this politically motivated movement succeeds in its anti-democratic takeover attempt, any hope of making significant progress on racial and economic justice, the equality of all people, the climate crisis, gun violence, and other urgent issues of our time will be gone.

We know that democracy in the United States has many flaws. During the past 100 years, our local, state and federal governments have acted to prevent formerly enslaved people and other communities of color from voting. It was not until 1920 that women finally won the right to vote, and their equality is still being challenged. We call on Friends to act — first, to resist all efforts to undermine our current democratic processes, and second, to support true democratic reforms to our still flawed election system. We cannot allow a government that is built on lies and injustice.

We the undersigned are encouraging Quakers throughout the country to work in their local communities, states, and the national arena to take critical actions to prevent an authoritarian takeover of our democracy. We urge Friends to discern the deep truths that provide a foundation for active love, wisdom, compassion, and a truly democratic electoral system—and then to actively support such changes. We know that love conquers fear. Let us lean into Divine Love and find ways forward in Truth.

Queries

  • What, if anything, is the Light Within calling Friends to do in response to the unprecedented rise of domestic extremism, white supremacy, and authoritarianism that is threatening the destruction of our democracy at home and abroad?
  • How can I/we respond with resolute love even while I/we may be struggling with fear, anger, apathy, or hate?

Possible Actions

Defending Truth

We urge all Friends to discern the deep truths that provide a foundation for active love, wisdom, compassion, and peace in the world — and then to defend them. We ask:

  • Individual Friends to search yourselves about the threats to our country, and the world, and to witness publicly to the truths that you discern are grounded in your experience of the Spirit.
  • Quaker meetings and organizations to issue public statements calling out lies and the purveyors of lies, all in the context of our understanding of love, equality, and justice for all. Working for True Equality and Justice for All We urge Friends to act for equality and equity within our diverse society.

Working for True Equality and Justice for All

We urge Friends to act for equality and equity within our diverse society:

  • Speak, write, and protest in support for full equality of all people in American society, whatever their racial or sexual identity, gender, or class.
  • Support legislative and economic changes that would lead to actual equity among all peoples.

Promoting Free and Fair Elections

Stemming from our testimonies of Integrity and Equality, we urge Friends to:

  • Support non-partisan voter-registration drives, particularly in communities under attack from those seeking to prevent them from voting.
  • Publicly condemn partisan efforts to restrict access to voting.
  • Confront partisan efforts to seize control of the election administration apparatus.
  • Support conscientious, non-partisan election officials in our communities.
  • Volunteer as poll workers, election monitors, and drivers to get people to the polls.

Preparing for Non-Violent Resistance

We believe that as a religious society grounded in nonviolence, we can:

  • Arrange for nonviolent direct-action training in our Quaker meetings and organizations, as well as with others in our larger communities.
  • Form small “affinity groups” that can prepare to carry out direct actions in support of free and fair elections and the state and local officials who support them.
  • Support wider efforts to plan and organize nonviolent resistance on a state and nationwide level, as needed.

MARIAN BEANE
Charlotte Friends Meeting, Piedmont Friends – Yearly Meeting
and Fellowship

BRUCE BIRCHARD
Central Philadelphia Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting, Former General Secretary, Friends General Conference

LAURA BOYCE
Providence Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,
Ujima Friends Peace Center

MARTHA BRYANS
Downingtown Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

SAM CALDWELL
Providence Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,
Former General Secretary, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

GRETCHEN CASTLE
Doylestown Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,
Dean, Earlham School of Religion, Former General Secretary,
Friends World Committee for Consultation World Office

ROBERT DOCKHORN
Green Street Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

TOM EWELL
Whidbey Island Friends Meeting, North Pacific Yearly Meeting

EILEEN FLANAGAN
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

JOHN HELDING
Lopez Island Friends Meeting, North Pacific Yearly Meeting

AYESHA IMANI
Ujima Friends Meeting, Philadelphia, Clerk, Ujima Friends
Peace Center, Former Clerk of the Fellowship of Friends
of African Descent

PHIL LORD
Ujima Friends Meeting, Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting,
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

MARY ELLEN MCNISH
Byberry Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Former
General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee

DIANE RANDALL
Hartford Friends Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting,
Sojourning Friends Meeting of Washington, Baltimore Yearly
Meeting, Former General Secretary, Friends Committee on
National Legislation

CHRISTINA REPOLEY
Atlanta Friends Meeting, Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting
and Association, Founding Director of Quaker Voluntary Service

COLIN SAXTON
North Valley Friends Meeting, Newberg, Oregon

JOE VOLK
Executive Secretary Emeritus, Friends Committee on
National Legislation

MICHAEL WAJDA
Goshen Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,
Sojourning Bennington Friends Meeting, New England
Yearly Meeting, Former Associate Secretary, Friends
General Conference

PAM YALLER
Upper Dublin Friends Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

Meeting and Organization Affiliations are listed for identification purposes only


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