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1] Ann Arbor Friends Meeting: Readings for Reflection
www.annarborfriends.org/reflection0903.shtml
...
HOLDING SOMEONE IN THE LIGHT: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
[Part Two]
Many times in the period of meeting for worship in which we share joys and sorrows, we will be asked to “hold someone in the Light.” This old Quaker phrase may hold different meaning for different people, however. Continuing from last month’s column, here are four more personal thoughts from individuals on the Committee on Ministry and Counsel on “what it means to hold someone in the Light.” ---
Several things come to mind when I think about holding someone in the light. Most of them will, I am sure, be articulated by others much better than I could say them. The one I would like to share is perhaps a little controversial, but it is important to me as we seek to become more aware of the way in which racism affects us as individuals and as a Meeting. As meaningful as the image of "the light" is to most of us, it is also part of a strong tendency in our culture to picture the light as good and the dark as bad. For example, I recall a Meeting attender saying that she had great difficulty finding videos for her biracial adopted daughters to watch that did not portray characters who were dark as scary and evil. This tendency is experienced as hurtful by at least some people of color--probably many people of color. I am not suggesting that we give up the image, but that we be aware of the discomfort or pain it causes some people, that we consider sometimes using other images such as holding people "in our hearts" or "in prayer," and that we look for ways to use and encourage positive images of darkness.
---
When I Hold people in the Light I am most comfortable visualizing them wrapped in an actual warm light. To me it represents God's love. If I know the person, I "see" them. If not, I find my mind still sees a light and I know that God is, and will be, caring for that person. A speaker at the FGC Gathering this year led us to understand that in the Bible we are instructed to petition God. So many of us wonder if it's "OK" to pray for health and well being, and it was wonderful to be invited to ask.
---
I like to think of “holding in the Light” as being “holding in Love.” The Light to me represents God’s love and some of its qualities, and so when I think of holding someone in the Light I picture them surrounded by visual, bright Light, but also surrounded by something with warmth and a soft texture. In the Psalms there is reference to being borne up on the wings of an eagle, and I like the image of an eagle’s wing as part of God’s love. The wing can be powerful, strong, and uplifting, but on the ground the wing can encircle us in a warm and comforting way. Thus, I envision someone being held in brightness, warmth, and softness.
---
If illness, or some other bad turn in my life, struck me next week, I would like Friends to hold "me" in the light, and not just my bad fortune. It is easy for the concern to focus on the illness, forgetting that there is a person there who has, or has had, a whole life that needs holding in the light as well. Hold the person up to the light so that we may see illuminated all that there is to the person. The thought above came to me recently when a Friend told of seeing a person in need, and not realizing for the longest time that there was more to helping this person than tending to the need.
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Quakers & Prayer - Introducing PYM Quakers
https://www.pym.org › Introducing PYM Quakers › Quaker Practice
To hold a person in the Light, imagine them being held in God's loving presence and offer prayers and love for them. Holding an individual or a group of people ...
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2] Activity 4: Prayer as Presence - Holding in the Light | Sing to the Power ...
https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/sing/session6/229908.shtml
One way of praying for a person is a Quaker tradition called "holding in the light." When you hold someone in the light you picture them in your mind and imagine ...
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Unitarian Church
ACTIVITY 4: PRAYER AS PRESENCE - HOLDING IN THE LIGHT
Activity 4: Prayer as Presence - Holding in the Light
Activity 4: Prayer as Presence - Holding in the Light
Activity time: 7 minutes
Materials for Activity
Bell or chime
Optional: Computer with Internet access
Preparation for Activity
Optional: Preview the YouTube clip of Kit Holmes performing her song "I'm Gonna Hold You in the Light" (4:00). Adjust the volume and queue the clip so you can press "play" during this activity at the time you choose.
Description of Activity
People encounter many painful situations that are beyond our ability to fix, from friends' and family members' health and relationship issues to violence and natural disasters around the world. Children experience prayer as a way to offer compassion and care-a ministry of presence-whether or not there is any action we can take to change difficult circumstances.
Ask participants what they think prayer is. Use these questions:
What do you do when you pray?
Do you have to believe in God in order to pray?
Do you pray for other people or for yourself?
How is praying like wishing? How is it different?
Why might a person want to pray?
Say in these words, or your own:
Prayer can be a way of expressing caring and good wishes for someone, offering your caring presence, whether you are in the room with them or not.
One way of praying for a person is a Quaker tradition called "holding in the light." When you hold someone in the light you picture them in your mind and imagine that they are surrounded by a warm, glowing, healing light. You can think of this as the light of God, or the light of love, or the light of hope and good wishes.
Gather the group in a circle. Explain that you will now hold those you love in the light. Ask participants to think of someone or a group of people who might be going through a hard time and whom we can hold in the light.
Gather the group in a circle. Explain that you will now hold those you love in the light. Ask participants to think of someone or a group of people who might be going through a hard time and whom we can hold in the light.
Suggest: It might be a family member who is ill, a friend with a difficult family situation, or someone who has been treated unfairly. Say it is fine to choose someone we do not even know-for example, someone in another country where there has been a natural disaster or a war.
Give the group a moment. Then explain that each person in the circle will have the opportunity to say who they are thinking of. The group will then repeat together "We are holding [person's name] in the light," and then share silence in which everyone imagines that person (or their name, if they don't know what they look like) surrounded by warm, healing light.
Say that if they prefer not to say a name aloud, participants may say "Someone" when it is their turn. The group will repeat "We are holding someone in the light," then share the period of silence.
Have a volunteer begin. Lead the group to respond "We are holding (person's name) in the light." Wait 20-30 seconds, then sound the bell or chime and invite the next person to share a name, until everyone in the circle has had the opportunity to choose someone whom the group holds in the light.
To conclude, invite participants to reflect on the experience with questions such as:
Are there times you can imagine you might want to use this practice of holding in the light? Could you do it by yourself? Do you think it is easier, or more powerful to use this practice in a group?
Does our congregation or your family use any similar practice? What about lighting candles of joy and concern?
Are there other ways our congregation, or members of our congregation, practice a ministry of presence?
Contents
---
3] Holding in the Light - Community of Christ
https://www.cofchrist.org/spiritual-practice-holding-in-the-light
Holding in the Light is a form of communal intercessory prayer adapted from the Quaker movement. It is a way of praying for others using silence and imaging.
---
Holding in the Light
Holding in the Light is a form of communal intercessory prayer adapted from the Quaker movement. It is a way of praying for others using silence and imaging.
The Practice
Gather in a circle. You may want to place one or more candles in the center.
Invite people into a period of intercessory prayer in which specific people and needs are placed in God’s loving, healing care.
Spend a few moments centering on God’s presence and the group’s intention of praying for others. This may be done by reading the scripture reflections, offering a verbal prayer, or using silence and breath prayer to become quiet inside and out.
Enter a period of silent prayer on behalf of those individuals and concerns the group desires to lift up. The whole group may choose to focus on one particular person or concern or group members can make individual choices about the focus of their prayers. The names of those being prayed for can be made known or kept private.
A central element of this form of intercessory prayer is to see or sense the person prayed for being surrounded by and held in God’s light. Ask those praying to focus on this image or awareness as they engage in silent prayer.
Encourage the “pray-ers” to trust God to know the needs of those being prayed for without a lot of words or explanations. Compassionately holding the image of our loved one being held and healed by God’s light becomes the focus of the prayer.
Short prayer phrases can be used to keep attention focused on God as the Source of all healing and blessing.
Continue in silent intercession for ten to fifteen minutes.
Offer a brief prayer of thanks to close your prayer experience.
This prayer practice can be done in private anytime one wishes to hold a particular person or need up to God. It can be done in scattered locations by a group of people wanting to join in prayerful solidarity for a loved one. The group may want to set a specific time when they will participate in prayer by “holding in the light” the one for whom they seek God’s blessing.
Scriptures for Reflections
Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. —Ephesians 5:8, 9 NRSV
If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays. —Luke 11:36 NRSV
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. —1 John 1:5 NRSV
And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you, and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. —Doctrine and Covenants 85:18a
Additional Resources
Prayer and the Five Stages of Healing by Ron Roth with Peter Occhiogrosso
Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard J. Foster---
Brothers and Sisters: Holding Someone in the Light - Daily Kos
https://www.dailykos.com/.../6/.../-Brothers-and-Sisters-Holding-Someone-in-the-Ligh...
Jun 23, 2013 - To say to someone " I will hold you in the Light", is the equivalent of lifting them up to God, lifting them to light and goodness, so they can have ...
---
4] What does it mean when a Quaker says he will 'hold someone in the ...
https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-when-a-Quaker-says-he-will-hold-someone-...
Mar 29, 2018 - I can't, and would never intend to, speak for all Quakers. So, with that in mind, here's my reflections to this question: To hold someone in the ...
---
Jessica Taylor, DPsych Counselling Psychology, University of the West of England (2021)
Answered Mar 29, 2018
I can’t, and would never intend to, speak for all Quakers. So, with that in mind, here’s my reflections to this question:
To hold someone in the light is an activity, by which I mean it is not a passive process - prayer is; prayer is, in its essence, a request from another to intervene in some form on your behalf. To hold someone in the light, however, is more a commitment to action: I will actively hold you up to and within the light, to God’s love (which can be experienced through me) - I will endeavour to keep you in mind and to act compassionately towards you. It is, in its essence, a call to action and a way of orienting myself to another.
To keep it simple, and visual: prayer is about kneeling down and asking for assistance, whilst holding someone in the light conjures images of embracing someone and bearing them towards love.
I think this link summarises my position well, if you’d like to read a more eloquent exposition: http://philipgulley.com/wp-conte...
Give the group a moment. Then explain that each person in the circle will have the opportunity to say who they are thinking of. The group will then repeat together "We are holding [person's name] in the light," and then share silence in which everyone imagines that person (or their name, if they don't know what they look like) surrounded by warm, healing light.
Say that if they prefer not to say a name aloud, participants may say "Someone" when it is their turn. The group will repeat "We are holding someone in the light," then share the period of silence.
Have a volunteer begin. Lead the group to respond "We are holding (person's name) in the light." Wait 20-30 seconds, then sound the bell or chime and invite the next person to share a name, until everyone in the circle has had the opportunity to choose someone whom the group holds in the light.
To conclude, invite participants to reflect on the experience with questions such as:
Are there times you can imagine you might want to use this practice of holding in the light? Could you do it by yourself? Do you think it is easier, or more powerful to use this practice in a group?
Does our congregation or your family use any similar practice? What about lighting candles of joy and concern?
Are there other ways our congregation, or members of our congregation, practice a ministry of presence?
Contents
---
3] Holding in the Light - Community of Christ
https://www.cofchrist.org/spiritual-practice-holding-in-the-light
Holding in the Light is a form of communal intercessory prayer adapted from the Quaker movement. It is a way of praying for others using silence and imaging.
---
Holding in the Light
Holding in the Light is a form of communal intercessory prayer adapted from the Quaker movement. It is a way of praying for others using silence and imaging.
The Practice
Gather in a circle. You may want to place one or more candles in the center.
Invite people into a period of intercessory prayer in which specific people and needs are placed in God’s loving, healing care.
Spend a few moments centering on God’s presence and the group’s intention of praying for others. This may be done by reading the scripture reflections, offering a verbal prayer, or using silence and breath prayer to become quiet inside and out.
Enter a period of silent prayer on behalf of those individuals and concerns the group desires to lift up. The whole group may choose to focus on one particular person or concern or group members can make individual choices about the focus of their prayers. The names of those being prayed for can be made known or kept private.
A central element of this form of intercessory prayer is to see or sense the person prayed for being surrounded by and held in God’s light. Ask those praying to focus on this image or awareness as they engage in silent prayer.
Encourage the “pray-ers” to trust God to know the needs of those being prayed for without a lot of words or explanations. Compassionately holding the image of our loved one being held and healed by God’s light becomes the focus of the prayer.
Short prayer phrases can be used to keep attention focused on God as the Source of all healing and blessing.
Continue in silent intercession for ten to fifteen minutes.
Offer a brief prayer of thanks to close your prayer experience.
This prayer practice can be done in private anytime one wishes to hold a particular person or need up to God. It can be done in scattered locations by a group of people wanting to join in prayerful solidarity for a loved one. The group may want to set a specific time when they will participate in prayer by “holding in the light” the one for whom they seek God’s blessing.
Scriptures for Reflections
Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. —Ephesians 5:8, 9 NRSV
If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays. —Luke 11:36 NRSV
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. —1 John 1:5 NRSV
And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you, and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things. —Doctrine and Covenants 85:18a
Additional Resources
Prayer and the Five Stages of Healing by Ron Roth with Peter Occhiogrosso
Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard J. Foster---
Brothers and Sisters: Holding Someone in the Light - Daily Kos
https://www.dailykos.com/.../6/.../-Brothers-and-Sisters-Holding-Someone-in-the-Ligh...
Jun 23, 2013 - To say to someone " I will hold you in the Light", is the equivalent of lifting them up to God, lifting them to light and goodness, so they can have ...
---
4] What does it mean when a Quaker says he will 'hold someone in the ...
https://www.quora.com/What-does-it-mean-when-a-Quaker-says-he-will-hold-someone-...
Mar 29, 2018 - I can't, and would never intend to, speak for all Quakers. So, with that in mind, here's my reflections to this question: To hold someone in the ...
---
Jessica Taylor, DPsych Counselling Psychology, University of the West of England (2021)
Answered Mar 29, 2018
I can’t, and would never intend to, speak for all Quakers. So, with that in mind, here’s my reflections to this question:
To hold someone in the light is an activity, by which I mean it is not a passive process - prayer is; prayer is, in its essence, a request from another to intervene in some form on your behalf. To hold someone in the light, however, is more a commitment to action: I will actively hold you up to and within the light, to God’s love (which can be experienced through me) - I will endeavour to keep you in mind and to act compassionately towards you. It is, in its essence, a call to action and a way of orienting myself to another.
To keep it simple, and visual: prayer is about kneeling down and asking for assistance, whilst holding someone in the light conjures images of embracing someone and bearing them towards love.
I think this link summarises my position well, if you’d like to read a more eloquent exposition: http://philipgulley.com/wp-conte...
1.2k Views · View Upvoters · Answer requested by Bruce Taylor
Upvote· 67
Sam Barnett-Cormack, Nontheist Quaker, Member of Lancashire Central and North Area Meeting
Answered Apr 25, 2018
It can mean the same as praying, but not all Quakers pray in the sense that most Christians would think of in this context (intercessory prayer). Given that not all Quakers believe in a God you can pray to, sometimes it really doesn’t mean praying for the person.
I wrote a lot exploring this idea for my blog, and it would be excessive to reproduce it here, but you’re welcome to read it there: What do Quakers Mean by "Holding in the Light"?
--
Sunday, 11 February 2018
What do Quakers Mean by "Holding in the Light"?
It is something of a pat phrase, among Quakers, to respond to the difficulty of others by offering to “hold them in the light”. I do not mean by this that we do not do anything else to help people in difficulty, or that such holding is not appreciated. Indeed, it is equally common, in my experience, for Friends to ask others to hold them in the light as they face adversity.
Like many Quaker phrases, however, it serves to obscure the divergence of understanding among liberal Friends. We do not explain what we mean when we use it, and rarely discuss what we mean by it at other times. It is clear that there are a range of meanings Friends ascribe to the saying, and even where people have similar conceptions of the Divine, they may not mean the same thing when they offer to hold someone in the light.
In this post I will explore some of the different interpretations of this phrase that I have come across, looking at what connects them and what differentiates them. I will also, naturally, explain my take on the matter.
It is an evocative phrase for many Friends, and certainly one that is pretty specific to Quakers, but even with a knowledge of Quaker language in general, it is hard to say with certainty what that combination of words might mean. Light, as a term among Quakers, has complex and multifarious meaning. Sometimes it is used as a general term, one among many, for the Divine – along with such standby terms such as Spirit and God. At other times, it is a more specific aspect of our experience of the Divine, a shorthand for Inner Light or Light of Christ (which may or may not be mutually interchangeable depending on the theology of the individual Friend). Any given Friend may use the term in different ways at different times. What then can we make of the idea of holding in the light? In my experience, we don't consistently capitalise “light” in the phrase, though some do, which even calls into question the idea that “light” refers to the same sort of things as it does when used as a word on its own.
The truth, as best I can determine, is that pretty much any possibility you might reasonably imagine is the meaning held by some Friends, somewhere. To some, it is essentially intercessory prayer; others view it as a kind of practical magic, a way of attempting to change the world through the application of human will. Many do not expect it to do anything in any practical sense, even spiritually, but know that it is nice, even helpful in adversity, to know that others are thinking of one. Some examples of cases I have heard, or read, should give some illustration.
Holding in the light as a visualisation is common – imagining the person, or the group, or some symbol of the matter in question, bathed in divine light. What Friends who do this consider the significance varies. For some, it has the character of intercessory prayer, that they see this visualisation as an expression of their hope that God strengthen the Light around/within the object of their attention; that this bring strength, or healing, or good fortune. For others, they see it as bringing light in the same way, to the same ends, but without the involvement of a deity; the transmission, by dint of will, of some of the Divine essence from themselves to the object of their attention.
In one or two cases I have heard of, Friends with a foot in a neopagan tradition will actually engage in some sort of ritual, possibly actually envisioned as an exercise in practical magic, to help the person directly – or simply to focus their own mind on the task as they understand it.
For some, who may or may not also engage in the visualisation described above, it is a matter of attempting to be receptive, rather than transmissive. They are opening themselves to any leadings that might come as to how they might constructively help with a situation; there is a hope that the Spirit will give them some insight into the situation that will lead to them being able to actually do something tangible to help.
For others, it is actually a Quakerly shorthand for more traditional intercessory prayer, directly asking God (or other divine figure or figures) to intervene on behalf of a person. This may even be spoken prayer. Similarly, for some it is a matter of spiritual healing, which may or may not mean an intention to bring about physical change.
For myself, and occasionally for some others I know of, it is a matter of holding the person in my thoughts, with good intentions, without any express idea about how this might lead to any results. It might, or it might not. Sometimes it produces a leading for action, but I do not expressly hope or expect that it will do so. Sometimes I get a sense that something changes as I do this, but I do not know where that sense comes from. I do not need to know; I know that I am doing something, possibly all I can do. If I already know something concrete I can do, I would do that; if I cannot, for whatever reason, I do what I can simply in the hope that something positive might result. I cannot it see it being worse than doing nothing, and it might do some good.
It is important to realise that these different patterns have overlap, and many Friends will recognise their practice reflected in several of them. Much like conceptions of the Divine, or understandings of the Quaker Business Method, trying to cover the full range of experience with separate descriptions might not be possible – and if it were, it would be a very, very long task.
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Julie Gochenour • a year ago
Hmmm. To explain my personal understanding of what I do when I hold someone in the light, I go back to Fox's image of an ocean of darkness and an ocean of light flowing above it. When I hold someone in the light, then. I am lifting them out of the melange of experiences that create/feel like an ocean of darkness in difficult times, and up into the ocean of light where there the light comes from all directions so there are no shadows. My effort to do this for another on their behalf is important because the deeper we move into the ocean of light, the weaker the shadows of fear, etc., When I hold someone in the light because of circumstance or need, I do so because they might not be able to fully glimpse or reach up out of the darkness toward that ocean of light as fully as they might with my assistance
Christopher John Green • a year ago
Dear Sam,
F Baudrazin in his article in J J Von Allmen's Vocabulary of the Bible discusses Light under seven headings. Early Quakers, who knew their Bibles better than we do today, would had a view of Light that was full of scriptural resonances. Among them would be an understanding, not only of the light of day, of the sun, of the stars (Gen. 1.4; Exod.10.23; Job 26:10, etc), but also he New Testament references (Jn. 1:12-13; 8:12; 12:36;). I would argue that the Light is the Light of Christ. Baudraz concludes his article with "In the Johannine passages light is inseparable from life ,truth, and love. God has placed all these blessings, which properly belong to Him, in His Son, in order that through faith in Him men might receive these ifts and participate in the very life of God."
Hope this helps. In Friendship, and with warmest regards. Chris.
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5] To Hold in the Light | schmaltalk
https://schmaltalk.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/to-hold-in-the-light/
Nov 27, 2016 - Prominent in the peculiar language of Quakers is the phrase “to hold [someone, something] in the Light”. What does this mean? There is no ...
[PDF]
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6] 1 QuakerSayings9 I Will Hold You in the Light Philip Gulley Last ...
philipgulley.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Quaker-Sayings-9-SECURE.pdf
I Will Hold You in the Light. Philip Gulley. Last summer, I was speaking at a Quaker event in Ohio and happened to feel faint and had to sit down. It was late in ...
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7] I'll hold you in the light. - Hannah Brencher
www.hannahbrenchercreative.com/diary/2015/11/04/ill-hold-you-in-the-light
Nov 4, 2015 - I'll hold you in the light. Screen Shot 2015-11-04 at 3.41.31 PM I. One of my girlfriends invites me to yoga and I say yes immediately. Before I ...
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8] Lightholders and Holding the Light - Golden Age of Gaia
https://goldenageofgaia.com/2016/03/12/lightholders-and-holding-the-light/
Mar 12, 2016 - She considers it her lightwork to hold the Light. ... enlightenment, not a lightworker (because that's what she was) holding the Light for Gaia.
Sunday, 11 February 2018
What do Quakers Mean by "Holding in the Light"?
It is something of a pat phrase, among Quakers, to respond to the difficulty of others by offering to “hold them in the light”. I do not mean by this that we do not do anything else to help people in difficulty, or that such holding is not appreciated. Indeed, it is equally common, in my experience, for Friends to ask others to hold them in the light as they face adversity.Like many Quaker phrases, however, it serves to obscure the divergence of understanding among liberal Friends. We do not explain what we mean when we use it, and rarely discuss what we mean by it at other times. It is clear that there are a range of meanings Friends ascribe to the saying, and even where people have similar conceptions of the Divine, they may not mean the same thing when they offer to hold someone in the light.
In this post I will explore some of the different interpretations of this phrase that I have come across, looking at what connects them and what differentiates them. I will also, naturally, explain my take on the matter.
It is an evocative phrase for many Friends, and certainly one that is pretty specific to Quakers, but even with a knowledge of Quaker language in general, it is hard to say with certainty what that combination of words might mean. Light, as a term among Quakers, has complex and multifarious meaning. Sometimes it is used as a general term, one among many, for the Divine – along with such standby terms such as Spirit and God. At other times, it is a more specific aspect of our experience of the Divine, a shorthand for Inner Light or Light of Christ (which may or may not be mutually interchangeable depending on the theology of the individual Friend). Any given Friend may use the term in different ways at different times. What then can we make of the idea of holding in the light? In my experience, we don't consistently capitalise “light” in the phrase, though some do, which even calls into question the idea that “light” refers to the same sort of things as it does when used as a word on its own.
The truth, as best I can determine, is that pretty much any possibility you might reasonably imagine is the meaning held by some Friends, somewhere. To some, it is essentially intercessory prayer; others view it as a kind of practical magic, a way of attempting to change the world through the application of human will. Many do not expect it to do anything in any practical sense, even spiritually, but know that it is nice, even helpful in adversity, to know that others are thinking of one. Some examples of cases I have heard, or read, should give some illustration.
Holding in the light as a visualisation is common – imagining the person, or the group, or some symbol of the matter in question, bathed in divine light. What Friends who do this consider the significance varies. For some, it has the character of intercessory prayer, that they see this visualisation as an expression of their hope that God strengthen the Light around/within the object of their attention; that this bring strength, or healing, or good fortune. For others, they see it as bringing light in the same way, to the same ends, but without the involvement of a deity; the transmission, by dint of will, of some of the Divine essence from themselves to the object of their attention.
In one or two cases I have heard of, Friends with a foot in a neopagan tradition will actually engage in some sort of ritual, possibly actually envisioned as an exercise in practical magic, to help the person directly – or simply to focus their own mind on the task as they understand it.
For some, who may or may not also engage in the visualisation described above, it is a matter of attempting to be receptive, rather than transmissive. They are opening themselves to any leadings that might come as to how they might constructively help with a situation; there is a hope that the Spirit will give them some insight into the situation that will lead to them being able to actually do something tangible to help.
For others, it is actually a Quakerly shorthand for more traditional intercessory prayer, directly asking God (or other divine figure or figures) to intervene on behalf of a person. This may even be spoken prayer. Similarly, for some it is a matter of spiritual healing, which may or may not mean an intention to bring about physical change.
For myself, and occasionally for some others I know of, it is a matter of holding the person in my thoughts, with good intentions, without any express idea about how this might lead to any results. It might, or it might not. Sometimes it produces a leading for action, but I do not expressly hope or expect that it will do so. Sometimes I get a sense that something changes as I do this, but I do not know where that sense comes from. I do not need to know; I know that I am doing something, possibly all I can do. If I already know something concrete I can do, I would do that; if I cannot, for whatever reason, I do what I can simply in the hope that something positive might result. I cannot it see it being worse than doing nothing, and it might do some good.
It is important to realise that these different patterns have overlap, and many Friends will recognise their practice reflected in several of them. Much like conceptions of the Divine, or understandings of the Quaker Business Method, trying to cover the full range of experience with separate descriptions might not be possible – and if it were, it would be a very, very long task.
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Julie Gochenour • a year ago
Hmmm. To explain my personal understanding of what I do when I hold someone in the light, I go back to Fox's image of an ocean of darkness and an ocean of light flowing above it. When I hold someone in the light, then. I am lifting them out of the melange of experiences that create/feel like an ocean of darkness in difficult times, and up into the ocean of light where there the light comes from all directions so there are no shadows. My effort to do this for another on their behalf is important because the deeper we move into the ocean of light, the weaker the shadows of fear, etc., When I hold someone in the light because of circumstance or need, I do so because they might not be able to fully glimpse or reach up out of the darkness toward that ocean of light as fully as they might with my assistance
Christopher John Green • a year ago
Dear Sam,
F Baudrazin in his article in J J Von Allmen's Vocabulary of the Bible discusses Light under seven headings. Early Quakers, who knew their Bibles better than we do today, would had a view of Light that was full of scriptural resonances. Among them would be an understanding, not only of the light of day, of the sun, of the stars (Gen. 1.4; Exod.10.23; Job 26:10, etc), but also he New Testament references (Jn. 1:12-13; 8:12; 12:36;). I would argue that the Light is the Light of Christ. Baudraz concludes his article with "In the Johannine passages light is inseparable from life ,truth, and love. God has placed all these blessings, which properly belong to Him, in His Son, in order that through faith in Him men might receive these ifts and participate in the very life of God."
Hope this helps. In Friendship, and with warmest regards. Chris.
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5] To Hold in the Light | schmaltalk
https://schmaltalk.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/to-hold-in-the-light/
Nov 27, 2016 - Prominent in the peculiar language of Quakers is the phrase “to hold [someone, something] in the Light”. What does this mean? There is no ...
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To Hold in the Light
Prominent in the peculiar language of Quakers is the phrase “to hold [someone, something] in the Light”. What does this mean? There is no single definition, and typical of Quakers there is no frozen-in-time definition established 350 years ago and arriving in modern Quakerism unchanged (“continuing revelation” will be considered in future posts, as will Light, God, witness, and much else). Nevertheless, I will attempt to give an approximate sense of what it means to be held in the Light, or to hold another in the Light.
To hold [someone, something] in the Light includes prayer, yet is more and different than prayer. However, if you’re of an understanding that “all is prayer,” the “more-ness” already resonates with you. The Light is always companioned by Love. Paradoxically, it is both simple and complex.
In my experience and observation, petitionary prayer to a supernatural, anthropomorphized God is uncommon among Quakers—but here I must insert the caveat that, while my readings of historical and modern Quaker writings has been expansive, most of my worship and conversational experience has been among “Liberal Friends” in the U.S. (Quakers, already relatively few in number worldwide, have undergone some schisms and diversifications in the past two centuries).
My first epiphany in matters of the Light was some 21 years ago, as I sat in Meeting for Worship, still raw and grieving from the recent and unspeakably sad accidental death, subsequent family gathering, and funeral for my great-niece. In addition to prayer, I had rightly understood ‘holding in the Light” to have an element of metaphysical healing and illogical near-magic of the kinds attributed to Jesus of Nazareth, and found in the mystical faith traditions of many religions including Quakerism. Yet, as I recalled my own experience of deep grief along with the loving visits, heartfelt cards, and practical offerings of help by the community to my sister on the loss of her beloved granddaughter, and to my nephew in his inconsolable shock at his daughter’s death, this came to me: tangible action, no matter how banal on the surface, is also a manifestation of holding someone in the light. To deliver a casserole, to send a card, to offer a room for visiting relatives, to recommend a specific and highly skilled professional relevant to the situation—these and many other “mere actions” are filled with magic and Light (it was a bit embarrassing to realize this only in the middle of my life, but better late than never).
In Worship today, a Friend spoke through tears of a colleague fighting for her life in Shock-Trauma after being stabbed multiple times and left for dead by an acquaintance, himself deranged by demons yet undescribed. The Friend asked our Quaker community to hold the injured woman and her family in the Light, and the Friend continued to speak of her own epiphany, cast upon her by her husband, from his understanding: that to hold someone in the Light (an image, a metaphor, an action) is by necessity to stand in the Light oneself, thus its effect is to offer healing not only to the other but to oneself.
Meanwhile, I have come to understand additional things about holding someone in the Light. First, while even the briefest of loving words, thoughts, and actions are good, “holding” the Light (over time, space, and being) is better evidence of authenticity. Second, we Friends endeavor to hold in the Light people and processes with whom (or with which) we emphatically disagree, in alignment with William Penn’s advice, “Let us then try what Love will do …” And finally, to hold in the Light (and to love) is not to enable wrongly led behavior, and may involve nonviolent opposition of a most persistent kind.
I will endeavor to hold the newly elected U.S. government in the Light. May they find enlightenment and wisdom—and if not, may they be used by History (and the moral arc of the universe) as object lessons, as a parable, as a weird anomaly never to be repeated.
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6] 1 QuakerSayings9 I Will Hold You in the Light Philip Gulley Last ...
philipgulley.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Quaker-Sayings-9-SECURE.pdf
I Will Hold You in the Light. Philip Gulley. Last summer, I was speaking at a Quaker event in Ohio and happened to feel faint and had to sit down. It was late in ...
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7] I'll hold you in the light. - Hannah Brencher
www.hannahbrenchercreative.com/diary/2015/11/04/ill-hold-you-in-the-light
Nov 4, 2015 - I'll hold you in the light. Screen Shot 2015-11-04 at 3.41.31 PM I. One of my girlfriends invites me to yoga and I say yes immediately. Before I ...
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8] Lightholders and Holding the Light - Golden Age of Gaia
https://goldenageofgaia.com/2016/03/12/lightholders-and-holding-the-light/
Mar 12, 2016 - She considers it her lightwork to hold the Light. ... enlightenment, not a lightworker (because that's what she was) holding the Light for Gaia.
