"What Are Quakers For?"
Hosted by West Newton Quakers
September 27 at 7:00 pm. In that session we’ll discuss what we Quakers are for. This comes from a quotation by the martyred priest Oscar Romero:
“I don’t want to be an anti, against anybody. I simply want to be the builder of a great affirmation: the affirmation of God, who loves us and who wants to save us.”
As Brent Bill says in his Western Yearly Meeting Quaker Lecture:
“in the Quaker tradition, true spiritual witness, at its best, is rooted in positivity. We are for social justice. We are for clean water and good food for all people. We are for healthcare. We are for peace. We are for education and food stability for all.
Saying what we are for is an invitation to life and hope rooted in God’s goodness. It is life calling to life.”
Our question that evening will be, “What are we Quakers for?”
After brief opening worship and some remarks by Brent, we’ll move right into discussion. Depending on how many Friends attend, we’ll either stay together as one group or we’ll break out into virtual discussion “rooms.”
Here is the link to join via Zoom.
Meeting ID: 820 3846 0858
Western Yearly Meeting Annual Session - July 28 @ 7:00 pm
Western Yearly Meeting45 subscribers
105 views Streamed live on Jul 29, 2023The Quaker Lecture with J. Brent Bill
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Transcript
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7:59thank you Joanne together
8:06well we gave people a choice we asked them if they wanted to hear Joanne play the piano or hear me sing
8:14you saw what carried the day friends it's wonderful to see you all
8:19gathered here tonight for our Quaker lecture let us begin our time together with
8:25prayer oh God we thank you for this day and for this opportunity to be with friends
8:33to renew old friendships and to make new ones
8:39May our time together be rich and full of love may we see in one another
8:47your presence your grace and your compassion
8:52may this be a time of encouragement for us
8:58when we have lost courage maybe it'd be a time of Grace
9:05for when we have been less than gracious oh God
9:10help us all to become whole and full and
9:15joyful today amen friends let us stand and sing together
9:22and are opening him 514 in the red Hymnal God of Grace and
9:29God of Glory [Music] [Applause] [Music]
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12:56that's very nice and let's sing one more song Great Is Thy Faithfulness number
13:0117. now if you had been attending Bethel
13:06Friends Meeting In 1989 you would have heard me sing the only solo I have ever
13:14sang in my life and it was this song and I haven't sang
13:20it since and I might be experiencing PTSD
13:27during the singing just ignore that and keep singing hymn number 17 greatest thy
13:33faithfulness you will play the whole thing through once and then we'll jump in
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15:01my friends
15:10as long as friends
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16:39universities
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16:55it is
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17:37praise [Music]
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18:06raises
18:29we're going to take an offering in a moment and the offering funds I'll
18:34remind you go to help offset the costs of the conference this uh this four days
18:39and so if you are willing and to invest in that we would
18:47appreciate the the generosity I want to also let you know that
18:54tonight's lecture is in print and you can get those after the lecture they are
19:00next to the dessert table downstairs where we'll be having Strawberry Shortcake and you're free to come get
19:07one of these as well uh Brent has books there that he will be
19:12signing and that are for purchase and and so we'd invite you to come have Strawberry Shortcake and and continue to
19:18enjoy the evening together after we're completed here let's pray for our offering
19:27father there is so much to be grateful for
19:34just even in this time together these last few days there have been so many opportunities to reconnect to build new
19:43friendships to remind each other of the importance of being together
19:51to enjoy thinking about Ministry together and where we are in this particular time
19:59[Music] and where it is that we're going more importantly where it is that you're
20:04leading us so we thank you for the opportunity to be together and we pray that you would
20:09bless this offering make it um so that we are able to continue to enjoy
20:17year after year the opportunities to be together like this and we are grateful
20:22for your love and provision for us in your name amen
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25:01it is a pleasure this evening to introduce Brent bill this year's Quaker lecture
25:09I met Brent over 40 years ago when I served as the intern pastor at
25:17Plainfield Friends Meeting just next door and he was the director of Christian education for Western yearly
25:25meeting we were both working with young Quakers so the orbits of Our Lives intersected
25:32most often at Quaker Haven camp for Junior and Senior High camps
25:39I had just married and the last thing I wanted to do was
25:46sleep in a hot cabin with teenage boys
25:51who like Sean yesterday had forgotten their deodorant
25:59on the plus side Brent was there and he had a knack for making the experience an
26:07enjoyable one so there we were two pale
26:13Midwestern males diabetes looming in our futures
26:20did I mention we were both diabetic
26:26just launching ourselves into Quaker Ministry not knowing the similar terms
26:32our lives would take in time we both became writers
26:39traveling beyond our Quaker communities consorting with the episcopalians and
26:46methodists and Presbyterians and other Shady characters
26:52but while with them I could always count on one question being asked of me when
26:59people learned I was a Quaker do you know Brent build they would ask
27:06for many years I would tell them back when we both had hair
27:14now let me tell you a little fact of human nature that is true of almost
27:20every group when we have known someone a long time
27:30when we have shared the common cords of life with someone for many years
27:37we often fail to appreciate or even recognize
27:43their true value we in Western have known Brent so long
27:50have grown so accustomed to his gifts we have often failed to realize
27:58just how exceptional his life's work has been
28:04there are two kinds of variety many books have the shelf life of fruit
28:12they are fresh and tasty for a day or two but quickly spoil
28:18far fewer books remain timelessly crisp and bold
28:27Brent Bill riding 20 years ago is still relevant
28:34still insightful still Sharp
28:40there is nothing stale about them no lapsed expiration date
28:47they are as true today has been conceived and written
28:53and he is one of ours a child of Western
28:59while it is true he spent his formative years in Ohio
29:04it is also true that we have had him longer so he is ours he is like Sean a
29:13convinced Hoosier we writers
29:19can be an insecure bunch it comes with the territory
29:25so it seems only fitting to confess that I have long envied
29:31the depth of Brent's books for his ability to see so clearly
29:40the things of God that have escaped my notice and not just seeing them
29:47but telling us about them so elegantly so clearly
29:54Henry James once defined a writer as someone on whom
30:01nothing is lost I can't think of a better way to
30:07describe Brent Bell he is someone on whom nothing is lost
30:16he is our speaker this evening for which I am grateful
30:22brace yourself friends brace yourself we are about to learn
31:34thank you
31:41well thanks a lot what does one say after that
31:49that was a very gracious kind of choked up
31:55Joanne thanks so much for the music it was beautiful it's a wonderful to be
32:00here in this room this night was uh
32:0742 years ago that I first was in this room uh
32:13I'd been my name had been put forward to be the director of Youth in Christian
32:20education back then I I did have here
32:25my my grandkids don't believe it every now and again I'll pull out a picture
32:30and and they're like who's that um
32:36and I'm also happy this evening that Nancy felt well and could come so she's
32:43here and she said she felt like she had to come
32:49because often when I spoke she used to give me hand signals
32:55to let me know how I was doing this one meant speak more from your
33:01heart this one meant slow down you're talking too fast
33:06this one meant hell no and then there was the wrap it up but
33:14so I rear I always look to see where she's sitting and that I don't look there
33:24but seriously I'm humbled at the invitation to speak to you tonight
33:32the early friends were fully assured that they had a message for all people
33:38not merely that one or another of their testimonies was especially relevant in their own time
33:44but that their message and its totality in its wholeness was God's good news for
33:51all sorts and conditions of people have you anything to declare is a vital
33:57challenge to which every one of us is personally called to respond
34:04and it is also a challenge that every meeting should consider a primary
34:09importance it should lead us to Define with such
34:14clarity as we can reach precisely what it is the friends of this generation
34:20have to say that is not as we believe being effectively said by others
34:28what indeed have we did to declare to this generation that is of sufficient
34:34importance to justify our separate existence
34:40as part of the Christian Fellowship if we regard the Society of friends as
34:45merely an ethical Society we have no message for a world that is bursting with sin and sorrow and suffering
34:54it is insufficient to merely offer palliatives to physical suffering
35:00important and necessary as they are there are those whose needs are on a different level
35:06and we should covet to have for these others at least an equal concern
35:12have we good news for them those are words by Edgar Dunstan in his
35:19worth more lecture of 1955.
35:25I first encountered those words back in the 70s while studying under T
35:31Camby Jones at Wilmington College a profound Quaker
35:37he gave me a copy a little blue book was called uh
35:44Christian faith and practice and the experience of the Society of Friends it
35:49was London yearly meetings faith and practice it bore little resemblance to the faith
35:55and practices with which I was familiar it wasn't a book of discipline as some
36:02of those others subtitled themselves but rather it was as stories and sayings of
36:08people who were endeavoring with Divine assistance to live their Quaker faith
36:14in daily life and I thought wow what a concept
36:19to hear the voices of those who have gone before and those who are contemporaries and learn to live
36:26living our faith in daily life is what I primarily want us to think about together tonight and how much the world
36:33needs people who are doing that in a unique way
36:39but first I want to talk about the last question he raises
36:44do we Western yearly meeting Quakers have a message for a world that is
36:50bursting with sin and sorrow and suffering
36:55have we good news for them and I think a harder question
37:02is do we ever really think of them
37:08do we even consider them the people who outside these walls who
37:14are outside these walls or outside our meeting house walls
37:19now I've been sitting in this room off and on for 42 years I
37:24remember on a day like this before air conditioning the windows would be open
37:32and I remember over these sessions having discussions sometimes very heated
37:39about those whose theology is orthodox enough or not
37:44and countless other things and all the while I was listening to cars Wish by on route 40. and asking myself whether
37:52anything we were talking about had anything remotely connected to what
37:57those people out there cared about what good news that they wanted
38:03do they really care if a person whose theology differs from a mind should be censored or not
38:10do they really care that our meetings are aging think about our own agenda this week
38:15what that we are talking about discussing or agonizing over connects us with all the
38:23things they care about is there anything is there anything
38:30according to the Gallup poll and this ties in with some of what we heard from some young adult friends last
38:36night and from Rachel's report this morning according to Gallup the things Americans
38:43care most about are racism and racial inequality
38:51Health Care human rights violence against lgd
38:57LGBT people in the United States domestic violence
39:03gender equal inequality gun violence and wealth inequality
39:11our yearly meeting theme for the week says you are a light of the world
39:16a town built on a hill cannot be hidden neither do people light a lamp and put
39:22it under a bowl instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the
39:28house in the same way let your light shine before others that they may see your
39:33good deeds and glorify your father in Heaven
39:40is our light shining before others do they witness our Good Deeds
39:49of course deeper questions could be whether our light is shining at all
39:55and whether or not we are doing good deeds Deeds that matter in this world at this time
40:01Deeds that address the concerns that Gallup says our fellow citizens most
40:07care about what's our message for them
40:13Well it can't be a message that Echoes what can be heard elsewhere it can't really be addressed by
40:19politicians on either side too many say what needs to be elected
40:26likewise the church does not need another Evangelical mega church we have
40:31plenty of them and they reach many people
40:36nor do we need to imitate them and start praise bands or build multi-purpose
40:41centers to attract youth there are plenty of them already as well we also don't need more liberal
40:49congregations who do well there are lots of them nor do we need
40:54Revival services that gather the same people to be revived but who leave
40:59almost the same as they came in we don't need bigger facilities better
41:07marketing or a more contemporary approach what I believe is needed what can really
41:14speak to the things people care about or we must be a people of faith
41:19who live deep lives of the spirit and have a unique message and way of living
41:26to offer this world and that to me is the power of the Quaker testimonies
41:33if we take them seriously the power of the early friends came I
41:39believe not only from the message they shared the one Christ Jesus who can speak to thy condition
41:46directly without clergy right ritual but from the fact that it was a lived
41:52faith it wasn't just a head faith
41:57it wasn't theology it was lived the early friends experience of their inner
42:03teacher influenced every part of how they lived it resulted in what we today
42:09call the testimonies English friend Joffrey Durham says from
42:14their beginning in the mid 17th century Quakers have made it their business to expose the
42:22anomalies they regard as injustices and to do all they can to put an end to
42:28them they have regularly found themselves in opposition to the spirit of this age
42:34as it fails to notice the evils lurking in the system of things
42:40that business as Durham puts it is completely consistent with the
42:46scriptures in particular Isaiah and Amos as Amos says this is what he showed me
42:55the Lord was standing by a wall that had built true to Plum
43:00with a Plumb line in his hand the Lord asked me
43:07what do you see Amos a Plumb line I replied
43:13and then the Lord said look I am setting a Plumb line among my
43:18people Israel if we think scripture is relevant today
43:24then we can change that to look I am setting a Plumb line among my people the Quakers
43:33Isaiah goes on to tell us what the Plumb line is and that's Justice
43:41faithful Justice seems to me to be the way all the above concerns
43:47that are mentioned by people out there can be met and if we work together in meeting them
43:54their souls will open to hear the good news that there is one Christ Jesus who
44:00can speak to their condition now it's important I think for us to
44:05understand the feast testimonies are not just some mere ideas of do goodism
44:13they're not just some Quaker add-on I know we have a board of peace and
44:19Christian social concerns but to my thinking there's really no deed for the
44:24word Christian as a modifier friends throughout their history have
44:30seen the work of the testimonies as part and parcel
44:35of our understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it's to be lived
44:41our work is to be centered in Christ and Christian
44:47these testimonies are not just nice little Quaker quirks and certainly we
44:52admit we have plenty of quirks yearly meeting I mean just the name alone
44:58everybody goes what is that and then we have to try and explain it
45:06but these things are not divorced from daily living they're an integral part of it
45:12it doesn't matter if we work for World Peace if we can't get along with our neighbors
45:18or if we don't have a centered inner peace
45:23it does no good to Proclaim that we believe in the equality of all people as children of the Living God
45:30and they decide that all people does not include some people
45:38we dare not proclaim the testimony of integrity and that our lives
45:44show that to be a Lie by our actions if the testimonies don't change us daily
45:51to be more christ-like then they are mere Curiosities of Pastime and they rob
45:57us of any hope of speaking today's world we
46:02will disappear like quaint relics of the past a nice
46:09remembrance of a bygone day and remember the tale that was asked
46:16to an Englishman one time said sir are there any Quakers still here he said yes
46:22they all came and then they sat in silence and then they died
46:29well what gives the testimonies their power besides the power of the spirit is when
46:36they're lived it's good to remember these things that we call the testimonies
46:42grow out of their early friend's own experience the Indians pop up
46:49let's take the peace testimony the first public statement that's well known is the Declaration Quakers never
46:57had short titles okay a declaration from the harmless and
47:04innocent people of God called Quakers that's just that the opening title then
47:09there are subtitles and that was that King Charles in 1660.
47:15and in it they State all bloody principles and practices we as do our
47:20own particulars do utterly deny with all outward Wars and strife and fighting
47:27with outward weapons for any end or any under any pretense whatever and this is
47:33our testimony to the whole world
47:39and them because they're Quakers they go on at length explaining it and citing the Bible in
47:45their spiritual beliefs now since I mentioned the Quaker testimony of Integrity in all honesty I
47:53have to say that this statement was not just a statement against war and fighting now they were saying it because
48:00they didn't want to be confused with all the other religious groups who were
48:05willing to take up arms as John pundchen called them Jehovah's Witnesses with
48:10with muskets um in another group especially called the
48:16fifth monarchy men they won the king in Parliament to stop persecuting them
48:23so hence the harmless and innocent now of course today's peace testimony
48:29has evolved from the that early statement
48:34it's no longer just about a particular nation's civil and religious situation
48:40rather it's about daily personal peacemaking conduct in non-violence
48:47in all facets of life personal National and International
48:56and Pam Ferguson this morning spoke eloquently of non-violence in her life
49:06the peace testimonies changed as life and times have changed
49:24I can cite other examples from prison Ministries and
49:32how that led up because there were so many of us in prison we had to take care of each other
49:41but now we have alternatives to violence and other such groups that are still working for peace in our world I was
49:48happy to learn the Wilmington College is once again moving in
49:54to teach in three state prisons in Ohio
49:59today to help people become educated and it's completely consistent with our Quaker
50:05values we hold to the testimony of equality and
50:10if you look at it first testimony of equality was really about gender equality
50:16we're trying to say that women had the right to speak and then it began to expand to
50:25the idea of Racial equality
50:32the first anti-slavery document in North America was signed in 1688.
50:39by Quakers now typical Quaker process since they didn't want to deal with it they lost
50:45the minute from the local meeting by the time it got to quarterly meeting and didn't find it in time
50:51and while we often talk about how we were
50:57anti-slavery I was reading Philadelphia early
51:03meetings 1808 faith and practice the other day and it had admonishments for friends who owned
51:09slaves as late as 1808.
51:17while this work all the work and the work we're called to based as is in spiritual principles
51:25it's and it was ahead of its time we have to remember that it's carried out by imperfect people
51:32just like us today still friends Through the Ages have done much
51:37good work when we lived up to the testimonies for the past number of years the acronym
51:43spices has been used as a kind of spiritual shorthand to remember what the Quaker testimonies
51:50in this time are Simplicity peace Integrity Community
51:55equality Equity stewardship of the Earth now a number of friends today don't like
52:01that acronym they feel and they're right that it oversimplifies some things that are very
52:08deep and Rich still I think they're a handy way to remind us of what we're about and I
52:15think the world needs more of that kind of spice
52:20in the same way the right amount of spices and Seasonings lead to a tasty meal
52:26so too do the Quaker testimonies season our witness in this world
52:32now it's true a meal without spices can be wholesome and nutritious
52:37but a meal correctly sees and satisfies Us in ways that are more than just
52:43giving us fuel for daily living they flavor our witness in ways to give
52:49it a unique flavor compared to the work done by others not that their work isn't good but ours
52:56has a different flavor to it they help us make us distinctive by
53:03including a deep and Rich spiritual Heritage and way of life
53:10a dash of Simplicity a pinch of peace all are needed to keep our work grounded
53:15in Jesus Christ and his teachings they also hopefully keep us from being
53:22just a bunch of well-meaning do-gooders who could end up doing more harm than
53:28good if we don't stay centered but the testimonies are new of no worth
53:36if we don't live them with love at its best and most effective our work
53:43has to Spring from Love many of us know of John woman is
53:48concerned for Native Americans in his journal he writes having for many years
53:54felt love in my heart towards the natives of this land who dwell far back in the wilderness
54:02his ancestors were formerly the owners and possessors of the land where we dwell
54:08and who for a small consideration has signed their inheritance to us
54:14and on being in Philadelphia on a visit to some friends who had slaves
54:21I fell in company with some of those natives who lived in the east branch of the river Susquehanna at an Indian town
54:29called wahalusing 200 miles from Philadelphia
54:39I mean just unpacking that part how wise he was whose ancestors were
54:45formerly the owners and possessors of this land in 1763 a woman set out to meet with the
54:54Native Americans in the midst of what was then called a
54:59native upright an Indian uprising and as he pondered why he felt God
55:07told him to go he records that love was the first motion we all know that woman quote but we
55:15often stop there but love was the first motion and that's a concern a rose to spend some time with
55:22the Indians that I might feel and understand their life and the spirit
55:28they live in if happily I might receive some instruction from them
55:34or they might be in any degree help forward by my following the leadings of truth among them
55:42if we look at that statement carefully it contains some remarkable ideas
55:48first to feel and understand their life
55:54and the spirit they live in
55:59to understand the other not to instruct the other
56:06understand and learn second that I might receive some
56:11instruction from them what do those outside our walls have to say to us
56:19what have we to learn then only lastly is that they might be
56:27helped by my following the leadings of Truth
56:33by my following the leadings and that's last
56:38none of this was about him it was all about them
56:44when we followed love as our first motion in our witness to this world it keeps us grounded in the Everlasting
56:51Love of God the Everlasting Love that holds us and
56:57calls us to be disciples and Witnesses
57:03this I think is one of the most important lessons of all Quakers at their best
57:10have learned that when spiritual witness is connected with love of our fellow humans of the Earth
57:18and the place we live then is rightly grounded and more
57:23effective than When Love is absent that doesn't necessarily mean we're any
57:28less rabble rousers it does mean that regardless of what others think we are acting out of what
57:36the Apostle Paul claimed was the more excellent way the way of love
57:48living the testimonies in love helps create the Blessed Community of
57:54Christ on Earth
58:00if we love then I would say that we also need to learn to be for
58:08we're awful good at talking about what we're against
58:13even when people sometimes ask us about what Quakers are we'll say well we we're
58:20against rights and we're against rituals and we're against you know a well-paid
58:26Ministry oh wait that sorry that was just kind of a slip
58:36one of the most important things I've read uh that sticks with me
58:43is from the martyred priests Oscar Romero
58:50though he wasn't obviously a Quaker he did Express friends witness when it's at
58:56its best I don't want to be an anti anti-anybody
59:03I simply want to be the Builder of a great affirmation the affirmation of God who loves us and
59:12wants to save us and by us he didn't just mean me and you
59:18he's talking about the world wants to save us
59:25now I'm not denying that there are things that are in opposition opposition to deep faith in the gospel they are
59:31legion but in the Quaker tradition true spiritual Witnesses its best is rooted
59:38in positivity we believe there is that of God in every person and that that can
59:43be spoken to and called them to the light
59:50we are for social justice we're for clean water and good food for all people we're for health care
59:57peace education and food stability saying what we're for instead of eyes
1:00:03what we're against is an invitation to life and hope rooted in God's goodness
1:00:11it's life calling to life and people are hungry for that not
1:00:17negativity now this is in many ways more difficult than standing in opposition it's easy
1:00:23for me to say what I'm against especially when my dander's up which
1:00:28happens far too often I'm against mean policies they're hard people
1:00:34I'm against the lotteries that entice people to squander money in an attempt to get rich
1:00:40I'm against and on and on but I found reframing my positions or
1:00:46beliefs in a way that say that I'm able to say what I'm for is an exercise in my
1:00:51own Spiritual Development for one it challenges my thinking and helps me put it
1:00:58in the light of my interior life in this reframing also humbles me
1:01:06which as you all know is something I need often
1:01:13it gives me a sense of spiritual Clarity a Clear Vision of what's mine to do and
1:01:18say and how to say it after all we may be called to speak
1:01:24truth to power but what good is doing so if we can't be
1:01:29heard by the way we're saying it
1:01:36again this isn't easy but it is our call if that is we genuinely want to be the
1:01:42friends of Jesus and change those out there and invite them
1:01:49to be part of our Community of Faith
1:01:54the Lord is at work and so are we many years ago I read these words of
1:02:01George Fox when he wrote to Quakers in the midst of harsh persecution in 1663.
1:02:10sing and rejoice ye Children of the day and of the light
1:02:17for the Lord is at work in this thick night of Darkness that may be felt
1:02:23and we certainly do feel it at times all around us
1:02:29and Truth doth flourishes the rose and Lilies do grow among the thorns
1:02:35and the plants atop of the hills and upon them the Lambs doth skip and play
1:02:43and never heed The Tempest nor the storms floods or rains for the Sea
1:02:50Christ is over all and doth reign and so
1:02:57be of good faith and Valiant for the truth
1:03:03in the thick night of Darkness the truth the flourishes arose
1:03:10Fox was reminding his readers of those Epistles many of whom were imprisoned
1:03:17and us today that God's truth will Triumph
1:03:24we do well to hold to that hope the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans
1:03:30whatever we may have to go through is no less than nothing compared with a magnificent future God
1:03:38has planned for us the whole creation Waits on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of God of the
1:03:45children of God coming into their own we come together as the children of God
1:03:52when we accept the invitation of God to work together with each other and with God
1:04:00our friends the Jews call this takan Olam working with the Divine in the redeeming
1:04:08of this world working together with God in the redeeming of this world
1:04:14not just God working so we don't have any responsibility not
1:04:20just us working and thinking we have to do it all but working together
1:04:25faithfully and ensure hope when we live our faith
1:04:31through the testimonies then we have cleared the way for the true hope the this hope according to Paul is that
1:04:39quote in the end of the whole created life in the end the whole of created life
1:04:45will be rescued from the tyranny of change and decay
1:04:51and have it share in the Magnificent Liberty which only can belong to the children of God
1:04:58as children of God friends of Jesus
1:05:04a work and witness rooted in the life the spirit is one of Hope
1:05:10living the testimonies leads us from hateful words and actions to Healing
1:05:15words and actions they guide us into a life of radical hope that stands in dark contrast to the
1:05:22attitudes and actions of the people who would harm and divide us all
1:05:28ever hard Arnold the founder of the bruderhoff though not a Quaker had much in sympathy
1:05:35With Friends he wrote our expectation of the Kingdom cannot be
1:05:41passive waiting a sweet soft occupation with ourselves and our like-minded
1:05:48friends now if we truly expect God's Kingdom
1:05:54we will be filled with divine power then the social justice of the future
1:06:00with its purity of heart and divine Fellowship will be realized now wherever
1:06:06Jesus himself is present our belief in the prayer in the future
1:06:14must bring change to the present the spirit of expectation is the spirit
1:06:19of action because it is the spirit of faith
1:06:24faith is bravery faith is reality
1:06:31if we have faith even only a small seed we cannot regard anything as impossible
1:06:42nothing is impossible with spiritual grounding and Trust in
1:06:48that which is eternal hope is not a silly foolish notion
1:06:54it's a realistic Eyes Wide Open view to the facts of Injustice and want in this
1:07:00world that calls us to healing and courageous compassionate Witness
1:07:05it's a hope that helps us remember those who work for these things
1:07:10in the past and build on their work with Divine assistance they brought
1:07:17about many improvements in people's lives and in society at large and so shall we
1:07:25we are not alone rather we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses
1:07:31I feel that every time I'm in this room and I see and look around where folks I
1:07:39knew used to sit in the work they did
1:07:47we can be empowered by their vision and Hope we may not achieve all our goals
1:07:53realistically we know we won't but still with Divine assistance we
1:07:58together can make a very real difference in our hurting suffering girl
1:08:04in doing so we will as fox says be patterns be examples in all countries
1:08:11places Islands Nations wherever you come that your carriage and life may preach
1:08:16among all sorts of people and to them then you will come to walk cheerfully
1:08:22over the world answering that of God in everyone
1:08:27a cheerful expectant life-changing hope awaits us
1:08:33it beckons us forward forward
1:08:38to a faith that matters now and that will be good news for them
1:08:44and us our light will shine before others they will see our good
1:08:51deeds and they will glorify Our Father in heaven
1:10:00okay
1:15:11foreign
1:15:33there is a Maxim in preaching that for every minute in the Pulpit
1:15:39there is an hour at the desk so Brent thank you not just for your
1:15:47minutes tonight but for your hours at the desk and the gift you bring us friend thank you
1:15:53friends let us stand in Spirit or in body
1:15:59and sing together our closing song number 577 abide with me
1:16:22foreign
1:16:38[Music]
1:17:04foreign [Music]
1:17:42foreign [Music]
1:18:22thank you
1:18:30[Music]
1:18:48requirements
1:19:03[Music]
1:19:19arrives
1:19:29[Music]
1:19:52your eyes [Music]
1:20:15thank you I've been there
1:20:27Oh What A Lovely song let your light shine
1:20:36and it is you know not our light but God's light in US
1:20:44so may the light of God that is in you friends see the light of God in others
1:20:52see the light of God especially in those who have been let down and left out
1:20:59the ostracized the marginalized the casticide may you see God's light in
1:21:06them and may God's light in you always have for them
1:21:12a word of Hope a word of joy
1:21:17a word of friendship that our world might be healed
1:21:23and all might be well this is our prayer our deepest hope for our lives as
1:21:31Quakers May the light of God shine in you
1:21:38thank you friends turn and greet one another foreign
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