By Mike Soika
We Quakers – in the absence of any official creed or dogma – are asked to discern our own sense of the Divine and how we are called to respond to it. This calling is a holy and difficult path to follow, as we are provided few maps or guideposts and – at best – are graced with only a glimpse of the way forward at any given moment as we listen intently to our internal guide.
Our country is embroiled in what some are calling a fight for the soul of democracy which will come to a head within the coming months leading up to the November 5th presidential election. As a Quaker community, how are we called to respond when each “side” of this debate feels that it is doing the work of God and country in support of their chosen candidates and/or party?
As we strive to navigate these turbulent times, it may be helpful to do so seeking guidance from the Spirit and with the mindset that whatever we do, we do in support of our unique Quaker community. Perhaps we can look at the writing of Thomas Kelly for guidance. In his book – A Testament of Devotion – Kelly provides the following insights.
- God who is within us urges by secret persuasion, to such an amazing Inward Life with the Spirit, so that, firmly cleaving to the Divine, we always look out upon all the world through the sheen of the Inward Light, and react toward humankind spontaneously and joyously from this Inward Center. (page 6)
- A practicing (Quaker) must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary, who brings the world into its Light and rejudges it, who brings the Light into the world with all its turmoil and its fitfulness and recreates it. (page 8)
- The final grounds of holy Fellowship are in the Divine. Lives immersed and drowned in God are drowned in love, and know one another in Spirit, and know one another in love…They go back to a single Center where they are at home with God and with one another. It is as if every soul had a final base, and that final base of every soul is one single Holy Ground, shared in by all. (page 56)
- We cannot keep the love of the Divine to ourselves. It spills over. It makes us see the world’s needs anew…It is because from this holy Center we relove people, relove our neighbors as ourselves, that we are bestirred to means of their awakening. The deepest need of humankind is not food or clothing and shelter…It is God. (page 98-99)
When we feel compelled to enter into a political debate with fellow Friends, or when we want to make a political statement by wearing partisan political paraphernalia, we may be well served to ask ourselves: Does this come from the Spirit? Does it show love of Neighbor? Will doing so help to build our community or help to splinter it?
If – while we sit in meeting for worship – we feel an urge to speak in a manner that conveys a political point of view, perhaps before doing so, we should revisit the steps suggested for vocal ministry in the attached document from FGC.
We choose to come together as Friends to support each other in our spiritual journeys. We ask that all remain mindful of the diversity of our community and of the role each of us plays in helping to foster a loving and supportive environment.