By Ravena Helson

Diversity –

The celebration of the immeasurably diverse experience of divinity in life is central to the Quaker practice of spiritual worship, with each person bearing the responsibility to share their particular experience of God with their community out of the silence, as lead by spirit.

We are all children of God but we each have a different “condition” in life. To worship God as a Quaker is to strive to be open to expressions of divinity that are unlike our own, to the fullest extent possible.

It is human nature to assume we understand another’s experience, and often to think we know better what that person needs. To celebrate diversity means to express gratitude for the teaching we receive through testimonies of life unlike our own because they help us grow. We can learn only if we assume that we are all equal parts of this diversity deserving of equal respect.

Equity –

It is incumbent on a Quaker to lift up another child of God in whatever ways they can, enabling that individual to live into their fullness, to seek and find integrity. If we see an encumbrance to the integrity of another and offer nothing, we will not be living in clearness with God; this is the experience of sin.

In fact, equity is antithetical to equality. The human condition means that though we have much in common, every one of us has different needs. Assumptions as to what someone else needs is charity, vastly different from understanding another’s condition.

Inclusion –

The easiest path is to be satisfied accepting as community those we see around us. To work for inclusion means to admit that we focus most easily on what we know, that what is unseen in fact is deserving of our attention, and ask the hard questions that open our experience to the unknown. Only then are we actively worshipping – truly and actively open – to God.

This can be painful and uncomfortable, requiring us to bend the rules of how things “should be”. Norms will fall by the wayside making room for unimaginable growth if we allow it. If we are not made uncomfortable, we are not experiencing true change. Paraphrasing the Gospel of Thomas: Seek until you find, then you will become disturbed. When you are disturbed, you will be awed, amazed and invincible. When you are invincible you will be at rest.

The principles of celebrating diversity, working for equity for all, and excluding no one but striving to include all, both familiar and foreign are fundamental to Quakerism and the best of Quaker practice. This is described beautifully in the sarabande of the sixth suite for solo cello by Johann Sebastian Bach.