By Ravenna Helson<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have recently been ambushed by three wonderful committees who seem to be wanting me to listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Friendly Sacred Scripture Group<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What is the most relevant passage of sacred scripture you\u2019ve encountered and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Friends of Peace and Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n How do I engage with historical and current racial bias as a Quaker, in Milwaukee, and as a white American?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Friendly Nurture Group<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n How do I be a \u201cgood Quaker\u201d today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The clear answer to #1 is Galatians 3:38 –<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I cannot define for you what is meant by \u201cone in Christ\u201d but what I understand is that we are all equally relevant, and worthy of living life to the fullest according to our individual natures. To view my life through this lens requires that I take a serious look at my bias to people whose life experience is other than my own: I cannot easily understand what it would mean to be punished for the rest of my life for the worst decision I ever made. Neither have I yet begun to explore the five points of true restorative racial justice as set out by early Quaker abolitionist Elias Hicks; emancipation, training, reparations, civil rights, and racism (\u201cBeyond Abolition”<\/em>, Friends Journal, January 1, 2023 by Paul Buckley). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Enter #2 – our Friends of Peace and Justice. A wonderful group to delve into these massive undertakings with! There is so much to learn. We are starting by inviting Avis Wanda McClinton and Dennis Gregg to present to us what\u2019s happening with the 339 Manumissions and Beyond Project on Thursday, June 19. Asking questions and learning something seems to be the surest way to #3\u2019s query – How do I be a \u201cgood Quaker\u201d today? It\u2019s not obvious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have recently been ambushed by three wonderful committees who seem to be wanting me to listen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1839,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-june-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1850,"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1849\/revisions\/1850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareletter.milwaukeequakers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}