The Wider Quaker Fellowship

1506 Race Street · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102 · 215.241.7293
wqf@fwccamericas.org · www.widerquakerfellowship.org

July, 2009

Dear Friends and Fellows,

The Wider Quaker Fellowship Committee recently enjoyed our face-to-face meeting at the Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas 2009 Annual Meeting in Canby, Oregon. We get to see each other only once per year, and it is here that we make most of our decisions about our work. In honor of our location this year two decisions were made: (1) to have the summer mailing include writers from the Pacific Northwest, even more specifically from Oregon, and (2) to have me, one who calls Oregon home and knows both of these writers as friends as well as Friends, write this letter of introduction.

These pamphlets were originally talks, one given in 2002 and the other in 2008. Both were by “evangelical” Friends to “liberal” Friends (at the latter’s invitation, let me hasten to add!), which speaks to the work of FWCC in bringing Friends together across traditions. Both have a “fruit of the Spirit” as a theme. But for me the delight is in their differences. You will be hard pressed to find two people more different in outward appearance, in style, in background… and yet they have so much in common: visible joy, great humor, and demonstrated commitment to their faith in their Creator and the community of Friends worldwide. Both have traveled and ministered internationally, both have plenty of Quaker “street cred,” both have walked the walk. Now you get to hear them “talk the talk.”

The theme of recent FWCC gatherings has been Prophecy. Friends in the Northwest are blessed with many, many people who articulate clearly the words of God for our time; in this envelope you will discover two from my tradition (“evangelical”) who are so recognized. When either of these two Friends speaks, we listen. I only wish you knew them as I do, so you could “hear” and “see” them as you read their words: their tone of voice, their demeanor as they address the audience. May their words on hope and peace challenge and encourage you.

Yours in the Light,

Julie Peyton, Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church
For the clerk, Judith Inskeep
Wider Quaker Fellowship Committee

 

Here are some queries that could be used for discussion in an adult study group or other forum, or informally with a few friends.

Learning to Go in Peace,
by Colin Saxton

1. Do you (Do I) live in the power of that Life and Spirit we’ve been considering while reading this paper?

2. What does it mean to live "in the power of that Life and Spirit"...Are we (as Friends) at peace with one another?

3. Have you experienced discord among Friends? How does the lack of peace with those close to us affect our Peace Testimony?

4. As we go into the world as messengers of peace, what is our message and will we share it?

5. What does this statement suggest to you? “What the world needs from us now is not a lesson in history, it needs us to make history, and show again that the Light really is the only power able to dispel the darkness.”

6. Consider the following quote from the talk. Do these words describe a transformation you have experienced? If not, do you find yourself longing for this “repentance”?

“[Jesus] says if you want to experience the peaceable Kingdom you need to repent… to turn, to be radically re-oriented…this is not something we can do, but rather a work God will do in us as we yield.”

7. Respond to the benediction “Go in Peace” as expanded upon in this article.

Be prepared to give reasons for the hope that is within you,
through the voice of Peggy Senger Parsons

1. How does hope differ from faith?

2. What characteristics of Peter made him a "useful" apostle, and what traits seem not so "useful"?

3. Read Acts 2:14-42. To what do you attribute the changes in Peter, if any?

4. Peggy Parsons asks the readers of this article to read it as if it "flowed through" her. Respond to her request.

 

A B O U T  T H E   W I D E R   Q U A K E R   F E L L O W S H I P

The Wider Quaker Fellowship is a program of Friends World Committee for
Consultation Section of the Americas. Through our mailings we seek to lift up voices
of Friends of different countries, languages, cultures and Quaker traditions, and
invite all to enter into spiritual community with Friends. The Fellowship was founded
in 1936 by Rufus M. Jones, a North American Quaker teacher, activist and mystic, as
a way for like-minded people who were interested in Quaker beliefs and practices
to stay in contact with the Religious Society of Friends, while maintaining their own
religious affiliation, if any. Today, WQF Fellows live in over 90 countries, and include
non-Friends, inquirers, Quakers living in isolated circumstances and active members
and attenders of Friends meetings and churches. Wider Quaker Fellowship depends
on the financial support of its readers to provide this service.

 

The Wider Quaker Fellowship
Friends Center, 1506 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 USA
tel: 215. 241. 7250, email: wqf@fwccamericas.org