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Come Kindled

Present to God who is the Great I Am — One who can only be encountered in the sacrament of the present moment.

Usually, this means I have to take time to wrestle with my God (a text or spiritual message) and my demons (inner voices that call me things other than “beloved”) and win a blessing I can share with my people. Sometimes it’s more like trusting that others are wrestling too and that God is a good enough communicator that ministry will come forth in any case.

Here’s the thing, though. It can’t just be me. Quakerism is a holy and risky experiment that doesn’t work if it’s only “clergy”-led. We abolished the laity and rely on the Holy Spirit as discerned by a gathering of ordinary people who are also Friends and Prophets of God.

Are all meetings for worship and for business duly held and are you regular and punctual in attending them?

Punctual, eh? This clerk took “pacifist aggressive” to the next level, turning the queries on us because we were a few minutes late. We attempted the silence but couldn’t help chuckling.

After a respectful and reflective centering time, we queried as to the process of choosing the query. The clerk laughed and claimed the selection was random. I guess I’ll believe her.