faith and practice faith pacific yearly meeting pym of the 2001 religious society of friends faith and practice a guide to quaker discipline in the experience of pacific yearly meeting of the religious society of friends published by pacific yearly meeting – 2001 Additional copies may be purchased from AFSC Bookstore, 980 N. Fair Oaks, Pasadena, CA 91103 web site: http://www.afsc.org/psro/bkstore.htm email: [email protected] We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of Friends who have permitted us to use material for this Faith and Practice. In the same spirit, we gladly offer other Friends the use of anything in this book. None of it is copyrighted by Pacific Yearly Meeting. contents prefacemix i: pacific yearly meeting in context introductionm1 A Brief History of the Religious Society of Friendsm2 quakerism in the new world m3 schisms among american quakersm6 steps toward wholenessm9 quakers in southern californiam10 quakers in northern californiam12 emergence of pacific yearly meetingm13 pacific yearly meeting within the religious society of friendsm16 quaker service in americam17 Friends Relationship to Christianitym18 religious languagem20 the biblem21 sacramentsm22 creedm23 ii: quaker faith and spiritual practice worship and the meeting Meeting for Worshipm25 preparation for and participation in worshipm28 prayer and other reflective practicesm28 vocal ministry and faithful listeningm29 Meeting for Worship for Businessm31 The Meeting Communitym33 i living our faith Testimoniesm37 integritym38 unitym39 equality m40 simplicitym41 peacem43 communitym44 Advices and Queriesm46 meeting for worshipm47 spiritual lifem48 meeting for worship for businessm48 stewardship and vocationm49 harmony with creation m51 social and civic responsibilitym52 reaching outm53 simplicitym54 integrity and personal conductm55 personal relationshipsm56 peacem57 the meeting communitym58 Concerns and Leadingsm59 Laboring with Concernsm62 toward a testimony of harmony with naturem62 iii: testimony and experience of friends Faith and Experiencem68 faithm68 experiencem71 discernment and guidancem76 scripture and the inward teacher m81 Living Our Faithm84 integritym84 equalitym87 ii contents simplicitym88 peacem90 communitym92 harmony with naturem93 Corporate Search and Practicem95 meeting for worshipm95 meeting for businessm99 unitym102 membershipm103 marriagem104 death and memorialsm105 iv: organization of the society The Monthly Meetingm108 organizationm108 officersm109 committees of the meetingm110 nominating committeem112 worship and ministry committeem114 oversight committee (overseers)m116 combined worship and ministry and oversight committeem118 finance committeem118 other committeesm119 Growth and Changem119 new gatherings of friendsm119 worship groupsm120 preparative meetingsm121 establishment of new monthly meetingsm122 laying down a meetingm124 Quarterly Meetings m126 Yearly Meetingm128 contents iii v: procedures Friends Process for Making Decisionsm129 principles m129 decision-making practice m131 deferring decisionsm132 in times of difficultym133 threshing sessionsm136 clerks and clerking m136 minute-taking in the monthly meetingm138 clearness and clearness committees m139 Membershipm141 a brief historym142 the meaning of membershipm142 preparation for membershipm143 becoming a memberm144 children and membership m146 special circumstancesm147 non-member attendersm149 transfer of membershipm149 ending membershipm150 Marriagem153 legal recognition of quaker marriagem154 marriage and genderm155 marriage under the care of the meetingm155 marriage clearness committeem156 arrangements committeem157 meeting for worship on the occasion of marriagem157 marriage after the manner of friendsm158 nurturing marriagem158 remarriage m160 separation and divorce m160 Death in the Meeting m162 preparing for deathm162 support of the dying and their loved onesm163 memorial meetings for worshipm164 grievingm166 iv contents vi: activities and organization of the yearly meeting The Annual Gathering of Pacific Yearly Meetingm167 the business of the yearly meeting m168 Junior Yearly Meetingm170 Young Friends at Yearly Meetingm171 The Yearly Meeting as an Organizationm171 yearly meeting officersm171 yearly meeting committeesm174 standing subcommittees of ministry and oversightm177 liaisons and their work m179 other yearly meeting committeesm180 management of fundsm187 yearly meeting publicationsm189 faith and practicem189 friends bulletinm189 other publicationsm190 links to other friends organizations m191 other quaker organizationsm196 glossarym199 bibliographym207 appendices Appendix 1:Recordsmi217 1a recommendations for monthly meeting records mi217 1b advices for preparing the state of the meeting reportmi218 1c preparation of meeting minutes: some useful practices mi219 1d recommendation for quarterly (or half-yearly) meeting records mi221 1e recommendations for yearly meeting recordsmi222 Appendix 2: Quaker Archives 223 2a archive deposit formmi223 2b archive gift formmi224 contents v Appendix 3: Pastoral Care/Clearness Committeesm225 3a advices and queries for overseersmi225 3b advices and queries for those asked to serve on a clearness committee mi227 Appendix 4: Membershipm229 4a suggested topics for use by a clearness committee on membershipmi229 4b example of letter of welcome to new member mi231 4c procedure for transfer of membershipmi232 4d example of letter of transfermi236 4e certificate of transfermi237 4f acceptance of transfermi238 4g letter of release mi239 Appendix 5: Lettersm240 5a letter of introduction mi240 5b minute of sojournmi241 5c acknowledgment of minute of sojournmi242 5d sample travel minutemi243 Appendix 6: Marriage 244 6a suggested topics for the marriage clearness committeemi244 6b marriage certificatemi246 6c pym minute with regard to equality of marriage rightsmi248 6d legal requirements with regard to marriage mi249 Appendix 7: Information and Instructions on Health Care Decisions and Final Affairs 250 Appendix 8: Yearly Meetings in the U.S. (2000) 254 sources of quotationsm257 index of sourcesm263 subject indexm266 vi contents vii viii preface We, like every generation, must find the Light and Life again for ourselves. Only what we have valued and truly made our own, not by assertion but by lives of faithful commitment, can we hand on to the future. Even then, we must humbly acknowledge that our vision of the truth will, again and again, be amended. britain yearly meeting quaker faith & practice, p. 17, 1995 The Quaker way emphasizes experience over religious belief or doctrine. It is inherently difficult to capture the essence of that experience in words. Yet every Faith and Practice attempts to do that very thing. As time passes, the body of experience grows and shifts and a Yearly Meeting may be moved to take up the task of revising its book of Faith and Practice. The book offered here is a revision of the 1985 edition, which in turn was based on revisions of 1973, 1963, 1957, and 1952, and the original plan of organization adopted at Palo Alto in 1942. This Faith and Practice describes the beliefs of Friends and the structures and processes of Pacific Yearly Meeting, and its Quarterly and Monthly Meetings. It also explains the spiritual foundation of these processes and of our way of worship. It should be of interest and value to newcomers and old-timers alike. Dearly beloved Friends, these things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all, with the measure of light which is pure and holy, may be guided: and so in the light walking and abiding, these may be fulfilled in the Spirit, not from the letter, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. advices from the elders at balby, 1656 britain yearly meeting quaker faith & practice, 1995, §1.01 ix x part i pacific yearly meeting in context introduction The religious practices of Friends are founded in direct communion with God and the conviction that the Divine Light is accessible to each person; yet it is one Light, one Truth. We wait with hearts and minds open to the Divine so that Truth will be made known among us. Our corporate search for God’s word is the heart of the Quaker Meeting for Worship. We believe that God, the Light, the Truth, is part of our being. We say, “there is that of God in everyone.” Truth is continually revealed to us, often through a gathered mystical experience. We learn to recognize the truth by experience. We work to develop a relationship between the individual and the corporate body that allows inspiration and leadings to be tested within the Meeting. In this unity, Friends find order and peace in reconciling individual inspiration and corporate wisdom, enabling us to choose right courses of action. As God is revealed to us individually and corporately, we are guided in the right ordering of our lives. All Friends practices flow from this faith in the revealed truth: our care for each other, our governing structures and processes, our testimonies and witness to the whole world. Through the personal experience of each seeker comes the Light necessary for their guidance. Vocal ministry in a Friends Meeting emerges from the direct relationship between the individual and the 1 Divine. Truth is tested, not by the degree to which it conforms to dogma, but by its power to transform our lives and the lives of others. Not by strength of arguments or by a particular disquisition of each doctrine and convincement of my understanding thereby, came I to receive and bear witness of the Truth, but by being secretly reached