NEWSLETTER – September 2005

Grace at Clambake

I was surprised by the grace at Clambake this year.

I stood up on a rickety table as usual surrounded by more than five hundred people, spread out in all directions. So I swiveled three hundred and sixty degrees like a figure skater, perhaps not as graceful.  Right then the words hit me like one of God’s falling birthday cakes.

"Friends, let us give thanks for family, friends, prosperity, the strength to stand in the face of any adversity…then feel the gratitude rising in your being; maybe that’s the voice of God."

Quakers talk about being "prayed through," the Divine "praying us." This grace got my attention.  Perhaps it got yours.

A few days later, while eating breakfast with a friend from our Meeting, the question was asked, "Quakers listen for the voice of God. How do you know when it is the voice of God?" A terrific question.

I responded by saying that one of the unusual Quaker traditions was in the area of group discernment. This is a group approach to figuring out if it is the voice of God that someone is hearing.

If a Quaker has a leading or a concern that they think is from God, a committee is appointed from the Meeting to sit with them while they answer questions, and after a considerable time, perhaps many meetings, the committee will either unite with the Friend who felt a leading, or they will not.

There are many other ways to discern the voice of God.  When it comes to giving thanks, the practice is to meet with that person for discernment.  The group meets in silent waiting worship, prays together as acclaimed in all the world’s religions.   It is a universally acknowledged way that God speaks through human beings.   Being thankful or greedy and thankful and generous calls for even more discernment.   Discernment is one of those gifts of the spirit that Paul writes about in his letter to the Corinthians.

So receive blessings and give them away like mad.

Peter

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