A Guest Piece by Jeffrey Hipp
“I take this commitment of membership very seriously – to labor, nurture, support and challenge my fellow Friends; to walk in the Light together, and to give, receive, and pray with my fellow sojourners when the next step is unclear. My feet are on solid ground.”
I find that we conservative-leaning Friends in Liberal meetings are often quick to cry out that our meetings must return to our Christian roots or seek to know Christ together. And this is what I personally yearn for in the Society of Friends in many ways. But it is far too often said with a sentiment that WE Christian Friends have to do this. TODAY. NOW. God can’t wait. And we can’t wait for God. We have to convince everyone we are right and Quakerism without Christ is no Quakerism at all. No wonder James and so many other non-theists sometimes worry that Christ-centered Friends are craving an inquisition-like purge!
Corporate change can only occur with corporate leading. It will not and cannot come by a few determined, “enlightened souls” who will attempt to non-violently twist the arm of the meeting until they cry “Jesus!”
I don’t want a purge. And, as a Christ-centered, Liberal Friend, schism is often a tempting daydream for me to dwell in, but I’m doubtful that that is where I will be led anytime soon. We aren’t called to “fix” the Society of Friends on our own. That’s Christ’s work, and it’s hubris to assume it’s all on our shoulders. Our job is to simply bear witness to the measure we’ve been given, open our hearts to receiving the measure given to others, and honor our covenant of membership with one another as we seek to understand the next step in finding our shared faith. And it just so happens that that is everyone’s job in meeting – Christ-centered, universalist, non-theist, or whatever label a Friend might apply to themselves. We will all be used in this process.
I don’t want to leave this at an abstract level, however. Let me offer an extremely personal and dear example:
When I spoke on a panel at my meeting exploring the differences of our community’s languages, experiences and beliefs, I bore witness to Christ in my life as a personal, creative Source of Life and Truth. Afterwards, a couple came up to me and thanked me for offering my ministry. One of them said I spoke of Christ with a “prophetic voice.” This couple identifies themselves and Jewish, non-theist Friends. It meant so much to me.
I continued to deepen my relationship in the Spirit with each of them. When I was welcomed into membership at a small meeting dinner (months after I had become a member, in proper Quaker fashion), one of the members of this couple clearly expressed her commitment to my journey, understood as following Christ. I voiced my commitment to them in their spiritual journey.
Did I make a mistake in that moment? To say I am committed to another’s spiritual journey that doesn’t profess Christ or even God? I think not – because this commitment was not born when I verbalized it to them – it began when I became a member of Friends Meeting at Cambridge, a member of the Religious Society of Friends, and a member of these two Friends. And to that I was clearly led. Our covenant of membership is a call to be members of one another. And I use the word covenant quite intentionally — I believe that one of the ways that God reveals herself to us is through the model of the beloved community. In seeking to honor the covenant we have made with our fellow Friends, we further understand the blessings and challenges of seeking to honor our covenant with God.
This doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t boldly and compassionately speak of the loving work of the Light of Christ within me. It just means being open to the fact that I might have a lot of spiritual wisdom to receive from searches for Truth that don’t involve a recognition of Christ, and I should support those journeys as much as I am clear to. And in doing so, I may find my own understanding of Truth has grown.
I take this commitment of membership very seriously – to labor, nurture, support and challenge my fellow Friends; to walk in the Light together, and to give, receive, and pray with my fellow sojourners when the next step is unclear. My feet are on solid ground. Honestly, I fear my meeting’s are often in sinking sand. But to attempt to force our community into theological flagellations without the hand of the Holy Spirit actively pulling us all up together will only cause us to sink in deeper.
Furthermore, to lose patience and walk alone towards the light before me is to leave others behind. And the next time I lose my way, I don’t want to be alone.
bq. Jeffrey Hipp is a member of Friends Meeting at Cambridge (MA), and is co-clerk of the Young Adult Friends of New England Yearly Meeting.
This piece originated as a response to “What’s God Got to Do, Got to Do With it?”:http://www.nonviolence.org/martink/archives/000577.php. Reproduced as a feature with permission from the author.
Thanks Jeffrey Hipp, great post.
I’m commenting mostly on a tiny point: thankyou so much for using “her” for G‑d. At the moment for me G‑d is He, and I need to use that language when I speak. But there is a wound in me of undervaluation of the feminine and it is soothed to hear She used for the Divine. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate you using that language, and how important it is for me that both pronouns are present in our talk about the Divine, as well as the language of people who consciously avoid using a pronoun for G‑d which I think is great too.
This Friend speaks my mind – and does so with greater grace and eloquence than I could, for which I am truly grateful.
And this is why I think we need that on-line journal: we need a prophetic Quaker witness for those of us who are liberal/Christian/Renewal Friends and our companions. A new Friendly Intelligencer for a new intelligent Friends.
Melynda
We stand — and have always stood — for the positives found in social diversity.
If we disallow it in our meetinghouses… we are hypocrites.
Jeffrey, as long as there are hearts like yours in the Religious Society of Friends, I will find my home among Friends. And there are so many such hearts! My own heart, for what it’s worth, I offer up to you. To all of you.
I feel the covenant you speak of as surely as I feel the sun on a summer day. It seems we differ as to the source of that covenant, but as long as we are both committed to living in it, we are Friends together.
Thanks for a wonderful article, Jeffrey! I, too, consider myself a consevative liberal Friend. By having Jesus as my foundation does not exclude others who have found their foundation in other paths. Truth is one…paths are many.
By the way, Alice, I just read something somewhere (I don’t really remember where) that we only use pronouns for people/things when they are not present. He/She as pronouns for God are really not needed that often as God is here, living among us. When I speak of God I use “You” as it better reflects my theology. However, there are times that pronouns are necessary when speaking of God. In those times I alternate between he and she (most times I just say God).
I remember a hymn I heard once which puts it beautifully, “Our God is not a woman. Our God is not a man. Our God is both and neither. God is the great I AM.”
Peace,
Craig
http://www.ngfm.org
Thank you for this writing, Friend Jeffrey. I have been reading a lot about Friends calling for more Christ-centeredness in Friends Meetings, and often it has made me uncomfortable. I am still searching for Christ’s place in my heart and theology. For many, many years such Christian language made me turn away in extreme discomfort; so many claimed the Christian name for things that I found to be hurtful, violent, or hypocritical. I am just now feeling comfortable enough to explore the concept of Christ.
Sometimes when Friends call for more Christ-centeredness on the grounds that Friends are slipping away from true Quakerism, it makes me feel as if I am “less” of a Quaker, or not a true Friend. Your post articulated clearly both sides of the story and was comforting for me to read.
We must wait and listen to the Spirit rather than taking it upon ourselves to “force” any such change either way.
Hi Claire, Good to see you over here! Yes, I can’t imagine how anyone could hear Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount and think that Christianity could be forced on anyone. You know, the meek shall inherit and all that…
Sometimes I think the work is like going out to a field with friends some night to look for shooting stars. Inevitably there’s someone who’s good at spotting them. They’ll say, “Look! There! See?” Eventually you get better at seeing them and you start pointing them out.
The Spirit’s presence is all around us. Oftentimes our most faithful work is simply gathering with Friends and gazing for signs of that grace: “Look! There! See?”
As a Christian Friend, I have always taken it that, should I want to see more Christ-centeredness in meetings, I should probably think about starting with myself. That would seem to be most consistent with the teachings we Christians hold as our core values.
The shooting-star analogy works for me, Martin.
Jeff — Wise, wise Jeff. I never took you for a Christocentric Quaker, so much did I see of Christ in you that it becomes second nature — labeling it as one thing over another just seemed pointless to me. Whatever it was, you had it.
You live in a light of bold kindness. That you follow Christ among Quakers is somehow even more bold — yet I know you do not do it to be bold, but because this is how the spirit has lead you. It just makes sense.
I’ve never questioned where you came from before, it seemed logical — and now it seems even more logical and spelled out. Thank you for you witness, thank you for your friendship, and thank you for informing me that the most valuable thing in any meetinghouse is the coffeepot. (oops — did I just tell a secret?)