Each year meetings and worship groups are asked to update the information on file with the yearly meeting: officers and committee clerks, number of members, any changes to where you meet or how to contact you, etc. The yearly meeting uses this information to send mail and e-mail to meetings, to contact officers and clerks of committees, and to help in preparing the annual budget.

The total number of members is also sent to several Quaker organizations the yearly meeting belongs to, as the number of representatives we send to the organization’s meetings depends on the total number of members in the yearly meeting. The database manager e-mails you the information currently on file in May and asks that you return updated information by July 11 so that it can be included in the Annual Records.

If you have any questions or need a form, contact the database manager.

From Opening Doors to Quaker Worship, a publication of the Religious Education Committee of Friends General Conference

During the past few years, a number of Friends serving on the Religious Education Committee of Fiends General Conference have discussed the importance of spiritual friendships. In their work with faith development, they have come to know and emphasize the value of sharing one’s experience of spiritual growth with one particular Friend who is also strengthening his or her faith. They have also collected important resources that describe the purpose of spiritual friendships, how to go about finding a spiritual friend, and different ways spiritual friends can work together. As an encouragement to Friends and meetings to explore spiritual friendships at a deeper level, a few guidelines are offered here.

Guidelines for Spiritual Friendship

• Spiritual friendships most commonly involve two people who invite God’s working in their lives who make an intentional commitment to hold each other in the Light, and who share with each other their experiences, doubts, ponderings, and prayer time as their spiritual lives unfold.
• Spiritual friendships can exist for any length of time, from a weekend at a workshop to a spiritual partnership lasting many years. Ideally, spiritual friends can meet face to face on a regular basis, but if circumstances don’t allow that closeness, a spiritual friendship can be conducted by means of letters, phone calls, or even e-mail! What is important is that there be an intentionality about the relationship.
• Meetings can be structured in a number of ways. Usually a session begins with a time of worship. Then one friend listens while the other shares her/his spiritual progress through the period that has elapsed between sessions. Sections from personal journaling are often shared, as well as efforts at maintaining a regular discipline or areas in which one is especially focusing. One of the purposes for sharing is to name out loud how one experiences God’s presence.
• The listener pays supportive attention to what is shared, at times reflecting back to the speaker something that is noticed. More listening than reflecting usually takes place. It is important to remember that this is not a co-counseling or therapy session, but a time to allow God into the relationship.
• After a set period of time, the roles are reversed. Silent worship should conclude the session. Many friends allow a time for informal sharing about non-spiritual matters before the beginning or at the end of the session.
• Spiritual friends may choose to engage in a planned discipline between meetings, such as meditating or praying at the same time each day, journaling, reading a predetermined passage or book, or fasting. These shared practices can deepen the spiritual relationship between friends by serving as a constant reminder of each other’s commitment and support.
• Spiritual friendship, though it may arise between individuals who have a casual relationship, is a commitment that requires hard work and a level of trust that takes time to build. Yet if the commitment is strong, having a spiritual friendship is one of the best ways to nurture personal faith development.Return to Spiritual Disciplines

  Return to Spiritual Formation Program

The phrase [lectio divina] means “divine reading.” Originally it referred to the contemplative study of the Bible; today is has been expanded to include any book that brings one closer to truth. The vital feature of this discipline in not what one studies but how one studies it. The approach is a slow, thoughtful, prayerful dialogue with the material, grounded in the faith that behind the words we read there is always a Word to encounter.

We have been schooled to study for information; in lectio we study for insight. We have learned how to “master” a field; in lectio we study so that truth might master us. In the academy we study with our minds, always analyzing and dissecting; in lectio we do not abandon the mind but we let it descend into the heart, where the “hidden wholeness” of things may be discovered again. Normally, we read and question the text; in lectio we allow the text to read and question us. At its best, lectio divina nurtures a contemplative intellect – a mind which does not do violence to self or others or the world, but seeks to live in harmony with it all. If this kind of reading intrigues you, there are traditional steps for doing it.

• Have a regular daily time. It is through daily, routine practice that one accumulates the fruits of this way of learning. It helps to have a set place where you do this.
• Prepare your heart and mind. Sit still for a few minutes to clear out the static of busy thoughts that crowd in, begging for attention. As in meeting for worship, gently acknowledge them and lay them aside for now.
• Read the passage. Some people begin by reading it out loud. This enables it to enter the mind through both eyes and ears. Others read and reread it a number of times so that it becomes semi-memorized. Others go directly to the next step.
• Read the passage very slowly, pausing after phrase, especially any phrase that grabs your attention. You might inwardly ask what God is saying to you through this passage. The intent of lectio is to be open, to listen to God as we encounter the text.
• Sometimes the next step is deep thought. Sometimes you are moved into a wordless state of being. Sometimes the former leads into the later. Friends often use the words “meditate” and “contemplate” interchangeably. Traditional usage gave them separate definitions. The words we use are less important than understanding that they represent two distinct states of being in worship.One is deep thinking, living with the text – or an experience, vision, or dream – keeping it present in the mind, returning to it in a variety of circumstances. One puzzles over it, tears it apart, juxtaposes it with incongruous material, looks for new meanings. This helps us more fully understand our experience and incorporate it into our core where it aids our transformation. The other way of being in worship is to slip into wordlessness – similar to what the secular world used to call a “brown study” – a state of inner stillness in which we are in God’s presence.We can’t make this happen through our will power or use of techniques. We can, however, practice the disciplines that put us in the place where God’s grace can touch us and lift us into the Presence.

From Opening Doors to Quaker Worship by Marty Grundy (Cleveland Monthly Meeting), a publication of the Religious Education Committee of FGC. Introductory material from Parker Palmer, “Lectio Divina: Another Way to Learn,” Pendle Hill Bulletin No. 322 (Oct. 1981). Steps based on William H. Shannon, Seeking the Face of God (New York: The Crossword Publishing Company, 1988); and Brian C. Taylor, Spirituality for Everyday Living: An Adaptation of the Rule of St. Benedict (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1989), 64-70

Return to Spiritual Disciplines

Return to Spiritual Formation Program