Quaker author Peter Blood-Patterson was interviewed about his March 2024 article, We Are All Held in Love: Reflections on the Practice of Holding in the Light.
Peter Blood-Patterson discusses the Quaker practice of “holding in the light”, which involves sharing prayer concerns during meetings. The phrase originated in the late 1960s but became more commonly used among Friends in the 1990s. It allows communities to care for those experiencing difficulties through entrusting them to God’s love. Peter explores what “the light” represents for Quakers historically and today. He also reflects on how the practice has helped him release control and recognize the limits of what he can fix.
Peter Blood-Patterson is a member of Mt. Toby Meeting in Leverett, Mass., which has care of his ministry of writing and teaching about Quakerism. He is actively engaged in building an online Quaker library at Inwardlight.org.
Links
The first instance of “hold” with “Light” in Friends Journal was this 1969 poem by Barbara Reynolds.
Peter Blood-Patterson’s Friends Journal article “On Praying for Others—and Ourselves” appeared in the September 2000 and is archived on his site.
Comments on Friendsjournal.org may be used in the Forum of the print magazine and may be edited for length and clarity.