Forum, May 2025

The everlasting gospel

This is one of the best articles I’ve read in Friends Journal in 40 years (“In the Deeps and in Weakness” by Matt Rosen, FJ Apr.). It captures the spirit and substance of early Quakerism in modern and accessible terms. Keep following the leading to speak this Everlasting Gospel among Friends.

Having lived for years among Friends in Kenya, I can attest to both the excitement and the dangers of charismatic Christianity. I appreciate that exposure, and I loved being able to be free and open with my Christian faith, in stark contrast to many unprogrammed Friends meetings. But the dangers are enormous, and I find the actual friendship of Christ much more accessible and transforming in the silence of waiting on the Lord in traditional Quaker worship. If only more Friends understood that worship as Rosen does.

Patrick Nugent
Kettering, Ohio

Looking forward to the next of the 12 steps

Thank you very much for Christoper E. Stern’s honest, open, and inspiring article (“Three Steps Forward,” FJ Apr.). It speaks to my condition. I have the feeling that we need more of this.

Petra Schipper
Antwerp, Belgium

I look forward to the author’s account of his fourth step in the 12-step process (making a searching spiritual inventory) and fifth (fully acknowledging the heart of said inventory to another person and to our higher power). For many, their spiritual journey begins, unexpectedly, after the fifth step.

Hank Fay
Berea, Ky.

The mental band width of clothing

Amy Andreassen’s “Divine Dress Code” (FJ Apr.) is a beautifully written explanation of the immense value of simplicity—and how it can impact so many aspects of our lives.

I started on that path a few years ago. I still have a long way to go, but I see many of the same benefits as Andreassen.

Glenn
Atlanta, Ga.

When I was overwhelmed by multigenerational caregiving and fulltime work, I bought eight work shirts, eight identical pairs of black slacks, and ten pairs of black socks and stopped thinking about clothing. Sometimes clothing does not deserve our mental band width. Now that I am retired and less burdened, I am loving the self expression clothing offers.

Linda Gillingham Sciaroni
Long Beach, Calif.

Fear-mongering

Jesus tolerated his apostles carrying cutting-edge weaponry, but not using it to harm others (“A Quaker Attends a Gun Show” by Robert Fonow, FJ Apr.). Fear is a powerful motivator, and our media is filled with fear-mongering, but turning off that noise restores calm for most people.

George Gore
Chicago area, Ill.

I appreciate the comment about rightwing/autocratic governments and gun control. We should all remember that, however weak they are, the few gun control laws we have in the United States mostly originated in the era of the Black Panthers when those with power were afraid of too many guns in the hands of the oppressed. Very few have been enacted by or through the efforts of peace-loving Quakers and others of our ilk.

Joseph H Snyder
Portland, Ore.

Finding a nonviolent resolution to the longstanding conflict in Israel and Palestine

The video “What Does Just Peace in Palestine and Israel Look Like?” is a heartfelt commentary from someone who works to make the world a better and more peaceful place (QuakerSpeak.com interview with Joyce Ajlouny, Mar.). It is a shame that our leaders are so lacking in even the most basic of spiritual values. They should be listening to Ajlouny and others like her. Then, maybe instead of thinking that killing people is the path to peace, they will wake up to reality and get in touch with their humanity.

Richard Forer
Lafayette, Colo.

I don’t know how anyone maintains hope, given the inhumanity being practiced and the impunity of people who don’t seem to care what they are doing to other human beings. I’m grateful to Ajlouny for speaking of her hope.

Margaret Katranides
St. Louis, Mo.

This is not an either/or issue. There is no contradiction or disconnect between the political and the Quaker or spiritual issue. Jesus was political (his upturning of the tables or criticism of the hypocrisy of the establishment). If we follow the light and are guided by it, we will be led to question injustice wherever it occurs and to do all we can to end the situation.

Vivienne
Australia

Yes. What we need to hear, keep in front of us, and act on every day in every way we can.

Deborah Fink
Ames, Iowa

What about the rest of Creation?

After reading Stephen Loughin’s essay, “Addressing the Long Emergency” (FJ Apr.), I was disappointed and concerned that there was no discussion concerning the protection of wildlands, wetlands, watersheds, or defending the rights of all non-human species.

In our rush to find sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels, have we considered the environmental impact the extraction of the materials necessary for the manufacturing of the alternative sources has on habitat and the surrounding communities, along with the impact of local habitat when placing these alternative technologies? Our focus must go beyond just human needs to add the needs and rights of all of Creation. It’s taken 150-plus years to get where we are, and it will perhaps take an equal amount of time to get out of our present dilemma. Along with reconsidering technology we should be looking at economic, lifestyle, and cultural changes! Long live Creation!

Derek Polzer
Berkeley Heights, N.J.

Heartfelt thanks to supportive Friends

The fires that ravaged Los Angeles county in January were devastating (News story, FJ Mar. print, Feb. online). We at Orange Grove Meeting in Pasadena are thankful that no lives were lost among our worshipers. We mourn the loss of others. We are thankful that our meetinghouse campus was spared. We mourn the loss of members’ and attenders’ homes, and those of tens of thousands of others.

We are thankful that among the chaos, confusion, and communication outages that we were eventually able to find all our evacuated people wherever they had found sanctuary and ascertain their conditions and needs. We are thankful that Friends have reached out in generous support of our efforts to ameliorate some of our financial loss. Other losses can never be remedied—scenes of family memories forever erased, along with documents, photographs, and heirlooms destroyed.

Fire, as well as rain, falls upon the just and the unjust alike, and we let love rather than circumstantial judgement of any kind be our guide toward disbursement of Friends’ generous donations. The concerns of distant Friends that their succor not simply be passed through us on to impersonal organizations of relief kept us mindful that our responsibilities lay closest to home. Through deep and thoughtful discernment we sorted our options, discarding airy notions of being able to accomplish more on a wider scale than our time and talents allowed. We focused on immediate relief to those most severely affected among our community whether member, attender, or employee.

The usual work of our meeting continued through this period; at times we were too overwhelmed to respond to questions. We apologize for our belated expression of gratitude, but please know that it is heartfelt and that your love, light, and largesse were cherished and continue to help through this time of unexpected change.

Jane Krause for Orange Grove Meeting
Pasadena, Calif.

Correction

The article “Emblems of Change” (by Sharlee DiMenichi, FJ Feb.) originally reported that 140 million people had been displaced in Bangladesh; that is actually the estimate of how many will be displaced. Evan Welkin’s farm was destroyed in 2023, not 2024 as originally reported (Welkin moved to the United States in 2024). Quakers distributed about 15 fishing boats in the Philippines, not approximately 30 as initially reported.