I believe it was Friend Lloyd Lee Wilson who introduced me to the spiritual metaphor of the fire drill. Most of you will know these rather annoying exercises from schools or workplaces: a few times a year, the building’s fire alarm will be intentionally set off, and we will immediately put aside our work, stand up, and march quietly to the nearest fire exit, and from there to a designated waiting spot. It’s a tiresome exercise, but it serves a real purpose: when a real emergency arises, we know what to do. We have the “muscle memory” to get up, file out, and assemble outside.
As the clerk of a small Friends meeting, I will reluctantly admit that some of our Quaker business meetings can be rather rote: reports from committees, examinations of monthly expenses, updates on upcoming grant proposals and community events. These are all important tasks, vital to keeping our community and its infrastructure going, and I’m honored to do my part in keeping them going, month to month to month. But they do get repetitive.
I think Quaker business meetings have another purpose: they give us practice in decision making, and we build trust in one another. When something extraordinary comes up that has to be dealt with immediately, we kick into action using the muscle memory from all of those Sunday afternoons spent talking about the finances. Because we’re a religious body that has taken the time to know one another, we can anticipate concerns and move surprisingly quickly.
We’re seeing this in action now with Quaker responses to a new U.S. presidential executive order that has rescinded a policy that has long kept houses of worship off-limits from immigration enforcement actions. The designation of churches as “sensitive locations” has allowed all our neighbors to join Quakers in worship, regardless of their documented immigration status or ethnicity. On January 27, a group of Quaker bodies, made up of three yearly and two monthly meetings, sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the change.
What is most remarkable to me is the speed with which the decision to join this suit happened. “Everything just moved lightning fast. By Quaker standards, it was breathtaking,” Christie Duncan-Tessmer, general secretary of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, one of the yearly meetings named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told us for our coverage of the story. For over 350 years, Friends have sought to welcome the stranger. We’ve affirmed that there is that of God within all of us, and known (though not always practiced) that our faith and discernment is stronger together. When something arises that threatens those values, we have the muscle memory to respond. (You can keep up with the latest on that story and other news on Quakers at Friendsjournal.org/news.)
I’m particularly excited to share this current issue of Friends Journal with you. A number of writers share their tips for staying spiritually grounded in times of turmoil. We have a story of overcoming partisanship through simple neighborly conversation. Two powerful articles look back at times during which Friends failed spectacularly to honor the stranger: one from a Friend uncovering the practice of slavery among his ancestors, and the other on Quakers’ involvement in Indigenous boarding schools in Alaska. They are equal parts humbling and instructive. We also have the latest installment of our new Bible Study column that will be running four times a year. And of course, we have our book reviews and the remembrances of faithful Friends who have passed away.
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