140 And oh! how
sweet and pleasant it is to the truly spiritual eye, to
see several sorts of believers, several forms of Christians in the
school of
Christ, every one learning their own lesson, performing their own peculiar
service, and knowing, owning, and loving one another in their several
places and different performances to their Master, to whom they are
to give
an account, and not to quarrel with one another about their different
practices! For this is the true ground of love and unity, not that
such a man
walks and does just as I do, but because I feel the same Spirit and
life in him,
and in that he walks in his rank, in his own order, in his proper way
and
place of subjection to that. And this is far more pleasing to me, than
if he
walked just in that track wherein I walk…
isaac penington, 1659
141
In this day and age the place where Friends find their unity is in
the kind of God they worship. Their apprehension of the relationship
of
Jesus Christ to God embraces every orthodox and unorthodox shade
of theology from unitarian to trinitarian; but whether we regard
Jesus … as
God himself or as the supreme revealer of God to man, it is the same
kind
of God: a spirit of peace, truth, love and redeeming power.We need
to feel
the influence of this Spirit in our lives rather than to argue about
our
different modes of apprehending him. Directly we begin to chide each
other
for orthodoxy or unorthodoxy, we cease to be the catholic body we
are; for
the logical end of such chiding is sanctions and the excluding of
the weaker
body by the stronger. Let us keep our different modes of apprehension
and
remember always that it is the same God we serve, revealing himself
to each
according to his faith, his openness and his need.
beatrice saxon snell, 1961
142
We would wish to unite with all Christians and also with those of
other faiths who work for reconciliation and healing in a broken
world.
Our membership includes those who ‘whilst ill at ease with
orthodox
formulations of Christian belief and doctrine, are nevertheless counted
among those who do the will of God. As Friends we wish to recognise
the
divine gifts in those who call God by other names or see their commitment
to truth in very different ways from those expressed in the Lima
document.
london yearly meeting, to lima with love, 1987
143
Unity suggests to us not agreement or sameness of viewpoint, but
a oneness of purpose that instructs our life together. And so
it is not
necessarily completed, but always underway, moving us beyond
maintaining images, even our Quaker image.When we are divided, we
are challenged to think of where our unity exists.
We understand there to be an essential aspect of the Ground of Being
that
draws us in reverence, and that our coming together is more than
accidental.We are called to be people of strong feeling, to know
differences, and to discover through exploring our diversity or conflicts
a means
of
truthfully communicating, in order to reach together toward what
is both
common and holy.
strawberry creek monthly meeting, 1989