We are Christ-centered Friends who equip and encourage all people
to respond to God's love and transforming Spirit.

The Fresh Wind of the Spirit
September 6, 2009

Have you noticed lately how the light is changing and the days are getting shorter? I am one of those strange people who like to watch the sunrise in the morning and I have always enjoyed, when I am not busy doing something else, sitting on my front porch and watching the sunset in the evening. I marvel at how the hills gradually reflect the golden light of the parting sun. It really is quite spectacular. Dawn and dusk seem to be luminous prayerful pauses in my day, a time to reflect on the faithful guiding Light of God in my life.

I like what Quaker writer, Brent Bill says in the introduction to his book entitled, "Mind the Light. . . Learning to see with spiritual eyes."
"Light: without it we die. Physically. Spiritually. All of God's creatures move toward the light-flowers, trees, people. Light is constant and ever present,
even on a cloudy day. But even more than physically, we respond to illumination emotionally and spiritually. Yet even though the light is all around us, we often don't notice it and the difference it can make in our souls. That is where an old Quaker saying-'Mind the Light'- offers help. 'Mind'in this case means many things-including heed, tend, notice, observe, and obey. Minding the Light is a way of deep seeing."

How would you describe this experience of minding the Light in your life this past week? Are you aware of a Divine Light that has been guiding you throughout your life and even led you here this morning?

During the fall months we are going to be exploring our roots and identity as Friends. We will be focusing on the spiritual themes of Light, Truth and Waiting as seen through the lens of Quaker spirituality, a spirituality that is deeply grounded in the Bible but also in a direct experience of the Living Christ who is constantly present to teach each one of us. I encourage you to come with a non-anxious presence, leaving your judgments and resistance behind, seeking to be open to the fresh wind of the Spirit.

Some of you are new to Friends and you haven't quite figured out all the Quaker lingo, or why we do not practice the outward sacraments of communion and baptism. Did you know that we actually do? Stick around through the coming months and we will learn and discover together what perspective Friends have brought to Christendom.

I am not a birthright Quaker. . (BTW. . . If you don't know where we got our name Quakers, read your bulletin insert and find out.)
I came to Friends about 20 years ago when I first attended Reedwood Friends Church in Portland. I grew up in a fairly conservative evangelical church so the first Sunday we attended I felt dazed and confused a bit when I heard Celia Mueller preach a sermon. This did not fit into my way of interpreting the Bible up to that
point in time.

I have to chuckle now when I think of the irony of me standing here sharing with you this morning. God sure seems to have a sense of humor. How and why did my perspective change? Stick around and find out!

It did not take me long to become a convinced Quaker and to feel that I had found a spiritual home. I especially loved the silence in meeting for worship and the Friends testimonies to peace, simplicity, integrity, equality and community.

Where are your spiritual roots? How would you describe your journey of faith up to this point? What has nudged you to come here and worship among Friends? Do you wonder if there was an Inward Light that led you here to this place, at this time in your life, for a specific reason?

I do not believe that we have a corner on THE TRUTH anymore than the Methodists or Presbyterians do down the street. But what is it that makes Quaker faith and practice distinct from other traditions?

If you want to learn more be sure to join us for an ongoing Quaker series during our adult Circle of Friends beginning Sept. 20th. It will be sort of a Quaker 101 learning experience.

We also want to look at some contemporary Quaker authors in an informal book group setting. In our 350 years of our history, Quakers have produced some great writings that I have found to be spiritually enriching. I encourage you to do some of your own reading and studying alongside of this series. I have a reading list you can avail yourself of if you wish. We have many of these books available in our library.

I plan to intersperse some Quaker history and writings alongside the Biblical basis from which our heritage has grown. I want our time together to be spiritually nourishing and practical for us, and not just an intellectual experience. I want us to encounter the Living Christ whose Light, I believe, will lead us forward to be open to the new directions that we are being led to serve as a meeting within our community.

We cannot go back and reproduce what early Quakers were but we can learn from their courage and passionate belief, minding the Light of Christ in our own lives today. What will the Friends of Jesus look like as we move forward into the future with all the many complexities and challenges in our modern world? What can we learn from our history, where we have come from, and then be formed into the people God wants us to be today?

There is a lot of talk these days about the emergent church. Many people have grown tired of organized religion and are looking for fresh and new ways to worship and be active in serving the poor and marginalized in our society. Are we open to the fresh wind of the Spirit here in this meeting?

This is the same Spirit that led George Fox and his seekers of truth three and a half centuries ago. Douglas Steere writes in his Introduction to a volume called, Quaker Spirituality, "In 1652 George Fox climbed Pendle Hill in Lancashire. There he had a vision of a great people waiting to be gathered. George Fox felt the throb of an unstoppable movement.

Out of the depths of this new fellowship there emerged from the thousands of largely ordinary country people a number of inward callings, 'concerns" to leave their farms and shops for longer or shorter journeys. Traveling in pairs, they felt called to share these fresh new discoveries of inward renewal that had come to them.
The early form of Quaker worship was so simple that it could take place anywhere in private homes, in a kitchen, in a barn, or later in an unadorned building, which may be the best way to describe a Quaker meetinghouse. The group sat together waiting on God to gather them inwardly, and all shared in the responsibility for helping the meeting to become the vessel for the Holy Spirit. Out of this gathered silence some vocal ministry often emerged, as now this one and now that one felt pressed to articulate what the corporate silence had brought in the way of a message or concern.

Fox had discovered the Seed of God, the living Christ, the fire of the holy Spirit within, and it had come to him not by the liturgy, or the faithful reading of the Bible (which he knew almost by heart), or by sermons, or by singing and reading aloud set prayers in handsome stone churches. He seemed to have meant to turn his country people to the Christ within their own hearts. . . "

Have we met Christ, the Inward Light within our own hearts?

As we enter into a time of silence, consider what is stirring in your heart this morning. How would you describe this inward minding of the Light in your own experience? What has that looked like for you? As we seek to meet the Living Christ within our own hearts, what concern arises within you this morning? Is there a fresh wind of the Spirit blowing through this place of worship? What might that look like for us? If we don't see it, are we open to it and where it might lead us?