Window Sign on Unity
The new sign in the front window of the Ninth Street Meetinghouse in SF:
Excerpt from Faith and Practice: A Guide to Quaker Discipline in the Experience of Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Friends believe that it is possible
for the human spirit
to be in direct communion
with the Divine.
Seeking God’s will together,
we believe way will open
and unity will emerge.
Excerpt from Faith and Practice: A Guide to Quaker Discipline in the Experience of Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
Labels: meeting work, SF
posted by Robin M. at 1:27 PM
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
5 Comments:
Thanks Robin for this post. After a weekend of rewarding,demanding Quaker work at RepCom, this reopened my weary senses to the reasons why I do the work- and way will open indeed. Patrick
What does "way will open" mean to you? How would you explain that to a passer by?
There's nothing wrong with the sign! I'm just wondering how I would explain that phrase...
Patrick, I hope that Representative Committee was a fruitful time. I'm glad this post was refreshing.
Allison, I'm glad.
Kathy, I would say that "way will open" means that as we listen as best we can to the Divine nudges, a path will become clearer towards the right action or direction. It's connected to the idea that when we are faithful in this moment, we will see the next step to take. It is possible to get too caught up in that metaphor - we don't always see the ray of light shining on the next stepping stone. But when unity does emerge, sometimes it feels like obstacles have removed themselves and way has opened.
It's a poetic phrase, not a scientific one.
But is it a phrase that a passerby is likely to understand and realte to in a way that gets the poetic/spiritual meaning across?
My experience in using the phrase with non-Friends is that some ask "Which way are you talking about?" and some say "Huh?"
If there is no live person on hand to interpreet the sign is the ambiguity of the phrase enough to get a person in the door to find out more?
I do think we should be putting more of our spiritual messages out there for passers-by, however. However, I wonder if we are so used to our own jargon that we might be confusing people who haven' been exposed.
I know enough seekers who already feel uncomfortable going to a new church without first knowing a bit about what they will encounter that I suspect they would be put off by a slogan.
Just my 2 cents. Keep the sign and see if my 2 cents is actually worth anything. :)
cath
Post a Comment
<< Home