#quakerposting

[qenmaicha]

being queer and religious gives me so much inspiration for my writing. did a written piece about being a quaker for one of my college courses (i'm a creative writing major) and got 97% on it. feeling really good :3 thank u God

[realgaledekarioslowkey]

Mumford and sons did an insta post of backstage work with hozier. Its clear he did have some creative input which is amazing idek if he did with Lucy. Him and the quaker ancestors looking out rn. His guitar is clearly the same type of not a latter version of my takamine that belonged to my Nana who was the widow of the English Protestant grandfather (they did convert generations before him which is like. Hmm)

[qenmaicha]

having mutuals is great bc i get to tell you all that if you are comfortable with me doing so, i will hold you in the Light today* because you're all wonderful and deserve it

* when Quakers say we are "holding one in the Light," it means we are keeping you in our hearts, minds, and spirits, and hoping that the Divine - however any of us may see Them - fills you with the loving presence and spiritual companionship you deserve

[qenmaicha]

I was wondering if you might talk more about being a quaker unitarian universalist and what that's like and what it means for you. The more I read into quakerism the more I realize I align with it to a degree I didn't think I would. Though, I will admit to not being as knowledgeable about UU

thank you so much for this question :) apologies it took me most of the day to get to it - i wanted to sit with it a bit, and also i had to work lol. this is a little messy and probably not well-written as i was watching tv and very sleepy while writing it, but i hope you'll bear with me.

being a quaker uu, to me, is about having a real, personal experience with the Inner Light or the Divine or God that is within me, and within every person, while also being committed to the uu values of pluralism, inclusivity, social justice, and respecting everyone's own search for where the Spirit is guiding them. i also really adore the uu idea of "love at the centre," because i think that really resonates with my own view of God. God loves us, is within us, and is compelling us to love one another. as quakers, we call ourselves Friends because that is what we try our hardest to be - Friends to God, and Friends to His children.

while neither quakers nor uus are creedal faiths, i do allow the quaker testimonies known as S.P.I.C.E.S to guide me, and try to follow them to the best of my ability:

i try to live simply, focus on prayer and necessities... but of course, even i'm not perfect haha. we all have cravings and wants. i simply try to temper them as best i can. i'm 4 months sober, and my faith has helped me so much.

i try to live peacefully. i used to have a lot of anger and hate in me for those i felt had wronged me. this is something i still wrestle with. but the more i breathe out this anger and try to exemplify this ideal, the better i feel. it isn't always easy to temper my words and thoughts, but all we can do is try.

i try to live with integrity, by treating others with kindness, acknowledging that we all have Light within us, and letting my actions speak for me. i do my best to avoid even the smallest of white lies - but again, i'm not always as good at this as i would like to be.

i value community. in every group i am a part of - be that Meeting, work, my college classes - i try to bring my best, most authentic self to it and empower everyone else to do the same. i try to remind myself that we are all interconnected and we're all trying to do our best in this life - even the people i can't stand or disagree with. sometimes that's way easier said than done!

i value equality. we have differences in culture, religion, skin colour, identity, and more, but we are all human and equal to God. i consider it a principle of faith to not only be committed to activism in social justice where i am speaking, but also centering and listening to other voices who have experiences that i have not. i try to listen to and respect positions that i do not and never will agree with, so long as those positions do not harm or invalidate others. again, this is easier said than done.

finally, i value stewardship. we only have one earth, and to respect it is to respect one another. i can't say i'm, like, a vegan hippie or anything, as cool as they are, but i do my best to live as sustainably as i can.

as i've tried to reiterate, i am not always the best at following these. i do my best to honour and affirm the Light that is in everyone and hope that they will show me the same grace, but after all, we're all only human :)

if you're interested in more Quaker resources, I cannot recommend enough QuakerSpeak on Youtube and Thee Quaker Podcast. as for UU, i'm canadian so i usually rely on the Canadian Unitarian Council for info on them, but the UUA is larger and probably has more US and international resources :)

i hope this was suitable and i'm sorry it got so long!!!

[qenmaicha]

has #qumblr been claimed yet? i think we deserve a #qumblr

[qenmaicha]

hey Friends. please hold me in the Light today. i have a doctor's appointment that i'm very nervous about...

[nightligiht]

turns out if i actually turn up to meeting for worship and stick around and talk to people and be open to it being a good experience it can turn out to be a pretty good experience :) talked to a cute guy and his boyfriend after, so many more people under 50 there than last time i went a couple of years ago. it’s taken me a long time to start to get that so much of the point of meeting for worship is the meeting. a lot of reasons for that, but it really felt like something clicked into place today, finally, and i’m grateful.

[nightligiht]

I think the biggest thing that will always keep me coming back to Quakerism despite my frustrations with it is its lack of doctrine. I remember years ago asking an ‘elder’ at my meeting if there were books, resources she would recommend for learning about the practice and she just said what George Fox said ‘What canst thou say, Friend?’ What is true for you? If this is not God’s word for you, it may be for others.

It took me a long time to build it, but that eventually created such a foundation of trust in what I experience of God for myself. Only years later finding myself at a point where I can take seriously the possibility that some of the theology I read might also be personally useful to me. That I could think about stories I’m told and whether they hold meaning and truth.

I’m in a slow, ongoing process of discernment of whether I can call myself a Christian in a world of Christofascism, colonialism, the evils inherent in those institutions without compromising my values as an anarchist, as a queer and trans person, as someone who believes in autonomy and love above all else.

Sharing this stuff on the one hand feels stupid, like opening my deepest self up to the worst kind of bad faith reading, but journaling by myself isn’t enough either anymore and this feels like something I could try. I won’t engage with bullshit and my bar for that is very low, I’ll block and ignore freely, but I want to make meaningful connection in this space if I can.