Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
October 4, 2020
Psalm 46 (The Message)
1-3 God is a safe place to hide,
ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
courageous in sea storm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
but Earth does anything he says.7 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.”11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
I find it interesting that this year’s theme for World Quaker Day is both a question and a statement:
What does it mean to be a Quaker today? is the question and Living a Faithful Life in a Changing World is the statement.
If there is one Question I am consistently being asked, it is “What does it mean to be a Quaker, today?” Most people sheepishly or quizzically make some statement like, “I thought the Quakers died off a long time ago.” And sadly, I sense many Quakers believe much the same today, as well.
The reality is that there are 400,000 Quakers worldwide and about half of them live in Africa. Even though we are one of the smaller societies or denominations – we do have a global impact.
But let’s get back to that original query - What does it mean to be a Quaker TODAY? And I emphasize TODAY.
From the gatherings and conversartion Beth and I have each Thursday with Quaker ministers across the country, we have found this both a relevant question and a challenging one.
The current day is much different for Quakers than even in our more recent past. Especially, right now, as we continue to wrestle with a global pandemic and all the unrest that seems to surround us.
Simon Lamb, clerk of the Friends World Committee for Consultation emphasizes this point by saying,
In these very unusual times where the global community is not only struggling with a debilitating pandemic which is effecting every one of us through its health, its social and its financial impact, we are also at the same time being challenged by the protests of many on the issues of long-entrenched patterns of cultural, racial and social inequities and the historic colonial values that underpin such ideas.
We are being limited in our capacity to meet each other face to face. Social distancing is becoming a very normal part of our lives in these abnormal times. We are learning new ways to communicate, to socialize, and even to worship.
This period of health crisis for almost every country on this planet and the impending financial disaster that it promises in the months to come for many of the world’s citizens, leaves Friends with the challenging question as to what we are able and what are we called to do.
Quakers have been at this precipice before on numerous occasions and each time we have risen to the occasion, found our voice, and sensed the call of what we were to do.
But, this time around, there seems to be more going on than we can even wrap our minds around. And the move to virtual spaces and the reliance on technology is taking a toll on an older society of Friends who for too long have not embraced change.
At First Friends, I am pleased that we have embraced the changes, leaned into our call to continue forward, and have found ways to make a difference in our community and neighborhoods. But let’s get a bit more personal.
Let’s take one step further and explore how we individually may seek to answer the call of God in these times. If there is one thing the pandemic and our world’s condition has done, it has returned us to our Quaker foundations.
One of the most fundamental foundations in the Quaker faith is embracing silence and again seeking what our Christian scriptures say is the “Still Small Voice” of God.
I find it ironic in many ways that during these difficult times we have been given time to slow down, to become silent, and listen, yet much of our time is spent wrestling with not knowing what we are able and called to do.
I wonder if that is because we still have not taken the time to slow down, to become silent, and to expectantly wait to hear what God is saying to us, TODAY.
I sense this pandemic is awaking us to the reality that we may have become a bit stubborn or unwilling to enter the process fully to seek those answers.
Instead of slowing down and taking time to process and listen, we like most of the people in our country want or demand instant change, instant action, instant healing.
Almost like we are ordering through Amazon Prime getting one-day deliveries or at the drive-up at Starbucks getting a cup of coffee on our way to work.
Let’s be honest…we have been trained to claim the “instant life.”
We want it now.
We want it our way.
And we don’t want to have to be silent and wait.
Ironically, it is everything that this pandemic and the condition of our world is challenging us with, currently.
We want the pandemic to go away, now.
We want racial unrest to go away, now.
We want to get back to the way life used to be, now.
We want to be vocal and argue and tweet and have our own way, now.
But…this is the opposite of what it means to be Quaker at our core?
This hit me rather personally this week while I happened to be in-line at Starbucks.
That day, I was busily running errands and kind of in a hurry, but needed a caffeine boost to keep me going, so I stopped at Starbucks to get a cup of coffee.
I noticed the line looked rather long, actually it wrapped around the building and went through the parking lot – remember it is Pumpkin Spice Latte time…but really? Come on…a line around the building.
At first, I grumbled and said, I have no time to wait and started to pass the Starbucks. But then a still small voice spoke to me and encouraged me to get in line.
As soon as I pulled in the parking lot, I sensed a calm come over me. I had been listening to “Tea for the Tillerman 2” the 50th Anniversary reimagined album by Yusef/Cat Stevens that had just been released.
Not knowing I would be in line for almost 30 more minutes (yes 30 minutes), I slowed down long enough to hear both the words to the song I was listening to and that still small voice speaking to me.
The words to Yusef’s reimagined version of “Wild World” spoke to my condition. I heard…
You know I have seen a lot of what the world can do…
And its breaking my heart in two.
If you gotta leave, take good care.
Cuz, Baby I love you.
Oh, baby, baby it’s a wild world
It’s hard to get by with just a smile.
Now, some believe this song is about a breakup or a divorce, but it spoke to my condition in that moment regarding simply “letting go.”
Folks, we all have seen a lot of what the world can do, lately. Maybe too much.
You could definitely say, we are living in a “Wild World,” currently.
And I sense deeply that for many it is breaking our hearts in two.
And yes, it is truly hard to get by with just a smile, these days.
But letting go (which I have talked about before during this pandemic, begins when we start to cling or shift toward something else. In this case I believe it is God – or what I often simply call, Love.
When we let go of the distractions, allow ourselves to get silent physically, mentally and spiritually, we are able to hear the Still, Small Voice that is speaking to us. It may come through many means, but it comes. This is maybe the most basic and foundational aspect of what it means to be Quaker – especially today.
When we allow ourselves to become silent, center down, and stop demanding the “instant life”…
We allow God to help move us toward love – for ourselves and others. This is another Quaker foundation of “seeing that of God in ourselves and our neighbor.”
We allow God to help us experience genuine joy and see possibilities for hope.
We allow God to ease the sinking feeling that something is always wrong and nurture a sense of safety and peace.
We allow God to help us begin to unclench, release, let go, and ultimately relax.
And hopefully we allow God to help us begin to experience clarity, relief, or what some might call an undeniable knowing – which then helps us respond in a positive and useful way.
This is what Beth read for us in scripture this morning from Psalm 46. This is what we hear God calling us to do, first and foremost.
I had Beth read a modern translation because I believe it speaks to our condition, today.
I love the way specifically verse 10 reads.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.”
That could be a mantra for our current times. It sums up what I was just describing in removing ourselves from “instant life” mode.
I know I have returned to this scripture often this week as I have tried to refocus and return to my Quaker roots in moving toward the silence and embracing fully the love of God in my daily life.
But if you read this scripture mantra in a more traditional translation you will find this to be a surprisingly familiar passage. One that as Quakers we return to again and again. It reads this way – I think you have probably heard it…
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
So, living a faithful life in the ever-changing world TODAY begins with us embracing the tranquility, and listening to the still small voice of God.
Once we return to this Quaker foundation in our personal lives, it will begin to affect how we see and respond to the life taking place around us. But it has to start with you and me.
What does it mean to be a Quaker, TODAY?
It means first transforming our own lives and moving into a place where we allow the clatter of the world to lessen (even if that means in the line at Starbucks).
Then it means, without distractions, listening for the “still small voice of God” within us to speak to our condition – to move us toward love, to experience joy and hope, to sense safety and peace within, to release us and relax us, and to draw us to a point of clarity on how we are to respond in a positive and useful way individually and together.
And once we have learned it, I believe we are called to teach this Quaker Way to others.
So, this week, I challenge you to seek places to become silent and hear just how God may want to live faithfully through you in this ever changing world.
This morning, instead of queries or even instrumental music, we are going to offer an extended time of silence. So, do not adjust your TV, phone, or computer. The noise of the world is extremely strong – so if you have to close your eyes or put away your phone or go in another room, do that to find silence this morning.
Let’s take this time to expectantly wait on the Still Small Voice of God.