Testimony and Experience of Friends

I have had the joy of facilitating dialogues of Advices and Queries on third First Day of the month, but in the last few month's our Ministry and Worship Committee has taken a different direction in reflection. We have been using PacYM's( thanks RobinM) Faith and Practice Pt.III- Testimony and Experience- the chapter of quotes and observations from individuals,groups and historic figures, to get a larger view and variety in the discussion. Oh my, the depth of thought and the depth of discussion that comes out of the tenor of these words. I'm going to quote two of the passages that I brought up for dialogue this past First Day and hope they give a wider group of F/friends some food for thought about where RSOF is today and could be tomorrow. And I hope to encourage others to explore their T&M in their YM's Faith and Practice.

14 There is just one further analogy between families and religious movements that must be noted. Families die out. So do religious movements. But here the analogy ends. For the end of a family line is a natural thing- too few marriages,too few children,epidemic disease. A religious movement, however, dies only when the Spirit that gave it birth is lost to the movement, when the movement itself turns away from the eternal Spirit which is its reason for being. Gordon M. Browne, JR.,1986

41 We who are members of the Society of Friends have little to fall back on except as our experience with truth. We cannot resort to ritual or creed or ecclesiastical decisions for guidance. We must find our way by seeing the hand of God at work in the weaving of the fabric of daily life. Clarence E. Pickett