Although I have explored a variety of religious traditions I am a lifelong Quaker and have affiliated with Quaker communities wherever I happened to be living. Formally, we are known as the Religious Society of Friends, and we call our worshipping communities, “Quaker Meetings.” Most of my writings have been for and about Quakers.
I am including three of these brief writings on this website, for the benefit of the curious, but also for other Quakers who might find them useful. Two of them are tracts or flyers that I wrote for my Meeting to give to newcomers introducing them to the Meeting for Worship and the Meeting for Business. The third piece is about the “Clearness” process, a common Quaker practice that we use when someone asks for help with an important decision. If you are a Quaker and would like to copy any of these for use at your local Meeting, feel free to do so. I only ask that you make no editorial changes and that you give proper credit.
I also include in this section my “Credo” (Latin for “I believe”). In some of my workshops, I’ve asked participants to write a one-page statement of belief. It’s quite a discipline to get this into one page and requires a lot of careful thought. I’ve written many such statements over the years, having found that a life of study, reflection, prayer, and service has led me to refine some beliefs, discard others that I’ve outgrown, and to stay open to new ways of believing through respectful dialogue with those who hold beliefs different from my own. Faithful believing is dynamic, as is faithful doubting. Both are in service to the deepening spiritual journey.