An Interpretation of Friends Worship (Start Classics)
By Jean Toomer
()
About this ebook
Related to An Interpretation of Friends Worship (Start Classics)
Related ebooks
Lamenting Racism Leader's Guide: A Christian Response to Racial Injustice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoul Food: Nourishing Essays on Contemplative Living and Leadership Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn God's Hands: The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2015 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRed Letter Revolution: If We Did Revolutions Jesus' Way Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJust Traveling: God, Leaving Home, and a Spirituality for the Road Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Upper Room Disciplines 2017 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Neighbor's Hymnal: What Popular Music Teaches Us about Faith, Hope, and Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVoices Rising: Women of Color Finding and Restoring Hope in the City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChurch Beyond Walls: Christian Spirituality at Large Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJustice Calls: Sermons of Welcome and Affirmation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJustice for Ella: A Story That Needed to Be Told Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAngels, Worms, and Bogeys: The Christian Ethic of Pietism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSigns of Life: Worship for a Just and Loving People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen Poets Pray Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disruptive Christian Ethics: When Racism and Women's Lives Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Encounters for Change: Interreligious Cooperation in the Care of Individuals and Communities Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Purpose Gap: Empowering Communities of Color to Find Meaning and Thrive Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTracking Down the Holy Ghost: Reflections on Love and Longing Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Finding Your Bearings: How Words That Guided Jesus through Crisis Can Guide Us Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLet My People Live: An African Reading of Exodus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhere We Meet: A Lenten Study of Systems, Stories, and Hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Anglican Tradition from a Postcolonial Perspective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChurch in Ordinary Time: A Wisdom Ecclesiology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsResurrection City: A Theology of Improvisation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is There a Heaven for a “G”?: A Pastoral Care Approach to Gang Violence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerforming the Gospel: Exploring the Borderland of Worship, Entertainment, and the Arts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Recital of Love: Sacred Receivings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Casey Parks's Diary of a Misfit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Religion & Spirituality For You
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Imitation of Christ: Selections Annotated & Explained Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Course In Miracles: (Original Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Love Dare Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gospel of Mary Magdalene Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Weight of Glory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer: Summary and Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5NRSV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reason for God Discussion Guide: Conversations on Faith and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Upon Waking: 60 Daily Reflections to Discover Ourselves and the God We Were Made For Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gospel of Thomas: The Gnostic Wisdom of Jesus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Live in Grace, Walk in Love: A 365-Day Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for An Interpretation of Friends Worship (Start Classics)
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
An Interpretation of Friends Worship (Start Classics) - Jean Toomer
INTRODUCTION
I was not more than ten years old when I first heard mention of the Quakers. The grown-ups of my family were talking among themselves, speaking of an uncle of mine who lived in Philadelphia and operated a pharmacy near the university. I had never seen this uncle and was curious about him, so my ears were open. Presently a reference to the Quakers caught my attention. I wanted to know who the Quakers were. What was told me then I have remembered ever since. The Quakers, I was told, are people who wait for the spirit to move them.
A picture formed in my mind. Many a time I had seen my grandmother sitting quietly, an aura of peace around her as she sewed or crocheted or did her beautiful embroidery work. So I pictured older people, most of them with white hair like my grandparents, all with kindly faces, gathered in silent assembly, heads bent slightly forward, waiting to be moved. It never occurred to me that young people, boys and girls of my age and even younger, might be present and participating.
As the word spirit
meant nothing definite to me, I could have no idea of just what would move the Quakers, but I had a sense that it would be something within them, perhaps like the stirrings that sometimes moved me, and I may have had a vague notion that this something within them was somehow related to what people called God. I never thought to ask what the Quakers might do after they were moved.
Had I been invited in those days to attend a Friends meeting for worship I would have gladly gone. I would have gone because my picturings had given me good feelings about the Quakers. I would have gone because, young though I was, I liked to be silent now and again. Sometimes my best friend and I would sit quietly together, happy that we were together but not wanting to talk. Sometimes I would go off by myself on walks to look at the wonders of nature, to think my own thoughts, to dream, to feel something stirring in me for which I had no name. Or I might withdraw for a time from the activities of the boys and girls and sit on the porch of our house, my outward eyes watching them at play, my inward eyes turned to an inner life that was as real to me, and sometimes more wonderful than my life with the group.
Certain experiences I had when alone, certain experiences I had with my young friends, attitudes and feelings that would suddenly arise in me at any time or place--these made up the mainstream of my religious life. Such religion as I had was life-centered, not book-centered, not church-centered. It arose from the well of life within me, and within my friends and parents. It arose from the well of life within nature and the human world. It consisted in my response to flowers, trees, birds, snow, the smell of the earth after a spring rain, sunsets and the starry sky. It consisted in my devotion to pet rabbits and dogs, and to some interest or project that caught my imagination.
I had been taught several formal prayers. One of these I said every night, regularly, before getting into bed. But I am thinking of the unformed prayers that welled up in me whenever I had need of them. I had been read some stories