Northern Yearly Meeting is in the process of creating its first Faith and Practice. Chapters marked APPROVED have been approved by NYM Meeting for Business. The Faith & Practice Committee welcomes comments on chapters labeled DRAFT. SEND COMMENTS TO: Kathy White, 6210 Devon Ct., Madison, WI 53711 or c/o stanwhite@ieee.org. Or click here to fill out a form with your comments, picking “faith and practice editor” as a recipient.
Archived Posts from this Category
Posted by James Riemermann on Sep 01 2007 | Tagged as: Draft Chapters, Faith and Practice
These are some traditional words which may be used for a Quaker marriage certificate.
Comments Off
Posted by James Riemermann on Aug 14 2007 | Tagged as: Draft Chapters, Faith and Practice
These are possible questions which may help a clearness committee for marriage as it meets with a couple. None of them are required. The most important role of the Clearness Committee for marriage is to allow the Spirit to work with the group, as they are preparing for their meetings and as they [...]
Comments Off
Posted by James Riemermann on May 16 2007 | Tagged as: Draft Chapters, Faith and Practice, Testimonies
The Roots of our Peace Witness
The classic oft quoted statement of the Quaker Peace Testimony is the Declaration to King Charles II of 1660 signed by twelve Friends including George Fox, one of the founders of the Religious Society of Friends. The Declaration is about 4-1/2 pages long and only part of it is [...]
Comments Off
Posted by James Riemermann on May 16 2007 | Tagged as: Draft Chapters, Faith and Practice, Testimonies
The Quaker witness for peace is as relevant today as ever and speaks powerfully to a world afflicted with suffering, violence, and war. We have a vision of a peaceable kingdom, here and now, in which the Divine leads us to reject any form of violence as a means to deal with evil and [...]
Comments Off
Posted by James Riemermann on Apr 30 2007 | Tagged as: Draft Chapters, Faith and Practice
Marriage joins two people in Divine care and an on-going relationship to fully share their lives. We believe this union is something not lightly entered into, as it is a planned lifelong commitment. Marriage brings two unique individuals into a new entity, one of joy, grace, respect and care for the other.
Comments Off
Posted by James Riemermann on Jan 11 2007 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice
Friends make decisions based on the experience that the will of God can be discerned both individually and as a group. Regular worship as a faith community is an important foundation for that discernment. The Divine Spirit is active among us. Heeding the Light within can help us find unity in what we do. Thus our group decision making occurs in a meeting for worship to conduct business.
Comments Off
Posted by Northern Yearly Meeting on Jun 24 2006 | Tagged as: Draft Chapters, Faith and Practice
“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you.
or let the fish of the sea inform you.”
-Job 12.7-8
“It would go a great way to caution and direct people in their Use of the World, that they [...]
Comments Off
Posted by Northern Yearly Meeting on Jun 24 2006 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice, Testimonies
“Life is meant to be lived from a Center, a divine Center – a life of unhurried peace and power….. It is serene. It takes not time, but it occupies all our time.” (Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion, p.116, 124.)
“Simplicity does not mean drabness or narrowness but is essentially positive, being the capacity for [...]
Posted by Northern Yearly Meeting on Apr 21 2006 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice
NORTHERN YEARLY MEETING
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
APPROVED MAY, 2006
“Recognizing the joy and celebration experienced each time we gather together for fellowship and as a worshiping community, individual Friends and Friends within several monthly meetings in the Wisconsin-Minnesota area announce the birth of a new entity within the Religious Society of Friends: NORTHERN YEARLY MEETING.
In [...]
Posted by Northern Yearly Meeting on Aug 26 2005 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice, Membership
MEMBERSHIP
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS)
NORTHERN YEARLY MEETING
When we consider the criteria for membership, the two greatest factors are community and commitment. Not just a practical commitment, but a spiritual willingness to grow and learn, out of which practical commitment will evolve. (A group of Young English Friends, 1986 (BYM F&P 10.25))
DEFINITION OF MEMBERSHIP
A [...]
Posted by Northern Yearly Meeting on Aug 26 2005 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice
EDUCATION
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS)
NORTHERN YEARLY MEETING
“It is not too much to say that the two most important duties of our Society are to publish truth as we understand it and to educate our children in our faith and life.” London Yearly Meeting, Friends Education Council, 1949
The belief that there is “that of [...]
Posted by Northern Yearly Meeting on Aug 26 2005 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice
PREPARING FOR DEATH
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (QUAKERS)
NORTHERN YEARLY MEETING
“Death, then, being the Way and Condition of life, we cannot love to live, if we cannot bear to die…Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still….” William Penn,1693
“God calls our loved ones, but we lose [...]
Posted by Northern Yearly Meeting on Jul 04 2005 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice, History
Approved at Yearly Meeting Session 5/05
A Brief History of Quakerism
The Religious Society of Friends arose in seventeenth-century England, at a time of religious and political turmoil. There was great dissatisfaction with the established Church of England, with its legal monopoly of public worship, oppressive tithes, and corruption. Dissenting groups, including Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Puritans, Ranters, [...]
Posted by Northern Yearly Meeting on Jul 03 2005 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice
MEETING FOR WORSHIP
“…I found myself one of a small company of silent worshipers, who were content to sit down together without words, that each one might feel after and draw near to the divine Presence, unhindered at least, if not helped, by any human utterance. Utterance I knew was free, should the words be given; [...]
Posted by Northern Yearly Meeting on Jul 03 2005 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice
FAITH OF FRIENDS OF NORTHERN YEARLY MEETING
Approved at Yearly Meeting session, May 2005
“We hope we shall never finish considering our fundamental beliefs…”
–QUESTIONS & COUNSEL, Yearly Meeting of Aotearoa/New Zealand. 1991
“Friends find their essential unity in their profound and exhilarating belief
in the pervasive presence of God and in the continuing responsibility of each person and worshipping [...]
Posted by Northern Yearly Meeting on Jul 03 2005 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice, History
Approved, under revision
Early Migration of Friends to the Upper Midwest:
Early movements of Friends away from the South and the Eastern Seaboard to the midwest in the mid-1800s established Quakerism in this region. Pioneer Friends moved into Illinois beginning in the 1830s, establishing rural meetings which had roots in Ohio and Indiana Yearly Meetings. Pioneer Friends [...]
Posted by James Riemermann on Jul 03 2005 | Tagged as: Approved Chapters, Faith and Practice, Testimonies
INTEGRITY
“While seeking to interpret our Christian faith in the language of today, we must remember that there is one worse thing than failure to practice what we profess, and that is to water down our profession to match our practice.”
Friends World Conference, 1952
“When you live with integrity, that implies a spiritually integrated wholeness where you [...]