From Off the Meetinghouse Floor

This section includes prayers, messages or reflections that came to us out of the silence of our weekly corporate worship in the manner of Friends. While every messages does not necessarily reflects the Meeting as a whole, the sharing of these reflections through this website or podcast was approved by a Monthly Meeting.

What Do We Do When Evil Wins?

In the depths of my hopelessness and despair following the election, the existential question for me was: “What do we do when evil wins?” … on a spiritual level, I can see the essential goodness in everyone; I can sense that love, creativity, and beauty are central to humanity, but then the question arises, “Why is our current reality what it is?” … The revelation that settled on me was perhaps I had been thinking too small. Yes, our world’s humanity, individually and collectively, has a piece of the Light, but thinking small limits that which is without limit.

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Beyond the Beyond

Sometimes, in prayer, we might also find ourselves asking, “Why?” … This can leave us questioning what are we that we can aspire to have a relationship with that which is so far beyond the beyond of our understanding. …When we exhibit the qualities of wisdom, serenity, love, beauty, joy, and innocence, we can connect to that source that is beyond the beyond and bring this force into ourselves, our families, our community, and the world.

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Vessels of Light and Peace

Sometimes it feels like the world is fracturing into billions of pieces. There are disasters at home and work and difficulties with those we love and care for and ourselves. … This brought to mind the concept of tikkun olam (repair of the world), the mystical tradition that tells the story that in creating the world, God contracted and poured part of God’s Self into vessels of Light. Love, is our primary tool to manifest God’s presence in the world. Our job is to find and connect these sparks within ourselves and each other, using the force of love to pull together and glue all the disparate shards and thus repair the world. …
By striving for a continuous unfolding, nurturing the spark within and becoming the vessels of Light and Peace, we can effect a real tikkun olam, repair of this fractured world.

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Patience and Fortitude

To survive difficult times means having the fortitude to persevere. It means holding onto resilience and compassion with a spiritual tenacity. It means no matter what, taking that one step after the next step and staying connected to each other. Fortitude means we don’t give up. This fortitude and the strength to hold onto hope can bring us through looming troubles with our spiritual essence intact, both as individuals and in community.

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Following are three posts that continue with the theme of Love

“Love Never Faileth”

“Love Never Faileth”

There are times that feel like an important transition point, particularly when a year where trouble seems to be on the horizon passes, and the other begins. It’s not only the transition of the calendar but our social stability that can seem shaky. Recently at these moments it has seemed like things are changing to a time of increasing uncertainty, where a lot of things could go very, very wrong, when the democracy I’d been comfortable taking for granted could falter.

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When Greed Became Good

When Greed Became Good

People say the opposite of love is hate or indifference, but maybe it’s really greed. … 1 Corinthians 13 defines love as patient and kind and not jealous or boastful, etc. In contrast, greed is the exact opposite. If we reverse 1 Corinthians 13 it would say: Greed is impatient; greed is unkind; it envies, boasts, and is proud, etc.. However, the original 1 Corinthians 13 can give us hope, for it says,… these things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

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Saying “YES”

Saying “YES”

A brief and funny exchange happened when I startled a co-worker who exclaimed, “Jesus Christ!. ” I replied, “Sorry, no.” We both giggled. This prompted me to think about how this interaction related to the well-used George Fox quote: “Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.” … How do I do this? How do I model and act from this place, not only with the pleasant daily interactions but with the more difficult people?

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Unless noted otherwise, Rachel Carey-Harper licenses all content on this website under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

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