A Call to Friends: Faithful Living in Desperate Times

Looking at the ills of our times—the horrible things humans inflict on themselves, on almost all living things, and on the Earth itself—it seems that early Friends had the antidote that is so desperately needed today. They experienced the simple but extremely difficult Truth that we are loved unconditionally and are called to live lives of integrity and love—and to do this together in community. They understood this required surrendering their self-will in order to discern and obey the Inward Guide teaching them how to create a more just and loving society. Perhaps too many Friends today have forgotten or lost sight of the radical call of these life-changing experiences.

In A Call to Friends: Faithful Living in Desperate Times, Marty Grundy argues that we need to envision a different way to organize society that is not inherently exploitative, hierarchical, racist, and patriarchal. New economic and political systems can evolve from a Spirit-inspired vision of a different social system.

To better understand this deeper relation with the Spirit that inspires a new vision, Grundy suggests that we go back to the early Friends. They summarized their experience, which they shared with anyone who would listen, as Christ having come to teach his people himself. To more clearly understand this, we need to look at what Jesus of Nazareth was teaching the people of his time in Palestine under the crushing power of the Roman Empire. This is our call and our challenge, individually and together: to listen to that Inward Light, to keep close to what it shows us, and to come into obedience to its guidance—as a gathered body.