SPECIAL QUAKER VOCABULARY

AN ABC FOR GROWNUPS TO INTRODUCE QUAKERS

ADVICES are principles for the spiritual guidance, caution and counsel of the Quaker Meeting.
Taking oaths implies a double standard of truth; AFFIRMING means that we must always tell the truth.

ANSWERING that of God in everyone is life’s purpose for Quakers.

Spiritual BAPTISM is spiritual cleansing and it is the heart of the religious experience for Friends. Water baptism is a public sign of what has happened inside; it is not necessary for Quakers. In BAPTISM of Suffering, we are made aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit through suffering. In this way our relationship with God is sealed.

Quakers read the BIBLE and try to understand and interpret it by heir own experience in the Light and Presence of God

We COMMIT ourselves to a way of worship which allows God to teach and transform us.

CENTERING down is a way of concentrating on God and putting aside all other matters.

Then we have CLEARNESS or clarity as to what God wants us to do with our lives.

The CLERK is the individual who directs the Meeting for Business.

A CONCERN is an urgent matter about which a person feels that God is calling him or her to pursue.

CONVINCED is accepting a new truth. An individual who becomes a Friend as an adult is a CONVINCED Friend.

DISCERNMENT is the wisdom to see the truth clearly.

DISOWNMENT was the practice of reading out of Meeting an individual Friend for such conduct as owning slaves or drinking too much alcohol.

Friends are the ELECT who dwell in the Light.

George FOX, G F, is the human founder of the Religious Society of Friends

FRIENDS is the name we call ourselves. This name is based on John 15:14 in which Christ says "You are my Friends if you do what I command you."

What the world’s people call Sunday; Quakers call FIRST day.

GOSPEL Order is about two things: the need to make provisions for those suffering and to set boundaries and standards for individual behavior.

George Fox opposed HAT HONOR, the removal of your hat to a "social superior." This was not just an empty act but one asserting equality and bearing witness to the HUMANITY of all people.

Friends are to maintain INTEGRITY, honesty and truthfulness, in all that we do and say. For we are in the life of the spirit.

All Friends are to take care to avoid all JARS and strife. For all jarrings are tares, out of the spirit. A JANGLER is an argumentative and quarrelsome person.

We are to KEEP our meetings in the Power of God.

The LIGHT Christ lives within us.

LEADINGS are direction from God on right ways to live.

Quakers should be examples and LET their LIVES speak.

MEETING for Worship is a group MYSTICAL experience in which we gather in silence to listen to God. It is held in a MEETING HOUSE. The MEETING for business is how God does His work in the world.

NOTIONS are beliefs which clutter the important truths of God and are out of harmony with them.

We have all ONE voice; we are written all in ONE another’s hearts.

PEACEABLE Kingdom is the vision of all people living in harmony and neighborliness.

PLAIN Friends dress simply and use PLAIN language, thee and thou.

Friends are instructed in advices and QUERIES, or questions, which challenge and guide our faith and practice.

RIGHT order is doing things according to established Quaker practices; RIGHT order comes from the harmony of the Spirit within the Meeting.

The SENSE of the Meeting is more than consensus. It is a true unity, a sense of rightness of the point reached and a commitment to carry the decision forward. Consensus is a readiness to accept a decision reached by cooperative search.

A TESTIMONY is not just a verbal statement but also an action; the traditional TESTIMONIES are integrity, equality, community, simplicity and peace.

An UNPROGRAMMED Meeting has no pastor or formal program. Friends sit in silence waiting for God to fill their hearts and minds with love. Then they can share this love in VOCAL ministry.

WEIGHTY Friends, often elderly and with a great spirit, are to WALK cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.

To EXERCISE is to explore an issue or concern.

In the beginning YEARLY meeting was a way of keeping track of Friends and giving some order to their lives when they suffered terrible persecution. YEARLY Meetings have always been for the comfort and joy of seeing one another. Today YEARLY MEETING still tries to give order and inspiration to Monthly Quaker Meetings so that Truth may prosper.