This past first day, I introduced Marcelle Martin‘s book, “Our Life is Love: The Quaker Spiritual Journey,” to the Friends at my meeting (Miami Monthly Meeting in Waynesville, Ohio).

We began by reading from the chapter titled “A Radical, Transforming Faith”:

Seeking truth and direct experience, early Friends discovered a spirituality that brought them more alive. In an unexpected, tangible, but non-physical way, God and Christ became real and present to them, not only transcendent but also present within and among them and active in the world. They proclaimed they had discovered the true, original form of Christianity, a faith guided directly by the living Christ, available within all people as Light. This Light inwardly illuminated the truth, guided their path, and empowered them to take up a new way of living. It showed them that the Spirit infused and informed every aspect of their life. Their belief was founded on experience and confirmed by their reading of Scripture.

I asked Friends to share a word or phrase that stood out to them from that paragraph. At first, the silence seemed empty. Then the sharing began.

A Friend said, “available within all people,” noting that the phrase appealed to her universalist sensibilities. Then, a birthright Friend, who grew up in Monteverde, said “informed every aspect of their life.” When asked about the significance of that phrase to her, she described how she turns to God for little things throughout her day.

Another Friend, whose worldview is most closely aligned with that of conservative Wilberite Friends, said “confirmed by their reading of Scripture.” He described the necessity of turning to scripture to discern whether the voice we hear when we are open to God is truly God’s. The next Friend underscored the need to be always renewing our faith. He said that he isn’t very Christ-centered but believes in continuing revelation.

The last Friend said, “brought them more alive.” His comment was reminiscent of John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He witnessed to the vitality that the spiritual journey brings to daily life.

As our time together concluded, Friends spoke of the differences among people and our need to respect their faith traditions. We also spoke of the importance of being together and learning from each other. Through reflecting upon that paragraph from Marcelle’s book, we were able to confirm the sanctity of each person’s life in God while appreciating the diversity in our meeting and beyond.

In hindsight, I believe we were celebrating the health of our meeting. We were saying to each other, there’s freedom in belonging here. You can be who you are in God. I support you in that. And I’ll risk growing in response to the Truth I recognize in you.