We are Christ-centered Friends who equip and encourage all people
to respond to God's love and transforming Spirit.

Seekers of Truth
October 4, 2009

"Make me know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation, for you I wait all day long."

Quakers once referred to themselves as, "Seekers of Truth or Friends in the Truth."

Among Friends, the word truth is often used to describe God, or sometimes a leading that arises out of worship, or the way or direction of one's life. . . or of course, in reference to honesty within our relationships with one another. The integrity of one's word has been a strong distinctive among Friends.

What comes to your mind when you hear the word truth? Are you an honest seeker of truth? Are you a truthful person? Perhaps you are at a time in your life when you are especially looking for clarity or direction for your future?

There is a verse from John's gospel that says, "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free." That sounds pretty promising, doesn't it? YOU WILL know the truth and the truth WILL free you.

But what is right and true can be hard to discern, at times. It at can also be hard to face, too. Especially when it means changing, or having to leave the familiar behind, or accepting a truth that will mean stepping into something new and foreign to us.

So how does one come into truth? Jesus told his followers, "I will ask the Father to give you an Advocate to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth... You know him because he abides with you, and he will be IN you."

Jesus told the Samaritan woman, "God is a Spirit, worship him in spirit and in truth."

We do not have to go somewhere to find truth. Truth lives within us. Our seeking need not go further than listening to the still small voice within. Are we responsive, are we listening?

It isn't always easy though to hear the Voice of Truth speaking to us because of the endless chatter within our minds. If you are like me, the inability to be still even in the silence can be disheartening. But remember, silence is merely a preparation for being still, the means in which we worship, it is not the worship itself. All of us need to find a way into silence that will deepen our awareness of Truth so that we will know an inward stillness and learn to practice it even in our busy lives.

Often at the end of our unprogrammed meeting for worship you will hear one of those mysterious Quaker phrases, "Are all hearts clear?" I discovered the origin of these words recently, which were written in George Fox's journal shortly before he died. He writes, "Now I am clear, I am fully clear." Are you looking for this kind of clarity this morning? To be fully clear about what you need to do?

The longer I live and do the work I do as your pastor I clearly see that truth cannot be forced on someone externally, no matter how true something might appear to me. Each person within his or her own heart and mind must inwardly acknowledge the truth.

Early Friends "preferred to see the religious life in terms of personal experience rather than theological formulations, which resonates so beautifully with Paul's words in Romans where he says, "the Spirit searches the depth of all things, even the depths of God."

Early Friends were intimately acquainted with the transforming power of the Spirit. They were mystical in their approach, believing that as they gathered in worship, they had a living firsthand experience of being searched and led into truth and right action. Do we believe this is what takes place today here in our meeting for worship? Certainly God has revealed truth to us in the scriptures, but is that the only place we look to experience the living presence of Christ in our lives? In the stories of our Bible?

Our Quaker roots are grounded in a personal experience of the love and power of the living Christ, who continues to teach us and transforms us so that we may go out into the world in service. Early Friends were dominated by a vision of a world transformed by Christ, a Presence that lives in the heart of all people. Friends sought to make this vision real by putting emphasis on Christian practice, commonly known as Friends testimonies, rather than primarily on any particular dogma or professed creed. The evidence of the Truth was a changed life and deepening concern for the suffering in the world. This is perhaps the single most compelling factor that led me to become a convinced Friend.

When Lydia was studying abround in NZ she attended Dunedin Friends Meeting a couple of times. She told me, "Mom, it felt like home to me and made me miss our meeting." As I have thought about Lydia's experience, I realize that like myself, Lydia became a convinced Friend after years of journeying with this Quaker meeting, worshipping together, sharing the corporate silence, responding to Truth and seeking to walk the talk in service to others. It is my prayer that those gathered here in this place will learn to take up the joys and responsibilities of being in a community that is growing in love and service to God and to one another.

So if you still are scratching your head and wondering who these peculiar people called Quakers are, stick around, continue to worship with us and be seeker of Truth alongside of us. Let us learn to truly be mutual, supportive Friends in the Truth.

As I have mentioned before in our Quaker series, the meeting for worship is the heart of Quaker spirituality. What we do here on Sunday morning is not just about learning about God, or storing up Bible knowledge, but coming face to face with the Living Presence of Christ here in this moment and responding to and following through with the truth that we hear together.

The meeting for worship is foundational to all that we do. The business and decision making of this meeting flows out of our worship. That is why we call it the meeting for WORSHIP and business. "We have faith in our Guide. We have faith in continuous revelation that keeps us open to fresh insight and disclosure. And there is respect and affection for each other that cuts through all diversity of perspective and helps kindle a faith in us that, with patience and openness, we can expect to come to clearness and to resolve the challenges and decisions that come before us"

In other words, there is a willingness to lay down my wishes and my designs and my preferences, and respond to a Guiding Truth where problems or issues may be resolved in way that we would have not expected or come to on our own without this gathered meeting.

As we enter into the silence this morning, I close with some words from an early Friend in the Truth. This is an excerpt from John Woolman's journal written in 1763.

"Love was the first motion, and then the concern arose to spend some time with the Indians, that I might feel and understand their life, and the Spirit they live in, if haply I might receive some instruction from them, or they be in any degree helped forward by my following the leadings of the Truth amongst them. And as it pleased the Lord to make a way for my going at a time when the troubles of war were increasing and when by reason of much wet weather traveling was more difficult than usual at that season, I looked upon it as a more favourable opportunity to season my mind, and bring me into a nearer sympathy with them. And as mine eye was to the great Father of Mercies, humbly desiring to learn what his will was concerning me, I was made quiet and content."

As I read these words of Woolman's, the words from our gospel reading come to mind, "You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free." Knowing God's will, his truth for our lives comes as we learn to season our mind in this kind of listening so that we might move into the freedom Woolman describes as quiet contentment.

May we know Truth that stills us inwardly. Amen.