On December 16th we will read and discuss paragraph 3 on gospel order in “The Epistle from the Elders at Balby, 1656”. The full epistle can be found here. The text of paragraph 3 says:
3.-That if any person draw back from meetings, and walk disorderly, some go to speak to such as draw back; to exhort and admonish such with a tender, meek spirit, whom they find negligent or disorderly. And if any, after admonition, do persist in the thing not good, let them again be admonished and reproved before two or three witnesses; that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every thing may be established. And if still they persevere in them, then let the thing be declared to the church: and when the church hath reproved them for their disorderly walking, and admonished them in the tender and meek spirit, and they do not reform, then let their names and the causes, and such as can justly testify the truth therein, and their answers, be sent in writing to some whom the Lord hath raised up in the power of his Spirit to be fathers, his children to gather in the light, that the thing may be known to the body; and with the consent of the whole body, the thing may be determined in the light.
We are a read-aloud and discussion “small group” about the practice of Quaker eldering that typically meets on 1st and 3rd Mondays on Zoom from 7:00-8:30 pm. Visitors are always welcome.
I have come to understand the process of eldering as discernment of the spiritual condition of each of the members of the faith community as revealed by their vocal ministry and other signs. An elder’s goal is not the correction of a person’s behavior but an improvement of their spiritual direction and health. —Lloyd Lee Wilson, Friendship Friends Meeting, Greensboro, North Carolina. Memoir, 235.
To participate, click this link or provide the meeting ID 890 9875 0878 and passcode 732166 (if requested) on Zoom.com, the Zoom app, or after calling 1-646-558-8656.
Contact Sarah Allen / Cornelia Parkes at eldering@fmcquaker.org
