Author Archives: friendmarcelle

About friendmarcelle

A Quaker writer, teacher, workshop leader, and spiritual director, I've traveled widely to facilitate workshops and retreats about the spiritual journey. I'm the author of Our Life is Love: The Quaker Spiritual Journey, and A Guide to Faithfulness Groups.

Gathered Into Community Today, part 2

Posted on May 10, 2013 by friendmarcelle

One Friend asked: “In addition to worship, do you have any information about the hard-and-fast ways that early Friends “gathered into community”? Did they have Friendly Eights or a potluck? Did they meet to hear about the newest project of … Continue reading →

Gathered into Community Today

Posted on April 30, 2013 by friendmarcelle

I’ve been thinking about how God gathers us today and pondering the experiences and questions sent by a few readers. A few days ago at West Richmond Meeting (in Indiana), I heard two different Quaker meetings share stories of faithful … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning from Early Friends, Quaker Faith Today | Tagged Adelphi Friends Meeting, Book of Discipline, community, corporate body, faith in action, gay, God, God's Love, Indiana Yearly Meeting, leadings, lesbian, same-sex marriage, welcoming and affirming, West Richmond Friends Meeting, witness, Yearly Meeting | 1 Comment

Being Gathered into Community

Posted on April 2, 2013 by friendmarcelle

After several years of mostly solitary and intensely inward spiritual experience, I began to worship with Quakers. At that time I dreamed I had been swimming laps in a big pool, developing strength, and now I was being put on … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning from Early Friends | Tagged body of Christ, Christ, community, faithfulness, Francis Howgill, Gathered, God, Gospel Order, John Banks, Katharine Evans, Light of Christ, Margaret Fell, Quaker, Richard Hubberthorne, Sarah Chevers | 6 Comments

The Light That Reveals and Transforms

Posted on March 4, 2013 by friendmarcelle

I’ve experienced the revealing and purifying aspects of the Light in many ways. Sometimes I feel a subtle sense of discomfort after saying or doing something, different from embarrassment about perceived or actual acts of social awkwardness. When I pay … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning from Early Friends | Tagged Born Remembering, cleansing, discernment, Elements of the Quaker Spiritual Journey, Elise Boulding, faithful, God, God's ways, Jesus, Light, message, purification, purifying, refiner's fire, stripping, unfaithful, vocal ministry | 3 Comments

The Refiner’s Fire

Posted on February 21, 2013 by friendmarcelle

The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple… But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap…(Malachi 3:1, 2) … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning from Early Friends, Uncategorized | Tagged Christ, conscience, convincement, fuller's soap, God, John Banks, judgment, Katharine Evans, Light of Christ, Malachi, Margaret Fell, Mary Penington, purification, Quaker, rebirth, refiner's fire, Sarah Blackborrow, Sarah Chevers, Satan, spiritual cleansing, the Light, William Smith | 4 Comments

Openings in our Time

Posted on February 8, 2013 by friendmarcelle

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning from Early Friends | Tagged Being, God, Light, new creation, Oneness, openings, Quaker, Romans 8:21-22, Sandra Cronk, spiritual journey | 1 Comment

Openings

Posted on February 1, 2013 by friendmarcelle

Part Six in a series about The Elements of the Quaker Spiritual Journey. Human beings have five senses that enable us to be aware of the physical world. We are also endowed with spiritual senses. Although children are born with … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning from Early Friends | Tagged a "great people", aspects of the spiritual journey, Christ, conscience, discernment, divine instruction, elements of the spiritual journey, equality, Firbank Fell, George Fox, God, heart opening, Holy Spirit, illumination, inner ear, inner eye, Isaac Penington, Jesus, Justice Gervase Benson, Light, Mary Penington, motion of love, openings, openings in scripture, Pendle Hill, Quaker, revelations, Richard Farnsworth, sword, Truth, vision, voice of God, voice of the true shepherd, William Dewsbury, Yorkshire | 5 Comments

Awakening Today

Posted on January 22, 2013 by friendmarcelle

In an age of great change, there was world-transforming power in the early Quaker movement; in our day the need for God’s in-breaking is at least as great. People all over the planet now have been waking up to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning from Early Friends | Tagged body of Christ, Centering Prayer, collective spiritual practice, Experiment with Light, Friends, God, Hound of Heaven, Light, longing, meditation, Quaker, Quaker Quest, Religious experience, Spiritual Formation Program, Spiritual practice, the Life, turning within | 2 Comments

Turning Within

Posted on January 11, 2013 by friendmarcelle

Be still, and know that I am God Psalm 46:10 Part Four in a series about The Elements of the Quaker Spiritual Journey. In my early twenties, my longing to understand the truth about life impelled me to seek. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning from Early Friends | Tagged Awakening, Children of the Light, Christ, dreams, early Friends, Elizabeth Hooton, Firbank Fell, Francis Howgill, George Fox, God, indwelling presence, Isaac Penington, Light of Christ, malaise, Martha Simmonds, Mary Penington, Puritan, Quaker, seekers, seeking, seventeenth-century, Skegby, spiritual journey, spiritual practices, turning within, Westmoreland | 3 Comments

Seeking

Posted on January 2, 2013 by friendmarcelle

Part Three in a series about The Elements of the Quaker Spiritual Journey. A deep longing to know God’s ways and the desire to overcome sin moved those who became the first Quakers. Like many of us today, they also … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning from Early Friends | Tagged Anabaptist, Anglican Church, Baptist, Dissenters, early Friends, Elizabeth Hooton, Francis Howgill, God, Independents, Martha Simmonds, Puritans, Quaker, scripture, seeking, Separatists, seventeenth-century, spiritual journey, spiritual practices, William Dewsbury | 8 Comments