Be open to new light from wherever it
may come…
I pass this sign every day on my way into
work in Friends House London.
As I begin in the role of General
Secretary, I take my inspiration from you,
the thousands of Quakers across the world
who call yourselves Friends. It is in your
faces and in the examples of your lives
that the Light shines. As Quakers, we are
asked to let God’s love shine through us
and to live in possibility. God calls us
to be patterns and examples in our lives,
in our actions, in our worship. Every
action, every kind deed, every thought,
every prayer has the potential to shift
the balance of an ailing world to one of
healing and love. Would God ask any less
of us? Would we ask any less of ourselves?
At the 6th World Conference of Friends,
held in April 2012 in Kenya, 850 Friends
gathered from our many traditions, and
each of us could say with enthusiasm,
“Yes, I am a Quaker.” As we heard stories
of pain and suffering, we felt it
especially keenly since it came from our
fellow Quakers. We shared their sorrow on
a deep and tender level. Concurrently, we
knew the joy of being spiritually
gathered, coming together as a spiritual
family, sitting at the same table and
sharing nourishment, feeding one another,
talking to the long lost cousin, listening
with heart and mind open – the gift of
being salt and light in a troubled world.
Our presence to one another was palpable.
In the book Call to Commitment,
Elizabeth O’Connor wrote:
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The world may be fearful and
anxious and weary, but we are not
weighted by that world. We are
following One who has unfathomable
resources and One who makes them
available to us and who says, "You
must set new norms for life so
that people can see what life can
be." This is your task. Your
primary vocation is to enter into
covenant relationships with others
who have also met this Christ
– to be that new society
into which others can be drawn.
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In my travels, upon mention that I am a
Quaker, people often express a respect for
the Quaker voice in the world and the ways
in which we are committed to peace and
justice. As Friends, we may worry that we
are resting on past accomplishments of
Quakers. It is a legacy which we can claim
honestly, but we are fearful that it
causes complacency, or worse yet, might
set us above others. Yet, from this world
view, I see good works before my eyes,
every day, all around the world. Quakers
are alive and well, working hard to bring
our humanity to light and to insist on
treating people with dignity. Our vocation
- our life work - is to enter into a
covenant relationship with each other, and
in all our actions to create our vision
for a new society, a better world in which
life can flourish. For some of us this
involves peace work or sharing the Gospel,
for others it means showing appreciation
and caring for those in need, for all of
us, it means sharing in the joy of
belonging to the Quaker family and making
love visible.
I bring enthusiasm and hope for the
positive effect Quakers can have in the
world. I look forward to listening to what
it means to you to be a Quaker and to hear
how God is working in you. I look forward
to discovering new ways to for us to share
and learn from each other.
In all humility, God keeps working
through me. It appears to be a life-long
process to continue to live into God’s
love. What a challenging and joyful
prospect this is – to deepen and make love
visible in the world. It is as simple as
Jesus’ admonition to “love one another,”
yet as complicated as the world in which
we live. I believe it is our life work –
for each of us – and as Quakers to do
this. Would God ask any less of us? Would
we ask any less of ourselves?
Gretchen Castle is Associate
Secretary at the World Office. She
succeeds Nancy Irving as General
Secretary on 1 January 2013.
