About Richmond Friends Meeting
WHO WE ARE
Richmond Friends Meeting is located in the City of Richmond, Virginia. We are a diverse community of seekers united in dedication to testimonies, but not bound by any creed. We are “un-programmed” meaning there is no conventional program to our worship. We have no designated minister, pre-arranged prayers, sermons, or hymns. We gather in silence awaiting an ever deepening awareness of the Spirit. At times individuals may have thoughts and feelings that are strong, clear, and Spirit-led. These are sometimes spoken aloud, yet an entirely silent meeting is common and cherished.
Our meeting operates with Quaker Process. With no minister, community members do all of the work of meeting. Committees handle areas of responsibility, and on the third First Day (Sunday) of each month, the entire community joins in the Monthly Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business. The person who convenes and reports on each is the “committee clerk.” The person facilitating monthly Business Meeting is the “clerk of meeting”.
Richmond Friends Meeting is a part of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and and affiliated with Friends General Conference and Friends United Meeting.
WHAT WE BELIEVE – OUR TESTIMONIES
“Testimony” is used by Friends to describe actions and attitudes based on the realization that there is “that of God in everyone,” that all human beings are equal, and that all life is interconnected. It is affirmative but may lead to action that runs counter to practices common in society at large. Shunning conventional dogma, Quakers look to the testimonies to reflect our beliefs, wherever individual Friends may be on their personal spiritual journeys. Many use the acronym “SPICE” as a reminder of our testimonies.
Simplicity and Stewardship
Simplicity means seeking to focus our attention on what is essential and eternal, without distraction by the transitory or the trivial. Plain and honest speech is an expression of simplicity. Respect for God’s creation and, therefore, concern for the environment and the right use of the world’s resources is another obvious expression of this testimony. Extravagance, wastefulness and artificially stimulated wants is seen to be a fundamental violation of the testimony of simplicity.
Peace
The Peace Testimony leads Quakers to avoid war and violence, while also encouraging efforts to ease suffering of victims of war on all sides. It means efforts to be or to seek a reconciling force between peoples and nations in conflict. It means a constant search for nonviolent means of conflict resolution. It means a continuing search for peace and social justice through personal and group nonviolent techniques for mediation and social change.
Integrity
Quakers try to live according to the deepest truth we know, and we connect most deeply to this in the stillness of worship. This means speaking the truth at all times, including to people in positions of power. As we are guided by integrity, so we expect to see it in public life.
Community
Since there is “that of God in everyone, all human beings are brothers and sisters, one human family, no matter how great our differences of experience, of culture, of age, of understanding. Friends have found that the Light may illuminate a gathered group as well as an individual heart and bind the group together in a community of faith, conscience and experience.
Equality
If God is within and directly accessible to all persons, then all persons are to be equally valued. This has been manifest in many ways, from opposition to slavery and the death penalty to our early incorporation of same-sex marriage within meeting.
Some Friends also include other testimonies, such as Unity, Compassion, Justice, and Truth, all consistent with our shared understanding and experience in silent worship.
ABOUT QUAKERS IN RICHMOND
Richmond Friends Meeting was organized in 1795, and built its first Meeting House at 19th and Cary Street in Church Hill. This was the second “church” established in Richmond. We have a long history of religious observance and social justice within the Richmond community. There is more Richmond Friends Meeting History HERE. Additional documents and photographs related to Ricmond Friends Meeting’s history can be viewed HERE.
See also: Overview of Quaker history, George Fox’s biography and A brief history of Quakers According to the young friends of Richmond Friends Meeting (YouTube Video, 2013).
