NAHUNTA FRIENDS MEETING

We Believe...

1. We Believe that true religion involves an immediate, inward, personal encounter with God - that this, rather than ritual and ceremony, is what we must experience to obtain salvation.

2. We Believe that each individual has worth, dignity, freedom and responsibility before God (John 1:9).

3. We Believe that worship is a personal, positive act of seeking, rather than performance - that communion is an inner spiritual experience rather than an outward observance.

4. We Believe that moral purity, integrity, honesty, simplicity and humility are essential to the Christian Life.

5. We Believe in Christian love and good will as a way of life which makes hatred and violence impossible.

6. We Believe that Christ-like love and concern for suffering and unfortunate people must find expression in humanitarian service and social justice.

7. We Believe in the continued revelation of the Holy Spirit of God, who grants us new openings, insights and revelations of spiritual truth.

From Who Are The Friends (Quakers?) - Seth B. Hinshaw

FRIENDS AND THE SACRAMENTS

A BRIEF STATEMENT

Seth B. Hinshaw

North Carolina Yearly Meeting of Friends

 

 

THE QUAKER FAITH IS POSITIVE

FRIENDS BELIEVE in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as set forth in the New Testament.

FRIENDS BELIEVE that communion with the Living Christ is an inward, spiritual experience.

FRIENDS BELIEVE that worship should be "in spirit and in truth." This makes the performance of ceremonial rituals unnecessary.

FRIENDS RESPECT the reverent use of rituals by other people who may find them helpful. All people have the right to approach God in whatever ways seem to them to be right and good. Our simple statement is that for ourselves we do not find external rituals to be necessary. The purpose of these brief paragraphs is to explain why Friends omit the use of bread and wine and water baptism.

A SPIRITUAL DISCOVERY

The founder of the Quaker movement, George Fox, discovered that the life-transforming encounter with the Living Christ which he sought actually came as the result of intense personal seeking and not through the performance of rituals prescribed by the established church.

The Quaker position was not a pre-planned doctrine but rather the result of actual experience. In seventeenth century England, Fox and many like-minded seekers assembled to worship "in spirit and in truth." In so doing, they discovered that they could commune with the Living Christ without the performance of outward ritual of any kind. They simply continued to worship in this manner. Thus the simple form of Quaker worship came into existence.

As a devout student of the Holy Scriptures, George Fox came to the conclusion that Jesus did not institute any external rituals whatsoever, either as a rite of initiation into the Christian faith, or as a formal observance in worship.

From that day forward the Society of Friends (Quakers) has emphasized inward spiritual reality, rather than outward performances.

BIBLE COMMANDMENTS

One needs to distinguish between literal and spiritual interpretations of Scriptural commandments.

For example, Jesus told his disciples that they should wash one another's feet (John 13:14). We believe that for us in our day, this means humble service and not necessarily the literal use of water and towels.

Conditions and circumstances change through the centuries. Many things that were customary in Bible times are not necessary in our day. Old Testament customs such as burnt offerings and certain feast days belong to an era that has passed. In New Testament times, Paul commanded Christians to greet one another with a holy kiss. He commanded women to wear their hair long, to keep silent in church and other things belonging to first century customs and circumstances.

It is not the letter but the spirit of the Gospel which is vitally important (2 Cor. 3:6).

Spiritual discernment enables us to distinguish between literal and spiritual interpretations, between essentials and nonessentials.

THE BREAD OF LIFE

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). Friends understand that this is to be given a spiritual interpretation. Bread and wine can be symbols only.

Friends bear witness to the truth of the words spoken by the Eternal Christ in Revelation 3:20: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." This is Quaker communion - an inward personal experience. To this we aspire in our simple mode of worship. We commend this experience to all persons everywhere.

In talking to his disciples at the Passover supper, Jesus spoke of "eating his flesh and drinking his blood." This was not literally intended, nor was it literally possible. Only a spiritual interpretation is reasonable. Absorbing the Spirit of Christ is achieved, Friends believe, not through the use of symbols, but rather through the day-to-day process of spiritual worship and inward communion.

As to the bread and wine used at the Passover supper, one should remember that Jesus and his disciples were Jews. They were observing the Jewish Passover (feast of unleavened bread). Friends hold that Jesus was merely giving a new meaning to the old Jewish Passover and not instituting an external ritual for the church-to-be.

Among the four Gospels, Friends turn most often to the Gospel of John, which emphasizes most fully the spiritual interpretation of the Christian faith. In this gospel, more than the others, the supreme emphasis is placed upon humble service and sacrificial love. The literal use of bread and wine is not mentioned.

THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS

It can be pointed out that Jesus himself was baptized in the river Jordan.

This is true. Jesus was a Jew. He grew up in a Jewish home, in the Old Testament tradition. He observed Old Testament customs. He was dedicated in the Temple. He observed the Passover and other feast days. He offered the customary sacrifices, attended worship in the local synagogue and kept the seventh day as Sabbath. There were many things in his early life which are not required of us today.

Water baptism, a rite of symbolic purification, was a Jewish ritual in existence before the Jesus.

THE WATER OF LIFE

Friends do not practice water baptism for the simple reason that they do nor find it to be necessary. St. Paul said, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all..." (Eph. 4:5). For Friends this one essential baptism is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is a continuing experience, not a once-in-a-lifetime event.

John the Baptist, forerunner of Jesus, foresaw that his symbolic water baptism was to be replaced by a spiritual experience in the days just ahead. He said, "I indeed baptize you with water, but He that cometh after me...shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 311). He also said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). He recognized clearly that his preaching and his water baptism were preliminary in nature, with something greater to follow which would make his symbolic water baptism obsolete.

The use of the ritual and ceremony developed very early in the Christian church, but Friends insist that this was not commanded by the Lord himself. The water baptism practiced by the early church may have been helpful to new converts as an initiation rite under certain circumstances, but Friends hold that even then it was not essential to salvation. The Gospel of John clearly states that Jesus himself did not baptize, "only his disciples" (John 4:2).

In interpreting the statement of Jesus concerning being born of water and the Spirit," it should be remembered that in the original Greek text of the Gospel the words are "water" and "wind," both symbolic. Obviously Jesus was referring to flesh and spirit, for man is both body and soul. Friends hold that neither entering a gale of wind nor a pool of water - literally - is essential to salvation.

Paul baptized only a few, a very few, of his converts. He did not remember just how many. "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel."

IN SUMMARY

When the Apostles and other leaders In the early church assembled at Jerusalem to decide what ceremonial observances should be required of Gentile converts, the conclusion reached, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, made no mention of rituals (Acts 15).

Friends, believe that Jesus called his followers to a simple, direct, spiritual form of worship. The day of Old Testament rituals had passed. A new era had come. Jesus sought to "cleanse the temple" of external ceremonial observances. The approach to God in prayer was simple and direct: "When you pray, say 'Our Father...'."

Friends believe that worship is a personal, positive act of seeking, rather than a performance - that communion is an inner spiritual experience rather than an outward observance.

The (Quaker position is well expressed in the inspired words of Micah: "He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God!" (Micah 6:8).

For further reference see Faith and Practice: Book of Discipline, relevant sections; also Friends and Water Baptism by Edgar H. Stranahan.

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North Carolina Yearly Meeting
4811 Hilltop Rd.
Greensboro, NC 27407
Phone: 336-292-6957
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