(This is a part of my “Top Ten things that drive me crazy about Quakers” list.)
3. The separation of Jesus and social action
I know that the identity wars among Quakers in the early 20th century were painful and rooted in the deep convictions of Friends who disagreed. But I honestly don’t understand how or why those disagreements came about. What seems so incredibly unique about the Quaker message is that intimacy with Jesus birthed world-changing activism. If you love Jesus, why wouldn’t you want to join him to change the world? And if you want to change the world, how (and why) would you do it without Jesus?
Amen! If you can figure this out, you might just mend the silly divides between us. Of course, you’ll have to address everyone’s particular (peculiar) theology first but you’re young, you can do it. 🙂 Oh wait – Robin’s doing that. Go Girl!!
I didn’t claim I would figure it out, just that it bugged me. I can rant with the best of them, I’m not saying I have anything constructive to offer. So yes, Go Robin!
(And thanks for commenting. The silence has been deafening. I think I finally succeeded in being controversial!)
I do not think there is anything worth doing without Jesus.
(You’re welcome. I wonder if you’re hitting too close to the belt in some cases.) We all do this stuff ourselves sometimes but don’t always remember why, if our generation ever knew. Now sometimes we seem to care more about being like the early Quakers, forgetting that the *earliest* Quakers were intent on being Christ-like above all else. With each division, we have divided the message and each lost something important.
What? Who me? What did I do? I wasn’t paying attention.
But I will say that I do see how and why some people could address changing the world without Jesus. At the same time, it has become more and more clear to me that the way I am called to change the world is with Jesus’s help and in the ways J suggested.