Friends World Committee for Consultation is the major point at which Quaker groups around the world come together.
We Friends have a practice of offering Queries - questions - to which we respond with reflection, or if you prefer, with prayer.
Well before OWC began, FWCC began a process of reflecting upon various aspects of Globalization and Global Change. My Monthly Meeting (parish) will, next weekend, explore these questions. Since I am undergoing surgery on Friday, I will not be able to participate, except by sending thoughts electronically.
I thought I would share the queries here, below the fold, and invite those so inclined to share their responses, which I will include with my own.
Perhaps the religious tone of some of the queries might not speak to you, which I understand, but I would hope you would find some value in reflecting upon at least one or two of the questions.
I invite you to keep reading.
1. How has global change affected our communities and ourselves?
2. What actions hae we taken in response to global change as experienced in our area, to express our responsibilities towards all Creation? In what ways have my own activities or those of my community contributed to positive or adverse local and global change?
3. How do changes around us affect our relationship to God? How does my relationship to God affect my response to the changes around us? what role does my faith have in my life and in the life my community? In what ways do I and my Friends Meeting community bear witness to our Testimonies in our daily lives?
4. What stories or experiences from past times of catastrophic happenings - perhaps from Scripture, perhaps from the record of local or regional events - might inspire us to respond to the changes the world is facing today?
5. How can we bear witness to the abundance God offers us and testify to the world about ways in which justice, compassion, and peace may address significant disruptions, stress, and tensions?
6. How can we support one another in rekindling our love and respect for God's Creation in such a way that we are messengers of the transforming power of love and hope?