Tagged: allah

Ecclesiastical Polity & Systembilt Industries

IN THE NAME OF YAHUAH THE MOST GRACIOUS MOST MERCIFUL
DECENTRALIZED AUTONOMOUS ORGANIZATION
DEPARTMENT OF PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP

FROM THE DESK OF
THE PUBLIC FRIEND

Antarah, ObNS

3RD MINUTE OF PUBLIC SERVICE | LAST MODIFIED 24/7/16/12:33 AM 24/7/16/10:01 PM 24/7/17/10:33 AM 24.07.18.04:09PM 24.07.19.10:00AM 24.07.22.03:05PM

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS COME, SEND GREETINGS AND PEACE:—

The Ecclesiastical Polity,

or, ‘Collegiate Government’,
of the New Testament Kingdom
Congregational Church de la Croix Noire

(a) The ‘Chamber of Instruction’ is within the Beth Midrash, and the ‘Hall of Assembly’ is within the Beth Knesset, and these are so many houses in the bicameral polity ‘body’ of the people assembled of the decentralized autonomous organization in that locality. The Knesset is the upper house and the Midrash is the lower house. 

(b) The ‘New Testament Kingdom’ is a feudal trust relationship settled under Roman imperial law by God Himself, by and through his Vicar in Christ, Land Holder and Lord of the Earth Living Forever, by and through the Holy Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, and subsequently assigned, in part, to the Bishop of Rome at the Vatican City. The remainder of the birthright dominion of the people over the Kingdom of Earth is administered in trust for the benefit of all humanity by the anointed society of friends ministering in the following of the High Priest of Melchizedek, the Lamb, being as he is the King, living forever. 

(c) It is, therefore, not for purely religious and dogmatic reasons, but for purely civil and legal reasons, that we invoke that name of the Trustee appointed by God Almighty to administer our trust which is known in our jurisdiction ‘nome’, being that of the Roman Empire, by and through its successors the kings of Europe, by and through their successors the republic of nations: KRST YHSVH — IESUS CHRISTUS — the King who will reign from Jerusalem.

(d) There is only one supreme Being ‘Entity’ who created Heaven and Earth of its own matter. All who are born of woman are beneficiaries of its creation, which continues forever. The body of the people of this Creator ‘the Church’ is one, holy, universal and apostolic, with KRST THE KING at its head. 

(e) While visiting the Lieutenant Governor of New York after my great uncle’s funeral in Orange, New Jersey, I met with my very good friend Richard of Brooklyn, who told me that that day (yesterday), July 14th, was the real New Year’s Day, in which our ancestors observed the heliacal rising of Sirius and the inundation of Hapi.

(f) Frank Lloyd Wright is hereby canonized a Saint of God by the order of missionary oblates of the New Syllabus program for his efforts in defining a unique American-vernacular architecture. To this unique class belong the noble and worthy personages of Saint Nat Turner, Saint John Coltrane, and Saint Alice Coltrane.

(g) Systembilt Industries, IBCO, FLF-DAO, is hereby chartered as an entity of a religious nature dedicated to continue Saint Frank’s mission to produce sound, beautiful, and affordable housing for every American family by deploying American System-Built Homes around every Mission Fulfillment Center. Usonian Automatic blocks assembled into American System-Built Homes are a block-chain as Mindsoft consoles configured in a DAO fueled by Performance Cubed are a block-chain.

(h) The whole foregoing entity and being are hereby styled:

New Kingdom Congregational Meeting;

1st New Kingdom Congregational Church,
Congregation Beth Midrash Beth Knesset,
of the International Black Cross, FLF-DAO,
nondenominational interfaith ministry,
Antarah, ObNS, Friend presiding,
‘Head of Meeting‘

SECTION (h) DIRECTIVE [click to expand]

Floating the Mission by Sale of Labor on a Daily Basis

Occupation: Day Labor Trader
Lines of Labor Traded: instruction, meeting, investigation, worship, instruments, administration, guardian, custodian, building arts 
‘Banking’ Hours: 10AM-3PM, 1st Day to Friday

(h)(1) These lines of service (LOS) are to be considered an extension of peace and good will between friends, the mutual appreciation of which will inure to their mutual benefit. By this is meant an offering, feoffment, or oblation of humanitarian aid, of which a tithe is paid to the Lord of the fee, MALIKI ZADDIK YHSVH XRST, which translates roughly to ‘Equitable Lord Jesus Christ’, the surety of our God-granted trust ‘birthright’. The balance of the charge shall be stored in its capacity and shall not be held for profit by a particular party, but therefrom discharged to the ground (‘the people’).

(h)(2) Therefore it is said regarding the Firm League of Friendship, “Faith is Complete Trust and Firm Belief” applied over a matter of time ‘f(x)=y’, which belief, sincerely held, cannot be converted into a crime. Trust refers to the covenant between God and humanity. Faith refers to the full confidence and mutual assurance exchanged between the parties in the trust relationship. Belief refers to the firmness of faith as held in the hearts and minds of the friends who practice it. This is the MAIN function of the Decentralized Autonomous Intelligence System (DAIS) of the CORPS of Mindsoft.

(h)(3) Toward developing and sustaining a ‘book of business’, service providers ‘servers’ shall make contact with prospective buyers ‘clients’ to whom to offer their services every morning between 8:00AM and 9:00AM, either in person ‘at market’ or via electronic communications. Such clients may or may not be friends, but servers should remain squarely within their equitable God-given sui jurisdiction when ‘trading with the enemy’. No originating sale of labor to be performed on the instant day shall take place after 3:00PM that day; sales consummated after such time shall be performed, fulfilled, and delivered on the next or another future day. Consols may be issued for redemption of future services without originating sales. An ideal contract engagement is one in which a friend-benefactor pays the day rate for the server to perform the mission obligations for the benefit of the friendly public.


American Systembilt Industries

Date: 1917. Title: Chicago Tribune – June 3, 1917 (Published by The Chicago Tribune, Chicago). Author: Pettit & Rockwell. Description: Ad for American System-Built Homes. “Good News About Homes. There’s a bright, cheerful home waiting for your family and you. Most beautiful? Yes, it will have that rare thing – genuine architectural beauty – designed by a leader of architects. You select your plan. It is built to your order – your own. Designed by America’s great creative architect, Frank Lloyd Wright…” Caption under illustration: “This home is being built in Ridge Homes, the new restricted residential sub-division now being offered by Burnhans-Ellinwood & Co. At Tracy, 103rd St. And Hoyne Ave.” Includes one illustration. The Guy Smith Residence (S.204.1 – 1917).

(i) Systembilt Industries shall construct homes in the Wrightian ‘Usonian Automatic‘ vernacular, which is, by this outfit’s estimation, the precursor to the Brutalist vernacular, which is erroneously said to be founded in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, and has since been nearly exclusively devoted to federal government architecture. Whereas the Brutalist is an exaggeration of scale and mass in proportion to the softening panes glass — or a more forgiving human sensibility — the Usonian is intentionally designed for the consumption and appreciation of the human and their family — the American family at that — using a uniquely modular and horizontal American vernacular. Due to the modular and affordable nature of the prefabricated building materials which would be shipped ready-to-assemble to the buyer, Frank Lloyd Wright innovated the construction method AMERICAN SYSTEM-BUILT HOMES. Using the internationally conscious appellation of ‘Usonian’ for ‘United States of North America’ or ‘USONA’, Mr. Wright provides at the turn of the century a vision of USONIA in which every family can own a firm and beautiful AMERICAN HOME at a fixed and reasonable cost.

(j) The planned community of Usonian Automatic homes by Systembilt Industries shall comprise the network of private homes of Friends in the Firm League of Friendship of the decentralized autonomous and International Black Cross Organization. The cultural centers of these communities shall be planned around the Mission Fulfillment Centers which are the meeting tents of the congregation.

Date: 1917. Title: Chicago Tribune – March 4, 1917 (Published by The Chicago Tribune, Chicago). Author: Pettit & Rockwell. Description: Ad for American System-Built Homes. “that comfort and utility may go hand in hand with beauty.” Frank Lloyd Wright. “American Homes. You who contemplate building a home – fortunately you are now able to have a house as artistically beautiful as it is convenient and conformable. The American System of home building enables you to secure houses – correct and charming in design, perfect in taste and intelligent in arrangement – putting at your command the services of Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s foremost creative architect – without extra cost… Less cost – that is one amazing feature of the American System, that these beautiful homes, all Frank Lloyd Wright designs, of guaranteed materials and price, can be built for less money that the ordinary house of similar size and materials…” Includes one illustration from the American System-Built Booklet.

(k) References.

(1) Usonian Automatic

(2) Kalil House

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Toufic H. Kalil House, located in Manchester, New Hampshire

(3) Turkel House

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Dorothy G. Turkel House in Detroit, MI. Photos.

(4) Tonkens House

(5) Automatic Blocks

The textile block system — the root form of automatic blocks — is a unique structural building method created by Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1920s. While the details changed over time, the basic concept involves patterned concrete blocks reinforced by steel rods, created by pouring concrete mixture into molds, thus enabling the repetition of form. The blocks are then stacked to build walls. Wright’s textile block houses are:

Date: 1926/1954. Title: Charles Ennis Residence, Los Angeles, CA, Illustration 1954 (1923 – S.217). Description: Diagram of the cement block construction for the Ennis House. Illustration published in The Natural House, Wright, 1954, p.203. This illustration was first published in German in Frank Lloyd Wright: Aus dem Lebenswerke eines Architekten, De Fries, 1926, p.63. Caption: “Representation of the cement block construction by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright.” In 1921 Frank Lloyd Wright prepared a “Study for Block House in Textile Block Construction,” Frank Lloyd Wright Monograph 1914 – 1923., Pfeiffer, 1990, p.204-205. According to Sweeney, Wright attempted to obtain a patent for the system in 1921, Wright in Hollywood, 1994, p.43-44. A blueprint was prepared of this drawing in German for De Fries, and is published in Frank Lloyd Wright Monograph 1914 – 1923., Pfeiffer, 1990, p.242. The blueprint is also published in Wright 1917-1942, Pfeiffer, 2010, p.90.
Black and red halftone print of the Model Home B1 interior perspective drawing. Frank Lloyd Wright outlined his vision of affordable housing. He asserted that the home would have to go to the factory, instead of the skilled labor coming to the building site. Between 1915 and 1917 Wright designed a series of standardized “system-built” homes, known today as the American System-Built Houses. By system-built, he did not mean pre-fabrication off-site, but rather a system that involved cutting the lumber and other materials in a mill or factory, then bringing them to the site for assembly. This system would save material waste and a substantial fraction of the wages paid to skilled tradesmen. Wright produced more than 900 working drawings and sketches of various designs for the system. Six examples were constructed, still standing, on West Burnham Street and Layton Boulevard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Other examples were constructed on scattered sites throughout the Midwest with a few yet to be discovered.

(6) American System-Built Homes

The American System-Built Homes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
Frank Lloyd Wright’s earliest system of low-cost housing

© 2005 Michael Lilek, All rights reserved

Master of the Small House
Over a career spanning seven decades, Frank Lloyd Wright took special interest in creating architect-designed homes for moderate and low-income families. In the January 1938 issue of Architectural Forum, he commented, “[I] would rather solve the small house problem than build anything else I can think of…” Indeed, among Wright’s greatest masterpieces are several small homes designed for clients who could afford little. Many of these residences owe their existence to some form of client labor (do-it-yourself), ingenious cost-cutting or salvaging. Each magically shelters it occupants in beautiful spaces, connects them to nature, and allows them to feel more alive.

American System-Built Homes
In a 1901 speech entitled, “The Art and Craft of the Machine,” Wright outlined his vision of affordable housing. He asserted that the home would have to go to the factory, instead of the skilled labor coming to the building site. Between 1915 and 1917 Wright designed a series of standardized “system-built” homes, known today as the American System-Built Homes. By system-built, he did not mean pre-fabrication off-site, but rather a system that involved cutting the lumber and other materials in a mill or factory, then bringing them to the site for assembly. This system would save material waste and a substantial fraction of the wages paid to skilled tradesmen. Wright produced more than 900 working drawings and sketches of various designs for the system. Six examples were constructed, still standing, on West Burnham Street and Layton Boulevard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Other examples were constructed on scattered sites throughout the Midwest with a few yet to be discovered.

Arthur L. Richards, Developer
By 1911, companies connected to Arthur L. Richards had engaged Frank Lloyd Wright to design several projects, including an unbuilt hotel in Madison and the Hotel Geneva in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (1912, demolished). By November 1916, Richards entered into an agreement with Wright to promote the American System-Built Homes. The contract covered all parts of the United States, Canada and Europe. It called for the Richards Company “…to furnish, as far as possible, all materials entering into the construction of the buildings and to at least furnish the plans, drawings, specifications and details and lumber, millwork, exterior plaster material, paints, stains, glazing, hardware trimmings and electric lighting fixtures for said buildings.” Richards was to recruit a distribution channel of builders and developers from around the country. He appears to have focused his efforts in the Chicago area and a few other Midwestern cities.
The agreement between Wright and Richards anticipated that the American System-Built Homes project would be wildly successful. Unfortunately, the entry of the United States into World War I on April 6, 1917, diverted building materials to wartime needs. Housing starts ground to a halt. Wright also began extensive travels between America and Japan at this time, related to the Imperial Hotel commission. Wright became unhappy with his relationship with Richards, leading to a lawsuit in August of 1917. Central to Wright’s claim was the non-payment of royalties and fees. Wright won a judgment against Richards in February of 1918. Although the business relationship ended after a few years, Wright and Richards rekindled their friendship decades later and exchanged cordial letters and visits.

Copyright 2004-2005, Michael Lilek, All rights reserved.
➕

Proximus Amicus

IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD—IN THE NAME OF YAHUAH
A Firm League of Friendship (FLF) in the Nature of a
Decentralized Autonomous Organization DAO),
Department of Peace and Friendship (DOP),
Political Bureau of Education (Politburo),
Universitas Autodidactus (UA),
Office of Traveling Ministry,
Ministry of Public Friend

Antarah,

Director of the N∴S∴ Program,
NOVUS SYLLABUS, L.L.C.,
Freely Associated Service Provider

1st Minute of Public Service | last modified 24/6/9/11:59 AM 24/7/17/11:22 AM 24.07.18.04:30PM

Article I.
GENERAL

(a) Standing Project on Unprogrammed Meetings for Worship; in the Manner of Friends (in Convention of Sitting in Waiting); in Convention of a Sitting of Oyer et Terminer (Hearing and Determining); with a Concern for Business, and for other purposes; in a Regular or Special, General or Extraordinary, Whole or Committee Session.

(b) Objective: To continue in the path of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equity, stewardship, and necessary direct action, conscientious objection, and civil disobedience exemplified by the conservative Society of Friends of the Truth and the Light which dwells in all God’s people, which principles are the foundation of American democratic-republican values as enshrined in the Bill of Rites and other statues.

(c) Product: the ‘Policy’ (textbook) Liber Praeceptum ‘LP‘ is the flagship product of N∴S∴, and is priced at $359.99, [target audience] for institutions/companies/organizations [clients] to purchase copies on behalf of their public/student body [users] to apply the Policy to their practice in order to do procedures, run programs, and manage projects. Clients may also purchase additional instructional and administrative services on retainer/hourly rate to support their practice, programs and projects. With purchase of preceptor services, users need not read the Policy purchased by the client, but may have it read and administered to them in an interface environment. LP is a large-language model dataset for the AI/ML engine of the DAO. As to LP, the Governor himself owns the IP copyright to the text, while N∴S∴ own the IP copyright to the reproduction of each page therefor and the text thereof.

(d) School (also known as ‘Shul’ or ‘Beth Midrash’) shall be considered a “regular” series of meetings convened during a “session” of the calendar year. For the purpose of school a “regular day” consists of two meetings and 10AM AND 2PM respectively, each of which shall last no longer than 3 hours and no less than 1 hour. The driver of school is General, G:\Do-Process, or the “GDP” application, operation or function. f(GDP) operates as follows:

General Due Process (GDP)
or, ‘P-Cubed’

(e) P-Cubed (‘PC‘ or ‘Process Cubed’) is the general governing methodology and operating environment (‘due process’) of the core lines of business (applications) of N∴S∴ (itself a development and operating system, or DOS). The interfacing “shell” of the DOS is an auto-server or client-server architecture located in a ‘mainframe‘ (a room, building or other capacitor) containing a ‘desktop‘. ‘C’ in PC can also refer to the cubic three-dimensional systemtheory Cognition—Command—Control. Therefore: “use your PC to C your Mindsoft DOS.”

(1) X-Axis Procedure

  1. Notice: Received input through sense perception.
  2. Data: The input distilled into quantifiable units.
  3. Information: The quantities expressed qualitatively.
  4. Knowledge: The crystallization of the qualitative output.

(2) Y-Axis Procedure

  1. Audit: To hear, collect, and/or record that which is noticed.
  2. Assessment: To evaluate data.
  3. Assurance: To vet and confirm the evaluation.
  4. Adjudgement: To adjust prior knowledge in light of instant output.

(3) Z-Axis Procedure

  1. Policy: Written guidance for daily or regular conduct, resulting in a transmission of charges*.
  2. Practice: Daily or regular conduct including activity, motion, interface, etc.
  3. Program: A regular and ongoing practice.
  4. Project: Particular work product class and their production processes.

*Note: charges are to be collected in exchange for rendering special services, but are not to be collected for rendering regular services.

[20240609: The concept that one multiplied or subdivided by itself, creating two, is a square of itself, and, multiplied or subdivided again by the same, is a cube, which is four, is crystalized in Mr. Gene Ray‘s discovery of nature’s harmonic simultaneous 4-day time cube which demonstrates that time is not linear but cubic (‘cubic awareness’). This systemtheory integrates the principle of opposites, 4-corner quadrant division, 4/16 rotation, and full spacetime hypercube into one seamless cubic logic. Mr. Ray found that earth has four days simultaneously in each rotation; we erroneously measure time from one corner; and the human form is a personified pyramid. The reader may be tempted to write off this theory is schizophrenia, but the instant author has found it to be most salient in light of the General Due Process Procedure which proceeds from the linear X axis to the squared Y axis to the cubed Z axis, thus defining the outer limits of ‘performance‘ of said procedure within the third density/dimensional plane.] [20240718: As an aside, it is evident that as a body passes through or traverses the 3rd-dimensional space-time continuum, there is a higher-dimensional cubic space or ‘chamber’ which emanates from the center of said body, enclosing it at all times at the body traverses the 3rd Dimension, and that entities can and often do occupy this higher-dimensional room/place, interacting with the 3rd Dimensional body (often without its knowledge or conscious awareness). This is similar to the apparent luminosity and ultraviolet radiation of the sun, which in actuality is fueled by an internal combustion of the black matter which invisibly pervades the waters above the firmament.]

(f) Program: The New Syllabus Program is the oldest project of the N∴S∴, established in 2014. This project is also a program. Other projects of  N∴S∴ include, on the internal/directorship side: DISIS/DOSCOM, ORAS/OS/ARM, OO/OOG, GB&T MSS/WKPS/MNCS, NWPA, DHS, Mindsoft, Artcoin, and CORPS; on the external/administration side: UA, US, FTLU, DOP, PEACE-CORPS, and FLF-DAO. The 153D CORPS of N∴S∴ is also known as the “Beth Midrash” and supports the Politburo of the DOP, DAO and UA. The best way to describe the N∴S∴ is a Rabbinical-Islamic-Quaker political and educational organization, founded in the ancient and sacred mysteries.

(g) Degree: There are no honorary titles or degrees among friends. However, the Ministry of Public Friend Antarah, of NS, will confer the Degree of Knight of Djedu, conferring knighthood in the Ancient Order of Djedu, Melchizedek — Judges of the King of Righteousness — the only eligible degree in the program, for payment of $9,999.99, perfect attendance at one seasonal course of meeting, and pursuant to applicable precepts. The Meeting of Conference will be a special meeting and the degree will be conferred using an official sword consecrated to Peace and Friendship. Such conference conveys no honorary status nor moral endorsement, nor in any wise shall entitle the celebrant to be set apart from the friendly public. Antarah is authorized to confer this degree by authority of his doctoral dissertation of L.P.

(h) Liturgy: The liturgical program — work of the people, or public service — provided by NS is an unprogrammed dialectical meeting for worship convened by friends at the place of meeting, presided over by the head of meeting and attended to by the clerks of meetings. Such meeting may be convened for worship (communion and communication with the Inward Teacher/Christ) alone; with a concern for business; to convene a sitting of oyer et terminer; to confer upon a matter in question; or to confer a degree of Knight of Djedu Melchizedek. All services are provided free and without oath or obligation to the friendly public, with the exception of a Conference of Degree.

(i) Course: The regular semester of shul shall be called a serialized or year-based Seasonal Course of Meeting.

(j) Enterprise: Under Synchronized Decentralized Autonomous Command System (SDACS II), the “schedule of members and officers of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO)”:

  1. Curricular Operations Research and Publication Services (CORPS) is a division [e.g., the Politburo or the UA];
  2. a college of the Universitas Autodidactus (U∴A∴) is a regiment [e.g. the 1st EC];
  3. a freely associated service provider is a company [e.g. the N∴S∴];
  4. a labor union is a platoon [e.g. the US];
  5. committee of any of the above units is a squad or team [e.g. a regular or special Meeting] NB: Regular, Special, and Festive Meetings are numbered sequentially.

(k) DOP PEACE-CORP Non-Commissioned (Enlisted) and Commissioned (Officer) ranks:

  1. Scribe (E-1)
  2. Djedi [Knight] (E-2)
  3. Rapporteur (E-3)
  4. Free Thinker [Dialectician I] (E-4)
  5. Truth Speaker [Dialectician II] (E-5)
  6. Light Worker [Dialectician III] (E-6)
  7. Ombudsman [Master Dialectician] (E-7)
  8. Program Director (E-8)

(l) Commissioned Officers pertain to a corpus meaning “body”, as in a union, university, assembly:

  1. Syndic, or Friend (O-1)
  2. Secretary Treasurer [Clerk] (O-2)
  3. Chair [of a committee] (O-3)
  4. Preceptor [of a Preceptory, or regiment] (O-4)
  5. Administrator [of an Association, or union] (O-5)
  6. Governor [of a Company] (O-6)
  7. General Consul [of a Division] (O-7)

(m) Testimony of Simplicity: Going forward the minister will not use honorary titles to distinguish himself beyond those earned by divine right, being the Director of  N∴S∴ and a minister of God’s Word and other laws he precepted in the course of discharging that office. The minister shall be known by his first name only, and may be mentioned to descend from the House of Crawley of Nacotchtank, Washington, D.C. The director is no more of a minister of the Word than any other Friend.

(n) Testimony of Peace: Going forward the minister will not engage in any conduct that does or appears to inure to a violent or exploitative act.

Article II.
PRECEPTS REGARDING MEETING IN THE MANNER OF FRIENDS

from, Friends Meeting of Washington

(a) Worship

  1. Worship is silent and unprogrammed, and subject to the guidance of the Inward Teacher.
  2. A period of time is used to center into an inward stillness. Spirit-led listening is perhaps the most important task of the worshipper.
  3. Spoken messages come from the spiritual depth of one’s life and from the leading of the Inward Teacher.
  4. To be absorbed, each message needs to be followed with a period of silence which allows for deepening.
  5. When the vocal and silent ministry speak to the condition of those present and is developed and deepened in the Truth, a profound sense of spiritual community occurs that freshens and delights.  This is what we call a “gathered Meeting.”
  6. Meeting for Worship ends after about an hour when the head of Meeting, on the facing bench, shakes hands with those nearby.  We then greet those sitting around us in a similar manner.

(b) Testimonies

  1. Testimonies are what Friends call the ways we have found to live and act based on our beliefs. As a group, we find that listening to and following God leads to:
  2. Integrity—living as whole people who act on what we believe, tell the truth, and do what we say we will do.
  3. Simplicity—focusing on what is truly important and letting other things fall away.
  4. Equality—treating everyone, everywhere, as equally precious to God; recognizing that everyone has gifts to share.
  5. Community—supporting one another in our faith journeys and in times of joy and sorrowsharing with and caring for each other.
  6. Peace—seeking justice and healing for all people; taking away the causes of war in the ways we live.
  7. Stewardship (Care for the earth)—valuing and respecting all of God’s creation; using only our fair share of the earth’s resources; working for policies that protect the planet.

(c) Ecclesiastes

1. Friends or Quakers – either name will do as they have the same meaning – are the people who belong to Friends meetings or churches. These make up the ‘Religious Society of Friends.’

2. ‘Quaker’ was originally a nickname for the people who called themselves “Children of the Light,” “Friends of Truth,” or ‘friends of Jesus.” (John 15:15).  They were said to tremble or quake with religious zeal, and the nickname stuck.  In time, we also became known simply as ‘Friends.’

3. Quakers began in England around 1650 in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation.  In contrast to the formalism of the established church of the time, early Friends found they could experience God directly without the benefit of clergy, liturgy or steepled church.

4. Quakers do not have a creed.  No single statement of religious doctrine is accepted by all the diverse bodies that make up the Religious Society of Friends.  Most meetings accept a book of ‘Faith and Practice’ which states shared values, outlines a process for making decisions, and contains a uniquely Quaker feature, ‘Advices and Queries.’

5. Friends are united in stressing that an inward, immediate, transforming experience of God is central to our faith.  We turn to an inner guide or teacher for direction.  Many Friends identify this as the ‘Inner Light,’ the ‘Seed Within,’ or the ‘Christ Within’ [the ‘Inward Teacher’]  Some affirm their acceptance of Jesus Christ as their personal savior while others conceive of the inward guide as a universal spirit which was in Jesus in abundant measure and is in everyone to some degree.

6. George Fox, a troubled and searching youth in 17th century England, underwent a profound religious experience that he described as a Voice answering his need: “There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to Thy condition.”  Immediate, direct experience of God became the heart of his message and ministry, the beginning of the Quaker movement.

7. Love – of God and neighbor – is expressed in Quaker worship, witness, and our testimonies.  Our social attitudes and concerns, service, and programs of education and action are the fruits of our faith and the affirmation of the indwelling spirit and redemptive love.

8. The realization that there is the potential for good – and also evil – in all people makes Friends sensitive to human degradation, ignorance, superstition, suffering, injustice and exploitation.  Under a sense of concern (inner prompting, divine obedience or urgency) Friends are drawn to humanitarian callings and to programs of education, service and constructive action.

9. Many Friends today are pressing for social change by nonviolent means: reform of the criminal justice system and elimination of the death penalty; elimination of discrimination against minority groups and racial injustice; and an end to war.

10. Most Friends reject the sacraments in their outward forms – communion and baptism as practiced in most Christian churches.  We seek instead for the inward reality.  For us, all great human experiences are of a sacramental nature.

11. The Bible was very precious to early Friends, but to understand the scriptures, they saw that they must be read in the same Spirit as those who wrote them.  An early Quaker leader, Robert Barclay, said that the scriptures are only a declaration of the source and not the source itself.  Today, Friends exhibit a wide variety of relationships to the Bible and other religious texts.

Source: https://quaker.org/testimony

12. Quaker testimony is best understood as the public witness of an inward faith of both individual and community. It is the consequence of one’s relationship to God and the outworking of that relationship in one’s life. Testimony is critical to the Quaker tradition as it is the practice side of “Faith and Practice,” a phrase you will see together often. Friends have always believed that what was most important was how faith was lived out collectively in the world. This praxis oriented perspective takes priority over doctrine or belief. For instance, early Friends did not practice baptism as an outward rite. Instead, Friends were called to live out their baptism in the world; show you are baptized by the Holy Spirit by the way you live your life. Witness and practice are good words today to help newcomers understand the meaning behind testimony.

13. Quaker scholar Pink Dandelion points out that among early Friends testimony was used in the “singular,” meaning that one’s whole life was to live out the consequence of their relationship with God in community. However, overtime testimony became pluralized (testimonies) and began to function more like lists of doctrines (protecting the boundary between Quaker community and those who are not Quakers), and eventually towards the individualization of “values.” It is less of a collective understanding and more up to each individual to decide how to practice their faith.

14. Today, you will often hear Friends use this pluralized language of testimonies referring to a broad range of Quaker beliefs and practices. Furthermore, a fairly recent simplification of testimony has resulted in the popular usage of the acronym “S.P.I.C.E.S.” standing for “Quaker values” such as Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship. Regardless of usage, whether testimony, testimonies, or SPICES, the point is the Quaker commitment to “faith in action,” a living out and being a witness to what one believes.

Article III.
PRECEPTS REGARDING THE OFFICE OF TRAVELING MINISTRY

(a) Beliefs

  1. Every person is known by God and can know God in a direct relationship.
  2. The Quaker faith has deep Christian roots. Many Quakers consider themselves Christians, and some do not. Many Quakers find meaning and value in the teachings of many faiths.
  3. Quakers strive to live lives that are guided by a direct encounter with the Divine, more than by teachings about the Divine.  Quaker terms for the Holy include God, the Seed, the Light Within, and the Inward Teacher, among others.
  4. Testimonies are ways that Quakers have found to express our experience of the Divine in our lives.  Some of the best recognized testimonies include simplicity, integrity, equality, community, and peace.

(b) Worship

1. Quakers gather in the silence and wait expectantly to come into the presence of the Divine and to be guided by the still, small voice by which God speaks to us from within. During the silence, anyone may feel moved to offer a simple spoken message (vocal ministry) that is inspired by this holy encounter. Following the message, the silence resumes. A period of worship may include several messages or none.

2. In succeeding generations, as our religious society became settled . . . and as we became more geographically dispersed, the traveling ministry helped to provide needed communication between the various groups of Friends. . . . Traveling ministers were certified and trusted outsiders to the meeting’s “politics.” In this capacity they could be of enormous service to the community. Their ability to discern the spiritual health of the meeting, their mediating influence to reconcile differences, and their liberty to speak out on potentially difficult issues both spiritual and temporal were often very helpful to Friends.

3. During the [1900s], the formal practice of travel in the ministry among Friends had virtually ceased. In the unprogrammed tradition . . . it is thought that no one’s gifts in the ministry should be recognized over and above the gifts of others. Along with the advent of modern communication . . . formal travel in the ministry had all but fallen to disuse.

4. Recently, there seems to be a revival of the traveling ministry. . . .

(Jonathan Vogel-Borne, “Traveling in the Ministry”)

(c) Travel Minutes

Travel minutes (or “traveling minutes”) are issued to Friends who have worked with their monthly meeting to discern a clear leading to travel and visit other Friends. They may have a specific concern, they may have been asked to visit a meeting for a specific purpose, or it may be that God has moved them to worship with those Friends and to be with them. The Friend who is led to travel lays it before his or her monthly meeting along with the whole nature of the proposed visits as far as can be foreseen. If the monthly meeting unites with the concern or affirms the leading, it writes a minute to that effect and gives the Friend a copy. A travel minute should describe any specific concern the bearer is laboring under. When a meeting comes to unity with a member’s concern to travel, it should make sure that finances do not stand in the way by being ready to contribute toward the expenses incurred.

It is customary, where practicable, for traveling Friends to be welcomed into the homes of those whom they visit. This has the double advantage of saving expense to the traveler and of extending more intimately the benefit of the visit.

While visiting, the carrier of a travel minute presents it to the clerk of the body visited, who reads it aloud as a way of introducing the traveling Friend. (Only the travel minute, not endorsements, should be read.) At the end of the visit, the clerk writes and signs a brief note about the visit. This is called an endorsement. (See Sample Forms, Letters, Etc. for some examples.) Endorsements may be written on the back of the page or on additional pages attached to the letter.

When the proposed visits are completed, the traveling Friend should return the minute and all the endorsements to the body that issued it. The body may ask the traveling Friend to report on his or her experiences as well.

A travel minute represents an activity with a specific form: leaving, traveling under a concern, and returning to report on the completed event. For an ongoing ministry, another form of support, such as a minute of religious service, may be more appropriate.

(d) Companions in Ministry

Since the earliest times, Friends traveling with a concern usually had a companion who could provide both practical and spiritual support. This practice is currently being revived, largely through the influence of FGC’s Traveling Ministries Program. Friends who lead workshops and retreats or who travel with other leadings have found that having a companion in the ministry is of considerable spiritual and practical support. The companion prays for the minister as well as those ministered to, being attentive to how the Spirit is moving. The companion helps the minister to deepen his or her faithfulness. It is good practice to provide companions with traveling minutes that describe their supporting role.

(e) Minutes of Religious Service

A minute of religious service is more broad than a travel minute and can include any kind of service. It embodies a meeting’s recognition of a call to a religious service in someone’s life. […]

Chestnut Hill Friends suggest that a minute of religious service contain the following components:

  1. Name the work as explicitly as possible.
  2. Affirm that the meeting experiences the person as led to do the work; perhaps include how the person’s life and spiritual path have led to this work at this time.
  3. Name the meeting’s unity with the work, perhaps making reference to Friends testimonies.
  4. Name the meeting’s specific commitments to supporting this person and his or her work, including the appointment of an oversight committee.
  5. Ask the reader for his or her support.
  6. Give the approval date and an appropriate expiration date, with the signature of the clerk of the meeting. The expiration date may vary considerably, depending on the nature of the call.

When members of a meeting plan to travel and wish to make contact with other Friends, they may ask the clerk of their home meeting or the yearly meeting for a letter of introduction. The letter may also convey greetings from the meeting. There are no obligations for financial support, hospitality, or reporting back to the home group. The clerk can issue a letter of introduction on his or her own authority; no consultation or approval is necessary.

By Mathilda Navias. This is an excerpt from Quaker Process for Friends on the Benches available now from Friends Journal. From, https://www.friendsjournal.org/traveling-ministry/

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