Graham Dawson read this month’s query from the 2017 PYM Faith and Practice.
Grounding for Transformed Lives
Grounding for Transformed Lives: Peace and Alternatives to Violence
How do we help each other face conflicts with patience, forbearance and openness to healing?
To what extent does our meeting ignore differences in order to avoid possible conflicts?
What are we doing as a Friends meeting within our communities:
1) To recognize and correct the causes of violence?
2) To understand the impact of the global military-industrial complex on all aspects of life?
3) To increase the understanding and use of alternatives to violence?
4) To work toward overcoming separations and restoring wholeness?
5) To support the constructive use of authority?
6) To promote the sustainability of the earth?
Do I “live in the virtue [power] of that Life and Spirit that took [takes] away the occasion of all wars”?
How do I maintain Friends’ testimony that participation in war and its preparation is inconsistent with the teaching of Jesus?
Do I treat personal conflict as an opportunity for growth?
How do I face my differences with others and reaffirm in action and attitude my love for those with whom I am in conflict?