Quakers have sometimes referred to what might be called a list of their most important or core values by way of the following enumeration, which is then rendered with the following abbreviation:
"SPICES"
- Simplicity
- Peace
- Integrity
- Community
- Equality
- Stewardship
The above-listed values, in fact, are sometimes called "testimonies." By calling this list of their core values "testimonies," Quakers seek to make clear that this articulation of these named values originated, and continues to originate, in the verbal testimonies of Quakers, made during a Meeting For Worship.
Quakers do not operate upon the basis of "dogma," or upon the basis of a "creed." There is no "Book of Prayer," or other written or verbal direction to guide Quakers in their worship. There is no priest or pastor, no minister, to preside over or to lead Quakers as they worship. There is no designated authority whose job it is to convey any specific religious understanding.
Instead, Quakers rely on their "practice." They simply gather together, in silence, and then wait for the Spirit to speak through one or another person, among those who have gathered together. The only "preaching" done in a Quaker Meeting (which is not, in fact, "preaching" at all) occurs when one of the Quakers in attendance is moved to speak - or even to "sing," sometimes. That happens not infrequently in the Santa Cruz Monthly Meeting.
The Quakers have the idea that there is "that of God in every person," so there is no hierarchy or "priesthood." When a testimony given in a Meeting for Worship is heard by those others who are in attendance, it may, sometimes, be recognized as, in fact, a statement of Truth, divinely inspired. Over time, observations frequently repeated are recognized as testifying to the Truth, and these then become statements which Quakers recognize as truly inspired by and coming from the Spirit, something beyond mere human "opinion."
To the degree that Quakers have any written guidance for their worship, that comes in the form of a statement of "Faith and Practice," which is focused on the "practice," or "experience," I have tried to describe here. Quakers worship in the "Faith" that the "Practice" just summarized is, in fact, a way that Quakers can hear and be guided by God, by the Creator, by the Creative Spirit that made the world and that speaks to us still, the Spirit that calls us to live in simplicity, and peace, and integrity, in community and equality and stewardship, the Spirit that seeks to guide us both individually and collectively.
I have talked about the Quakers before, in several of these blog postings. If you would like to know more, click the link found in the first sentence of this paragraph for some information about the Santa Cruz Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. If you do that, you will find this advisory:
"You're Invited!"
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