Raise Our Quaker Ways

Dear Friends,

I want you to know where I am today. Like many, I am stunned, reeling, saddened and deeply, deeply concerned. However, I will not dissolve into fear. I will not dissolve into emotion. I will neither give up nor give in.

This week’s U.S. elections signal an unjust and disrespectful disregard for the necessity of building a more just, humane, sustainable society, one that contributes rather than consumes, that builds up rather than tears down, that gives hope rather than incites raw emotions.

I serve on the board of Western Friend and on other Quaker bodies because I am called to help raise our Quaker ways to their place. A small group of Quakers can have an outsized impact around the world; history tells us this. And at this time, we are called to do it again. This is where my energy and my focus shall be.

We need to center on our best selves and do what we are called to do – to be agents of change and peace, not despair and withdrawal.

I hope that you too are reaching for strength, and that together, we will continue to move forward as the Light draws us and sustains us.

In faith, and with hope not lost,
Larry Newton
Clerk, Western Friend Board of Directors