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Meeting for Worship

When visiting, you will find that we worship together for about an hour in what is mostly silence.  Although not much is being said, there is much going on as we center together in prayer.  Sometimes out of that silence, people rise to speak, sharing messages that come from the holy part of them. We find the honesty and truth revealed in this way to be helpful and inspiring, sometimes leading to callings and actions.  Trenton's Quakers are active, making contributions to our community and our world.

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Among the historical testimonies that express central values of Quakers are the presence of God in each person, a direct and individual communion with God, and between all human beings a working towards peace, equality, simplicity, integrity, care of the environment and care for each other.  In these times, many people feel these leadings!

 

On Facebook we have a page for the Meeting and a location page for the Meetinghouse

"Like" these pages to interact and to know what we are doing.


Although we continue to use Zoom to allow that option for those who need or choose it, the Meetinghouse is open for our worship and other activities.  The Zoom link for our First Day (Sunday) Worship is emailed to our mailing list and to those not on our mailing list who have requested it. You can make that request by emailing trentonquakers@gmail.com.

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Quakerism

"Quakers seek to experience God directly, within ourselves and in our relationships with others and the world around us.  Quakerism is a way of life, rather than a set of beliefs.  It has roots in Christianity and many Quakers find the life and teachings of Jesus inspirational, but we have no creed."

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~ Richard Tuckett - Quaker Chaplain, 18 May 2020

Quaker Tenets

Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship of the Earth. The word 'testimony' is used by Friends to describe a witness to the Living Truth Within the human heart as it is acted out in everyday life. It is not a form of words, but a mode of life based of the realization that there is "that of God in everyone," that all human beings are equal, and that all life is interconnected. It is affirmative but may lead to action that runs counter to certain practices currently accepted in the society at large. Testimonies reflect the corporate beliefs of the Religious Society of Friends, however much individual Friends may interpret them differently according to their own light. They are not 'optional extras' but fruits that grow from the tree of faith.

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Simplicity Testimony

There is certainty among Friends that the world offers many distractions from the Truth, for example the pursuit of wealth or power or pleasure, extravagance in language, fashion or behavior, and too great an emphasis on business, even for good causes. Truth is usually discovered in quiet, undistracted waiting for its leadings in the human heart, in the humble simplicity of spirit which acknowledges that ultimately there is a force, often called God, that is in charge of our world, not we ourselves. 

The testimony of simplicity seeks, therefore, to focus our attention on what is essential and eternal, without distraction by the transitory or the trivial. Plain and honest speech is an expression of simplicity. Respect for creation and, therefore, concern for the environment and the right use of the world's resources is another obvious expression of this testimony. A growth economy based on extravagance, wastefulness and artificially stimulated wants is seen to be a fundamental violation of the testimony of simplicity. 

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Peace Testimony 

The peace testimony is based on the same understanding of the nature of God and of human beings. How can one kill another child of God, a potential channel of Truth, no matter how misguided he or she may seem at the moment? This testimony has led Friends to oppose all wars and preparation for wars. At the time of the American Revolution, many Friends were 'disowned' by their Meetings for participating in military actions. Later, Friends, faced with military conscription, worked to establish the right of conscientious objection. Some Friends today work to end the conscription for military purposes not only of their bodies but also of their tax money. 

The peace testimony has meant efforts to ease suffering of victims of war on all sides. It means efforts to be or to seek a reconciling force between peoples and nations in conflict. It means a constant search for nonviolent means of conflict resolution through institutions of law, such as international treaties and structures like the European Union or the United Nations. It means a continuing search for peace and social justice through personal and group nonviolent techniques for mediation and social change. The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) in Washington, D.C., and the Quaker United Nations Offices (QUNOs) in Geneva and New York, for example, promote Quaker views at the heart of centers of power, where political, economic and military decisions with worldwide effect are made ("speaking truth to power"). 

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Integrity Testimony

Integrity (truth) is a complex concept. Sometimes the word is used for God, sometimes for the conviction that arises from worship, sometimes for the way of life. It was the obedience to truth as they understood it that led Friends to act in ways which others thought odd and even provocative. For early Friends, witnessing to Truth involved the keeping up of public Meetings for Worship, whatever the penalties involved. It also involved preaching, for which many Friends were imprisoned. The concern for truthfulness led Friends right from the first day to refuse to take oaths. An oath according to them was a sign that there were two different levels of truthfulness and they believed that you should tell the truth all the time. Margaret Fell was imprisoned and lost all her property for her refusal to take an oath of loyalty to the king. 

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Community Testimony

As equally beloved children of God, all human beings are brothers and sisters, one human family, no matter how great our differences of experience, of culture, of age, of understanding. Friends have found that the Light may illuminate a gathered group as well as an individual heart and bind the group together in a community of faith, conscience and experience. Friends see it as their task to build a broader community throughout our world, by seeing and affirming in each other the divine potential, the Seed, the Christ, the Light within. We must learn to deal with one another by affirming and nurturing the best we find in each other - or, in the words of George Fox - by "answering that of God in everyone". In such a community, Friends believe, human beings witness to the sovereignty, compassion and love of the God of their experience.

 

Equality Testimony 

If God or Spirit is directly accessible to all persons, regardless of age, gender, race, nationality, economic, social or educational position - if every person is held equal and has equal potential to be a channel for the revelation of Truth - then all persons are to be equally valued. There is that Seed, that Light - there is "that of God" in every person. For Friends this insight has meant, from the beginning, equality of the sexes and of races. In England and the English colonies this had to mean the end of privilege based on wealth or class. In Japan and Kenya, where the existing cultures made women little more than 'domestic property', it resulted in the establishment of Quaker schools for girls. It also formed the basis for opposition to slavery and the death penalty. 

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Stewardship of the Earth Testimony

Friends worldwide have accepted the idea that the testimony of equality in the economic realm implies a commitment to the right sharing of the world's resources.  We recognize that the well-being of the Earth is a fundamental spiritual concern.  From the beginning, it was through the wonders of nature that people saw God.  How we treat the Earth and its creatures is a basic part of our relationship with God.  Our planet as a whole, not just the small parts of it in our immediate custody, requires our responsible attention. Friends are indeed called to walk gently on the Earth. Wasteful and extravagant consumption is a major cause of destruction of the environment. Friends are called to become models and patterns of simple living and concern for the Earth.

At the very center of the Quaker faith lies the concept of the Inner Light. This principle states that in every human soul there is implanted a certain element of divine Spirit and energy. This element is known as "that of God in everyone". Out of that understanding have come the “SPICES” as described below.

Quaker Testimonies

Simplicity 
Peace 
Integrity 
Community 
Equality 

Stewardship of the Earth

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