Marjorie Reed died on May 1 after a long happy life.  Many of us at Lake Forest Friends Meeting remember her for her love of the writings of Rufus Jones.  For me, she was an important mentor in the development of my spiritual life and I am grateful to have been a part of the joy she spread in her lifetime.

Some twenty years ago she suggested to me that I might like to come to Common Ground where Jim Kenney was giving a series of lectures on John Macmurray, a Scottish philosopher who became a Quaker later in his life.  That started many years of attending the lectures by Jim and the late Ron Miller along with Marjorie.  I remember she would talk about truth, beauty, and goodness especially in Ken Wilbur’s philosophy.

About this time, the meeting restarted our adult religious education discussions before meeting for worship.  We read many Pendle Hill Pamphlets.  When I arrived at the meetinghouse for these discussions, I knew it would be a worthwhile time if I saw that Marjorie was there.  She was the star, always prepared with some interesting observation about what the author was trying to say.  Everything was a new adventure in spirituality to be delved into with gusto.  She was also the only one of us who really understood Martin Buber, I and Thou.    

She once told me that her introduction to Rufus Jones was when she was searching for some book at the library.  When she reached her hand up, she realized that book wasn’t there but instead her hand went to a book by Rufus Jones, like she was being guided to his work.  Her favorite anthology of his writings was by Harry Emerson Fosdick called Rufus Jones Speaks to Our Time.  Last I checked it is out of print but I think there is a copy at the meetinghouse.  I found the syllabus she made when she facilitated a discussion of Rufus Jones in 2005.  She called the discussion group “Mind, Spirit, & Creative Imagination: Moving towards Spiritual Unity, not Uniformity of Thought.”  Here are one of the quotations she included in the outline.

If, as I believe, religious faith is an essential feature of life for the full culture of the individual person, it is even more important for the formation and stabilization of a rich and continuing civilization.  [Rufus Jones, A Call to What is Vital, p. 29]

For some months before I moved to Ohio in 2011, Janice Domanik and I would go to Marjorie’s house on a regular basis and read from the Urantia Book.  I never had the same deep understanding of the whole book that Marjorie had but some of the sections we read did lead to some deep discussions between the three of us.  I really missed these times when I lived in Ohio.  Of course, I also missed that sometimes she would get us a delicious box lunch from the Ontwentsia Club or take us to lunch at Froggy’s Restaurant in Highwood.

One of my favorite recollections was a premeeting discussion when I told the story of James Naylor, a contemporary of George Fox and a deeply spiritual Friend.  He went to London to spread the Truth and start a meeting.  The legend goes that some listeners to his message became fanatical disciples and convinced him to ride a donkey, Jesus-like, into Bristol, England while his followers laid down palm fronds singing “Hosanna, Hosanna.”  He was arrested and tortured.  It became a crisis for early Friends.  When I finished telling this story, Marjorie looked at me and said, “Don’t worry, Pam, we’ll knock you off that donkey!”  Thank you, Marjorie, for being such a joyful part of Lake Forest Friends Meeting.