Quakers don’t have creeds or formal statements of things all Quakers must believe. Quakers use various names for the Divine – including God, the Light, the Seed, the Inward Teacher, and the Living Christ. We have found that there is “that of God” in each person, meaning an innate need and ability to connect to the Divine and spiritual reality. We often refer to “that of God” in each person as the “Inner Light.” Each person can have direct contact with this Divine Presence without needing a minister or priest to intercede. Instead of a creed, Quakers put their faith in a continuing relationship with God, or the Inner Light, that reveals truth and prompts action. We call this “ongoing revelation.”
Queries are questions that guide personal and group reflection on how our lives and actions are shaped by Love and Truth. The emphasis is on how to live a life more completely aligned with the life of the spirit.
Quakers often find Queries a powerful spiritual discipline. Returning again and again to the same prompt for deep reflection can set the stage for new understandings, changes of heart, and a rising sense of loving action that needs to be taken. If you can answer a Query with a “yes” or “no,” try to grapple a bit more adding “why,” “how,” and “when” to the original query.
Below are Queries for you to try. Post them in a place you will see them every day and try to ask yourself the Query at least once a day for several days. As you do so, look at your life for a sense of some inward changes: a deeper call to kindness, a more forgiving perspective, or an imperative to act.
Are you open to the many ways Spirit may speak to you?
What does love require of you?
Do you maintain an appropriate balance among work, service, worship, family, and recreation? Are you ready to rest if God asks it of you?
Is every aspect of your life open to the transforming power of God? What stands in the way?
Queries # 4, 5, 15 & 16 from the text of “Chapter 11: General Advices and Queries,” by the New England Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice Revision Committee, approved at New England Yearly Meeting Sessions 2012.