Update on the Urgent Call

Five 2-hour sessions: Monday 2/3 – Friday 2/7 (3-5pm Eastern / 12-2pm Pacific) “The Urgent Call to the Religious Society of Friends was issued in May 2022 encouraging Friends to discern their individual and corporate responses to the serious threats facing United States democracy. The Urgent Call named how the high-level lies, conspiracy theories, violence,…

Workshop Description

Five 2-hour sessions: Monday 2/3 – Friday 2/7 (3-5pm Eastern / 12-2pm Pacific)

“The Urgent Call to the Religious Society of Friends was issued in May 2022 encouraging Friends to discern their individual and corporate responses to the serious threats facing United States democracy. The Urgent Call named how the high-level lies, conspiracy theories, violence, and continued threats of violence focused on our democratic system since before, during, and following the 2020 U.S. presidential election. These behaviors fly in the face of everything that we as Quakers hold as core human and spiritual values. The Urgent Call saw those threats as continuing and encouraged Friends to act.

Over the past two years, Friends’ responses have been broad, varied, and serious. Even though some Friends have long engaged in political actions to create a more just world, many wanted to act in new ways to protect and improve our democracy. Many wanted to work to address the polarization in our country. Many wanted simply to be with other concerned Friends in worship and to speak and listen with others about the anxiety-producing realities that we have all experienced. During the past 30 months the Urgent Call has grown a mailing list of more than 2000 Friends from 48 of our 50 states. We have convened more than a dozen national zoom sessions that have offered Friends resources, opportunities to listen and reflect with one another, and to worship.

Right now, in October 2024, as we are facing one of the most consequential election cycles of our lifetimes, the Urgent Call Steering Committee is continuing to provide a forum for Friends to worship, to support one another, and to learn about possible actions that they may take to ensure a safe and reliable election. We also are considering how to help Friends to prepare for any serious threats to our democracy that may arise following the election. Friends may have some very important roles to play. The workshop will grow out of the post-election realities.

By the time of the February 2025 FGC Gathering, much more will be known. We expect that the time together in an FGC workshop will provide Friends with the same kind of worshipful community that we have fostered since issuing the Urgent Call in 2022.

We expect the time to be a combination of worship, presentations, worship-sharing, journalling, and discussion. The percentage of time for each of these modes will vary based on the interests of the group.

For preparation, Friends should read the original May 2022 Urgent Call and its July 2023 Update. Friends could also visit our website www.quakercall.net to view resource lists and recorded national zoom sessions, but the latter is not required.

Leader Experience

The workshop will be facilitated by Michael Wajda, Clerk of the Urgent Call Steering Committee, and one or more additional Steering Committee members. Michael and all Urgent Call Steering Committee members are experienced workshop leaders. We expect the time to be a combination of worship, presentations, worship-sharing, journalling, and discussion. The percentage of time for each of these modes will vary based on the interests of the group.