Back in the time when most Quakers wore plain dress, Quaker women often wore gray as part of their plan to live simply. “Quaker Gray” is now an official color name for various paints and products, and it has an official Merriam Webster definition. But Quaker Gray can be a metaphor as well.

Since each person seeks guidance directly from the Divine, and since we have a variety of lived experience, we are likely to bring a variety of viewpoints to every decision-making process. The Religious Society of Friends is not a religion to choose if you are looking for clear answers to what is right and wrong or true and false; it is a religion to choose if you are ever-seeking and want to be open to a diversity of belief and opinion. Rather than looking for black and white, we embrace the gray.

Just as Quaker gray is considered a drab color, the Quaker discernment process can sometimes be boring and tedious, but it can also be awesome, in the true sense of the word. Trying to make decisions based on our sense of the Divine requires us to sit in silence and to hold each other in the Light. Being open to that of God in everyone means being willing to wait for those who are unclear, are having trouble articulating, or are afraid to express their own discernment because it is different from the leadings already expressed. We don’t seek consensus or unanimity; we seek “unity,” which is a sense of what is right for the Meeting as a community.

Please hold our community in the Light as we seek discernment regarding the FCNL (Friends Committee on National Legislation) request for advice regarding their position statements on reproductive health care, and please participate as you are able.

Submitted by Marie Lindsay, rising clerk