Quaker Life Magazine

Between Friends
By Katie Terrell, Editor

That all may know the dealings of the Lord with me, and the various exercises, trials, and troubles through which he led me, in order to prepare and fit me for the work unto which he had appointed me, and may thereby be drawn to admire and glorify his infinite wisdom and goodness, I think it fit . . .

— The Journal of George Fox, edited by Rufus M. Jones

George Fox opens his Journal with the above quotation to explain why he begins his story with a recount of his childhood. It is clear that he does not write for his own edification, but so that others may know how the Lord prepared him for ministry and in turn “be drawn to admire and glorify” the Lord. John Woolman concurs in the opening lines of his own Journal, “I have often felt a motion of love to leave some hints in writing of my experience of the goodness of God . . . ”

Friends have a long history of publishing as a means of sharing our experiences of the Divine, so long that before we became known as the Religious Society of Friends we called ourselves “Publishers of Truth.” That we were publishing, however, wasn’t as important as what we were publishing, and what we were publishing was Truth. Or, in the words of Matt Snyder, a young adult writer in this issue, “In my writing, I refuse to be a hypocrite” (p. 42). We have the ability to change the world for Christ with our words, but only if they are true.

J. Brent Bill, in his introduction to the anthology, Imagination and Spirit, writes, “For Quaker writers, the act of writing with God’s lightness resting upon us is both sacramental and evangelistic — a sharing of good news that finds expression in the big and little things of life.”

It should come as no surprise that Quakers today continue to celebrate writing as ministry. We write about our experiences of God “in the big and little things of life,” about “the dealings of the Lord” upon us, and thereby make God known to others. Books and other resources are a way for us to respond to Jesus’ great commission to, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15-16)