|
Friends United Meeting |
 |
July/August 2006
A Matter of Simple Obedience
By Pam Ferguson
I was introduced to a wonderful children’s book on the Underground Railroad by a grade-school librarian in our meeting. Needing ideas for our Mother-Daughter banquet, I invited Barbara Morrow (a Presbyterian woman from Auburn, Indiana) to read her book A Good Night for Freedom. This was her first opportunity to speak to Quakers and her interest in our local meeting, Quakers in Randolph County and our heritage inspired me.
Barbara was interested in the activism of people along the Underground Railroad and captivated by learning the names of two slave girls, Susan and Margaret, who passed through the Coffin home. Knowing and hearing their names made this historical event come alive for her. Two young women lived because of the intervention of people who saw them as humans, and in the words of our Quaker ancestors, who saw “that of God” in their lives and the lives of other slaves who sought refuge and freedom along the Underground Railroad.
Friends today think we have an unhealthy obsession with our past and our heritage. Some say it is difficult to move forward while “driving with our rearview mirror.” Indiana Yearly Meeting split over activism surrounding slavery 170 years ago. It inspired Quakers from England to come to Randolph County to reconcile the two groups, to no avail. Anti-slavery Friends were the heart of the Underground Railroad making a difference in our country for the abolition of slavery. After 20-some years, the two groups softened and mutual yearnings brought them together again as one yearly meeting.
There always have been and always will be differences within our yearly meetings. And maybe more splits. I hope not. I wonder if the push to resolve our differences lessens opportunities to wait together to sense the leading of God in the midst of those differences. It takes energy and is difficult to sit in worship with those who may not agree with us and with whom there is little fellowship. Consensus and clearness may not always happen on our time schedule, but it should always happen through waiting on the spirit of God together. Unity should be based in religious experience and not just shared ideals or interests. As we worship together and experience God’s presence, our hearts will soften. It may take 20 years. Our mutual yearnings, our experience and our passion for a visible life centered in our testimonies can bring us together under the Spirit of God.
Four years ago Ron and I wandered Greece on vacation and walked through the ruins at Philippi. The experience strengthened my resolve to be a servant of Christ. The apostle Paul was not superhuman. Philippi, the threshold of Christianity in Europe, was not a mega city. Paul, an ordinary man, was led by a dream to travel to a city smaller in area than Winchester, Indiana.
Obedience does not take extraordinary courage or heroism. It is the heart’s longing to follow a concern God has placed in our hearts. Paul did not go to Philippi with the notion that his actions would change the world and spread Christianity throughout the planet. He set out on that journey with a concern for the individuals God placed in his path. He used each opportunity to speak and live the Good News; at the river, in the marketplace and in a jail cell. God took the faithful obedience of an ordinary man and used it to further His kingdom here on earth.
Levi Coffin was not extraordinary. He was a man who longed for justice, an ordinary man who saw that of God in every human who came to his door for help. His obedience was not about being the “President of the Underground Railroad,” but about being the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need—to reach out to those who needed to see God and who faced injustice. His simple obedience had heroic consequences that saved the lives of many people.
Many great and important things from our Quaker heritage have changed our world and people’s lives. These things arose out of the lives of ordinary people like you and me. We have the opportunity day-by-day to make a difference in our world. It is important for us to know and cherish our heritage, our history and to know it deep in our hearts. It gives us vision, hope and motivation to look at our world and to see the good yet to be done to make God’s Kingdom visible on earth. It is just a matter of simple obedience.
Pam Ferguson and her husband, Ron, have been co-pastors
at Winchester Friends Meeting, Indiana, since coming back from Uganda
in 1998.