Darkness and Light can refer not only to the traditional spiritual imagery of the Religious Society of Friends, but also to the areas of great light and deep shadow which surround our relations with others. Today at every level of society we see the erasing of old racial definitions and sea changes in what constitutes the current “majorities” and “minorities.” In this exciting time, what does Baltimore Yearly Meeting have to share and to learn? In what ways may we be called to change? How may we take lessons from our past to help inform our action on the callings and leadings of today?

For many years, Friends have engaged with questions about prejudice and discrimination. What have these Friends to teach us as we engage these questions anew?

“. . . And at the present time, we apprehend it to be incumbent on every individual, deeply to consider his own particular share in this testimony [that ‘slavery is wholly inconsistent with the beneficent precepts of the Christian religion’]. . . The situation of those of the African race, who have been held as slaves, by any of us or our predecessors, calls for our serious examination and inquiry, how far we are clear of withholding from them what, under such exercise, may be opened to our view, as their just right; . . ..” – Rules of Discipline of the Yearly Meeting of Friends held in Baltimore, 1860, “Negroes and Slaves,”

“It should not be forgotten that the soil which yields so bountifully to us was once the home of the Indians, and furnished their maintenance, and that we are justly their debtors.” – Principles, Advices, and Rules of Discipline of Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends held on Park Avenue, 1912, “Indian and African Races.”

“We are all human before we are of one race or another, and it is on this common ground of being human that we live truly and on which we meet.” – Faith and Practice of Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, 1988, “Prejudice and Discrimination”

Friend John Woolman waited on the Lord to help him and was led to make personal journeys, not dramatic actions. He observed, reflected and spoke quietly to individuals. He was led by the Spirit to speak directly to the holders of slaves to help them to reexamine themselves and the effects of their actions. We do not always see oppression as immediately as Woolman’s “farm down the road”; nowadays, modern media, business and transportation knit us more closely to the rest of the nation and the world. Economic inequalities and classism are still clear cofactors of racism. How can we free ourselves and others from these oppressions? How can we engage in positive change, whether in person, in community or in the world?

The Annual Session week that we spend together is a time of opportunity. Bring along your own experience. Come ready to listen and to talk. What do those Friends who have gone before have to teach us still, in a world where divisions persist? How can we learn from both their successes and their shortcomings? How do we hold one another accountable for our behavior and strive to evoke and recognize that of God in everyone we meet? Woolman was led to challenge the enslaving of others. What is Spirit calling us to do?