Thoughts for the Day

What God Requires

‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

George Fox was born at Fenny Drayton in Leicestershire in 1624, the son of a weaver. In 1646 he began to preach that the truth could only be found through God's inner voice speaking directly to each soul. His society of 'The Friends of Truth' was formed at about this time, clearly a protest against the authoritarianism of the present system (Charles I was executed in 1649 which brought the Puritans and Oliver Cromwell into power!), and many believers joined. They were nicknamed Quakers in 1650 which quickly became a name they themselves adopted. Fox spent several spells in gaol because of his determination to preach where and what he wanted; he also made many missionary journeys in England, Europe, North America and the West Indies.

By 1660 there were around 50,000 Quakers but a number of their beliefs were considered radical, eg the idea that women and men were spiritual equals, and women could speak out during worship. Quakers didn’t have official ministers or religious ritual and were pacifists. Central to their beliefs was the idea that everyone had the Light of Christ within them. Fox spent much of the 1660s behind bars, and by the 1680s thousands of Quakers across the British Isles had suffered decades of whippings, torture and imprisonment. This was to continue in America where several Quakers (the Boston Martyrs) were executed. Here, they sought to protect Native American rights, abolish slavery, and later, in the UK many of the leaders of the women's suffrage movement were Quakers. Today, there are approximately 400,000 Quakers around the world, the highest percentage being in Africa.

George Fox died on this day in 1691. Perhaps his greatest legacy was to remind us that God speaks to each of us if we will listen, and that what He requires as Micah says, is that we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.

Collect

Faithful God,
who called George Fox to serve You
and gave him joy in walking the path of holiness:
renew in us the vision of Your glory,
and strengthen us to follow the way of perfection,
until we see You face to face.
Amen.