About Us
The Housatonic Monthly Meeting is part of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and the New York Yearly Meeting. Our Meeting has a diversity of backgrounds, ages, social commitments, and religious concerns. We are united primarily by religious experience and a common commitment to a way of life. In addition to worshiping and studying together, we share many activities together including retreats, festivals, small group discussions, innumerable committees, and work in the larger community. Our belief in that ‘there is that of God in every person’ leads us to work with the homeless, the oppressed, and on behalf of peace, justice, and racial harmony.
Meeting for Worship at Housatonic Monthly Meeting is unprogrammed. There is no leader except for the spirit of God which is in us and among us. Friends gather to wait together in quiet anticipation of experiencing God’s presence. There is a living silence which has great power. A religious experience and a humble sense that it must be shared may lead to a spoken message offered in the spirit of worship. Meeting for Worship is a time for one’s spiritual life to be deepened. We welcome all who desire to worship with us!
History of Quakerism
The Religious Society of Friends began in England about 1650, in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation. It began as a religious protest against what many perceived as the hollow formalism which marked the established church at that time.
George Fox, the founder, underwent a profound religious experience that he described as a voice answering his spiritual need: “There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.” The immediacy of Christ became the heart of his message and ministry, the beginning of the Quaker movement.
Early Friends were seeking authentic spirituality, a return to primitive Christianity. Friends believe that there is a measure of God’s spirit in all people, known as the Inner Light, the Christ Within, and the Inward Teacher. The Inner Light informs conscience, and reveals that which is eternal. Through its guidance, we may become conscious of the oneness of humankind and creation.
Worship
Worship, according to the original practice of Friends, is unprogrammed, without human direction or supervision, relying instead upon continuing revelation from that of God within each person. It provides an hour where Friends gather together and worship, both in silent seeking and through verbal messages celebrating expressions of the Inner Light.
Meeting for worship begins with an extended period of settling, centering down from the pressures, conflicts, and other surface effects which crowd and overload our day-to-day lives. Corporate silent worship in the manner of Friends is a means of accessing deep personal and collective levels of Divine Leading. This is to foster a sensitivity to the Light Within, and enriches each Friend in achieving a closer contact with the Holy Spirit and receiving constructive insights about action in the world.
The Practice of Friends’ Faith
Friends are to testify and give public expression to their beliefs. Friends take seriously the practice of their faith in daily life, receiving guidance from their testimonies.
The testimony of integrity, which is the foundation for all other testimonies, calls for correspondence between the inner light and its outward manifestations, between belief and practice.
The peace testimony arises from the understanding that there is that of God in everyone. Therefore, Friends are opposed to all wars and seek justice and resolution of conflicts through non-violent means. Peace begins with one’s own inner peace and extends outward to others.
The testimony of equality recognizes the essential oneness and equality of all before God, without regard to age, gender, race, religion, nationality, occupational, social or educational position.
The testimony of simplicity calls for a detachment from obsessive grasping for possessions and worldly aspirations, which are distractions from seeking the Truth. It seeks honesty in speech, integrity in personal relations and business dealings, and a lifestyle that offers an alternative to the great busyness of modern life.
The testimony of community recognizes that we are one human family no matter how great our differences. The Light may illuminate a gathered group as well as an individual heart and bind the group together in a community of faith, which affirms and nurtures the best we find in one another.
The earthcare testimony is founded on respect for God’s creation and is a spiritual concern for our environment. Conscientious protection of our planet and the right use of the world’s resources is an expression of this testimony.
