One of my favorite Quaker practices is during Meeting for Worship when we allow time for people to share particular situations or people that they want the Meeting to "hold in the Light." At Brooklyn Meeting, this happens at the end of Meeting for Worship, when the person sitting "head of Meeting" welcomes anyone to share a difficult situation or person in need. Then anyone can speak their concern into the silence.
Sometimes it can seem like a festival of pain:
"Please hold my student in the light. She just lost her mom in a car accident."
"Please hold the people of Mumbai in the Light as they rebuild after this terrible terrorist attack."
But there is something empowering and positive about sharing your personal and familial struggles with your larger Quaker community. It's allowing others into an intimate and sensitive space and asking them to support you spiritually.
At Brooklyn Meeting, we now have an emailed "Light List" or requests for prayer that get emailed out periodically to people in the Meeting who want to receive it. This a nice extension of our Sunday morning practice, and a good reminder of who in Meeting could use a little extra support.
There are of course more tangible ways that we support each other — visiting the sick, offering counsel to those that need it, donating to various causes. But it begins with the act of holding someone in the Light, letting God get involved and following Her leading. I find that very beautiful.
Rik, thank you for sharing this. It reminds me of our ‘spoken joys and concerns’ part of our service at ERUUF (the Durham Unitarian Universalist Fellowship). Although our congregation is quite large, and I have not yet had the reason to get up and share, I do enjoy listening and feeling closer to the ERUUF community. It’s a true reality check to remember the sorrows so many even in our own community are dealing with, and we celebrate together when a new child is born, or, like today, when someone joyously shares that they are cancer free!
That’s a good point about sharing joy as well as sorrow. We do that as well during Meeting, but often we spend more time on the requests for prayer rather than giving thanks.
Sharing light is a great practice. I light a candle when needed, giving that candle the honor we would give the person/place/creature in need….when appropriate we make this a group activity. I like how the AIDS vigil a few years back and Rhiannon’s work at the cathedral allow for this type of virtual practice to hold the same intention as we would in prayer or contemplation.