Fall 2022 Wisdom School: A Testament of Devotion - Cultivating Courageous Conscience In Contemporary Crisis

“Out in front of us is the drama of [people] and of nations, seething, struggling, laboring, dying. Upon this tragic drama in these days our eyes are all set in anxious watchfulness and in prayer. But within the silences of the souls of men an eternal drama is ever being enacted, in these days as well as in others. And on the outcome of this inner drama rests, ultimately, the outer pageant of history.” (Thomas Kelly, Holy Obedience)

The Quaker mystic Thomas Kelly wrote these words to a Philadelphia audience in 1941, as the flames of war were already spreading around the planet. But they are words that are just as true in our contemporary moment of danger and opportunity. 

As we quake before the immensity of the world’s pain in this perilous passage, many of us are looking for ways to act that will actually have an impact on the future yet to be. We ask ourselves: how can we turn this ship around? How can we live into our responsibility as individuals and communities to tend our common human life through this needle’s-eye in history?

And how is it that we can come to that mysterious point of holy obedience, where we are ready to answer courageously the call of the moment? How will we respond to that call when the time comes for us to lay down our security, our livelihood, or even our lives for the sake of those most at risk in our world?

This fall in Wisdom School, the prophetic writing of Thomas Kelly will be our companion as we encounter a Quaker take on the issue. Written with all the clarity, presence, and power of a heart that is awake and attuned to the Light Within, the essays in Kelly’s 1941 spiritual classic, A Testament of Devotion, offer us a clear and actionable roadmap for how we can live as people of courage and conscience to rise to the present need. 

Through embodied spiritual practices, meditative silence, and open-hearted discussion around Kelly’s powerful writing, we’ll endeavor to deepen our connection to the Wellspring, diving into streams which will carry us from frantic hopelessness to the kind of calm, collected, and courageous action that has been the hallmark of people of conscience for centuries. “When the angel is troubling the waters, it is no time to stand on the bank and recite past wonders.”

This fall’s Wisdom School begins on Wednesday, September 21st at 6:00PM at FCCBC, with the option to Zoom in if you’re unable to attend in person. Please register here: https://bit.ly/3wucE0d