The newly formed Iglesia de Los Amigos Cuaqueros of Richmond, Indiana, officially opened on Friday evening, November 8, with a service of worship and praise held at West Richmond Friends Meeting. The church will continue to meet on Friday evenings at West Richmond Friends. The volunteer staff includes Odalys Hernandez Cruz, pastor; Dinora Uvalle Vasquez, director of community services; Jasson Arevalo and Luisa Samayoa, music directors; and Myron Guachalla, secretary. The new church decorated the meetingroom with flags of all the South American and Central American countries and territories.
Read MoreHistorically and theologically, Friends had little use for the liturgical seasons (Advent, Lent, and Pentecost) or the liturgical holidays (Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, All Saints Day). But as some of these seasons and holidays—Christmas, in particular—have become commercial and economic seasons in their own right, as well as family judgments, some Friends have turned to the devotional practices of the liturgical churches in order to stay focused on the spiritual heart of ideas that are being turned into material gain. For that reason, the FUM online bookstore brings in a few books every year aimed at personal and family devotions for the Advent season. A few of our selections this year:
Read MoreGenesis 22:9 – 9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. The blunder many believers make I to think that, the last thing that God wants from them is the sacrifice of death, but when we carefully look at the passage above, we realize that God is interested on the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Christ Jesus did.
Read MoreMark 4:10 – “When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables”. Sometimes allows situations in our lives that would call for a time of solitude with Him. God may allow this by affliction, temptation, heartbreak, disappointment, sickness or by simply thwarting affection by a broken relationship by a loved one. When He gets us absolutely alone, and we are dumbfounded by the situation and we cannot even ask a question – then He begins to expound and make things clearer to our minds so that we can know Him better. When you look at the life of Jesus Christ with the disciples, it was the disciples who were perplexed by His deeds and not the crowds outside.
Read MoreThroughout our history, the people known as Friends (or Quakers) keep rediscovering an essential and enduring truth: There is one who speaks to our most basic needs and most significant hopes—Christ Jesus the Lord. Both individually and communally, we are learning to know and follow the Voice that guides us in the way we should go. Together, we seek to understand and obey that truth which sets us free. As a people, we share in the experience of that powerful life which makes all things new. Maybe you are searching for an authentic and transforming faith and community to call home—if so, come in and join us as we seek to know and follow Christ.
Friends United Meeting commits itself to energize and equip Friends through the power of the Holy Spirit to gather people into fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved, and obeyed as Teacher and Lord.