“. . . in the wisdom, love and fellowship of God, in gravity, patience, meekness, in unity and concord, submitting one to another in lowliness of heart, and in the holy Spirit of truth and righteousness all things [are] to be carried on; by hearing, and determining every matter coming before you, in love, coolness, gentleness and dear unity. . . ”
Edward Burrough, 1662
“As the chosen of God, then, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves in heartfelt compassion, in generosity and humility, gentleness and patience. ” Col 3:12
“‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ ”
Matt. 11:28–30
Quaker Life, vol. 7 no. 1, will be focused on gentleness. Please consider sharing, with the community of Quaker Life readers, your stories about gentleness.
Some questions that might serve to get you started:
• How or when have you been intentionally gentle, or felt another be gentle with you? Have moments of gentleness stood out as exceptional, or have they been intentional and persistent?
• In what ways has an intention to be gentle changed how you respond to others? Have you found that gentleness on another’s part has changed your response?
• Has gentleness been (or not been) an aspect of your experience with God? How so?
• In what ways does your Friends Meeting or Church practice being gentle?
What we are looking for in a submission is an account of your own experience of gentleness—personally, or within your family or work place or neighborhood, or in the life of your faith community. We are also eager to accept visual art: concrete or abstract images about being gentle, accompanied by a brief description of the piece’s meaning, or the process of creation, or both. We have no word limits for textual submissions, but, as a useful guide, most of our essays run between 250 to 2100 words. Images should be digital files between 1–10 MBs in size, in jpg, tiff, or png format. We are not able to accept handwritten submissions. If your visual images are not digitized, please send us an inquiry about submission.
To submit your work (text or image), or for more information, please email us.
Also, please include with your submission a short biography of yourself, including the Meeting or church where you worship.
Submissions for the Quaker Life issue on gentleness should reach us by May 18, 2022.
“Stewardship” is the theme for the vol.7, no.2 issue of Quaker Life. Submissions on stewardship should reach us by 7/21/2022.