'It is fascinating to see how the elements of ether, air, fire, water and earth correspond with the way Advices & queries unfolds.' Photo: Glendon Rolston / flickr CC.
What does love require of us?
Pat Yates welcomes a new booklet from the Kindlers
David Brown’s new booklet What does love require of us? Quaker promptings towards love in action, another in the excellent series produced by the Kindlers, is a gem.
What I admire most is the structure the author chooses to examine this question. It could have been such an unwieldy subject, since its compass is so wide. To make it easier, yet more thorough and penetrating to study, he uses our well-known Advices & queries as a guide or map for the journey. The forty-two are divided into sections, with a chapter devoted to each, and each chapter follows the same pattern. This makes the whole study comfortable to follow, with recognisable stages along the way. There are comments to tease out the essence of each advice and query, questions for reflection, suggestions for an activity and some final thoughts ‘to leave a savour behind it’.
What I find of great interest, too, is the second guide that David Brown gives us alongside Advices & queries: this is the perspective of the elements. It is fascinating to see how the elements of ether, air, fire, water and earth correspond with the way Advices & queries unfolds. At the same time this demonstrates the advice to seek to gain from a wide range of spiritual insights. The booklet contains many riches from other faith traditions, from a quotation of Mohandas Gandhi inside the front cover right through to a North American prayer. ‘The Hymn to Love’ (1 Corinthians 13) towards the end says it all:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres…
In asking us to reflect on our own promptings, David Brown does not shrink from revealing his own. He gives us many insights into his own spiritual journey and frequently gives personal examples of love in action, with examples from his own life and from his Local Meeting.
There is much to gain from using this booklet as a study guide either as an individual but more effectively, perhaps, in a group context. It is very reasonably priced and is certainly invaluable as a way of deepening the life of the Spirit. It is a work that will bear much fruit for those who want to attempt its gentle challenges.
What does love require of us? Quaker promptings towards love in action by David Brown is published by the Kindlers at £3. ISBN: 9780993362729.
