Spring 2025
Getting Acquainted with Quakerism in Jacksonville: Past and Present “
During this session we will explore the history of Quakerism here in Jacksonville in two ways.
First, if you have the chance, we hope that you will visit the Currents of Faith — Belief at the Beaches exhibit at the Beaches Museum before we meet. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., and Sundays, noon – 4 p.m. Admission is free. The exhibit will be available until Sunday, February 16th. We will have the chance to talk about your ideas and impressions of the exhibit, especially as the panels illustrate the various faiths’ presence at the Beaches, and Quakerism among them. If you haven’t been able to go see the exhibit yet, we can talk about what questions you might have about faith traditions in the Beaches area.
Second, as we consider our place in the religious community at the Beaches, and discern our calling as a Quaker worship group, we also want to reflect on our meeting’s past.
Jacksonville Quakers have had a presence in our community for at least 92 years. How is our meeting’s history a light leading us into the future?
Attached is a set of articles from Jacksonville newspapers about the activities of Quakers in Jacksonville between 1933 (the first mention of a Quaker meeting in Jacksonville) and 1986 (when news about Jacksonville Quakers begins to fade). The newspaper database we used only goes through the early 1990s.
The articles don’t tell the full history of the Jacksonville Friends Meeting but do give us some examples of its work and faithfulness. Here are some questions to consider after reading the articles:
1. When you read these articles, did some of the events surprise you? If so, which ones and why?
2. Are there any threads that seem to knit the articles together for you?
3. What insights do you have about our Quaker past in Jacksonville?
4. What additional questions do you have about other Quaker activities here in Jacksonville?
5. How might the past work of Jacksonville Quakers help guide us in the future?
We are looking forward to seeing you on Friday.
Scott Matthews
Sarah Sharp
Fall 2024
This fall and winter our Quaker study group will read and discuss three Pendle Hill pamphlets: ‘Forging Beloved Community with Friends’ by Bridget Moix, ‘Humanity in the Face of Inhumanity’ by Sue Williams, and ‘A Culture of Faithfulness’ by Marcelle Martin. We chose these pamphlets because they speak to issues relevant to our growing worship group and tumultuous world. Our hope is that our discussions will help us discern how to best live out our Quaker testimonies for each other and the communities in which we live.
October 2024
Our first reading is “Forging Beloved Community with Friends” by Bridget Moix. This lecture is also available on line by coping the follow link into your browser:
Forging Beloved Community with Friends, with Bridget Moix – Stephen G. Cary Memorial Lecture 2023
Here is a set of Questions concerning our selected reading for Quaker Study Group on Friday.
Scott Mathews and Sarah Sharp will be leading the discussion.
- What does Moix mean by a “beloved community” (title, p. 21)? How about some of the other terms that she uses in her pamphlet, such as “Refiner’s Fire”/”transformative fire” (pp. 6, 13, 15); “chrysalises,” “cocoon,” “womb” (pp. 8, 14)? What do these terms mean to us as individuals, as Quakers?
- Moix tells us that she drew the phrase “Refiner’s Fire” and its imagery from the writings of Marcelle Martin (p. 6). Martin herself drew upon early Quakers’ writings for this phrase. Together, Moix and Martin give us the chance to think about past Quakers, here in the United States and elsewhere. How do all of these references to other Quakers affect your thinking about Friends’ history, activities, and ideas?
- On pp. 10-11, Moix lists the ways that “our world is in turmoil…” Which of these weighs heaviest on you? Or is there another way that isn’t listed? How do you make your own path forward as a person and as a Quaker to absorb or confront what concerns you most?