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Flushing Monthly Meeting’s Minute on Reproductive Choice
As Quakers, our faith respects both individual personhood and the covenant relationship of families. We are exhorted to be faithful to the Spirit based on a trust in, and love of, each other. Flushing Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends does not promote any specific doctrine, rules or regulations regarding these matters, nor […] CONTINUE READING
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Statement on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
As Quakers, we have seen that much can be accomplished when we turn away from violence and toward cooperation. We reject military engagement at any level. Diplomacy and dialogue are the only true solution to conflicts between nations. Therefore, Flushing Monthly Meeting, in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and their right to sovereignty and peace […] CONTINUE READING
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Flushing Interfaith Council receives $20,000 grant to support community relief efforts
Flushing Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is a founding member of the Flushing Interfaith Council, which received a $20,000 emergency grant to support community relief efforts addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization which attempts to alleviate problems caused by poverty in New York City, allocated […] CONTINUE READING
The barometer for judging the character of people, in regard human rights, is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian. The judgment as to whether you can trust the future, the social advancement—depending on people—will be judged on where they come out on that question. … It is in this sense that gay people are the new barometer for social change. The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay people.”—Bayard Rustin
Our experience has been that spiritual gifts are not distributed with regard to sexual orientation or gender identity. Our spiritual work is dependent on recognizing all people, including those who identify as LGBTQIA+. We are all equal and beloved, as God made us, and the gifts of the Spirit are ours to joyously share. Flushing Monthly Meeting is all of us. We celebrate, worship, wed, work, mourn, and rejoice together in all the “diverse liveries we wear.”
“Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word ‘love’ here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace – not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.”—James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time