Queries for Madison Monthly Meeting
January 2021

Worship and Meditation

Divine Guidance and Discernment

• In what ways do I seek Divine Guidance? By what manner do I seek a deeper relationship with the Divine? How do these practices open up a fuller understanding of my authentic self?
• How do I create space and intention in my daily life for quiet inward reflection and spiritual readings? How do my spiritual seeking, worship and daily life enrich each other?
• Can the presence of the Divine and unconditional love be felt in my home?
• In what ways does spiritual discernment both support and challenge my everyday life?
• How does my relationship with God teach, challenge and inspire me?
• How do I cultivate and deepen a sense of wonder?
• As I experience changes in life, how do I remain steadfast while finding new ways to receive and reflect Divine love?
• When I am angry, depressed, tired or spiritually cold, how might I seek companionship of the Divine? How do I nurture the comfort of love and truth?
• Am I open to new light whatever the source?

Beliefs and Testimonies

Friends Beliefs and Testimonies
• Consider how all your life could be seen as a testament to your faith. How is your faith manifested in your life? Does it guide your decision-making and interactions with others?
• Do I respect other spiritual beliefs and worship practices that differ from mine?
• How do I seek that of God in everyone?
• What is our vision of how Friends could work together to be “patterns and examples” of a spirit-centered and sustainable way of life? What next steps could make this vision a living witness?
• How can Meeting better support all who seek a deeper understanding of Quakerism?

Simplicity
• How do my choices simplify my life?
• How am I led to use my time, energy and resources?
• What impact do my choices have on others - those people living now and those who will live in the future?
• Am I grateful for all that has been freely given?

Integrity
• How do I align my beliefs and actions? How do I maintain or regain an inner unity when I experience conflict between my faith and my practice?
• How do I discern and test authentic leadings? What sources of strength support me in following leadings?
• Am I honest and faithful when gifted with the trust of others?
• How do I use money thoughtfully and responsibly?
• How do I hold information entrusted to me responsibly, with tenderness and discretion?
• Am I fully truthful with myself and others in all transactions?
• Do I do my work in such a way that supports and holds other people in love? Do I avoid any work that does harm to other people?
• Am I radically honest in all my business and financial transactions?
• How do my Quaker beliefs, faith and integrity inform my work?

Nurturing the Divine in Body, Mind and Spirit
• In what ways do I cultivate healthier habits in eating, drinking and activity?
• How do I avoid and manage addictive habits?
• Do I avoid participation in all forms of gambling?
• How do I find support and courage to face emotional and interpersonal conflicts and move toward healing?
• How do I contemplate the end-of-life for myself and for those close to me? As feelings arise, am I able to talk openly and honestly about death with loved ones and others who share the loss?
• In what ways do I honor my love for friends in their last days and then after they pass.
• People have many different beliefs regarding what happens after death. Am I comfortable with my own beliefs and can I respect the beliefs of others?

Our Meeting

Meetings for Worship and Business
• How can I best prepare my heart and mind for worship?
• What more might I do to more deeply hold our meetings for worship and business in expectant waiting for Divine guidance?
• Do I receive the vocal ministry of others tenderly and with an open mind?
• Am I open to hearing the leadings of all people in my Meeting and participating in their discernment?
• Do I attend to our business gatherings in a spirit of love, understanding, and trust?
• How do I keep my heart and mind open and withhold judgement, when differences arise?
• Whenever we undertake actions as a Meeting do we consider the following: How do these efforts, actions and work support our commitment to antiracism?

Nurturing and Supporting People in Our Community and People Who Visit
• How does our Meeting nurture each person and family in our community?
• Does Meeting personally contact its members and attenders regularly?
• What would help us deepen our connections to each other in our community?
• Queries for engaging each other:
o How does truth fare within you?
o What have you learned from the Spirit since we last met?
• Consider how we might better identify and support people in our community who are experiencing personal challenges and life-changing events?
• How does our community welcome both those who are visiting and those who are already part of the community?

Supporting Our Quaker Community
• In what ways do I give my gifts of time, attention and resources to support the life of our Meeting?
• How do we nurture the day-to-day work of our Meeting, including committee work, that strengthens the operation of our Meeting?
• How can I foster deeper love and unity among us?
• In what ways does our Meeting manifest integrity in the wider community?

Children
• In what ways does our Meeting welcome and care for children among us?
• How do we give children an understanding of the principles and practices of Friends? In what ways do we offer our young people opportunities for service, for fellowship, and for religious instruction?
• How is our Meeting vigilant in protecting and keeping our children safe?

Living Peacefully, Caring for All People and for the Earth

Living Peacefully

• How does Friends’ peace testimony shape our lives? Do we live ”in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars”?
• Do I seek to settle all differences by truly nonviolent methods?
• In what ways am I committed to the work of reconciliation between individuals, groups and nations?

Improving Conditions for All
• What is our Meeting doing in our community, our country and our world to improve the conditions under which all people live? How do we strive to secure and maintain civil, human, and environmental rights for all?
• As citizens, how do we participate in and encourage our government to act in ways that reflect our values?
• How are we working toward becoming an antiracist faith community?
• How can we be fully accountable to and supportive of Black, Indigenous and People of Color in the ways they have asked?
• Do we actively seek to understand racism and our role in it, both in ourselves and in the wider Quaker community? Are we allies with those who are treated unjustly?
• How do I continually nurture a growing understanding of race, ethnicity and class as a personal and spiritual concern?
• How do we honor the testimony of equality, especially in our attitudes toward those people who have been discriminated against? How do we promote equality and acceptance regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or economic status?

Caring for the Earth
• How can I live more in harmony with the earth and all living things?
• How am I deliberate in decreasing my resource and energy use?
• What burden does my wastefulness place on future generations? Do I consider this impact in the decisions I make?
• How do I work for the conservation and right use of natural resources? Do I speak up when I see environmental injustice?
• How do I weave self, nature, and God into the spiritual fabric of my life?
• How do we share the depth of our gratitude, pleasure, and joy in the natural world with others, including our children? How do we share our concerns and grief?
• How can our Meeting encourage a deep appreciation of and a caring relationship with the earth?