How can we know and feel the ‘Call?’ How to Speak from Silence.
In Quaker worship, we are encouraged to “Speak out of the Silence.” Yet, in deepening Silence, we find a space where our self dissolves. Isn’t this a radical departure? How do we merit this in a society built on individualism? How do we cultivate a listening to; and a listening from that Silence? What part of thee/we/us is attuned to a movement among, and, of Spirit? How do we allow Silence to speak through us to an other? Bayard Rustin, Quaker civil rights activist, and a radical pacifist, grappled with these questions in his lifelong witness against war and injustice. His insistence maintaining a fierceness in a peace testimony, even in the face of societal internal Quaker wavering, challenges us today: How can I consider my own fidelity to truth and justice?
Historian John D’Emilio recounted how, in 1942, Rustin wrote forcefully to his own Friends Meeting when he learned they were considering offering hospitality and services to American military personnel. Rustin’s words cut through the moral ambiguity of wartime Quakerism:
“The primary function of a religious society is to ‘speak truth to power.’ The truth is that war is wrong. It is then our duty to make war impossible first in us and then in society. To cooperate with government in building morale seems inconsistent with all we profess to believe… The greatest service that we can render the men in the armed forces is to maintain our peace testimony.”
His response was not merely about resisting war; it was about preserving the spiritual integrity of a faith community committed to peace. Rustin understood that complicity with militarism eroded the core of Quaker witness. This moment raises an enduring question: How do we hold steadfast to the truth when confronted with cultural, political, and even internal pressures to compromise?
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