Goose Creek Friends Meeting
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Join our email listWelcome
G
oose Creek is a warm and welcoming community where we support each other in our shared journeys of the Spirit. We believe, in the words of the Quaker writer Thomas Kelly, that “deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return.” In our worship and in our daily lives we seek to remain always with our hearts turned toward that Divine Center.
Quakerism is not defined by creeds or doctrine. Rather it is a lived spiritual practice where we seek God in our experiences and live out our faith in our shared world. We believe that there is that of God within each and every human being – adults and children – regardless of faith, race, nationality, sexual orientation, or life experiences. We are called to answer that Divine spark, that Light Within, both in ourselves and in others.
We welcome all seekers, find deep kinship in our shared humanity, and value our differences.
Caring for One Another
- In what ways do I show respect for that of God in every person?
- Do I reach out with spiritual and practical care to those with special needs?
- Am I comfortable making my own needs known to Meeting?
- How do we share in the diverse joys and transitions in each other’s lives?
- Do you consider the needs of grandparents and older members of the family circle?
From Baltimore Yearly Meeting “Advices.”
Our Meetings are strongest when Friends are concerned about the welfare of every member of the Meeting community. While we need to guard against prying or invasion of privacy, it is nevertheless essential that Meeting be aware of the spiritual and material needs of members of the community and express caring concern in appropriate ways. To this end, we are to live affectionately as friends, entering with sympathy into the joys and sorrows of one another’s lives…
Just as we do not leave pastoral care to a pastor, so we may not leave this most essential function to a committee alone. It is important to recognize when it may be appropriate to reach within or beyond the Quaker community to involve persons with special expertise.
Voices
“Our life is love, and peace, and tenderness, and bearing one with another, and forgiving one another — and helping one another up with a tender hand, if there has been any slip or fall.”
— Isaac Penington, 1667
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.”
— John 13:34-35
“Those who go forth ministering to the wants and necessities of their fellow beings, experience a rich return, their souls being as a watered garden, and as a spring that faileth not”
— Lucretia Mott, 1850
“When members of a fellowship know one another, care for one another, visit one another in their homes, consult one another, hold one another up in the silence and fee responsibility before God for one another, then when they meet together for worship they are truly open as a corporate group for the deepest working of the Spirit.”
— Douglas Steere, 1940
“In true community we will not choose our companions, for our choices are so often limited by self-serving motives. Instead, our companions will be given to us by grace. Often they will be persons who will upset our settled view of self and world. In fact, we might define true community as the place where the person you least want to live with always lives!”
— Parker J. Palmer, 1977
“How does a man in the dark prison environment follow his leadings, adhere to the foundations of his faith and live in the Light? Queries such as these are what bring men to Quaker worship. Queries such as these provide guides as we seek to find our way. The men at South Mountain Friends Fellowship are grateful for the path that has remained lit for us, and for others to follow.”
— South Mountain Friends Fellowship, Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown, 2006
Calendar
The Goose Creek meeting house is open for in-person worship. Masking is optional. We are also continuing to offer Meeting for Worship via Zoom. Please use the link below to join us at 9:45 a.m. if you prefer to worship online.
Link for Meeting for Worship:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83350737205?pwd=Z0pNM2xZRTBpSDQwa2ZaMmRiRHM0UT09
Meeting ID: 833 5073 7205
Passcode: 061785
For all other online gatherings listed in the calendar, please request link at gcmmlincoln@gmail.com.
Wednesday, March 1
7:00 p.m. Discussion group
11:00 p.m. Friends Wilderness Center – Star Gazing
Sunday, March 5
9:45 a.m. Meeting for Worship
11:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business
Wednesday, March 8
7:00 p.m. Discussion group
Saturday, March 11
9 a.m. Scholarship-writing day at Goose Creek
9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Nature Writing Workshop – online
10 a.m. Friends Wilderness Center – Salamander Shuffle
Sunday, March 12
9:45 a.m. Meeting for Worship
11:00 a.m. Second Hour: Presentation & Discussion led by the Antiracism Committee, followed by soup & bread lunch
Wednesday, March 15
7:00 p.m. Discussion group
Sunday, March 19
8:45 a.m. Unity with Nature Committee meeting
9:45 a.m. Meeting for Worship
11:00 a.m. Second Hour: “Birds & Birding in western Loudoun County“, presented by Joe Coleman, Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy
11:00 a.m. – 1 p.m. Mud Club
Wednesday, March 22
7:00 p.m. Discussion group
Sunday, March 26
9:45 a.m. Meeting for Worship
11:00 a.m. Ministry & Worship Committee meeting
Wednesday, March 29
7:00 p.m. Quakerism Series: “What do Quakers Believe?” – online
Thursday, March 30
7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Online guided nature meditation
Saturday, April 1
10:00 a.m. – 12 noon Mud Club
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. HikeAsana at Friends Wilderness Center
Sunday, April 2
9:45 a.m. Meeting for Worship
11:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business
Wednesday, April 5
7:00 p.m. Discussion Group
Friday, April 7
7:00 p.m. Wisdom Sharing for Easter: resurrection, redemption, forgiveness – online
Saturday, April 8
9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Nature Writing Workshop – online
Wednesday, April 12
7:00 p.m. Discussion Group
Saturday, April 15
10:00 a.m. Wildflowers at the Waterfall at Friends Wilderness Center
Sunday, April 16
8:45 a.m. Unity with Nature Committee meeting
9:45 a.m. Meeting for Worship
11:00 a.m. Second Hour: Quaker Process in Committees
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Mud Club
Wednesday, April 19
7:00 p.m. Discussion Group
Saturday, April 22
12:00 a.m. Meteors on the Meadow: Lyrids at Friends Wilderness Center
Sunday, April 23
9:45 a.m. Meeting for Worship
11:00 a.m. Presentation by Gabe Erle, Executive Director, Friends Publishing Corporation
Monday, April 24
7:00 p.m. Our Ridge in Reflection at Friends Wilderness Center
Wednesday, April 26
7:00 p.m. “What do Quakers believe?”, Session Two: There is that of God in everyone. Online
Thursday, April 27
7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Online guided nature meditation
To request an email announcement or addition to the calendar, please contact us at goosecreeknews@gmail.com. Please read our Goose Creek Email Protocol for further guidance.
Street Address:
18204 Lincoln Road
Purcellville, VA 20132
Postal Address:
PO Box 105
Lincoln, VA 20160
