First Friends Meeting
Matthew 6:25-34
Quaker Testimonies, Part 2: Simplicity
Doug Gwyn

I’m continuing this morning with part 2 in our series on the Quaker testimonies. Today, we are looking at the testimony of simplicity. Actually, ‘plainness’ is the more traditional Quaker word for simplicity. Over most of our history, plainness or simplicity was the Quaker testimony most obvious to most people. There was the traditional plain Quaker dress, in black or gray, without fancy trim. There was the Quaker plain way of speaking – using ‘thee’ and ‘thou’, refusing to use titles such as Reverend so-and-so, or Doctor so-and-so. There was a traditional Quaker simplicity of lifestyle – the modest size and decor of Quaker homes, etc. For many years, Friends had standard ways of living out the testimony of simplicity – so it made the Quaker stand out.

There’s actually a certain day that this testimony of simplicity emerged in public. It happened one market-day in the Yorkshire town of Malton, in December, 1651. In the middle of that crowded town market, a handful of newly convinced Quaker merchants set fire to a pile of ribbon, trinkets, and other needless consumer items they had been selling before they became Quakers. Some other Quakers were there, and they threw their own luxury items they into the fire too. It made a nice blaze and no doubt, a number of people thought it rather odd. England was in the middle of a commercial revolution, based mainly upon a thriving textile industry. Middle-class folks were just starting to have a little extra money to spend on more than the bare necessities. People were just getting a taste for consumerism. And here these dour Quakers come along and spoil the party. Now, many of these early Friends were in the textile trades. Many of them successful merchants and traders. They were robust participants in this new commercial revolution. These were the early, formative stages of capitalism, and Quakers were in the thick of it all. But they wanted to see this new economic vitality work toward more than fancier clothing and home decor. They called these the “vain fashions of the world.” They saw poverty and starvation all around them. So they resisted spending money on useless apparel and trinkets. They instead worked to help the poor families and starving children in their neighborhood.

When I was teaching at Woodbrooke in England, I met a Quaker from Malton Friends Meeting. He told me that he and his local meeting had commemorated that historic moment 350 years later, in December 2001. He said that burning a few ribbons looked at least as strange to passersby that Saturday morning as it had 350 years ago. He also said that as he looked around, he realized that their local market had surely a hundred times more useless trinkets, needless products, and vain fashions to choose from than it had in 1651.

Today, we are awash in products we don’t need but might be persuaded to buy. What we actually need is pretty hard to say anymore. We do really need some things, of course, like breakfast cereal, for example. But one trip down that aisle at the supermarket and your head spins. Living in the middle of all this, we’ve pretty well lost our moorings in reality. We watch television and we can’t tell anymore what’s real and what was generated by a computer. Likewise, the advertising that goes with the television programs teases us with so many things that look so good. Then we have those so-called ‘reality TV’ programs. Real people doing really stupid things for money or just for time in front of the camera. If that’s reality, God help us all!

But that’s enough harrumphing. I don’t like to inveigh about these things. Satire is more fun. This is a song some of you have heard me sing before. I guess it gets at the way television advertising keeps making us think that buying more products is going to make us happy, bring us love, and make us safe. It’s a romantic consumer fantasy, called ‘Mall Story’.

My bank’s ATM screen keeps telling me, “Simplify your life!” It’s always an ironic moment when I see that, just as I’m getting more cash. But all the bank is actually suggesting is that I consolidate all the debts from all my misguided over-spending into one big monthly payment. Well, that’s a certain kind of simplicity. But it doesn’t stop me from unwise spending. It doesn’t keep my house from getting cluttered. It doesn’t keep me from getting over-committed now and then with my time and energy. How can I simplify my life?

I chose to spoke about simplicity this Sunday because it follows perhaps most closely upon the testimony of truth and integrity. You may recall from last Sunday, the words of Jesus that the light has come into the world to show us the truth about ourselves. And if we are willing to come into that light, we begin see ourselves as God sees us. In the light of God’s love, we begin to see who we really are. We also see ourselves trying to be things that we really aren’t. Letting go of the wishful thinking and wasted energy in our lives begins to re-form us into something more coherent, more focused – even more efficient and successful. Success may or may not be in financial terms, but success at being yourself is the best success of all. It’s the success you can live with. It’s the you you can live with. And when you start paring off all the wishful ideas of who you could be, you can also shed a lot of the wasteful accessories that went with that person you are not. You can start simplifying, getting rid of stuff you don’t need, dropping activities that clutter your week and wear you out. Spending time in God’s light, time in prayer, reflection, meditation --- all this brings focus, it brings integrity, wholeness. In the long run, you discover that less is more – there’s more of you available to spend time with those you really love, and to work for the causes you really hold dear.

So simplicity is a matter of integrity, and integrity is about facing the simple truth about ourselves. It can seem frightening at first. We’re not always sure we want to know the truth about ourselves. We don’t feel we’re good enough. But a lot of that is due to measuring ourselves according to someone else, or some fabulous image of success we got from watching too much television in the first place. When you stand still and rest in the light of God, you can feel God’s love there in you. You just have to spend the time to find out, who is this me that God is so in love with? Finding that out, and refocusing your life on being that person, making some decisions and changing some directions – it’s all gain. Whatever misguided directions you give up on, or unneeded products you slough off – it’s all gain, it’s all liberation. You’re free.

Advices 39 and 41 in Britain Yearly Meeting’s Quaker Faith & Practice help us engage with the testimony of simplicity. Perhaps we could use them as a way to move together now in to Open Worship: “Consider which of the ways to happiness offered by society are truly fulfilling, and which are potentially corrupting and destructive. Be discriminating when choosing means of entertainment and information. Resist the desire to acquire possessions or income through unethical investment, speculation or games of chance. Try to live simply. A simple lifestyle freely chosen is a source of strength. Do not be persuaded into buying what you do not need or cannot afford. Do you keep yourself informed about the effects of your style of living on the global economy and environment?”