The first speaker passed on the Lord's command, "Worship me!" We were reminded to be prepared to serve Him, even when we don't know yet what that service may be. Our different personal preferences are not the same as "right¨and "wrong." Keeping that in mind makes it easier for us to set them aside to come into unity with each other and obedience to God.
. . .
God can mold us like clay into the shapes He desires, bring us through the fire of sanctification into being a vessel perfected for His service. If we want our meetings to be vital, we need to take the people we have at the stages they are in and work with God to help each of us move along toward that perfection. Everyone needs to be spiritually nourished - those who are just beginning to be molded, those who look like almost perfect vessels, and everyone in between.
. . .
Our meetings will not revive unless we personally submit to God's molding and firing. We need to visit the person we do not like, listen to the person with whom we dialogue, and be ongoing examples of what Jesus teaches.
-------------------------- end of quotes--------------
Raye here: I participated in this process, begun probably over ten years ago, looking back. I attended the meetings and gatherings and prayed and listened. The Yearly Meeting assembled a document (title in the title of this discussion) and printed and published it as a record of our efforts to respond to what a number of us saw as a strong, clear call from the Lord.
I want to share this with people who have an interest in Ohio Yearly Meeting. Often online what we read are blog posts and personal opinions and testimony from individuals, all of which helps piece together a picture. I offer these quotes from a very important time for our Yearly Meeting, published on behalf of the Yearly Meeting, from meetings and gatherings of a number of us, to add to the picture in hopes that the difference in scale (cannot think of a better term) may help provide some additional perspective.
May the Lord, bless His Holy name, use this for His own good purposes.