Prayer: The Cornerstone

Pendle Hill Pamphlets

by Helen Griscom Bell Hole

Recently, I have been re-reading the book of Acts, and inevitably this has led me to do some thinking about that first Christian Church. I have been impressed again by certain things which always strike us every time we look at the the fact, for example, that the first Christians had few of the “helps” which we usually assume as part of the functioning of the church, – no church property, no separated clergy, no acknowledged authority except that based on obvious experience in the life of the Spirit, almost no organization, no set rituals. The members were largely simple people without benefit of education, birth, or political influence. And yet from this apparently insignificant group, with less in its favor than is the case with many a small Friends’ meeting, came the power which swept like an irresistible fire across the civilized world to Herculaneum and beyond it, which transformed the Western World and its thought, and which has set an example for Christians ever since. What accounted for the tremendous vitality of the movement? What enabled it to sweep everything before it and to conquer, in the face of persecution and cruelty, the Roman Empire, one of the greatest totalitarian machines the world has ever known? As I have struggled again with this problem, I have seen at the heart of its solution, as a part at any rate of the answer, two essential factors whose combination was irresistible, and probably always will be irresistible wherever they are found together. The first of these is a certain kind of fellowship.

28 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 1962

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This pamphlet stems from an address the author gave at Pendle Hill in winter 1961. She begins by reflecting on the earliest Christians, those in the generation or two after the death of Jesus. Hole reminds us they had no structured church then, no dedicated buildings, no New Testament, no consistent rules across places. They only had each other and developed the church based on the memories of those who had heard Jesus preach and through working together, supporting each other, and prayer. It wasn’t really possible to be a “go-solo” Christian, unless, maybe you were one of those who followed Jesus closely while he was alive. You needed to feel an intimacy to the message or spirit and a a community and you had to contribute to it, everyone working toward its survival – and each other’s since establishing a new faith was considered heretical by the ruling parties (Jewish, Roman, etc.)

Hole states two elements – close “fellowship in depth and the immediate encounter with the spirit of God” define the “dynamic of the Christian movement, and their combination is irresistible, releasing a source of overwhelming spiritual power.” (p. 6)

She believes “with absolute certainty that this same source of power is open to us today.” (p. 9)

Conflicts would arise between what one believed Christ had taught and what dominant society believed. Early Christians would say, Hole believes, “It is our duty to obey the orders of God rather than the orders of man.”(p. 5) This lead in some cases to their persecution, but it also developed the foundational roots to Quakerism – integrity, community, equality, simplicity, nonviolence – and listening to and following what the Light within us.

Hole reminds us prayer and corporate silent worship are significant aspects of sustaining these roots. “Our Quaker fellowships, too, I am convinced, must be nourished with prayer if they are to endure as centers of life and power, rather than as static institutions perpetuated in the mode of the past.” (p. 10)

She sees individual and group prayer as giving “loving attention to God, a surrendering of our minds and our wills to that same spirit which found expression through Jesus” (p. 10)

“Faith is not a tranquilizer. True faith should be something that stirs and disturbs us.” (p. 23)