In this age when the “spiritual but not religious” seem to have more relevance than churchgoers, it’s easy to wonder why church attendance matters at all. But I believe that we need common spaces,…

Gracious God, You have never intended me to walk the spiritual life entirely alone. Throughout Scripture and within the life of your Church, you have used trusted companions to help your people listen, discern, and grow. Thank you for the wisdom that becomes available when faith is shared honestly. I confess that I do not always see myself clearly. I can mistake fear for wisdom, preference for conviction, and urgency for your leading. I can overlook patterns that have become familiar, explain away what makes me uncomfortable, or hear only what confirms what I already want. Give me the humility to welcome another person into my discernment. Lead me toward spiritual companions who are prayerful, trustworthy, mature, and attentive. May they listen without rushing to correct, control, or supply easy answers. Give them wisdom to ask the questions I have avoided and patience to remain with what is not yet clear. Help me enter these conversations without managing how I appear. Give me courage to speak honestly about my doubts, desires, resistance, and hope. Free me from the need to sound spiritually certain when I am confused or to appear strong when I am struggling. Teach me to receive guidance without surrendering the responsibility of discernment. Keep me from treating another person’s insight as a substitute for your Spirit, Scripture, prayer, or the wisdom of the Christian community. Let spiritual direction help me recognize your voice rather than become dependent upon someone else’s. When a trusted guide names something difficult, keep defensiveness from closing my heart. When encouragement is offered, help me receive it without suspicion. When no answer emerges, teach me to remain patient and attentive rather than forcing clarity before its time. Protect the trust within these relationships. Establish healthy boundaries, mutual respect, and appropriate confidentiality. Where guidance becomes controlling, manipulative, or harmful, give me wisdom and courage to seek safer counsel. Thank you for working through human relationships. Thank you for those who listen beneath my words, pray beside my uncertainty, and help me recognize movements of grace I might otherwise miss. Today, help me share honestly with someone I trust. Through attentive conversation and prayerful reflection, reveal what I need to notice. May I leave not with every question resolved, but with a heart more open to your presence and direction. In the name of Jesus, who walked with others, asked searching questions, and opened hearts to the truth. Amen.

Reliable automated research requires agents to vet data, verify analyses, and generate hypotheses grounded in trustworthy evidence, potentially reducing routine scientific workload while allowing scientists to focus on interpretation and discovery. Existing benchmarks often only assess analytical t…

Reliable automated research requires agents to vet data, verify analyses, and generate hypotheses grounded in trustworthy evidence, potentially reducing routine scientific workload while allowing scientists to focus on interpretation and discovery. Existing benchmarks often only assess analytical t…

Eight Quaker organizations, including FCNL, have published a new statement expressing our belief that “in line with the definition of the crime of genocide, that the current actions in Gaza perpetrate...