2021 has been quite the year for QuakerSpeak! This year we posted 18 new videos and reached almost 4.3 million views on YouTube. This week, we’re looking back at 2021 and counting down the top five videos of the year.
#1
Our most viewed video this year featured many Friends sharing their favorite Quaker words and phrases. “That Friend speaks my mind” is one of Jennifer Higgins-Newman’s favorite phrases unique to Quaker faith and practice. “When I hear that as we’re doing business, or I get to use that,” she says, “I think it helps us as a community… tether ourselves or knit ourselves to each other. Like, ‘oh yeah, that’s me, too.’ Or ‘that is what Spirit is calling me to, too.’”
#2
Anthony Kirk moved audiences when he shared one of the touchstones in his’s spiritual journey, the 139th Psalm. “[It’s] brought so much comfort to me and so many people in my life,” he says. “It’s the beautiful reminder that… God knew us and loved us and created us long before society put labels on us and made assumptions, for all of us are fearfully and wonderfully made, and whatever our gender expression or identity, we are made in the image of God, too.”
#3
“I am very, very happy to know that where I worship speaks to many, many aspects of a community that is in need, that is in harm’s way, who are threatened,” shares Debbie Ramsey. She shares how she is able to put her faith into action for not only her Quaker community, but the Baltimore community at large.
#4
Linda Seger reminded audiences that spirituality and creativity can go hand in hand. “In the beginning of Genesis, it says the Spirit of God hovered over the deep.” That pause before the act of creation began became a source of inspiration.
#5
Understanding Quaker Faith Through the Journal of George Fox
Chris Stern’s reflection on reading the journals of early Friends, including George Fox, resonated with viewers this year. In these journals, Chris “began to see that George Fox was a young man who was of a similar condition that I was in: confused, hurt, unsure how to respond to the world around him.”
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We hope you have a happy and safe winter and we’ll see you again in March!
The QuakerSpeak Team
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