Asheville Friends Meeting (Quaker)

04/16/2026

In violation of federal law and internationally agreed humanitarian principles, the executive leadership of the United States launched a war of aggression against Iran, without any effective opposition from Congress, and without support from, or even consultation with, the United Nations Security Council. The executive ordered military personnel to participate in the assassination of Iran’s political leadership in violation of international law, and decreed that military personnel ignore established rules of engagement, target non-combatants, and give no quarter to captives.

We Quakers of Asheville Friends Meeting acknowledge that as tax-paying citizens we are complicit in the waging of this war, and for the sake of conscience we cannot remain silent or complacent in the face of such a travesty of justice. We are unequivocally opposed to this assault against human life, human rights, and international law, and will take every The opportunity to stand up and speak out against it.

04/06/2026

“There is that of God in every person.” This simple, powerful testimony leads the Asheville Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends to welcome all people, including those of any sexual orientation, gender presentation, or gender identity. We advocate for equality of all people and for the right of everyone to live safely and without fear.

Asheville Friends:

• Reject the anti-scientific notion of a "gender binary."

• Affirm the right of every person to self-identify their gender.

• Recognize all gender expressions as valid and real.

• Acknowledge, affirm, and embrace the gifts of the Spirit embodied in our transgender, intersex, and nonbinary beloveds with joy, humility, and gratitude.

We welcome q***r, le***an, gay, bisexual, asexual, transgender folks as co-equal participants in our spiritual journey and in all other aspects of the beloved community.

03/28/2026

At the Meetinghouse. In the morning!

03/17/2026

Many Asheville Friends will be attending the No Kings Rally on Mar 28, here and near. Point your smart phone at the QR to learn more.

02/02/2026

Following the very successful Walk for Remembrance and Orange Shirt Day back in September, the Cherokee Boarding School Planning group now begins work on the next project. They want to identify historical cemetery gravesites that are hidden by invasive kudzu. They’re planning to clean up the gravesites from February 9-12. They don’t need our physical effort but need assistance with financing for the tools and food offered to the volunteers.

If you would like to support this project, please go to PayPal and donate to our account at [email protected]. Since Steve Livingston is our treasurer, his name will come up & the email will show underneath it. Please include “For gravesite cleanup” in the note bar beneath the name and email. Please submit your donation by Thursday, February 5th so we can send one payment in ABLA’s name on Fri, Feb 6th. Thanks so much for any amount you can give.

01/13/2026

Each month, when we meet with other advocates and allies in Faith Communities for Immigration Justice, our convener Rev. Sara Wilcox of Land of Sky UCC shares an opening reading. This morning it was a poem by John O'Donohue called "Courage." It seems especially appropriate in this moment to share more widely as we are faced with ever-increasing danger in our justice work.

When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside,

When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen,

When one voice commands
Your whole heart,
And it is raven dark,

Steady yourself and see
That it is your own thinking
That darkens your world.

Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,

Know that you are not alone,
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes,
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night-corner.

Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
You have suffered.

Close your eyes.
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark
That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.

A new confidence will come alive
To urge you towards higher ground
Where your imagination
will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!

12/01/2025

Last week our second hour adult spiritual enrichment focused on the topic of vocal ministry. At the beginning of the hour, our facilitator shared a poem by Robert Hewison, from Britain Yearly Meeting's Faith and Practice Book of Christian Discipline, and then shared a "flow chart" offering guidance on whether to speak out of the silence. Here's a link to the flow chart:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OuIba-TjyXdT_mg3-8eb0Fz1hioq1MXh-xrv6Cob1Q0/edit?tab=t.0

And the poem:

My piece was pat and all ready to say,
She rose first, I threw my piece away.
My well-turned stuff
Was not so rough
As hers, but easy elegant and smooth.
Beginning middle end
It had, and a point
And aptly quoted prophet priest and poet.
Hers was uncouth
Wanting in art
Labored scarce-audible and out of joint.
Three times she lost the thread
And sitting left her message half unsaid.
‘Why then did thee throw it
Into the discard?’
Friend,

It had head
(Like this). Hers oh had heart.

10/29/2025

Asheville Friends Meeting joins with other faith communities in our area in solidarity with our immigrant neighbors to counter anti-immigrant hate and fear mongering. As many of us know, we are witnessing a full-scale attack on immigrant rights. Communities are being dehumanized and terrorized, families torn apart, and basic freedoms stripped away. These injustices are being sold to us under a veneer of morality and faith, in particular, Christian Nationalism.

As a member of Faith Communities for Immigration Justice, we want to reach out to people of faith everywhere to take a public stand to "Love Thy Neighbor, Defend Immigrant Rights." To that end we are displaying this 4x6 banner in front of our Meetinghouse on Edgewood Road to encourage passing motorists and the numerous foot travelers en route to and from UNCA.

05/12/2025

Despite the past year and a half having been a period of robust activity and progress in our journey to becoming a more anti-racist, multicultural faith community, Asheville Friends Meeting's Racial Justice Committee has been inactive throughout that time. Most of this progress has taken place under the guidance of Dr. Melchor Hall, some under the aegis of our Peace and Earth Committee, and some by individual Friends who meet informally every Tuesday night for discussion and mutual support.

In keeping with good Quaker order, Meeting has approved "laying down" the inactive Racial Justice Committee and a new committee has risen up in its place, and named the BENEFICIAL Committee, the name being an acronym to describe the committee's vision:

* B for Building relationships
* E for Engaging the community
* N for Nurturing awareness
* E for Educating one another
* F for Following Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color's guidance
* I for Inspiring transformation
* C for Collaborating with Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color
* I for Internal work, and
* A for Aspiration to equity and
* L for Liberation

05/10/2025

Here's an opportunity to engage in an exercise that helps us begin to understand how the people of Turtle Island were decimated and very nearly erased by European colonizers. Open to all, not just Quakers, no cost to attend this virtual workshop.

Register here:

Visit the post for more.

04/14/2025

As you all probably know, the current regime in the United States has created a number of Executive Orders intended to marginalize, dehumanize, demoralize, and dismiss transgender people as something less than human beings, and consequently not entitled to human rights, civil rights, and the Constitutional protection of the law. Peace and Earth Committee therefore feels it is essential for Asheville Meeting to state our support and welcome for transgender people. To that end, Asheville Friends adopted this statement as our Meeting's policy:

"Asheville Friends Meeting (Quakers) seeks to be a safe, welcoming space for all people, regardless of sexual orientation, gender presentation or gender identity. Our Quaker faith does not in any way discount or oppose empirical science. We utterly reject the notion that transgender people are anything less than fully and completely human. We recognize and affirm that transgender people are entitled to the same human and civil rights as any other person, and commit ourselves to supporting those rights. We affirm the right of every person to self-identify their gender and we recognize all gender expressions as valid and real. We acknowledge that the gifts of the Spirit are equally present in people of any and every gender identity. We welcome those gifts and all of the people who embody them. We envision a Meeting where all those within it participate fully on an equal basis in all aspects of the beloved community."

(pic of our Meetinghouse for the algorithms)

03/14/2025

Asheville Friends join with our sister Meeting in Swannanoa Valley in declaring "intent to protect."

As human beings we are all children of God and recognize that among us are many dear friends, family, neighbors, coworkers and others who are immigrants in this country or otherwise marginalized. Some of us have achieved citizenship, some have green cards, some have visas, some are in pending status or similar legal limbo, and others still lack official documentation. Often, this variety of circumstances exist within a family, and the resulting vulnerabilities can be very real, complex, and difficult.

As faith communities inspired by a common sense of divine standards in goodness and compassion, we join in publicly stating our intent to peacefully yet determinedly defend the defenseless and vulnerable in their need. In all morally upright and ethically sound matters we will continue as faithful Americans to cooperate with our government and receive all government agents in goodwill; however, if a case arises of persecution, oppression, or forcible removal of immigrant populations from among us, we will weigh human authority against our leadings to submit to Divine Authority regarding disgraces against the humanity of those in our community. As and when the situation calls for action, we will readily provide shelter, cover, aid and advocacy for our beleaguered neighbors.

We earnestly hope that such a preemptive posture as represented by this minute may prove unnecessary. Yet behind our hopes and prayers, and even as we operated from a general stance of political neutrality, we yet agree to stand ready together to physically assist those persons who may seek out help, to facilitate legal assistance as far as possible, to persistently petition legislators, to send delegations and speak with key government officials, and/or to publicly denounce inhumane government policies which would aim to tear apart immigrant families or inappropriately harass harmless people. We hereby state our intent to take these and similar peaceful actions as such needs may arise.

Remembering that we are all flawed and oft-mistaken human beings, we take this stand not from a spirit of pride or conflict, but in a soul-searching hope for an American future of harmony, peace on earth, and goodwill toward everyone.

This statement originated with the Friends Meeting in Fayetteville, NC.