This post features a recording of our monthly New Foundation Fellowship study of George Fox’s journal from volume 1 of the publication The Works of George Fox (1831). Five of us participated in last Saturday’s study, picking up on page 363 where we left off last month, and covering the next few pages to end on page 366.

This month’s discussion centered on ministry given by Fox at a yearly meeting in Bedfordshire, England in 1657. Specifically, much of our study focuses on Fox’s figurative term “to sit down”: meaning to settle upon a foundation or authority that decides or resolves one’s way of being. On page 365, seven options for sitting down are given by Fox. The first six describe faulty orientations and the problems that result with each erroneous choice. The list culminates in the seventh option: “[to] sit down in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. . .the safe sitting for all his elect, his church.” The reading of this passage begins at 6:39 in the recording, and its discussion starts at 16:40.

Occurring throughout our discussion are references to the role anxiety plays in moving us toward or away from resolution. We look at a passage in Luke for an illustration of our tradition’s calling forth the tension and discomfort that accompanies anxiety, and examine its intended beneficial effect. Through a personal story of a revelation from God (at 26:54), we are given an example of anxiety initially posing an obstacle to resolution.  

The Church being comprised of those who sit down in Christ Jesus is also discussed, beginning at 41:22.

(This post was first published on the 10th; since then, the audio file has been edited to eliminate the long pauses between speakers. As a result, the recording is now slightly more than half its former length.)