It is Friday of a devastating week in our country, one of violence, loss, fear, racial strife and growing despair. We mourn the senseless destruction of life and worry for the further unraveling of our communities.

I am writing at this time because as a spiritually grounded, Quaker community, we have a point of view, a clear calling upon which to draw strength, direction and meaning. Here are three things on my mind amidst my own grief and worry for our nation today:

At times of violence, we are called to witness to the power and possibility of peace. Deeper than our divisions, our worries, our fears and our anger is a current of deep peace at the heart of our beings. It is always present, unharmed by the troubles at the surface of our lives, always whole, always intact. At moments like these, how can we connect to that source of strength, perspective, hope and love that outlives and heals all momentary suffering and bring it to our encounters with the world around us? How can we build peace — first in ourselves, next in our homes and extend it to our daily encounters? How can we build peace in the larger world by pursuing justice and deep care for all? How can our peace be our chief strength?

At times of division, we are called upon to nurture wholeness, working to close the separations that make us less human to each other and more vulnerable to inhumanity. How are we widening the circle of experience of other people in our lives so as to see them in their full dignity and humanity, to be close enough to have “that of God” in me see and speak to “that of God” in all others? How can we be beholden to both rigorous honesty, in seeing the issues that need difficult work, and to love, which helps us to do so with compassion, strength and resilience? How might truth and love lead to both atonement and a forgiveness that makes possible a future freer of the sins of the past?

Finally, in times of despair, we summon hope. Our human condition is such that we can suffer terribly at the hands of each other. And yet, the potential of goodness to be nurtured and grown in the world is inexhaustible. Czech poet and statesman Vaclav Havel said that hope is not an easy optimism that all will be well, but rather a choice to align oneself with what it good, just and right. The road in that alliance with goodness is not promised to be easy, but it is one that can lead to healing and to a sense of humanity that is generous, fruitful and joyful.

We live in a fractured world, to be sure. Our hope and potential is in the goodness inherent in each of us and in the miracle of creation itself. My hope is that we may follow goodness, multiply goodness and let goodness strengthen us in our efforts to make a more just and peaceful world.