Stand Still in the Light
September 3, 2025 § 2 Comments
George Fox and early Friends had a phrase that defined a spiritual practice: Stand still in the Light. If we turn inward toward the Light of Christ within us, it will reveal to us our sins, our faults, our shadow side. If we stand still in the Light, it will burn away that shadow, it will bring forgiveness, moral strength, and peace. Rex Ambler has developed a more fully defined practice from his understanding of this usage among early Friends.
But the Light’s illumination also has a positive side, an outward looking and forward looking and expressive side that is companion to the inward looking, soul searching side. For the Light is also always trying to heal us, to inspire us, to renew us, to strengthen us, to guide us in our walking through life and lead us into fulfillment and joy. Standing still in the Light opens the doors of the heart and mind and soul so that God’s anointing spirit, the spirit of the christ, may enter, but also, after we have supped, we may walk out singing into the world.
Through the Flaming Sword 
It’s good to hear that emphasis on the positive workings of the Light!
Early Friends like Fox and Penn were clear that if we “stand in the light” together, 2 things will happen in sequence:
1.As you say, the Light will illumine the areas in which we are in “self-will” (I would say ego-attachments) and allow us to “repent” of those attachments (the Greek word in the original for “repent” in the NT means something like “change of mind”, which I think means letting go of the self-will (ego-attachments). I don’t think Rex Ambler got this first step quite right because he doesn’t explicitly recognize the self-will aspect or the “repentance” aspect. Early Friends (like early Christians) emphasized that the “repentance” aspect was essential.
2.The Light will then bring us all into deep Unity of Spirit (Fox usually used either “unity” or “fellowship” here) because the Light of Christ is inherently that deep Unity (the Body of Christ). This is where the Covered/Gathered Meeting experience arises.
–Sahmat