Hold Fast the Hope that Anchors the Soul
The 2026 Walton Lecture, presented by Leslie Manning
In this 2026 SEYM Walton Lecture, Leslie Manning speaks from the silence, and from her experience, on how we can find and offer hope and healing to a world in need of both — how to balance the call to Spirit-led action with the need for contemplation and reflection, and how to cultivate compassion, uphold conviction and sustain community for the long term. She hopes that we will listen together for not only “what is” but also for “what is about to become.”
As an introduction to the lecture, a group of SEYM Friends sang a Quaker chant, Mind That Which is Eternal, from Paulette Meier’s album Timeless Quaker Wisdom in Plainsong. The lyrics are taken from George Fox’ Epistle #24:
“Mind that which is eternal, which gathers your hearts together up to the Lord, and lets you see that ye are written in one another’s heart.”
During the lecture, Leslie played a portion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1967 speech, Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence. (The excerpt can be heard at 38:24 of video of Beyond Vietnam.)
Before the closing silence, Leslie played Carrie Newcomer’s If Not Now.
Leslie Manning is a member of the Durham, Maine Monthly Meeting in New England Yearly Meeting. She is an interfaith chaplain working with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, a lifelong activist and a recorded minister among Friends. She aspires to “live in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars” by listening deeply, discerning what is hers to do and witnessing to that faithfully. She recently served as the Elder for the 2024-25 School of the Spirit program “Participating in God’s Power”.