Looking for the essence of Quakerism

George Fox had a vision, when he stood on Pendle Hill, of a “great people waiting to be raised”. Fox was excited by the realisation that he had had of the inner teacher, desperate to share it and release others as he had been released.

When Jesus' followers began to explore, after the trauma and grief of his death, where they were, they realised that, even if he was dead, his message of love and his teachings continued with them.  They began to create communities based on love, support and equality. This was seen as wildly dangerous to the status quo, so the Christian message was to be usurped by those that needed to keep control. They developed ideas of an existential God who had chosen some to be in power over others. People's situation had been defined by this God, who could lift some out of their troubles, and bring disaster to others, a God who could control people's lives. A God who kept the powerful in power, and who kept the rest of humanity in slavery. Fox's realisation returned to the understanding of those early Christian communities. No wonder he was excited!

Because Fox came from a strong Christian tradition he recognised what he had seen as something within all humans as "the God within" or "Christ Jesus, come to teach his people himself".  Now, in a global community, we are exposed to the truth expressed in many different ways and so we might query Fox's terminology, but not the experience that we continue to recognise just as he did.

However, just as the original Christian message had been corrupted so the Quaker concept came to loose its essence. It went flat, in greyness and sombreness, “a silly poor gospel!” Yet Fox's “great people” are still waiting to be raised. In the last census the largest response to the “religion” question, was “none”. Something which we cannot be surprised at, yet we know that there are people searching, and we know, for sure, that they are not finding us. We might think that Quakers offer exactly what they are looking for, but they don't know anything of the sort.

Our Meeting of Southern Marches Pastoral and Spiritual Carers (12/10/19) decided to look at the essence of Quakerism. Can we define it? We also asked what can we ditch to re-energise ourselves, how can we make ourselves more understandable to that “great people” that need to understand what we have come to understand? There is a saying that appears in tracts about economics, business, management, etc: “If you are in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.” What are we doing that makes our attraction dimmer? What do we need to stop digging at?

When Fox described Quakers as a peculiar people he meant it in its sense of distinctive, particular, but I sometimes think that we enjoy being a peculiar people in the sense of different, eccentric! We cling to words that we understand, but which need to be explained to anyone else. Our Meeting for Sufferings has taken on its original sense as we record the sufferings of Extinction Rebellion arrestees, but does its name make clear its many other responsibilities? How much of the Recording Clerks time is taken up with recording? Do Elders have to be elderly? Do Overseers carry whips? Do weighty Friends need to be referred to Slimmers World? Does right ordering refer to on-line shopping? Does the Stewardship Committee provide the drinks and snacks? Is the doorkeeper for security or welcoming? Yes we do hope that our discernment is moving in the right direction, but what do non-Quakers think about “Hope so”. Then there are the initials! Most of them contain Q and all are meaningless to the uninitiated.

We have a book of “Christian discipline”, whose title includes the words “Quaker faith”, but is our society based on faith or on experience? When we gather for a “Meeting for Worship”, do we worship, if so who or what?

How do we transform ourselves, discarding those aspects of our culture that are off-putting to the un-initiated. As the Society of Friends plans to revise its book of spiritual and practical guidance can we go back to the excitement of Fox on Pendle Hill? The generational re-think of this book is crucial to the changes necessary in our society. This is a book that we place at our heart when we meet, The Advices and Queries are given to anyone who expresses interest. We have to approach the information that we provide to newcomers from their viewpoint. Is our message to them clear and couched in the language of today? History and church management have to be re-situated, easily available to those who need it, but not clouding our essential message. Our web sites and publications have to be clear, accessible and straightforward. Every piece of information that we offer has to comply with two standards: is it as exciting as Fox's revelation? Does the invitation to friendship offer challenge as well as comfort? Even the most ancient of our meeting places need to be presented in this way. We have a 350 year history, but the Society of Friends is as exciting now as it was when those early friends recognised each other.

The subject of membership exercises Friends constantly. We have members that we never see, and attenders who attend every week but reject membership. Each year each Area Meeting produces a membership list. This list contains the names and details of members and attenders who have signed a data permission document. Anyone who has attended four meetings for worship in the past year should be invited to sign a data permission document, if they do so they should be listed as a member. Anyone who has been listed previously but has not been involved with the meeting in the past year should be archived from the list. Involvement includes participation in worship or discussion, contributing financially or has communicated their wish to continue on the listing.

There is something in the minds of every human being that delights in love and truth. When we come together with others and sit in silence we can be aware of its promptings, those promptings can re-energise us, re-direct us, but do they still make us quake? Because we know that this ability is available to all we are obliged by that knowledge to treat all with respect, love and friendship.

It is imperative that we get to know one another better “in those things that are eternal”. What prevents that? Do we turn up for Meeting when its convenient, sit for an hour, have a cuppa and chat about inconsequentials, then head for home again? We all need to work at being friends, opening ourselves, exploring, nurturing. Maybe that is the essence: we are friends of each other, ready to go out from our meetings to meet others and befriend them, ready to stand by those friends who are being oppressed, enslaved, bombed, gassed, starved, drowned, mutilated. Whatever prevents that has to be ditched. Our government, our economics, our privilege, our comfort, our busyness. That is the essence of what Fox began. We should quake.

Peter Hussey

17/10/19 v2

We ought to be afraid. Facing the Future - not a conference

In the last census the largest group in the question about religion were the “Nons” - the non-believers, the people for whom religion had no relevance, and no part in their lives. It is not surprising to me. The trouble with religion is that it keeps on getting fossilised in ways of thinking that are no longer appropriate, and adapted to the needs of the powerful and rich.

Climate breakdown is forcing us all to re-think our lives, lets take a minute to re-think religion. Wikipedia defines the word religion as: “a social-cultural system of designated behaviours and practices”, that's just where we are, abandoning single use plastics, rethinking our western diet, re -use, reduce, repair. It goes on .. “morals, world views”, if that is not where we are then where are we? “Texts”, we started with Rachel Carson and Silent Spring, texts influence us right up to Greta Thunberg's address to the UN – “How dare you”. “Sanctified places”, how about the still untouched parts of the Amazon? “Prophecies, ethics and organisation that relates humanity to spiritual elements”, which is itself defined as “a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, a universal human experience - something that relates to us all”.

So maybe we can see that XR and Transition, green thinking, green economics, might all be grouped into a definition of a sort of religion, but what then, is this just a pedantic, intellectual exercise? I think not, I think that there is value in pausing in the urgent task of saving humanity from itself, to think about what we have learnt.

We ought to be afraid, mankind is poised on the verge of catastrophe, but there is joy in what we are doing. Why is that? I suggest it is because we are coming together, we are acting together, educating each other, feeling for each other, supporting each other. We are not alone.

We are clear. We are not being swayed by the practicalities. We know that continual growth is a dream that has turned into a nightmare. We are prepared to accept that doing the right thing might cost us, and why not, if we are the privileged have we not the privilege of sharing? If every human has the same rights, the same value as any other, then the logic of that understanding is that we have to work for equality of opportunity, we have to respect others, we have to be honest to others, we have to equate our well being with theirs. We have to simplify our lives and our demands on others and the planet.

We are individuals with talents and strengths and weaknesses, we are individuals that are part of a community, but more we are part of community. For me that is religion, we are prepared to give and receive, we are open to others, their benefits and their needs. We are practising loving our neighbour.

Peter Hussey
26/09/2019

A missed opportunity - the Pales Annual Lecture 2019

The opportunity was not missed by all, but unfortunately the audience for this the second of the Annual Lectures at the Pales was tiny; but amazingly well informed and entertained by our energetic and dedicated speaker.

Ruth had retired from her career as a music teacher, a role which utilised her constant desire to sing, but exhaustion had led her to stop singing. Her recovery involved a spiritual search for repair and re-energising, which led her to explore “the peculiar people called Quakers”. Finding Quakers and their understanding of the God within, the presence of the Spirit in silence, and the leading of that Spirit that would not be ignored, restored her to singing. As with so many people who had found their way to Quakers, Ruth felt that she had “come home”.

“Nid wy'n gofyn bywyd moethus” the first line of the famous Welsh hymn Calon Lan was a call to the entirety of Ruth's audience at the Lecture, to join her in singing out the first element of her explanation. With a pure and happy heart one can sing all day and sing all night. Ruth had found her way back to singing.

As a religious Society whose initial inspiration goes back to the 16^th century Friends, as they are known, have retained some archaic language and references. Ruth has developed a very funny stand up routine to make gentle fun of the “peculiar” elements of language used by what is, otherwise, a dynamic and changing form of religion, which modern Quakers find as a refreshing dose of laughing at ourselves.

Ruth's main narrative was to talk about her experience as a Quaker Prison Chaplain at Berwyn, the new, huge, prison outside Wrexham. She had been able to set up, with the help of a circle of support of Quakers from North East Wales and Cheshire, and the men themselves, a weekly period of worship based on Quaker silence. Ruth was able to continue this work for two years, during which time the weekly meetings became very important and helpful to a number of men. Ruth is now continuing to work to find ways in which the meeting can continue.

A hurdy gurdy, a Celtic harp and a piano keyboard were the instruments that Ruth had brought, and the first two of these were used to punctuate her talk and to ease the emotion of her story. After a tea break the piano, with lyric books that Ruth had also brought, were employed for a loud, fun end to the afternoon. We explored “Dancing Queen”, “Bring me Sunshine” “I'm the King of the Swingers” and several other songs that would not usually be heard in a Quaker Meeting House.

Ruth had given a huge amount of herself, her talent and her experience in what was an amazing occasion, it was such a shame that only a few of us were privileged to experience it.