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