The pamphlet The Mind of Christ: Bill Taber on Meeting for Business edited by Michael Birkel, is one in the series produced by Pendle Hill, a Quaker study centre in Pennsylvania, USA. It follows the typical format, being just over thirty pages long, and I think it is a brilliant introduction to some of the tricky concepts of our Quaker Way. The pamphlet could be a useful introduction to Meeting for Worship for church affairs for a new attender or useful study material for any seasoned Friend.
Bill Taber died in 2005 and this text was compiled, after his death, from his notes by the editor Michael Birkel. Bill Taber lucidly describes five interlinked ‘gut feelings’ that he saw as essential to Meeting for Worship for Business. In passing he also touches on the importance of daily discipleship and prayer in Friends’ lives; approaching Meeting with reverence; and engaging the hazards of impatience and boredom in Meeting as part of our spiritual formation.

In summing up the fifth ‘gut feeling’ of successful Meeting for Worship for Business – holy expectancy – he reiterates the others. ‘Such excitement and daring are sustainable and safe only as they occur with the other gut feelings, with their combination of intention and attention: first, joy in feeling part of a fellowship of committed disciples; second, joy in the presence of that Great Friend, the Great Parent; third, a profound, gut level assurance and unity as one rests in the presence of that Great Friend and feels the expansion of consciousness that comes in the Mind of Christ; and fourth, trust in the Process, the gut-level trust of a child in a parent or the trust of a bright, eager student in a beloved teacher.’

Although Bill Taber is unafraid to use traditional language – God, Christ, ‘Waiting upon the Lord’ and so on – he also draws on a rich variety of metaphor – the ‘Living Stream’ and ‘the source of all good things’. I think this richness of language will allow people who have not found an experience of meaning in Christian words to still use the content of the pamphlet. It may be that traditional language is made more accessible by the loving spirit evident in Bill Taber’s words. His practical suggestions for the good conduct of Meeting for Worship for Church Affairs form the final section of the pamphlet’s text, and discussion questions for a study of the pamphlet are also included at the end as is usual for the Pendle Hill Pamphlet format.

Pendle Hill Pamphlet 406, ‘The Mind of Christ: Bill Taber on Meeting for Business’ edited by Michael Birkel is available from the Quaker Bookshop for £3.