'Friends, deal plainly with yourselves, and let the eternal light search you...' Photo: Martin Sharman / flickr CC.
Margaret Fell in Sweden
Sue Glover Frykman writes about a retreat on Margaret Fell in Sweden
In Sweden little is known about Margaret Fell’s life, work and writings – in Quaker circles and beyond. Most of the early Friends that are spoken or written about are men. This term, at the Quaker Retreat Centre near Rimbo, Julia Ryberg and I were minded to offer a retreat on Margaret Fell, the ‘Mother of Quakerism’, and share with others what she means for and to us.
We were twelve at the retreat. Four of us were Quakers, but only two had any prior knowledge of Margaret Fell. The reasons for coming were: to find peace in a busy and demanding career, dwell in the silence, take time out from a busy life, learn how to cope with a difficult diagnosis, and out of curiosity. We began the first evening with a potted history of Margaret’s life, to put her into a historical context. The retreat as a whole was silent, apart from the joint scheduled gatherings. We introduced the Saturday morning gathering by reading the following quote:
Friends, deal plainly with yourselves, and let the eternal light search you, and try you, for the good of your souls; for this will deal plainly with you; it will rip you up, lay you open, and make all manifest that lodgeth in you… And dwell in love and unity, in the pure eternal light; there is your fellowship, there is your cleansing and washing… And the everlasting God, of light, life and power, keep you all faithful to your own measure.
- Epistle to convinced Friends, 1656
This was good preparation for an Experiment with Light (EwL) on the individual, a starting point for what we had planned later and an insight into what the Light means in a Quaker context. Julia knew most of the participants and had used EwL with many them on previous occasions. After a brief introduction to it, we surrendered ourselves to the process.
Following a short break, we regathered as a group to share any insights that had emerged. One participant told us the Light had shown him that he had been focusing on the wrong things at work and that was why he had become so frustrated. He was amazed he had not grasped this before! Another participant said that she had been urged to leave any sense of bitterness and to love more instead. One person expressed deep gratitude for the opportunity to go deeper into the silence and another told us she had got lost in the experiment, but had nevertheless been glad to have entered into the Light. At the next joint gathering we read out the following quote:
Let us beware of… separating or looking upon ourselves to be more holy, than in deed and in truth we are… This narrowness and strictness is entering in, that many cannot tell what to do, or not to do. Poor Friends is mangled in their minds, that they know not what to do; for one Friend says one way, and another, another. But Christ Jesus saith, that we must take no thought what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or what we shall put on; but bids us consider the lilies how they grow in more royalty than Solomon. But contrary to this, they say we must look at no colours, nor make anything that is changeable colours as the hills are, nor sell them nor wear them. But we must be all in one dress, and one colour. This is a silly poor Gospel.
- Epistle against Uniform Quaker costume, 1700
We asked the question: ‘What silly poor gospels are you bound by in your own lives?’ We asked the participants to form groups of three to share their answers as part of ‘group spiritual direction’. This involved one person at a time being the focus person, silent group reflection, feedback from the other two members of the group and, finally, silently holding the focus person in the Light. When gathered again as a group, the man who had been helped by the EwL exercise to see that his work focus was misplaced expressed amazement that the retreat was giving him exactly what he needed and that he was experiencing great depths in his own being – which he had not expected.
At supper – eaten silently – something quite special happened. People ate their meals mindfully, but did not return to the serving table for seconds. There seemed to be a reluctance to break what was a very tangible, deep, gathered worship. Julia eventually rose to bring in the dessert. A participant rose to help her. But the silence – the worship – did not break. It continued as people filled their dishes with fruit and ice cream and returned to their places. We continued in worship for some time. I have seldom experienced anything like it. The final gathering of the day again began with a quote from Margaret Fell:
Wherein have we offended any man any otherwise then in that we worship God in the Spirit… and for this must we be made the object of merciless men’s cruelty… We are a people that follow after the things that make for peace, love and unity. It is our desire that others’ feet walk in the same. [We] do deny and bear our testimony against all strife, wars, and contentions that come from the lusts that war in their members, that war against the soul, which we wait for, and watch for in all people. [We] love and desire the good of all.
- A Declaration and an Information from Us, the People Called Quakers, 1660
Following a brief introduction to the Quaker view of peace and the kind of peace work that Quakers are called to today, we asked the participants to tell a partner how they fostered peace in their own lives before gathering again to share highlights of the day or insights that had come. The participants expressed deep gratitude for the opportunity to touch base with their souls and delve into the silence. They also talked about the simplicity of what we were doing and of the surroundings. This sharing was accompanied by the profound sense of worship experienced at suppertime and, again, there was a real reluctance to end it.
We gathered again as a group before Meeting for Worship on Sunday, in which Julia had a personal conversation with Margaret, giving thanks for her life, her nurturing, her love and her teachings. Others shared their gratitude at having gained insights into Margaret’s life – a woman they had previously known nothing about. During Meeting for Worship one participant, who was not a Quaker, rose and said that we were not alone in the room. Christ was there with us, and two archangels as well. This, too, was a deeply gathered Meeting. Personally, I wondered why I experienced such depth in Meeting for Worship so seldom. Is my daily life not filled with love and light? If not, why not? I need to reflect on this, and create time for it. I wondered, too, what those who have experienced such depths in a retreat might find in our regular Meetings for Worship. Will they stay with us, be sustained, or disappointed?
In his Richard L Cary Lecture, delivered at German Yearly Meeting: ‘Special Offer! What do we Quakers have to offer the world in these turbulent times?’ Paul Parker emboldens Friends to talk about the Quaker special offer with all seekers, publicly, put it at their disposal and open our doors and our community to all seekers. Our special offers that retreat weekend were silence, simplicity, a safe space, depth of worship and getting to know Margaret Fell – all of which were well received.
Comments
Wonderful! Wish we had been there! Blessings at this holy time of year, Diana Lampen
By lampen on 22nd December 2017 - 20:46
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