‘We want it to be authentic and coherent: clear, straightforward, welcoming and authoritative.’
Brought to book: Rosie Carnall on the process of revising Quaker faith & practice
‘We know that we want everything we write to be grounded in our spiritual experience.’
In January 2019, as one of the co-clerks of the new Book of Discipline Revision Committee, I attended a meeting of Britain Yearly Meeting central and standing committee clerks. It was a day for learning, reflection and building community. We began, of course, with a period of worship. Paul Parker, the recording clerk, spoke, and while he did he reached for a copy of Quaker faith & practice, to read aloud.
I don’t remember which passage it was. For me, the import was in the action. Reaching for ‘our red book’ is central to my experience of Quaker community. This time, though, I experienced it differently, as it brought home the reality of the process we were embarking on: ‘We’re going to change our book!’ It was an acute moment of openness to the Source. I was shaken up; challenged and excited.
It is a challenging and exciting process. It’s a big task, and we’re a fairly big committee, currently twenty-five members. We’re a pretty diverse bunch, too. In the past four years we’ve spent time getting to know each other, in worship and work, forming a community to serve our community.
Our remit is to revise the entirety of our book of discipline. But early on, we realised that we weren’t going to go through chapter by chapter, making changes to the existing text. Instead, among other things, we have made a Big List of all the topics that we need to cover. Then we began a process of drafting new material. Working in small groups, we’ve all taken part in different writing exercises. Through this, we’ve developed a process for how we write. We’ve also established an understanding of the tone and style in which we want to write. We have come to call that the ‘voice of the book’.
When you reach for Quaker faith & practice, what voice do you hear? Throughout the book there are a multitude of writers represented in the anthology material. These are Quakers from across the centuries whose voices echo down the years towards us. Some of the more recent passages may even be by someone you know or have known – then you might hear their particular voice in your mind. You might connect a passage with the voice of a particular reader, perhaps someone who read a passage in Meeting that ‘spoke to your condition’ and that memory stays with you.
These collected writings of Friends are an important part of how our book of discipline reflects the diversity of our Quaker experience. This will be the case in the new book too. But it also contains passages that are not by a particular person: the sections when we give voice to our collective understanding of our Quaker way. When you read those passages, what voice do you hear in your mind’s ear?
We were asked to start the revision with the ‘Church Government’ sections. These are the parts that give information about how we organise ourselves as a Quaker community. These topics include some anthology material, but we need to write the core text ourselves, and finding the appropriate voice of the book has been an important part of our work. We want it to be authentic and coherent: clear, straightforward, welcoming and authoritative.
We know that we want everything we write to be grounded in our spiritual experience as Quakers. This thread should run through all of the content. We’re very aware that the terms we use when we talk about the divine are tender questions in our community. We are seeking a way to express our Quaker understandings in an inclusive manner.
We know that we can use formats which are different to what’s been available in the past. We want to make the most of what this can mean, which includes greater accessibility. We may be able to include a range of creative visual content as well as written text.
From the start, we’ve wanted to reach out and connect with Friends, and keep you informed about our progress. We’ve invited you to contribute your ideas for text. We set up a creative online project where you can share other kinds of content: pictures and videos and poems. These might be helpful to us in the journey of our task, or might be something we could use as anthology material. We’ve visited Meetings (in person and online), and have offered interactive sessions at recent Yearly Meetings.
We’re now at a point where we’re ready to share some draft text more widely. We want to know what Friends make of our ‘voice of the book’, and our current approach. We hope that getting feedback now will help us know where we’re getting it right, and what needs to change.
We will be sharing these draft texts following our report to Meeting for Sufferings next week. At this stage, we want to know how the text lands with the reader, whether the ‘voice of the book’ is one that feels comfortable and speaks clearly. We’re also creating some audio versions of the draft texts, for those who want to listen instead of, or as well as, reading. This is part of our commitment to make the new book as accessible as possible, and to experiment with different formats.
In the four years since I was asked to offer service on the committee, I’ve experienced many enriching challenges, and lots of deep joy. Our Meetings are grounded in worship and peppered with laughter. As the process continues to unfold, we return often to the encouragement we received at the start, ‘to be prayerful, joyful, creative and bold’ (Yearly Meeting Minute 2018).
It is always on our minds and in our hearts that we are undertaking the revision on behalf of our wider community. We are grateful for the ways that you are joining with us in the process; we couldn’t do it without you. Here are some of the ways that you can help us.
Continue to uphold us in our work.
Tell us what passages you think might be helpful content in our next book of discipline. These can be from our current book or other sources.
Look at, and join in with, our creative project: https://padlet.com/bdrc/OpenToNewLight.
Talk with other Friends about your experience of Quaker faith & practice. Ask questions like ‘When do you reach for Quaker faith & practice?’, ‘What passages mean the most to you and how do they speak to you?’.
When we circulate draft text, read or listen to it. Talk about it with other Friends, and tell us what you think. n
Rosie also talks to Joe and Rebecca from the Friend on our new podcast. Search ‘The Friend Live’ in your podcast app, or visit https://thefriendlive.buzzsprout.com.
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