‘Andrew Rutter’s drawing shows us on a lurching ship while we go about our business on board, gardening, cycling to the shops, all the everyday things.' Photo: By Andrew Rutter.
Eye - 08 November 2024
Q-Eye learns about a day in the live of a warden at Winchester Meeting House, and hears reflections by 'Bad Quaker' Brent Bill
A day in the life
Friends graced the pages of the Hampshire Chronicle on 10 October, in the article: ‘A day in the life of a Meeting House warden.’
It begins: ‘I start with the world’s shortest commute: downstairs, through the Meeting Room, and to the squeaky front gate. Note to self: oil that hinge.’
The article paints a picture of a busy and varied day, where tasks range from the physical practicalities of maintaining the Meeting house, to newsletter submissions, supporting tenants, and handling events like a visit from the local MP.
It also describes Friends’ role in the local community, including the founding of Friends of the Family, a charity which still runs from the Meeting house.
Former warden Vicky Darling’s article in a 2003 edition of the Meeting newsletter was quoted: ‘Andrew Rutter’s drawing [see below] shows us on a lurching ship while we go about our business on board, gardening, cycling to the shops, all the everyday things.
‘I like this analogy, as although we are going through calm waters at the moment, there have been times in the last few years when there were rough seas to negotiate.’
To read the whole article, visit: https://bit.ly/WinchesterWarden
Being bad
Eye will admit that falling short of Quaker ideals has shaken my confidence in declaring myself a Friend – so when Thee Quaker Podcast interviewed Brent Bill, the writer of Life Lessons from a Bad Quaker: A humble stumble toward simplicity and grace, it piqued my curiosity.
The episode describes Brent as ‘a midwestern Friend who has been a Methodist and a Quaker pastor and who has written a number of acclaimed books for and about Quakerism and about wrestling with topics of faith, including one slightly controversial book’. Interviewer Georgia Sparling talks with Brent about his personal history – including his faith, work, and creativity.
Having written several books, focussed on topics such as silence and discernment, Brent was asked if he could write ‘the smart ass guide to Quakerism’… and he rose to the challenge, though it wasn’t popular with everyone.
He says: ‘I wanted to be humorous in some ways, like the Facebook site [The Association of Bad Friends], but also personally confessional about my own shortcomings and living these out, but then Quaker moments, you know of when we failed those testimonies and just using humour to deflate our pomposity a bit, because we do so much self praise at times about how we’ve gotten everything right.
‘Well, we’ve screwed up an awful lot at times… and we will continue to, but that doesn’t make the testimonies any less valuable or helpful, because if we didn’t have them, we’d be even worse than we are now…
‘I’ve met some Friends who are very ardent anti-racism or anti-war, but the way they’re approached, it’s so strident, it’s unattractive, and they often mirror the thing that they’re against. And so I’m trying to think, how can we be for something, and how can we be positive and start working on our individual life instead of… I can’t be a real worker for peace if I’m so angry and distraught all the time. So how do I learn to carry peace in daily life? So that’s how Life Lessons came about…
‘We’re products of our time. We’re works in progress. We need to say, how can we be an inclusive society? How can we get people not to join us, but to see this as a good spiritual path, and realise that with each person who joins a Religious Society of Friends today, it changes and it changes us, and that’s what we need.’
To hear Brent’s reflections for yourself, visit: https://bit.ly/BadQuakerPodcast.
