Eye - 19 April 2019
From God to creative endeavours
God is…
Gabrielle Scott, of Muswell Hill Meeting, shares a poem inspired by a moment of stillness in a storm with Eye.
God is
in the spaces between
keep still
and listen
there are gaps
a background
of holiness
where the divine
is present
a still point
fixing existence
that swirls like
snow
melting away
Transcending difference
Friends’ differing beliefs and ways of worship were the focus of a recent ‘Heart and Soul’ BBC World Service programme, which can be heard at http://bit.ly/BBCQuakerHeartAndSoul, where journalist
Audrey Brown visited an unprogrammed Meeting in Wandsworth, London; and a programmed Meeting in Kenya.
Gretchen Castle, general secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC), who helped the BBC make contacts, said of the programme: ‘[In 2018] the news in the UK rather incorrectly reported that Quakers in Britain were to consider not using the word “God”. While there is continuing discussion anytime we put words to paper, by no means are Quakers rejecting the spiritual experience we treasure, regardless of how we describe it…
‘Whatever words we use, we have a personal and often transformative experience that transcends difference and circles the globe.’
Creative endeavours
A display in the foyer of Friargate Meeting House in York has been drawing attention to Friends’ care for the environment.
Local Friend Alison Ralph told Eye: ‘The children have made all the animals, birds, fish and trees that hang from the spheres… We had hanging outside a hoop of plastic bottles surrounding a disc painted as the globe. We like to have something visible from the street. We have had lots of feedback from passing members of the public as well as our room-hirers.’
The display is the latest in a series that explores Quaker testimonies. Alison explained: ‘I am part of the Friargate front of house design group. That sounds very important but we are just a group of four who are responsible – under the auspices of our Quaker Centre manager – for decorating the foyer.
‘[This] is an ongoing project based on the testimonies. In October/November it was the testimony to peace and we had enormous poppies, each made up of many smaller ones. These were displayed outside the Meeting house.
‘Inside we had the testimony (abridged) written out as a poster, lots of white poppies, both purchased and hand knitted (these ran out on a regular basis, we will have to get our knitters started earlier this year!) on offer and hand bills with information on the white poppies.
‘Over Christmas we had the theme of simplicity, using only greenery and handmade (mainly by the children) decorations on the tree under which were “presents” wrapped with the words “simplicity”, “truth”, “sustainability”, “equality”, and “peace” on them. The children wrapped and wrote these.’
Alison told Eye that the initiative ‘has been a great chance to introduce [the children] to the whole concept of our testimonies and involve them in the life of the Meeting’.
And it didn’t take as long as you might think: the current display ‘took us one planning meeting, another construction meeting and a third to finish off and put up, maybe six hours in all’.
