Historic Adderbury Meeting House reopens
‘Receptive Ecumenism is both a way of thinking and a process that enables unity to be built by receiving gifts from others.'
Banbury and Evesham Area Meeting is shining a spotlight on ‘receptive ecumenism’ this weekend.
Elaine Green, clerk to the Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR), will speak on the subject at the annual public talk at the historic Adderbury Meeting House. The talk on 16 June is called ‘Receptive Ecumenism: Learning from other people’s experience of the Light’.
Drawing on her work on interfaith relations, the Quaker representative for Churches Together in England will explore the concept, originally developed by the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University. The local Quakers said that, according to a definition from Churches Together in England, ‘Receptive Ecumenism is both a way of thinking and a process that enables unity to be built by receiving gifts from others. It challenges us to not think of what others might benefit from receiving from us, but instead invites us to recognise our needs and to put ourselves in the place of being a recipient.’
Amanda Howson, from Banbury Meeting, told the Friend that Elaine Green, from Ipswich and Diss Area Meeting, ‘is able to speak from experience of navigating the sometimes difficult terrain of inter-church and inter-faith relations. She will describe how Quakers in Britain, and QCCIR in particular, are adapting their ways of working so as to continue to respond to the turbulence in pursuit of their peace mission.’
The free talk is ‘a great opportunity to see the Meeting house, which is only open a few times a year. Adderbury Meeting House is one of the oldest in the country, having been built in 1675, and is a very special place, little changed by the passing of time,’ she added.
