Ireland Yearly Meeting 29th April – 1st May 2011
David Keating writes about the annual gathering of Irish Quakers
Tucked away on the edge of Dublin, amid playing fields and fine trees, lies King’s Hospital School. It provided an excellent location for 150 Friends and attenders to hold Ireland Yearly Meeting (IYM).
The clerk, Felicity McCartney, welcomed all those attending including representatives from other churches, and Friends from Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), Germany, Sweden and the USA.
The thought for that first day expanded on the underlying message of the Meeting ‘Let your lives speak’ and BYM’s Advices & queries 27: ‘Live adventurously. When choices arise do you take the way that offers the fullest opportunity for the use of your gifts in the service of God and the community? Let your life speak’. It concluded with the 1939 Christmas message of George VI: ‘I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be better than light, and safer than a known way”.’
Over the ensuing three days numerous reports were given and activities engaged in. We were reminded that outreach is achieved in many ways. Our historical records, even our graveyards, attract people with varied interests, as indeed do all the opportunities that arise that put us in touch with the wider community. What do our lives say then? As a Friend observed, our lives are speaking for us anyway, whether we like it or not. It is up to us to ensure our lives speak well.
We were encouraged to hear from Julia Ryberg about the impact that Swedish Friends, numbering just one hundred, had on their wider community, and how successful their outreach had been. She likened their Meeting to a ship, with its crew and passengers, that had taken them ten years to build and make seaworthy.
We learned how Quaker Quest had been of great help to various Meetings, and, although not intended as an outreach exercise, many enquiries resulted. The clerk enjoined all Meetings to embark on Quaker Quest.
We were delighted to hear Lizz Roe tell us how Woodbrooke training programmes would be conducted in Ireland – with the hint of more extensive programmes in future.
We were heartened by the work in Hlekweni reported to us by Lee Taylor of Milton Keynes Meeting. We also heard of the work of Irish Quaker Faith in Action, EcoQuakers, Quaker Council for European Affairs, Peace Committee and other groups. Our spirits were renewed by the reports of our Young Friends, in particular the two young Irish Friends who spoke about their placements with the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva.
This year W Ross Chapman, of Bessbrook Meeting, gave the annual public lecture, speaking on ‘Called to be Friends.’ He reminded us that Jesus called those who follow him his friends, and not his servants, but this placed much more responsibility on us. His address, leavened with his quiet dry humour, took us gently through the meaning of being a true and loyal Friend, pondering the difference between the terms ‘Quaker’ and ‘Friend’ and why there are more references to Quakers than Friends. To have been present was to have felt its profound effect on us all.
Heeding the words that ‘the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few’ we embark on another year. We pray our ship be seaworthy.
