Letters - 04 October 2013
From Quaker faith & practice to making visitors welcome
Quaker faith & practice revision
The present volume of Quaker faith & practice combines Church Government with aspects of Quaker faith but the order in which it is set out gives priority to Church Government.
The book has undeveloped potential for outreach; it is often given to a Friend being received into membership and is also offered to enquirers who seek information.
Apart from a few words at the beginning of the second paragraph of the Introduction (page 15) any exposition of Quaker faith is lacking. This should be remedied by including a short ‘Historical’ chapter immediately after the Introduction. The current section that is entitled History (1.04) contains very little of interest to the general reader who wants to know what Quakerism is all about, since it is only a survey of how the present volume evolved.
The fact is that we are a Religious Society, Quakerism having arisen from the early Friends who discovered, and tried to live in accordance with, the message of the earliest Christians. As Quakers they experienced the reality of the numinous and committed themselves to being open to the leadings of the Spirit, which they would first test in community. This remains Quaker practice today. The universal aspect of the Spirit, the Inward Light, which was remarked upon by William Penn in the early days, is now more widely recognised.
By placing modern Quaker faith & practice within a clear historical perspective it should be possible to highlight the true nature of our collective experience.
Edward Hoare
Quaker brand
Reading the leaflet about a Woodbrooke course on ‘Good communication within and beyond Meetings’, some Friends at Bull Street Meeting in Birmingham were concerned about the use of the term ‘Quaker branding’. The immediate reaction was: ‘Quakers are not a brand. We are a religious society.’
This is yet another example of how we are being sucked into the corporate culture in which we exist. In the past Quakers have been proud to resist aligning themselves with the dominant culture in which they lived; now, it seems, we rush to embrace it. In our Area Meeting Asylum Group we were recently reminded of a Friend (we think it was Sydney Bailey) who said that it was better to be faithful than to be effective. I would say, it is better to be faithful than to be efficient – being faithful is ultimately more effective and more honest.
Is it time to begin a counter-cultural movement within Friends to save us from becoming just another bland brand? Might there be time to discuss this at Yearly Meeting Gathering?
Barbara Forbes
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