Letters - 07 October 2022
From Pushing through silence to Effective and simple
Pushing through silence
As a new subscriber to the Friend I find that some articles are exactly what I need to read. I really love the photo illustrations to the text, so thank you. Working as a volunteer in an art gallery, the visual presentation is as vital as the written content. Visual imagery is a glass of water on a hot day.
Being new also with Quaker Meetings I am loath to comment on the terminology I hear used each Sunday. I recognise that all places of worship have their own language for historical reasons.
Recently I saw two visitors arrive and then leave within the first fifteen minutes and I felt a sense of sadness in this.
Silence is difficult to bear in a world of noise and I ask myself why have I stayed. I do have expectations and on leaving I ask what I have gained. Frequently a word is shared which is just right for me.
The warm welcome has helped me to stay and the need for a quiet space after a busy week. But I wonder whether the spirituality satisfies me and whether visitors find in the silence an absence of God rather than a presence.
I walk back to the car park after worship watching busy shoppers in the town centre who find pushing through the door of worship so impossibly hard.
I ask whether there are ways in which we can make the pushing through easier.
Christopher White
Tender hands
I write to reassert the huge value of the safe spiritual space, the place of safety in which all are welcome and treated with respect in the Quaker communities. In our toxic, tired and conflicted age – particularly social media – this is an incredible gift, which can be offered and accepted on the basis of mutual respect and forbearance.
I read of the tensions between belief systems and the impact of political views from across the spectrum as they interact uneasily with religious conviction.
Most of us are so weary and trying to do our best. We can help ourselves, each other and those coming to Quakers for the first time by concentrating on the strength of our approach.
Of course we will get things wrong and could do better. The emphasis should be on what we get right.
Let us be proud of the place of safety that we offer, which does not point fingers at fault but offers a tender hand that says ‘you are safe and respected here’.
Heather Paris
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