Letters - 27 September 2019
From trust and trustees to a worthy eleven minutes
Trust and trustees
I have the warmest personal regard for Rex Ambler and John Lampen, who have been inspiration, teachers and guides to me in my Quaker life. Their article and letter (30 August and 13 September) on the danger of losing our distinctive way of making decisions has surprised and puzzled me. High ideals and claims we make for the spiritual depth and divine guidance of our Meetings for Worship for Business are often honoured in the breach. I have experienced situations where lack of threshing and preparation have hampered the necessary ‘letting go’ to reach the place of unknowing and hopeful waiting from which that which is waiting to be born can emerge and be recognised as a true leading.
However, in my view, this does not undermine the legitimacy of recent decisions arrived at by trustees of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), particularly in their joint work with Woodbrooke. It is indeed the task of trustees to manage the resources that are deployed in the furtherance of BYM’s aims, those aims having been arrived at during BYM in session and/or at Meeting for Sufferings. Where resources are deployed is ‘delivery’, not vision of priority-setting. I see no encroachment or ‘secularisation’ here. Trust is a foundational requirement for any faith organisation. I have no hesitation in believing trustees to be guided by the same desire and commitment to be open to discerning God’s will for us – and succeeding partially or fully, perhaps sometimes missing – just as any other sincere gathering of Friends anywhere.
Marisa Johnson
Police and protesters
I was disquieted at the account (13 September) of the Meeting for Worship (MfW) at the Defence Security and Equipment International (DSEI) protest, because I did not recognise the description that some of the police handled protesters roughly. Then I realised the MfW described must have been the one at 9am, whereas I had taken part in the afternoon MfW.
At 2pm it was announced that the MfW would last forty-five minutes. At 2:30pm a police inspector respectfully informed us that anyone still blocking the road at 3pm would be arrested. While this did interrupt the MfW, and was premature, it didn’t bother me. The Friend quoted Oliver Robertson, head of witness and worship at Britain Yearly Meeting: ‘Police should behave the same way they would during a Catholic Mass or Muslim prayers towards Mecca.’ This ignores the difference between an act of worship (not the object of police intervention) and the blocking of a public highway (the business of the police).
At 3pm the police advanced firmly but gently. How different this was from the same situation at DSEI 2017 when mounted police broke up the MfW after only fifteen minutes. The police response I witnessed this year seemed to me to be exemplary in comparison. Holding the MfW in the road rather than on the verge, to block entry to the ExCeL Centre, deliberately broke the law. It is important Quakers maintain honesty and integrity in all communications and do not fall into the trap of self-righteousness.
Teresa Belton
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