Meeting for Sufferings: Clerks reflect on American trip
Meetig for Sufferings heard from Paul Parker and Deborah Rowlands
Recording clerk Paul Parker and Yearly Meeting clerk Deborah Rowlands gave an informative report on their recent trip to visit Quaker communities in the USA (see the Friend, 2 September 2016).
Paul described the trip, which took in Philadelphia and Baltimore Yearly Meetings, as being ‘full of the Spirit, light, community, warmth and welcome’. He spoke of the Meetings as ‘communities that are working hard’ and likened visiting them to visiting someone’s home, where the guest is expected to do their share.
Between them, Paul and Deborah also visited a number of Quaker bodies, including Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC)’s Section of the Americas team, Friends Center, Friends General Conference and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). Paul spoke of having come away with ‘a kaleidoscope of contacts with organisations and groups’.
Deborah said that she had been struck by the different styles of clerking they saw. Baltimore Yearly Meeting, for example, had three reading clerks who were at the table throughout. All of them were under twenty-five years old.
Paul read from the epistle of Philadelphia Young Friends, who wrote that while their gifts are essential to their Yearly Meeting, they ‘felt blocked from full participation – discouraged, frustrated, and ignored’.
They keep coming back, they said, because their Yearly Meeting ‘is striving to transform itself into a welcoming and inclusive community so that it can witness with integrity in the world’.
The epistle struck a particular chord with a member of Meeting for Sufferings, who said that it reflected the anger felt by young British Friends. Pointing out how few there were at Sufferings, he said that involvement seemed to be ‘dictated by age rather than by gifts’.
The Friend added: ‘This is a real problem, which needs to be addressed. I hope you and your Meetings, and Britain Yearly Meeting, will tackle it. You will lose your next generation if you don’t.’
