Meeting for Sufferings: Concerns are a concern
Struggles with testing concerns were discussed at Meeting for Sufferings
Meeting for Sufferings clerk Ethel Livermore described testing concerns as ‘something that a lot of Friends struggle with’. Her thoughts were echoed by Friends, one of whom described bringing forward a concern as ‘quite a bruising experience’.
Another Friend said that ‘as an individual Friend taking a concern to Meeting, you have to be prepared to be vulnerable’. She added that she had found Friends supportive, and that problems may have been down to her not presenting the concern clearly.
A Friend said that her Meeting was focusing on I Corinthians 13:1-3. This has proved to be ‘a good way into the subject of testing concerns’. She described a concern as ‘the Spirit moving within the Meeting and in individuals to compel them to address a particular issue’.
The Friend added that ‘without that, all you have is a charity group. It’s not a church’. There was a murmur of agreement from Friends.
She added: ‘Meetings that are spiritually alive are compelled by what happens in Meeting for Worship to live out their faith’.
A Friend suggested: ‘If we were to listen to the Spirit in Meeting for Worship and tested our concerns through the normal Quaker process of discernment, we might end up with fewer concerns. We might be more effective as a body, as a result.’
Another said: ‘It’s the way things are carried forward, with love, that really matters.’
