‘We know moral norms have changed. What are the moral norms today that we do not see but will be regarded as wrong in the future?’
Meeting for Sufferings: Digital discernment
Meeting for Sufferings 2-4 October took place online for the second time
Friday
October’s Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) was originally planned as a residential gathering at Woodbrooke. Those Meetings offer representatives a good amount of time for reflection and fellowship, so it was perhaps this reminder of life before Covid restrictions that contributed to what was, at times, a somewhat sombre online gathering. The Society was already in a period of some financial recalibration when the virus hit, and Friends were clearly conscious of the pandemic’s impact on Quaker activities, particularly at Friends House and Woodbrooke.
In the first significant agenda item, however, representatives found ‘much to celebrate’ in a report from the group responsible for monitoring the Yearly Meeting’s commitment to sustainability. The group’s clerks Peter Aviss and Caroline Howden talked of how ‘incredible’ it felt to see the ‘huge numbers of things underway’. And they were aware that there was perhaps even more work being done than they had been able to reflect on. An online session with the Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations, for example, had revealed activities that hadn’t previously been considered. ‘We can only monitor what is recorded’, said Peter.
Responding, representatives asked about whether it was possible to tell how impactful any of this work had been. The group hadn’t been formally asked to report on that, said Caroline. Staff at Friends House were looking at it, she said, but perhaps representatives could consult with their Area Meetings to see how they might do that.
It was important to remember, said one representative from the midlands, that Friends didn’t operate inside a faith group bubble. Collective efforts to work with other groups were very important. This was acknowledged but the Meeting was reminded that the group existed to monitor the Society’s own commitment to the issue.
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has recently funded Woodbrooke to undertake a five-year project to strengthen the spiritual underpinning of the Quaker response to the climate crisis. Maud Grainger from the study centre spoke to this, covering the study materials, courses, workshops and retreats that would be available. The work would complement the outward-facing efforts of Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW), which are focussed on political and systemic change.
Maud, conferencing from home like most in attendance, apologised for some minor family interruptions – ‘I feel like one of those BBC journalists’, she said – but it served to remind representatives of the importance of Woodbrooke’s inter-generational approach. That was ‘so, so important’, said one. It was ‘enriching for us all’ to hear people share their own personal stories. Maud had been inspired by her son, she said, who had asked her ‘How can it be a gathering if I’m not invited?’
Livvy Hanks, BYM’s economics and sustainability programme manager, talked about the priorities adopted by QPSW’s Economics and Sustainability subcommittee for the period up to the end of 2021. Her team, which had shrunk over the last year, needed ‘to be realistic, but we are ambitious’. On top of the work mentioned in the report, the team was also working on the ‘Build Back Better’ campaign, aimed at shifting societal priorities post pandemic.
Friends wanted to hear more about the planning for the twenty-sixth UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), which will now take place in Glasgow in November 2021. Was BYM working with Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO)? Very closely, said Livvy. BYM was looking for its own accreditation for the event, and would turn to QUNO for guidance.
Other representatives saw an opportunity to amplify voices from the global south. Could we facilitate events to that end? Those issues were a focus for BYM. An event was planned at Friends House that would include activists from that part of the world. Friends from Scotland also said that it was their intention to host people from countries that would otherwise lack the finances to attend. One Friend reminded the Meeting to be mindful of, and challenge, the fact that the UK delegation to the conference contained no women.
The overall QPSW strategy is also currently being discerned. In his report to the Meeting Jeff Beaty, co-clerk of QPSW Central Committee, reminded Friends that it had already been agreed that they would work on ‘fewer distinct areas but put more capacity into [those] issues.’ The two priorities were ‘peace and peacebuilding’ and ‘sustainability and climate justice.’ He hoped the strategy, which was ‘almost there’ would ‘take us to a new level, involving more Friends locally.’ He too talked of what could be ‘realistically achieved’, doing ‘more of less’. Isolationism was becoming more prevalent in the world, he said, which was against our testimonies. Language was becoming more violent. But we ‘cannot do everything we want to’. Friends should expect to hear soon about what would be laid down. The committee’s next meetings would involve difficult decisions. He needed to know that MfS was comfortable with the ‘direction of travel’.
One Friend from the south of England welcomed the report. He was glad to see that it was conscious of Britain’s colonial past, given how much domestic and international strife has resulted. A representative from north west England understood that the Society needed to focus its concerns, but hoped that it would retain enough agility to consider issues as they arose. Intersectionality of issues was important she said, as was our witness to truth. A Friend in London agreed, reminding Friends that violence was not always the result of state structures, but could arise in the family.
Responding on colonialism, Jeff talked about the inspiration the committee had taken from the Turning the Tide projects in East Africa. Members had learned much from people there.
Saturday
BYM trustees had met three times since the last MfS said Caroline Nursey, clerk to trustees, introducing her report. They had been experimenting with ways of finding deep discernment, and found that it was possible. One of those Meetings had been brought together at short notice – the fifth Meeting since the pandemic struck – and the work had been more difficult than would usually be necessary. It had been important that they were a genuine sharing, worshipping group.
Caroline wanted to thank BYM staff publicly. They had been flexible, helping Friends adapt to online working, while maintaining ongoing work. They had learned much about flexibility that would be useful when things returned to ‘normal’. So far, BYM has been able to retain all its staff, who had agreed to a pay freeze and new (again ‘realistic’) terms on redundancy – though trustees were keen to avoid compulsory redundancies.
Linda Batten, treasurer, talked of the financial deficit caused, in part, by the lack of income from the Quiet Company (BYM’s hospitality business). Large legacies had helped at the end of last year but there was a need for long-term giving to increase. Instead of receiving income from the Quiet Company, BYM trustees have loaned it £1.5 million for working capital.
There was ‘no need to panic’, however, said Caroline. There were plans to make BYM financially sustainable by 2023, and work on that has continued. Trustees had met with central committee clerks and heard that there were signs of new life as well as difficulties. Local development workers have been very useful and there is close working across the Society. It is becoming clearer how BYM should be applying its resources.
Caroline saw BYM becoming ‘a more dispersed organisation’, with fewer staff based at Friends House. Although this might mean ‘laying down much-loved activities’, this was an important part of becoming a simple church supported by a simple charity. It was going to be important to identify which work would make the most difference.
There was a long silence after the report, with much for Friends to absorb. Eventually one, from the east of England, talked about the difficulties of essential MfS discernment under Covid conditions. Consideration was ‘fractional’, she said. Another spoke of the ‘very major changes’ underway. ‘I don’t think Friends are aware of the size of the change’, he said.
Responding, Caroline acknowledged that it was going to be ‘hard’ for a few years. But getting the strategy right was important, so that it wasn’t just about ‘cutting things’. Good strategy would identify ‘those points of light’, which would ‘actually make things better’.
Another Friend said the long silence after the report was a sign that representatives were finding discernment difficult. It was ‘not intellectually possible to give full attention to the agenda’ she said. The resulting minute recognised that ‘giving full consideration to all the important issues before us requires a level of discernment that is impossible to achieve in a few short hours today.’
Friends then turned to the subject of racism, and how the Society could respond to the issues arising from the Black Lives Matter movement. It was noted that the signage attached to the William Penn room at Friends House had been changed, to acknowledge that Penn had enslaved people. Representatives went into breakout groups to discuss three subjects: ‘What can we in the UK learn from the death of George Floyd, and how should we respond?’; ‘How can we best acknowledge and help heal the wounds of the transatlantic slave trade? Quakers participated in this trade of empire, and continue to enjoy its benefits as part of the wealth of the UK today’; ‘How should we continue our discernment, and how can we welcome and be led by the voices and experiences of black and ethic-minority (BAME) people when our Society is predominantly white?’
Giving feedback to the entire Meeting in the chat box, small groups had identified a need to listen and learn. One said that we need to ‘educate ourselves, both individually through our own research, reading, listening, watching, but also in book groups, in Meetings for Learning, and from Woodbrooke courses. To learn about black history, about white priviledge, about insersectionality, and white fragility.’
Another noted that ‘we in the UK share the burden of looking at our responsibility and complicity for our own racism. We need to look at the deaths in custody in the UK, and to prosecute police officers where necessary. The New York YM apology is very powerful, especially as it looks back in history to see how we are still benefiting today from the profits that have come from the trade in Black Africans. It is so difficult for us to see and feel our innate privilege from just being white. We are not faced with disadvantage every day. We have the luxury of the built-in comfort of it being assumed that we belong.’
Some groups took a wider perspective: ‘We know moral norms have changed. What are the moral norms today that we do not see but will be regarded as wrong in the future?’
Several Friends recommended books for learning, notably Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga. Responding quickly in a chat box can be difficult, and not all Friends are comfortable with the technology. All sorts of mistakes get made with text, including in this magazine. Readers will have to decide for themselves whether it means anything that the author’s name was spelled incorrectly three times.
The day’s last items of business were to: receive the QCCIR report (the content of which was given in an earlier online meeting); give an update on minutes received from Area Meetings; accredit Quaker Recognised Bodies; and forward to Yearly Meeting a recommendation that the Quaker Stewardship Committee be laid down. The latter prompted further discussion about MfS’s ability to discern under current circumstances. ‘This is almost certainly a good idea’, said a Friend from Scotland, ‘but I’m conscious that it asks [MfS] to take on a new role.’ Others asked for more time to consider these new responsibilities. The minute reflected these concerns.
In a final period of worship Paul Parker, recording clerk, returned to the issue of racism, and diversity within the Society: ‘I grieve for the people who are not here because we have not reached out, or they have not been made welcome. We are very keen to look at the rest of the world and be shocked but I think there may be a beam in our own eye.’
Sunday
Sunday’s topic for discussion was to prove much more positive. The clerks of the Book of Discipline Revision Committee, Catherine Brewer and Rosie Carnall, gave a progress report in which they talked of the joy of the process. They had become a community as well as a committee, said Rosie. Themes for the book of discipline had emerged from five key insights. Firstly, that ‘we can all have direct access to a transforming experience of the divine.’ Then that ‘we live under the guidance of the promptings of love and truth in our hearts’ and that ‘we recognise and seek to address that of God in each person’. Fourthly ‘there is a dynamic spirit bringing continuing revelation’; and finally ‘we hold the whole of life to be sacramental’.
These insights had led the committee to seven themes that should recur in any new book (though it is expected that other technologies will contain the definitive work): spirituality, worship and discernment – individually and collectively with God; Quaker community – life in our meetings; testimony and faith in action; stages of personal life – journeys, and close relationships; church government – how we organise ourselves; our story – where we have come from and where we are going; and advices & queries.
Representatives were thrilled. ‘It fills my heart with joy’ said one. ‘I feel lifted’. She spoke for many.
Before the weekend ended in worship, the Meeting heard an update on plans for an online Yearly Meeting, to be held next month. It would have to be confined to ‘absolutely necessary business’, said Clare Scott Booth, who will clerk. Routine business will be done with printed draft minutes. There will be challenges, she said. It will be a different way of meeting together, with a big learning curve.
Representatives wanted to know whether there would be a social element to the occasion. Another asked whether Friends could gather in groups if the 1,000 attendance limit were under threat. That would depend on local social distancing measures, said the recording clerk. Otherwise, the need for fellowship is well understood. It was an appropriate note to finish.
Sufferings papers can be found at www.quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/meeting-for-sufferings/papers-and-minutes.
