Meeting for Sufferings: Friends tell of how much their world family matters
The Quaker World Relations Committee questioned Meeting for Sufferings
Meeting for Sufferings on 24 November was asked if ‘the world family of Friends matter – to you and your Meeting?’
The question was posed by Ann Floyd, clerk of Quaker World Relations Committee (QWRC), who spoke about the work the committee does strengthening bonds with the global Quaker community, particularly with regards to the aspiration of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) to become a low-carbon, sustainable community.
A Friend from Scotland said the ‘fresh-thinking they bring’ was particularly useful, adding that ‘international contacts make a tremendous difference, particularly one-to-ones’.
South East Anglian Friends gave a ‘resounding yes’ and shared that some of them had travelled to Cuba on the invitation of Cuban Yearly Meeting, which was ‘extraordinary’ and had a ‘long-lasting effect’.
They said that they had been described as ‘the last of the mystic Quakers, which was all very overwhelming and embarrassing’. They had encountered differences but also ‘a lot that’s the same’.
One Friend from Quaker Life Central Committee (QLCC) noted there was ‘a lot of potential to unlock in us over the next decade or so and I hope the way will be found to enable that to happen’.
Another Friend told Sufferings about a shared online Meeting for Worship in which they had participated with Quakers in Accra in Ghana. This included readings and silence.
The Friend said: ‘For me it was wonderful to hear them speak, but the most moving part was the silence.’
Jocelyn Burnell, co-clerk of QLCC, made the point that we have only access to the United Nations because of the existence of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC).
She said: ‘If FWCC were to die, we’d lose that link.’
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