Meeting for Sufferings: October’s residential, part one (Friday & Saturday)
Joseph Jones reports on Meeting for Sufferings' October residential
Arrival
The wet, grey edge of Storm Amy greeted Friends as they arrived at High Leigh Conference Centre for October’s residential Meeting for Sufferings (MfS). Some would reflect later that Friday evening’s weather matched their mood: news of more Friends being convicted for environmental activism sat amid world events that cast their own dispiriting pall. But representatives put their best feet forward as they gathered for opening worship, hearing first a reading from Emily Provance’s 2025 Swarthmore Lecture, ‘A Testimony of Community’. Emily had compiled a set of testimonial minutes that amalgamated the things that all Friends had in common. ‘Listening is essential’, went her Minute 8. ‘Listeners and speakers should both be aware of the limitations of spoken language and try to communicate despite those limitations, but don’t fight about words. Listen for the meaning behind people’s words… Never think you have grown beyond the need for mutual listening.’
