Meeting for Sufferings: The role of Spirit highlighted in interfaith report
The Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations reported to Meeting for Sufferings
Mark Lilley, assistant clerk of the Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR), began his report to Meeting for Sufferings: ‘What lies at the heart of this report is the ‘Spirit’ – from the spirit of change in the religious landscape, to a Spirit-led church, to new forms of spirituality in Britain today.
‘The Spirit challenges, but it also leads and comforts. The Spirit binds Friends together and joins us with other people of faith, and of none; something to be nourished and cherished in a time of trauma.’
He stressed that ‘personal contacts are important’, referring to the interactions of members of QCCIR with people from other churches and other faiths. They help maintain ‘continuity, especially as the immediacy of tragic events needs to be translated into long-term relationships that can withstand trauma’.
He pointed out that copies of A Spirit-led Church, the response from the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain to World Council of Churches Faith and Order Paper No 214, The Church, Towards a Common Vision, (Geneva 2013) and the study guide to accompany it were available to Sufferings to take back to their Meetings.
