Meeting for Sufferings: When the Spirit moved
Jamie Wrench offers a personal reflection on Meeting for Sufferings
First, the breaking news: Sufferings may be smaller than it was, but it’s not quite as small as they thought. Opening worship was characterised by the last dozen to arrive having to stand at the back, so what would have been a seamless transition to the business of the day was punctuated by the merry sound of additional chairs being brought in accompanied by the mutterings of Michael Hutchinson to the effect that it didn’t look good not to know how many Friends there were in this new, lean gathering. Then it got hot. Many of the windows, having been recently painted, did not open. They tell me there’s air conditioning but it’s so noisy it’s turned off. You couldn’t make it up…
That said, the George Fox room is miles better than the old, unlamented Small Meeting House; it is quieter, being round the back rather than overlooking Euston Road, and it’s squarer, which makes for a much more gathered Meeting. There was much less of a stage-managed feel to the day, too; it seemed that all who felt led to speak were heard, and those at the table seemed less stressed.
The lack of stress may have been because the agenda was not particularly demanding; it was even – dare I say it – a bit dull. Registering officers (ROs) – expensive to train and only rarely called upon to exercise their function – could perhaps be shared between Area Meetings (we shall ask the ROs what they think); nuclear waste in Cumbria (we were against it, especially the spin and dubious financial tactics employed); Return of The Quota (or not, we’re thinking about it); and A Framework for Action (will sail gently into the sunset in 2014, to be replaced by something a bit different. Probably).
Trustees got hot under the collar over recent correspondence in the Friend. Jonathan Fox was ‘disturbed’ that some correspondence ‘comes over as critical of our staff and undermines what they do.’ We could help by ‘challenging sweeping statements not supported by rationale or facts’ – he did not specify exactly which statements and what facts, so we were left guessing.
There were bizarre moments. Only a government capable of creating a tax differential between cooling and reheated Cornish pasties could have come up with the Great Registering Of Meeting Houses For Civil Partnerships Fiasco. Pick a fee – anything you like between £120 and £2,500 (registrar not included). Remove all religious artefacts; no hymns, no prayers, no silence (you might be praying in it). It’s a fair cop, guv, you got us bang to rights, we probably would have been. And if anyone says ‘Thank God that’s over’ at the end, you’ll probably have to start all over again.
Every so often, however, something special happens at Sufferings. With the centenary of the start of world war one looming, we decided that it would be useful to be prepared to reiterate our stance on war, encapsulated by Marigold Bentley as ‘it’s a dreadful thing to kill each other and we should have left it behind and learnt to do something different’. The minute accepted, a Friend rose. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘I know we’re running late, but can we take a moment to hold in the light those who are currently involved in war?’
The room instantly stilled; neither shuffle, cough nor turning page disturbed the deep silence. It was an intensely moving, brief, yet timeless interlude, a profound, gathered moment in which the Spirit moved palpably among us. And it made all the rest of the day worthwhile.
Comments
What a great report! Thank you.
By John H on 11th October 2012 - 9:53
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