Scottish Friends
Pam Apted reports on a recent General Meeting for Scotland
My journey to Elgin, for General Meeting for Scotland held on 18 November, started early, leaving in the dark from Brechin and boarding the train in Montrose to the clamour of the geese rising from Montrose Basin. Travelling on the train, the early sun shone in a blue sky showing the countryside at its best with views to Bennachie, a familiar sign of ‘home’ for many locals.
My journey was, of course, short compared to that of many Friends who had travelled long and sometimes complicated journeys across Scotland, from the Highlands and Islands and even from Wales and London. Taking journeys was perhaps a theme that ran through our meeting, some taken with joy and anticipation and others with fear and uncertainty. Do our meetings bring us joy?
We heard of the challenges for Friends in remote and rural areas of Scotland to maintain and sustain their Meetings for Worship: the logistics of meeting when journeys can be long, involving weather-dependent ferry crossings and single-track roads. We heard of their resourcefulness, creativity, fun and faithfulness, but also of the real difficulties of sustaining a widely-dispersed community and the burden that can be put on Friends when there are few hands to share the load.
Encouraged by a Listening Project, facilitated by Woodbrooke on the Road, Friends had an opportunity to reflect on how they can move forward and look for ways of simplifying the administrative tasks, releasing energy and creating more joy in their Meetings. North Scotland Area Meeting have asked General Meeting for Scotland trustees for support with taking this forward.
Tim Gee spoke to us about Sanctuary Meetings. Tim had been reminded of the quotation from George Fox: ‘I saw… that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness’. He said that he had felt the darkness when visiting the camps in Calais, but the light when on his travels across the UK learning of all the positive work that is going on for refugees. Fleeing from homes has been part of Quakers’ own history and he has valued the opportunity to look at historical records of Meetings for Sufferings, including those relating to the Kindertransport.
There is at present a wide range of projects in Scotland and across the UK supporting refugees, but Tim encouraged Meetings to consider becoming Sanctuary Meetings. Sanctuary Meetings often begin with ‘a leap of faith’ but their value is that they enable Meetings to work together and give a clear statement to the world of our commitment and vision.
Tim considers the main challenges are to change society’s attitude towards refugees and to influence politics, as Britain is becoming an increasingly hostile environment for refugees and migrants. Meetings considering becoming Sanctuary Meetings can access training and ongoing support to assist them on their journey.
Mairi Campbell-Jack is our parliamentary engagement officer and we were pleased to hear a report from the Parliamentary Liaison Function Group. The two main focuses for Mairi and the group are addressing militarism in schools and economic justice, particularly the idea of a Universal Basic Income. Mairi’s appointment has been greatly welcomed and good progress continues to be made – exciting times ahead!
My journey home was slightly longer, having missed the train connection, but thinking of the refugees I could not help but be aware of just how fortunate I was to be travelling comfortably to a safe home. The journey allowed time for reflection. It was, for me, a day of joy, sharing that sense of community, but also a day of challenges; our opening reading on stewardship (Quaker faith & practice 15.01) had stayed in my mind: ‘Stewardship involves prayer, and it involves thought and it involves applying what emerges from the two. As individuals our particular talents may lead us to greater emphasis on one of those elements, but they can never be wholly divided within any of us, and as a community we need to be faithful to three: prayer, thought and application.’
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