Swedish Friends ponder neighbourhood questions
Peaceful living
In May, Swedish Friends gathered at Svartbäcksgården, the retreat centre near Rimbo, for their seventy-sixth Yearly Meeting. The multifaceted theme for the weekend was peace; two local speakers put the Quaker peace declaration to Charles II in historical and philosophical context, and explored the difficulty of being peaceful in daily life: how our thoughts and actions can subject us and others to violent behaviour and painful consequences.
The theme also resonated through a current concern brought by the elders: how do we support Friends involved in helping vulnerable members of society? There has been much immigration into Scandinavia in recent years, and some of these people are destitute. When they appeal to The Quakers, and Quaker individuals, what can we do? How should we act? What kind of help is appropriate? What about destitute refugees in danger of being sent home? And, particularly, how can the yearly meeting support members involved in helping?
Swedish Friends shared experiences in small and large groups; they gathered thoughts on newsprint to take away and develop into guidelines. It’s a complex problem, and this is just the start of the process. There are many questions around identifying responsibility, managing expectations both too high and too low, eliminating prejudice, resisting manipulation, and still recognising Jesus at the door.
This is an issue causing concern in my own Local Quaker Meeting; at a recent Business Meeting we considered not only what might be the best way to support a destitute asylum seeker residing in our city who has been befriended by some Friends, but also the right ordering of taking responsibility for an individual? Would it be better to get involved with a local group already doing good work in this field? Should we be campaigning as well as acting?
So many questions, both in Britain and Sweden, which challenge us to live the testimonies to peace and equality that we think we stand for. How do we love our neighbour in practice?
Comments
I also have concerns for more vulnerable members of society and am thinking about how to respond. I’m a Street Pastor in my own locality so I have opportunities to listen to some of those vulnerable and struggling - even just listening seems to be appreciated. We also offer practical help as needed where we can. I’d imagine we can do more as groups of Quakers in our own localities by perhaps joining as volunteers at Samaritans or helping in homeless hostels perhaps. Not quite sure how the joined up” bit could happen that we do this work as a local group. I’m an attender (for the last year) so not au fait with how the area/country stuff happens yet.”
By SueC on 22nd June 2010 - 16:11
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