Thought for the Week: Community and belonging
Ian Kirk-Smith reflects on community and belonging
In the opening session of Yearly Meeting Gathering Mark Russ, of Woodbrooke, had hundreds of Friends stamping their feet, clicking their fingers, patting their hands on their chests and singing. Everyone in the huge Butterworth Hall at the University of Warwick seemed to be smiling: the young, teenagers, young adults and older adults, the middle aged and the elderly and all those in between. Everyone seemed, in that communal enterprise, to be ‘young at heart’ and ageless – swept up in a surge of sound and action – united in fellowship, love and belonging: a community come together.
It was a wonderful start to the largest gathering of Friends in 2017 – the deep silence of worship, the meticulous, slow nitty-gritty of writing draft minutes and final minutes, the nominations and appointments and annual reports and amendments and minor amendments and revisions and minor revisions, and the faint whispers of ‘hope so’ floating around the hall – the necessary ballast needed to keep a huge organisation such as the Religious Society of Friends afloat – was to come. So was the powerful personal testimony, the illuminating insights of Friends from the floor, the moving and heartfelt ministry, the inspiring personal witness, the uncomfortable challenges, and the stories of faith being put into action throughout Britain and the world that make Yearly Meeting such a special event.
This Yearly Meeting was concluding a three-year exploration of the theme ‘Living out our faith in the world’ and the focus at Warwick was on working with others to make a difference. Throughout the week Friends considered – in talks, lectures, discussions and interest groups – how they were actively engaging with community and movement building so that Quaker values could flourish in the world.
Yearly Meeting Gathering is a time of renewal and spiritual refreshment and, strangely, a most exhausting, if invigorating, way of getting it! Elsewhere, children painted, sang, ran, jumped and generally played their way through the week, with other young Friends engaged in workshops exploring the theme and sharing fellowship, under the guidance of a team of volunteers. The event simply cannot work without the enormous sacrifices made by these Friends. They do not do it for praise. They just deserve every drop of it going.
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