Thought for the Week: Experiencing the Spirit
Andrew Sterling reflects on what makes Quakerism distinctive
What is the core of Quakerism? What does it mean to be a Quaker? It is often said that you will get as many different answers to these questions as the number of Quakers you ask. Many Friends today worry that Quakerism is in danger of becoming no more than a liberal movement or pressure group. We can certainly be seen to tick many liberal boxes with our concerns: justice, freedom, feminism, equality, peace, poverty, social and ecological justice, and so on.
If a person finds that some, or all, of these issues ‘tick their particular box’ – does it then follow that they would, therefore, be a suitable member of the Religious Society of Friends? The answer, if we are not defining ourselves as a liberal pressure group, has to be ‘no’. The ‘core of Quakerism’ is not, then, essentially about those concerns, however important they are to our lives as Quakers.
So, is it the silence that defines Quakerism? It is certainly at the centre of our Meetings for Worship. Even in our Business Meetings we gather in silence to be more able to discern our concerns. But there are a lot of charities that, apparently, manage to be very effective in their concerns without a focus on silence.
Perhaps it’s something more to do with a particularly Quaker silence. We do call it worship. There will be different ideas and explanations of what worship is, but allow me to describe it, rather than define it, in terms of experience. Whether you pray, or meditate, or think, or just let your mind wander, our period of worship enables us to experience being in touch with, and to share, the good spirit in us all, together. We talk of ‘that of God’, but Quakers also have various other ways to describe this Spirit. I call it the sacred in us and would refer to the worship experience as a state of sanctity. But while the experience itself is not about terminology, words are often an outcome.
It is this shared and quiet spirit that does the leading in Quakerism, so it does not need priests, executives or chairmen or women.
But if at any time the spirit of worship is lost (and this can happen), it is liable to be replaced by passions and arguments – the desire to lead and win, manoeuvring outside the collected and settled ‘feeling of the Meeting’ – just, in fact, like any other organisation.
What makes Quakerism distinctive, then, is the spirit of worship. Our concerns, commitment and activism are, like insightful ministry, its outcomes, not its core. We should never lose sight of this.
Comments
I agree with the views given here by Andrew Stirling. There is one early point he makes that I might hesitate over. Yes, I certainly agree that justice, freedom, equality, peace, social and ecological justice, are very important but not central to our existence as a society. The central focus are the practises that enable us to be in touch with ‘that of God’ or the ‘sacred’ or the ‘divine’ that is in all of us. However, when considering if those who don’t see it - or experience it - that way should or should not belong in our society I am not so comfortable. When someone has sought out the RSOF, worships with us, and seeks membership, then I would suggest they are seeking to deepen their spiritual experience. If they don’t find it and are then disillusioned, come to believe that was an impossibility, but as we are ‘pleasant company’ and with similar liberal views they stay within the community, isn’t that partly our fault for not doing enough teaching? There are a lot of resources out there available from Quaker Life, Woodbrooke, the Experiment with Light group etc. We need to show that our Quaker theology is based on experience, not notion.
By mkay on 8th December 2017 - 14:24
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