Thought for the Week: Hope and possibility
To what extent is the Society enabling young Friends to participate, be heard and be involved in decisions shaping the future of the Religious Society of Friends?
In the spring of 1652 George Fox climbed Pendle Hill in Lancashire and had a vision of a people waiting to be gathered. It was the beginning of a movement that was to become the Religious Society of Friends. Many ‘Seekers’, in those first years, were convinced and in 1654 a ‘Valiant Sixty’ brought George Fox’s message around Britain.
It is interesting to reflect, as over a thousand people assemble at the University of Warwick for Yearly Meeting Gathering 2017, on the age of those early ‘Friends of the Light’. They were disciples. They were also leaders. They made significant, spirit-led, decisions that would affect the future of the movement.
In 1654 George Fox was 30; James Nayler was 36; Mary Fisher was 31; Richard Hubberthorne was 26; John Audland was 24; Richard Farnworth was 24; and James Parnell, Edward Burrough, George Whitehead and Elizabeth Fletcher were teenagers. These were the young leaders who, by 1660, had helped to build a religious society of some 50,000 in Britain.
It is wonderful that so many wise and experienced older Friends, many in their retirement, devote such time and energy to our faith. They are the lifeblood of Quakersim. A question, though, must be asked: to what extent is the Society, today, finding ways to enable young Friends to participate, be heard, and really be involved in serious decisions that will shape the future of the Religious Society of Friends?
There is tremendous talent, intelligence and drive in young Friends in Britain. Excellent work is being done to nourish this and a number of creative initiatives have been launched. However, uncomfortable decisions may have to be made and completely new ways of working found to fully realise their potential. A Yearly Meeting Gathering is a great place to consider and explore new possibilities.
‘Possibility’ will be a key word at Warwick. At a time when many people feel fear, and some politicians appear to exploit it, Catherine West, the MP and 2017 Swarthmore lecturer, and George Lakey, the American Quaker activist and writer, will be among many contributors offering visions of hope and possibility. These Friends have taken on the challenge of ‘living out our faith in the world, working together to make a difference’.
The French Quaker Stephen Grellet once said:
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow-creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again…
His words hold a deep resonance with Friends. A profound concern with the growing inequality between rich and poor – with both its causes and its consequences – will unite many at Yearly Meeting Gathering. A belief in the equality of every individual – that there is ‘that of God in everyone’ – is at the heart of Quakerism. Faith, for Friends, is also tied to action. And everyone has a part to play.
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