Thought for the Week: Hospitality
Andrew Backhouse reflects on hospitality and exploring Quaker faith & practice
How is your Meeting’s exploration of Quaker faith & practice going? We recently had our first discussion, after Meeting for Worship, in Wilmslow, using the advice from the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre. The discussion left one Friend feeling we should only have the ‘stuff from the seventeenth century’ as it ‘said it all’, whereas others found that material too hard to understand.
Frances and I offered a simple supper at our house for eight Friends to sign up for. It was to be followed by people sharing their best bit of chapter twenty-one and their most challenging piece. We particularly targeted those of working age, as they could not get to daytime gatherings. We found ourselves with three long-time members, two shorter-time ones and four pretty recent attenders.
Meals together can always be fun. There is a lot to learn about each other and good food helps. Then there is the chance to hear one another in sharing.
Somehow, it reached a deep place quickly. The experience of reading aloud, and having it heard, opened up some passages more effectively. Some passages that we liked one day, we found difficult at other times; and we found some passages that one person would interpret in a completely different way from others. Some people found the Christ language and God language challenging. There were several passages that we all liked. I saved my favourite bit to end the evening, rather than just end with challenges.
So, what did we learn from the experience? As expected, we deepened our understanding of Quaker faith & practice. It is good to have an excuse to visit it again. But I think I am most stirred up by the reminder of the incredible importance of hospitality, the opening up of our homes and our lives to one another. One person said at Meeting two days later that it had been an evening of ‘real soul food’. Another dropped a note to say how wonderful it was to discuss ‘real life’, the difficulties and the celebrations.
It looks like we may have to fit in more people next time, as everyone wants to come again. Perhaps we can run parallel suppers?
What are you doing to stir things up?
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