Thought for the Week: Sharing our gifts
As the Churches Together in England (CTE) Forum approaches, moderator Janet Scott considers what Quakerism can bring to the event
Next week Churches Together in England (CTE) will hold a Forum, an event that happens every three years and brings together representatives of the member churches, of county ecumenical councils and of associated bodies. About two hundred and sixty people will meet at Swanwick in Derbyshire to worship together, to study, think and discuss together, and to give general direction to the ecumenical movement in England and to CTE in particular.
At the last Forum in 2009 I was elected as moderator for this year’s Forum so have spent three years working with a small group to plan the event. We have seen it as ‘embedded in worship and grounded in scripture’. The biblical text on which it is grounded is from Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, chapters twelve and thirteen. This letter, addressed to a divided and factional church, reminds people of their unity in the Spirit. It uses the metaphor of the body to show how there can be unity with diversity, it describes the gifts given by the Spirit for the building up of the church, and it calls every member to seek the greatest gift of love. It is from this that we have taken the title for the Forum: ‘What does Love require of us?’
One of the emphases of the Forum will be on the gifts that the Spirit has given to the churches. Participants have been asked beforehand to think about the gifts that their own church has to offer and also the gifts that other churches have from which their own church could learn. For example, Quakers may well feel that they could offer silence but could learn from the joyfulness of some other traditions. This will be discussed in small home groups as well as in a presidents’ panel.
As we have planned, I have been able to bring to the Forum gifts from the Quaker tradition, which have helped to shape what will happen. Firstly, there is the recognition that worship and ‘business’ cannot be separated. Thus, all sessions will begin and end with explicit worship, though more usually a hymn in the Methodist tradition than Quaker silence.
Secondly, and allied to this, the recognition that all space is sacred space: we shall not go off to a separate chapel for worship but stay in the plenary hall. And as the symbols of worship are built up around the hall they will illuminate all the proceedings.
Thirdly, there is much greater equality than before, not only between men and women but between lay and ordained. At the last Forum all the main speakers were men (it was a Roman Catholic priest who pointed this out and objected). This time, as well as the moderator, the presenter of the main Bible study and the preacher of the sermon at the final worship are all lay women, and the worship leader is a Catholic sister.
Fourthly, we are trusting that relationships between our churches are good enough for us to hold working groups to look at what love requires of us in dealing with difficult and divisive issues. Quakers will be responsible for the group that looks at ethical issues.
Finally, trust in the Spirit, together with experience of clerking, has allowed me to leave the closing sessions very open and flexible so that there is space for the Spirit to work amongst us and guide us as we look at the next steps for the ecumenical movement in England. I have been very thankful to have had this opportunity to bring Quaker ways into work with the churches. Please uphold the Forum in your prayers.
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