Thought for the Week: The Inner Light
Ian Kirk-Smith reflects on key themes leading up to Britain Yearly Meeting 2018
Diversity will be one of the themes at this year’s Yearly Meeting being held in Friends House, London, on 4-7 May, when hundreds of Quakers from every corner of Britain and further afield will gather to worship, conduct business and share fellowship. Consideration and discernment on Quaker faith & practice will also be the subject of important session and many conversations.
These two themes are not separate. They weave together like threads in a complex tapestry. Can Friends, spiritually, accommodate diversity in belief and unite on truths at the heart of Quaker faith & practice? Can the Religious Society of Friends, socially, be more diverse, welcoming and hospitable?
The challenge is to accommodate diversity, in belief and practice, and at the same time maintain a unity on essentials and a respect for tradition. Words can sometimes obscure rather than illuminate ‘for the letter kills but the Spirit giveth life’ (2 Corinthians 3:6).
Rufus Jones, the American Quaker, wrote: ‘The Light Within, which is the central Quaker idea, is no abstract phrase. It is an experience. It is a type of religion that turns away from arid theological notions and that insists instead upon a real and vital experience of God revealed to persons in their own souls, in their own personal lives.’
Christ, in this vision, is not a being who came into the world to affect a mysterious scheme of salvation. This vision acknowledges an historical figure, but turns, instead, to emphasise a living Spirit – self-revealing and inwardly present. Christ, as Rowena Loverance writes, is not ‘stranded somewhere between the Ascension and the Book of Revelation’ but for many Friends a certainty cherished – a conviction that he is ‘fully present in the here and now: “Christ is come to teach his people himself”.’ His presence is, for many, the ‘Light and Love’ that Rosie Adamson-Clark celebrates in a loving relationship, or with those humbly sharing food at the Martha House in Tottenham, or in the love of a son for his mother and his creative response to injustice in a broken world.
Rufus Jones was convinced of the reality of this vision: ‘We no more need to go somewhere to find God than the fish needs to soar to find the ocean or the eagle needs to plunge to find the air’. He also felt early Friends had discovered it, tested it and demonstrated it through the lives they led.
How can Friends, also, engage more positively and imaginatively with the challenge of creating a more diverse Society? Young Friends, for example, have intelligence, dynamism, spiritual depth and a deep commitment to creating the Kingdom of God on earth. They also maintain an impressive fidelity to Quaker business practice. How can young Friends be more involved in the crucial decisions that will shape the destiny of the Religious Society of Friends? This may involve radical change.
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