‘Quaker worship, in my experience, is more about being changed than it is about being confirmed in where I already am.’ Photo: By Vanessa Krebs on Unsplash.
Travelling Light: Matt Rosen journeys home around the Yearly Meeting
‘This is no easy homecoming.’
I’ve travelled extensively around our Yearly Meeting over the past year, visiting many small and struggling Meetings. I’ve witnessed the exhausting demands of many Quaker roles, and the anxiety of many Friends about the future of our Religious Society.
As I’ve travelled, I’ve marvelled at the confidence and conviction of our spiritual ancestors, who joined the Quaker movement in extraordinary numbers while this was seriously risky. They clearly had a message worth suffering for. It was a simple message that appealed to many seekers, up and down the country, who had become exhausted and despairing looking for the truth outside themselves. ‘Why gad you abroad?’ they preached. ‘Return, return to Him that is the first Love’, they cried in towns and villages, on hillsides and in steeplehouses (Quaker faith & practice 26.71). Their earth-shaking message was that Christ can be found in every heart, and that once listened to, he will join us together to learn from him: their slogan was, ‘Christ has come to teach his people himself’. As they listened, this Voice of Love and Hope led them to preach by word and deed everywhere they went.
