Trust, discipline and discernment
Ian Kirk-Smith reports on Britain Yearly Meeting 2013
Innovation and nostalgia were features of Yearly Meeting 2013, which was held at Friends House, London, from 24 to 27 May. The innovation was evident in the use of commissioned films and the increasing evidence of ‘tablets’ and ‘mobile phones’. There was also an unprogrammed Meeting for Worship for all ages for the first time. It was also a time of nostalgia for some Friends. It was the last time that the Large Meeting House, which had been specifically designed by a Quaker architect for worship and the holding of Yearly Meeting, was to do so in its present form. The wood panels, balconies and distinctive ‘doorkeeper’ seats will soon be part of history. They have served the Religious Society of Friends well. British Quakers are moving with the times and adapting to financial realities. The major refurbishment of the Large Meeting House, by a firm of international architects, will transform the space for the future. It has not been specifically designed for worship but to be multifunctional. It will, consequently, be very adaptable and of greater benefit, financially, to the Society.
How has the truth prospered?
Yearly Meeting, which was extremely well organised and run, was a diverse, engaging and busy occasion. One of the central themes, which was addressed in different ways throughout the weekend, was the idea of trust – trust in the Spirit, trust in trustees, trust in decision making, trust in others. The meaning of discernment and discipline were also highlighted.
There was a strong programme for young people, impressive lectures, exhibitions, a great variety of interest groups, an enormous amount of nominations and business done, and a host of other activities, including a very strong groups’ fair. A ‘Farmers Market’, with food available in the covered central courtyard on Sunday, was part of the fine work done throughout the weekend by the resident hospitality company.
Friends came from throughout Britain and farther afield to be a gathered community and to enjoy fellowship, inspiration and stimulation. Chris Skidmore, the newly appointed clerk of Yearly Meeting, combined efficiency and firmness with a light touch. The new first assistant clerk was Deborah Rowlands and the second assistant clerk was Clare Scott-Booth.
This year, as part of a three-year exploration of ‘What it means to be a Quaker today’, Friends looked at what it means to be Quakers together. There was a specific focus on ‘trust’ and ‘decision making’ and an attempt, after having to introduce changes to traditional decision-making practices, to evaluate their progress.
On Friday evening Friends heard a summary of responses to some questions sent to Meetings. The earliest Yearly Meetings had asked Friends: ‘How has the Truth prospered amongst you since the last Yearly Meeting and how are Friends in peace and unity?’ The questions today were: How have you discerned the right way forward in your own life? What experiences have you had of Quaker Meetings being guided by the Spirit when making decisions? What do you value about the ways in which Friends work together?
Trust in the Spirit
The session on Saturday morning focused on ‘Trust in the spirit’. It began by challenging Friends to consider how they would respond, to an enquirer, if he asked some questions: What do you do in silent worship? How does the Quaker business method work? How can you make decisions without voting? What do Quakers mean by discernment? Roy Stevenson offered a thoughtful and helpful introduction that explored some of the distinctive features of Quaker worship and decision making.
A Friend spoke of the ‘transformative power’ she had experienced in taking part in a Quaker Meeting for Worship for Business and urged Friends to be ‘open to’ this power. She said that she had come away from Yearly Meeting Gathering in York in 2009 ‘changed and transformed’ as a result of her experience there.
Thomas Kelly, the American Quaker, once wrote about ‘walking with a smile into the dark’. These words were quoted by a Friend who explained that faith and trust are about things that we cannot know. Letting go of ‘that need to know’, she explained, had been very important to her in her spiritual life.
The word ‘discipline’, a Friend said, was a concern to her. When people come to Quakerism, she felt, ‘we do not give them enough opportunity to learn that it takes discipline’ to do the Quaker business method well. We have been shy, she believed, of the word for a long time.
Discernment, a Friend explained, needs time. She said that ‘waiting in the Spirit’ requires time and ‘if you do something in haste you will not be led by the Spirit and it can go badly wrong’.
A Friend reminded those present that the question ‘How has the truth prospered amongst you?’ needs to be reflected on at this time of year. He said ‘by no means all of the Friends in Britain come to Yearly Meeting’ and believed that this should be taken into consideration by those present. The theme was continued by a Friend who wondered how Friends who could not be physically present at a Meeting for Business because of a disability could be part of the process of discernment.
One of the most important requirements for discernment, a Friend suggested, was that all come with heart and mind prepared – not made up beforehand. Friends need to be prepared to be challenged and to be open to new openings.
‘We know it can happen,’ he said, ‘and we need to be prepared for it to happen.’
Preparation Meetings
On Saturday afternoon, instead of meeting in the Large Meeting House, Yearly Meeting divided into three groups to prepare for the consideration, later, of the reports of the governance bodies of Britain Yearly Meeting: Britain Yearly Meeting Trustees, Meeting for Sufferings and Quaker Stewardship Committee.
There was praise for the presentation of the Trustees Annual Report for the year ended December 2012. The report, which considers the centrally managed work of Quakers in Britain, shows what work has been done on behalf of Friends in Britain, how it was done and how it has been paid for.
Jonathan Fox spoke of some of the challenges and difficulties faced by trustees during his time as clerk of BYM trustees. He admitted that, at times, there had been division on some subjects. There had been tension, for example, on the decision to refurbish the Large Meeting House, the resignation of some senior staff in 2010 and the long lease on Courtauld House. These, he said, had to be worked through patiently.
A Friend said that ‘we get our Society on the cheap’. She urged Friends to give greater financial support for centrally managed work and what ‘is done in our name’.
Peter Ullathorne, treasurer of BYM, explained, in response to a query about the need for strategic financial planning, that BYM was financially in a comfortable position – largely thanks to generous legacies and that it had a very healthy situation regarding reserves.
In the session on Meeting for Sufferings a wide spectrum of views on Israel and Palestine were expressed. Time was also given to subjects such as the new, smaller, size of the body, its visionary responsibility, discernment and the role of representatives and alternates. Friends were prompted to continue highlighting the theme of economic justice in 2013.
Trust in Quaker trusteeship
The introduction of trustees for Quaker Meetings has caused some concern and unease. The Sunday morning session at Yearly Meeting explored the nature of being a Quaker trustees and how it might differ from service as a trustee in the broader community. It began with a humorous dialogue that raised some interesting questions concerning the spiritual basis of trusteeship: What makes being a Quaker trustee different? How can Friends be assured that trustees maintain Quaker values? How can the work being done by trustees be more transparent and accountable?
One line in particular raised a loud laugh throughout the Large Meeting House: ‘When Jane rang me from nominations I asked her, “Why me?” and she, being an honest Quaker, said that they’d asked seven other people before me but they had all said no.’
‘Trust’, a Friend said, ‘has to come from openness’. She spoke of her Area Meeting’s relationship with Local Meetings and with Friends House and urged Friends to maintain ‘honesty, openness and integrity’ at all times. She felt that the local and national were not always totally open with the Area Meeting. ‘It is not us and them’, she said, but should be ‘all of us working together.’
The importance of taking personal responsibility was stressed. A Friend talked about never asking to see the minutes of her Area Meeting trustees. ‘I have no sense’, she said, ‘of whether they are upholding Quaker values’. She said communication is a two-way process. ‘I do not play my part’, she admitted, and suggested that Friends should take more responsibility and talk to trustees about the work they do, see their minutes and discuss how they are upholding Quaker values.
A Friend said that he was often highly critical of trustees who ‘make decisions in back rooms, without my consent and without asking my opinion.’ Citing a story from the Old Testament, he then confessed that he had been struggling with himself and felt that he should keep these criticisms to himself. He should, he felt, be ‘supporting the trustees’ more.
The importance of maintaining a broader and distinctive ‘organisational culture’ that was rooted in Quaker faith and testimony was highlighted. A Friend emphasised, particularly when an organisation was ‘outward facing’, that it was about all the parts and not just some maintaining and expressing this culture. It was this that should make something recognisably Quaker. This involved creating a ‘heart that beats’ and ‘a pool in which we can swim’.
A Friend spoke, movingly, about his personal experience of living in an intentional community. He realised, he said, that while he was dedicating his time to getting on with a specific job he was not ‘empowering’ others. People who ‘know how to do it’, he admitted, ‘are not sometimes the best at empowering others’. Other Friends talked about discipline, discernment and the tension between ideals and practicalities.
A Friend made an interesting observation after a two and a half hour session, one of the major sessions of Yearly Meeting, that less than thirty minutes had been given over to ‘leadings of the Spirit’ from the floor of a room filled with hundreds of Friends. It was the negative side, perhaps, of the need to deal, efficiently and in ‘right ordering’, with such a huge amount of business. It is a dilemma shared by many a Local and Area Meeting.
Story telling
The main subject of the afternoon session on Sunday was the report of the trustees of Britain Yearly Meeting. It describes different aspects of the centrally managed work. Jennifer Barraclough, clerk of BYM trustees, who introduced the report, spoke passionately about the importance of ‘story telling’. It should, she argued, be much more prominent in the thinking of Friends today. ‘We need,’ she said, ‘to tell our story to each other’.
She reminded Friends of the ‘terrible narratives’ in the world – but we also need, she stressed, to ‘tell our own story – it tells others where we stand’. Peter Ullathorne, Yearly Meeting treasurer, spoke with great clarity and openness on the finances of BYM.
A very informative and well-crafted film was shown, for the first time in the Large Meeting House, to convey the centrally managed work done on behalf of Friends in Britain. Modern technology was, at the beginning of the twentieth century, also part of the story telling of Friends. Light flickered, during the film, on the old wood panelling around the room.
The ethical investment of Britain Yearly Meeting Funds and the nature and presentation of statistics in the Tabular Statement were among the subjects raised.
The Sunday afternoon session also hosted a piece of innovation and history. In concluded with an imaginative and successful all age Meeting for Worship. It was the first time in the history of the Large Meeting House, during Yearly Meeting, that all ages attending the event had come together, in this way, for Meeting for Worship.
As the builders prepare to transform the space and leave many, now, with cherished memories, it was a reminder of the central importance, in the Religious Society of Friends, of a truly ‘gathered Meeting’. The defining narrative of the Society remains, and is rooted in, being in the Spirit and living in the Spirit… not in the word or in the wood.
Next week the Friend will contain some personal reflections and further reports on BYM 2013.
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