World Plenary 2024 - part eight
The Friend reports on the worship sessions at the FWCC World Plenary, each guided by a different section
During the plenary, Friends had the opportunity to experience Worship as it is practised in each section of FWCC. The first was guided by the Africa Section, which comprises more than 181,000 Friends, across nineteen countries. Friends entered the room singing and dancing, for a session that would include both unprogrammed and programmed worship.
Bainito Wamalwa, clerk of the Africa Section, first introduced silent worship, in which Friends shared emotional ministry: ‘I find myself crying… tears of great joy.’
Programmed worship began with a prayer before ‘To God be the glory’ was sung in Swahili. Friends from Burundi then offered ‘Blessed Assurance’ and ‘How Great Thou Art’ in Kirundi.
Esther Mombo, from Highland Yearly Meeting in Kenya, delivered a sermon, which included both a reading from the Jeremiah 29:14 and the childhood rhyme, ‘There’s a hole in the bucket’. Esther reflected that ‘the holes are the problems that affect our world today, which we are called to participate with the Mother Creator in fixing… We are coming from lived realities that are challenging our existence’.
Repairing the holes would be threefold: ‘First is to recognise. Two is to repent. Three is to redeem.’
Esther’s message was followed by a ‘period of [financial] giving’, described as: ‘An important aspect of our worship… whatever will be realised from the giving will be used to bless and support the homeless in Johannesburg.’
The Section of the Americas, made up of over 131,000 Friends from sixteen countries, led the second plenary worship on Wednesday evening. This session, introduced by Hannah Hobson, of North Carolina YM, would run ‘in the manner of unprogrammed friends in North America’.
Friends in this tradition ‘centre their faith and practice on the experienced reality of the immediate and perceptible guidance of the Holy Spirit in daily life’, said Hannah.‘We strive to be attentive and responsive to that loving presence. Please be faithful to that leading.’
At first it seemed as if the Meeting would be mostly silent, but, after five minutes of stillness, that changed dramatically.
The first piece of spoken ministry concerned Gaza, a weighty topic that was followed almost immediately by some reflections on sustainability. Then came a song, then a poem, several quotations, Bible readings and a seemingly unstoppable series of meditations and ruminations. It was dizzying, and with so little time for each piece of ministry to percolate, one wondered how much of it was truly landing with Friends. It did give a sense of the range of Quaker concerns, but it felt as if there was more ministry given than received.
‘To live from the light, the core of goodness within us all, is the hope… God has revealed themselves to us.’
Europe and Middle East Section led the third worship session. Ethel Livermore, clerk, described most Friends there as part of the unprogrammed tradition, but the morning’s worship would take a semi-programmed form.
Three Friends offered prepared ministry, first in their native language, then in English. Richard Thompson, from Congénies in France, focussed on Ubuntu and the power of Quaker worship to ‘open the door to a promising future for humanity’.
Natasha Zhuravenkova, from Moscow Monthly Meeting in Russia, ministered about care of creation. ‘Do we have more spiritual and at the same time more practical ways to cooperate with the biosphere?’ she asked. ‘Could we become wise stewards and not destroyers?’
Lee Taylor, of Milton Keynes Meeting, spoke about healing historical and ongoing injustices: ‘Listening closely to the needs of those at the sharp end… is key.’
Later, one Friend drew attention to the fact that they were meeting on South Africa’s Women’s Day, and that it was a cause for celebration. Another pointed to the significance of calling God ‘our Father’: ‘We place ourselves in the family of God.’
A Friend whose voice shook with emotion wondered ‘how much this human-centric gathering is drawing us away from the life that is calling to us, from our siblings of the earth’. The Friend paraphrased Albert Einstein, saying that problems cannot be solved by the same mindset that created them. She described the work of a pioneer in interspecies communication, Anna Breytenbach, including her experience with elephants.
Anna believed that the elephants told them to stop worrying, to stop trying so hard to save them, because they know that their time on this planet is coming to an end. All the animals ask, said the Friend ‘is that we love them while we still can’.
The Asia-West Pacific Section, made up of over 22,000 Friends, led the worship on Saturday morning. Ludwig Quirog, of The Philippines, introduced the semi-programmed session and its theme: sustainable peace building.
He read an extract from a lecture by Susumu Ishitan, on his experience in Nagasaki when it was bombed: ‘Having adverse, unfavourable experiences one can come to know the truth which one will never be able to know through academic study nor by common sense. One gains the power of courage to overcome the adverse situation and deepen the understanding of others who are in adverse situations.’
The cultural diversity of the section was shared with songs, prepared ministry, and readings in Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Bisaya, Tagalog, Maori, and Nepali.
A song from Coro Mughetto, a chorus group from Tokyo Friends School, was played as worship began.
Kins Aparece, from The Philippines, continued the reflection on listening: ‘It is not always easy to be together with others. Each one of us carries wounds. We have sometimes wounded each other.’
‘We need never abandon hope,’ she concluded. Referring to Romans 5:5, she spoke of the Holy Spirit: ‘We can rely on this gentle presence even when we do not feel it. Will not trust then be reborn within us?’
After the Lord’s Prayer was chanted in Maori, the final piece of prepared ministry took the form of a slideshow from Friends in Japan, featuring photos of Friends holding a Kanji, a Chinese language character, representing their faith.
In ‘waiting worship’, one Friend ministered about her experience of visiting the Apartheid Museum during the excursions earlier in the week. ‘I continue to wonder how the same kinds of atrocities that have occurred here can continue to happen around the world. We have so much potential as humanity. Can we live into it?’
Saturday evening saw the fifth plenary worship, led by the Section of the Americas again – this time with Friends from the programmed tradition.
Cristela Martinez, of El Salvador YM, introduced the session, and Bolivian Friends offered a prayer. Jorge Barravia, from Cuba, read from John 3, which was followed by Sergio Espino, who delivered ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’ online, in a beautiful tenor voice.
The session included a sermon from Kelly Kellum, secretary general of Friends United Meeting. With his words translated into Spanish, he began by saying his ‘heart has been overflowing this week… it’s such a blessing to be sharing the stage with such a beautiful array of Friends’.
He wanted to reflect on some verses from Isaiah (2:3): ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord… That he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in His paths.’ He segued into quoting George Fox: ‘And so we passed on, warning people as we met them of the day of the Lord was coming upon them. And as we went I spied a great high hill called Pendle Hill: And I went on the top of it with much ado, it was so steep; but I was moved of the Lord to go atop of it; and when I came atop of it I saw Lancashire sea; and there atop of the hill I was moved to sound the day of the Lord.’
Ancient prophets, said Kelly referred to ‘the day of the Lord’ to describe an anticipated time when God will finally interfere in human affairs, when ‘God will come and take control, establish justice, and restore righteousness’. Fox declared ‘that this long-anticipated time has come’, he said.
He compared this to Jeremiah’s letter to the dispossessed people in Babylon following the destruction of Jerusalem. ‘This was a community who understood the humiliation of being a conquered people… They were encouraged to hold on and to have hope.’
Cutting to the present day, Kelly said he was ‘humbled and honoured to work with groups of people who have experienced such [humiliation] in their lives’. He talked emotionally of Friends in Gaza, Kenyans in climate crisis, and a woman gripped by the fear of gang violence in Belize City.
‘Where are we being called?’ he asked. ‘And if we are being called to sound the day of the Lord, what does it sound like?’ He thought it was ‘the sweet notes of the gospel’ – the good news that ‘God has not abandoned us’.
He went on: ‘The day of the Lord, I believe, means for us Friends to reclaim our identity as publishers of truth. To speak the truth when we see it. To summon the courage of our conviction, and speak when we see injustice.’
After a short period of unprogrammed worship, in which one Friend exhorted the room to sing ‘This is the Day That the Lord Has Made’, a video was shown of young Cuban Friends singing a plaintive guitar-led piece ‘I ask for your peace’.
Elvira Ramos closed in prayer: though Friends were of different countries and languages, they met in ‘the same Spirit.’
The final worship session was again led by Africa Section, with Peter Shitemi, of Malava Yearly Meeting in Kenya, introducing a prayer and two songs: ‘Baba Yangu Ana Mali Nyingi’ (‘My Father is Rich in Houses and Lands’) sung by East African Friends, and ‘Trust and Obey’ sung by Friends from Burundi.
The day’s preacher, Charles Berahino, of Kwibuka Yearly Meeting in Burundi, quoted Proverbs 27:17 and 1 Corinthians 12:25-27 before reflecting on individualism within wider society, and the isolation and loneliness that can result from this.
He spoke of Christ living with his disciples in community, and how ubuntu ‘echoes this spirit and attitude’. Reflecting on the life of the early church, Charles emphasised the strength of their traditions, such as breaking bread together, their fellowship, and their generosity.
He concluded by drawing together the Quaker testimonies of integrity, equality, simplicity, community and stewardship, and said: ‘My prayer is that the Lord will revive us, and will revive the work that we do towards this vision of a Christian community.’
Friends then entered a period of giving, accompanied by a chorus and ending with a prayer of thanks.
In unprogrammed worship, several Friends ministered in song and offered poetry. One said: ‘so often I find it easier to think about the things I’m against… but today I was reminded of what I was for.’
Worship came to an end with Friends holding hands as music played and online participants sent kisses.
