World Plenary 2024 - part nine

The Friend reports from the final days of the FWCC World Plenary in South Africa (5-12 August)

The last evening was given over to a Celebration and Talent Show. It had two MCs, one online and one in the room, where Kopano Moteane, of SAYM, invited Friends to ‘sit back, relax, and enjoy’.

There followed a series of contributions that ranged from the professional to the homespun, but all given with, well, Spirit.

Highlights included a willow flute solo from Dag Hovda Sture, of Norway YM, and a group of young Japanese Friends who managed to Zoom in from Firbank Fell to offer ‘The Ballad of George Fox’. Davis Musania, of Musingu YM, gave a modern improvised song and Yurii Sheliazhenko, of Ukraine, offered a video-poem written shortly after Russian forces invaded Crimea in 2014. A spoken-word poem came from Briana Haliwell, of New England YM: ‘If water is life, how can she be a commodity?’ Leena Lampela, from Finland, offered ‘The Light Will Lead Us’.

There were many more, all given, and received, in fun rather than judgement. It’s worth catching up with on YouTube (https://bit.ly/wp24talent).

Business Meeting Four was delayed, so the clerks decided to amalgamate it into the Closing Ceremony. If eyebrows had been raised by that unQuakerly word ‘ceremony’, Simon C Lamb reassured them that it just meant ‘closing worship’.

First were the minutes (largely procedural), in which the epistle and weaving document (see overleaf) were read.

Young Friends were then invited to the table to read their epistle – but first they had sent a minute, which Esther Mombo, assistant clerk, read. It said that Young Friends had agreed to the establishment of a world executive committee of young adult Friends. This was a significant development, since efforts after the last plenary to the same end had faltered. ‘We appreciate the news… I think everyone is delighted,’ said Simon.

‘If we are being called to sound the day of the Lord, what does it sound like?’

A Friend from East Africa YM then offered an account of the young Friends gathering that happened in the week before plenary. The gathering had ‘provided an invaluable platform for youth to engage in meaningful discussions’, she said.

It had fostered ‘a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities we face as global citizens… The gathering was a melting pot of cultures, ideas, and perspectives… The friendships formed here are a testament to the spirit of unity and mutual respect that was evident throughout the event… I’ll miss you.’

Young Friends then offered their epistle, read in English, Spanish and KiSwahili. Tim Rouse, of Britain YM, read the English version: ‘Wherever I am, I might look up at different stars,’ it began, ‘but when I look down, I am among Friends… We have enjoyed many happy moments, as well as uncomfortable moments, due to differences in ideas. But that is what ubuntu is about: knowing how to live with good and bad times. Because they help us to grow and learn more about each other.’

They had danced, played and enjoyed nature together, and ‘these memories will serve to remind us of our mission, to make a way for the future, for future young adult Friends, to build similar friendships and connections…

‘When we are here we feel good about being Quaker. Even when the work we are called to is difficult…

‘A challenge under joy has been learning to respect our differences, honouring the cultures that we come from, and learning from one another, rather than trying to change one another… We have learned that we can find an equal place at the table without needing to adopt the same identity.’

One particular message seemed noteworthy: ‘As young adult Friends we know that we are valued in Meetings and churches around the world… But sometimes it can feel like we are seen but not heard… We would like to be seen, and invested in, as the future of our church, and not treated simply as a novelty.’

They reminded Friends that George Fox and other founders of Quakerism were young adults as they started the Quaker movement.

The plenary’s own epistle was then read. ‘We have been inspired by the Spirit-filled resilience of our hosts, emerging from the struggles of the past and present steadfastly to affirm that through God’s grace,’ it said. ‘We are still here. We are one’, it continued, a phrase it repeated more than once. ‘God has no hands but ours, no feet but ours, no lips but ours, so we keep imagining a better world. I am because you are. I am because we are. I see you. We belong to each other. We are still here. We are one. We are one’ (read the whole document at https://fwcc.world/epistle-of-...).

It was through tears that Simon said ‘it will be with great joy that I have the privilege of signing on your behalf’. Before closing worship he signed off with a prayer: ‘In finding ways of hope, even in the dark… we know that we are the only instrument you have.’

Friends still had ministry left to give. They could ‘feel an expansiveness and joy’ as they left, said one, ‘but with that joy also comes energy that is ready to serve… We’re also obliged to keep in our hearts the lament of the earth’.

‘We know what the greatest commandment is,’ said another. ‘It’s love. That’s what we take with us.’

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