‘In these extraordinary times, we have seen that it is possible to make changes in our way of life... We have hope.’ Photo: by Ben Robinson for BYM.
Yearly Meeting 2020, Joseph Jones
‘We are not just watching, we are a gathered Meeting.’
‘This is exciting, isn’t it?’, said Clare Scott Booth, as she opened Yearly Meeting 2020. She was using an image of The Light at Friends House as her backdrop, a sweet but sharp memory of in-person Meetings.
Friends had been warned that the Zoom format would limit attendees to essential business. This meant nominations, appointments and receipt of annual reports, of course. But when Clare asked those behind the 766* screens to each wave hello, it was clear that what was most essential – and profound – for many Friends was the view of each others’ faces. ‘The object was not just to see one another but to remind us that we are not just watching, we are a gathered Meeting that we all participate in, whether we are speaking or upholding the silence,’ she said. Despite the fears that technology would get in the way (and well done to everyone who made such an ambitious Meeting possible), Friends experienced a genuine sense of being together. ‘It properly felt like Yearly Meeting’ was a popular response, later.
It was perhaps this joy of recognition that informed the upbeat mood. Documents in advance carried the evidence of a bad couple of years: redundancies, cuts, and the biggest yearly drop in people identifying as Quaker since the Tabular Statement started recording attenders fifty years ago. Further, the opening reading, from the epistle from Aotearoa/New Zealand, reminded Friends of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which ‘…many of those who are worst affected are those who are already suffering’. But when it noted that ‘Faithful continuity of worship is at the heart of our life’ it set the stage for a Meeting that was to be about far more than lament.
Nominations – some of which have been delegated to Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) – were dealt with efficiently and we moved quickly on to annual reports. These were compiled in February, before the pandemic struck, and the events they chronicled were ‘distant in the memory’ said Margaret Bryan, clerk of MfS. But she reminded attendees that MfS had endorsed the Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) trustees’ strategy for ‘a simple church supported by a simple charity to reinvigorate Quakerism.’ The gap between what Friends want to do and the money available for it is ‘wide and growing’, she said. Sufferings had therefore given time in 2019 to explore ‘what is, or is not, or should be, important Quaker work’.
Maintaining MfS through the pandemic had been tricky. The Meeting in April 2020 was cancelled, and in June representatives concentrated on routine business. ‘Experience is showing us that in planning for virtual Meetings several aspects need to be kept in balance. It is important to allow time for consideration. But it is challenging to maintain the concentration required for long Meetings online. Small Meetings can feel like a conversation but it can be difficult to make a contribution to 100 mainly unseen participants – We all miss the different levels of interaction that are possible when meeting in person.’ By October representatives had to acknowledge that they were not able to give full consideration to all reports, including one from BYM trustees on the implementation of the ‘simpler church’ strategy. Yearly Meeting is having to delegate more decisions to MfS, so managing this will be important.
Caroline Nursey, clerk of BYM trustees, reminded Friends that they could read about 2019 work in the ‘Our faith, our work annual review. She instead wanted to ‘talk about BYM in the time of Covid – to update you on the changes that I outlined last year and to seek your prayerful support and guidance.’ The pandemic has reduced BYM’s income, she said, ‘so we have to reduce staffing costs. There will be a pay freeze, and thirty-one staff are leaving through voluntary redundancies.’
‘We need our regular income to match the routine expenditure,’ added Linda Batten, treasurer. ‘We expect to end the year with a deficit of £3 million, part of which was planned, half of which is due to the lack of income from the Quiet Company.’ ‘We need Friends’ long-term giving to increase,’ she said.
Covid had accelerated the need for change, said Caroline. This ‘must now happen, including a thirty per cent reduction in costs, by the end of 2022.’ There were ‘hard choices to be made’, she said, and Quaker Peace & Social Witness’s Central Committee would be making some of them early in 2021. As part of the overall strategy, local development workers would be within reach of all Friends by 2023, and a new regional hub would open in Leeds.
Caroline was grateful for the trustee system. Difficult decisions could not have been left to staff, she said. ‘It allowed me to support and to guide the recording clerk in the knowledge that my judgment has been shaped in a Meeting for Worship for Business.’
Attendees expressed their gratitude to the trustees for their work in difficult circumstances. One Friend spoke excitedly about the local development worker programme: ‘It is making us all feel more involved with who we are and what we are doing. To everyone who has not been so fortunate as to get an early one, your time will come and it will be great!’
After some more nominations and amendments work, as sent to YM by MfS, there was a shuffle break.
On return, Friends heard an extract from the testimony to the life of Claire Watkins (‘She was, in whatever she did, perfect, and she did not let you feel it’) and settled into worship.
Much of the ministry reflected on the pandemic, its impact, and what it might mean for the years ahead. Quaker testimonies would be of the utmost value, said one Friend from the south of England. All humanity would benefit from them. ‘This gives me great joy,’ he said.
An attendee from the north west reminded Friends of a letter George Fox wrote to his parents. ‘Ye have no time but this present time, therefore prize your time, for your soul’s sake,’ it said. ‘This is a useful time’, said the Friend, and we ‘should not be wishing it away.’ Instead, he said we should ‘try to learn its lessons and see where we can gain new insights into what it is to be alive, and who each of us really is in the depths of our souls. We cannot waste this time ... it is something that is given as a gift. It is sacred and we need to learn from it.’
Another Friend from the south of England responded to the life of Claire Watkins: ‘She sounds like everything I’m not,’ she said. ‘The Light does not expect us to do anything perfectly, but that you do your best… be assured, the Light loves you all the same.’ An attendee from mainland Europe agreed: ‘[Claire’s] was not a perfect story. She sang like an angel but it encourages me to growl, be silent or act – whatever it is I am called to do.’
One Friend from Christian CND brought attendees’ attention to a letter from Anglican bishops in support of the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.
There was an international flavour to the ministry, with one Friend from Africa offering a traditional prayer: ‘I have no other helper than you ... How dark the night was – but you were the noonday sun in it.’
A visitor from North America reflected on how meeting online had brought worship into her home. It meant there was ‘that of God’ in every moment, she said. There were times when she turned off her camera and gardened, or did a puzzle. But that wasn’t a real confession, she said, it was a way of taking worship into her daily moment, not just on Sunday.
A Friend from the west of England agreed that lockdown had brought gifts. It was ‘A time to step aside from the business of life. A time to cherish time.’
‘I wish we could have had six times as long,’ said the clerk, drawing worship to a close. But there was some final business to attend to – notably the epistle, which could not be drafted in the usual way. Arrangements Committee had one prepared, approved after a couple of amendments. ‘In these extraordinary and challenging times, we have seen that it is possible to make changes in our way of life,’ it said. ‘We have hope.’
Adwoa Bittle, second assistant clerk, gave notices without the usual ‘pointing to lost property’ or ‘asking so-and-so to meet so-and-so at the table at the rise of session’. She summed up neatly: ‘Thank you for upholding us. Thank you for being here. Thank you for this experiment. Let’s hope for different circumstances next time.’ Clare closed with details of the next Yearly Meeting ‘should nothing occur to prevent’. The words, so meaningful now, moistened more than a few eyes.
* Largest number of screens was 819; 959 Friends registered. Documents can be read at www.quaker.org.uk/ym, including the epistle.
