Yearly Meeting 2023: Session 4 - Truth and Integrity
‘Seeking truth is a practice of staying open to what we don’t know.’
Session four opened by minuting the morning’s worship and welcoming interfaith visitors. The theme for the session was ‘Truth and integrity’, and Friends heard prepared ministry from Diane Randall, who served as general secretary of the US Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) until 2021.
‘On this bright and beautiful day,’ she began, ‘how are we called as Friends to speak the truth through love?’ She recalled the election of Donald Trump as president. ‘Lies from political leaders did not start with Donald Trump, but he made false statements with the frequency that was head spinning.’ Since then, manipulation of the public has escalated, she said, with ‘dire impacts on human rights and human life’. ‘How does this culture of political lies… affect the Religious Society of Friends? Does our commitment to truth and integrity mean we have to jump into the fray, to be engaged in politics? Can we find a common ground that moves us toward the world we seek?’ Friends’ faith and practice provides us with a way through the challenges, said Diane, ‘a way that is grounded in truth; a way that continuously pursues truth; and a way that encourages and supports a life of integrity.’
She spoke of her early experiences of political lobbying, learning from other Friends. ‘The voices of Quakers and other people of faith do have an impact, often because we are willing to listen, and work to find common ground while holding our truth.’ Staff in Republican and Democrat offices, all stunned by Donald Trump’s election, were listened to by Quaker advocates. ‘Kindness can have an impact’.
Early Friends experienced Truth with a capital T, she said, but the truth she seeks in her outward life is distinct from, but connected to, this capital T truth. ‘The pursuit of truth in the world, in the cultural, social, political sense, recognises that truth does change and evolve.Seeking truth is a practice of staying open to what we don’t know and haven’t experienced.’ She talked of how Quakers in the US had set up schools for indigenous children, causing much harm. Recognising that now was ‘a spiritual, moral, and just action that challenges us today to recognise how we might be acting unjustly now.’
Not all responses to the lack of integrity in public life need happen at a high level, she said: ‘We can do with it with our community, in conversations with family, friends and strangers, speaking courageously about the truth in our hearts.’ She finished by exhorting Friends to ‘Take joy in practicing the gifts of our faith, truth telling, accountability, community building, and hope’.
The clerks opened the Meeting for discernment, without any specific questions in mind. Friends recognised the need to engage with people with whom they disagreed. One Friend referenced the work of Darren McGarvey, who describes how people in oppressed groups have to learn to move in different circles, and therefore pick up insights on how to connect. Another remembered organising Friends to oppose the burying of nuclear waste: ‘Faith can move, can make a difference, and we did’.
In the minute, the clerks recognised the powerful prepared ministry, and looked forward to going deeper on the subject in 2024.
Read the rest of our full coverage of Yearly Meeting here:
- Yearly Meeting 2023: Session 1 - Opening session
- Yearly Meeting 2023: Session 2 - Releasing Energy and Revitalising Quaker Communities
- Yearly Meeting 2023: Session 3 - Looking at Central Committees
- Yearly Meeting 2023: All-together’ Meeting for Worship
- Yearly Meeting 2023: Session 5 - Looking at Meeting for Sufferings
- Yearly Meeting 2023: Session 6 - Required business; as led
- Yearly Meeting 2023: Session 7 - Our all-age community, closing session
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