Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part five
The Friend reports from the first days of Yearly Meeting preparation sessions and special interest meetings
In Getting it right; How should Christians talk about antisemitism? twenty-seven Friends were joined by Nathan Eddy from the Council for Christians and Jews (CCJ), and Anna Krauss, the general secretary of the Council of Lutheran Churches, to explore antisemitism from a church perspective.
Anna spoke about what it is to be a German Christian today, and the sense of national shame, guilt and responsibility that Germans face when it comes to antisemitism. She discussed how the holocaust is confronted in every aspect of German life, leading to what she described as a continuing German hyper-sensitivity to antisemitism.
She illustrated this with the example of the German Women’s World Day of Prayer. In 2024, Palestinian women prepared the liturgy. She discussed how there was disagreement on whether the content was antisemitic, in particular the testimonies on displacement. She concluded that this experience demonstrated that German Lutherans are still unsure of how to engage with antisemitism, stating it can be hard to recognise what situations are antisemitic, and that our cultures can affect this.
Nathan began by introducing us to the diversity of Judaism in the UK today, for instance the Jewish presidents of the CCJ, emphasising that there are many different ways Jewish people can look and identify.
He then shared a report from the Community Security Trust showing 4,103 incidents of antisemitism in the last year. He noted the correlation between the frequency of antisemitic incidents in the UK and conflicts occurring in Israel and Palestine.
Nathan concluded that we must examine our blindspots, our unconscious biases, our ‘growing edges’, and what we might not spot in our rhetoric.
The group was then put into breakout rooms and invited to discuss fictional scenarios of antisemitic behaviour. We were able to question what we, as Quakers, should be doing and feeling in instances of religious discrimination. Some members even felt led to share personal stories of a similar nature.
The groups then had the opportunity to give feedback. Discussion centred around the Palestinian peace movement, examples of Quaker solidarity with synagogues, the various definitions of the term ‘antisemitism’, and using our privilege in general to confront discrimination.
Getting the most out of Quaker tools was a session in which Jude Acton, Ruth Audus and Rita Stephen, of Quaker Life, led twenty-two Friends in a special interest meeting raising awareness of tools such as threshing, clearness, and listening.
The principles of each tool were introduced, and then local development workers offered anonymised examples of when they have seen them used.
They began with Threshing Meetings (see https://bit.ly/3xJzk0s), where a variety of different opinions can be openly, ‘sometimes forcefully’ expressed in advance of a Meeting for Worship for Business. This tool can be considered ‘where there’s some differences of opinion that are causing distress or disturbance to a Meeting’.
Meetings for Listening (https://bit.ly/4crixyj) followed, and were described as being useful when considering contentious matters that don’t need threshing, providing a way ‘to really deeply listen to the emotions of what’s there with tenderness and care’.
Clearness Meetings (https://bit.ly/3xLwRm4) typically focus on one person seeking clarity over a specific issue, with a small group of Friends sitting in worship and offering what comes to them. Historically they have been used to test leadings.
Friends entered breakout groups to consider half a dozen scenarios, asking themselves which of the tools would be most suitable.
The meeting concluded with consideration of Spiritual Reviews (https://bit.ly/4cuCJiT).
Writing by: Rebecca Hardy, journalist at the Friend; Imi Hills, a freelancer from West Weald Meeting; Joseph Jones, editor of the Friend; and Elinor Smallman, production manager at the Friend.
Next week: 8-10 July preparation sessions and special interest group sessions.
