Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part three
The Friend reports from the first days of Yearly Meeting preparation sessions and special interest meetings
A dozen Friends gathered on Saturday morning for Footsteps on the crag: Pardshaw Quaker Centre. David Day and Dave Moll, trustees of the Grade II-listed Meeting house, told Friends about the historic premises and its close associations with George Fox, who had begun preaching nearby, but outdoors (‘We have been very much wet’, recorded one listener).
Pardshaw is a very ‘storied place,’ says the historian Angus Winchester, who will give a reading from Early Friends at the site in August, along with – that rain (and grazing rights) permitting – a guided tour.
In the meantime, Friends from around the country visit the site because of its proximity to the Lake District. Some just like to camp; others attend work camps to help with the development of the building. Much work is being done to make it fully wheelchair accessible, including renovating an early entrance, bricked up by the Victorians. ‘It’s a challenging site,’ said one volunteer, ‘but a very special place.’ Friends were encouraged to visit for the Fox400 celebrations there in August.
After a glitch with some technology, some dozen Friends made it in to Support for your Quaker community – development work and more. Rachel Matthews, of Quaker Life, recognised that those gathered included experienced Friends, but went through the basics of central support to make sure everyone was up to speed. Most work was done, she said, ‘by people like you and me’, but there was also a paid staff team to which every Quaker had access. Quaker Life focused on helping Quaker communities thrive, while Quaker Peace & Social Witness staff offered support for Friends’ witness and activism. A team at Quaker Church Affairs worked on admin around governance, while a communications department helped keep Friends in touch with each other and with the work being done in their name. Rachel reminded Friends of the vision set out in Our Faith in the Future. One couldn’t say that the aims outlined in that document had already been achieved, she said, but it was something to be approached with joy. ‘Think about the small things that can be done to move towards them,’ said Rachel, rather than get glum about ‘how we don’t match up’. She went on to talk about the accompaniment, resources and networking that was there to support Friends. One local development worker talked through the kinds of work her role supported, which varies quite widely across different Area Meetings. These Friends, accessible throughout Britain, had been working on all-age worship, resolving conflict, simplifying systems, inclusion and outreach, among other things. Was this system working well, asked one Friend? ‘It’s going OK’, said Rachel. It still sometimes felt like the team was ‘flying by the seat of its pants’, but she felt that most Friends valued the work. ‘It’s always going to be a work in progress.’
A session on Ubuntu in action at the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) was led by one of its programme team, Laurel Townhead, who introduced colleagues Lindsey Fielder Cook and Andres Naranjo. As the session started the twenty assembled Friends were asked to give one word to describe what they felt about QUNO’s work. ‘Beauty’, said one. ‘Necessary,’ said another.
‘We don’t do hierarchy.’
Ubuntu – I am because you are – is one of the themes of this year’s World Plenary, and Laurel talked about how she felt the concept was interwoven into QUNO’s work. Its mission, to recognise ‘the inherent dignity of all so that peace may flourish’, was a function of seeing ‘that of God’ in all people, and motivated QUNO as it had worked as a catalyst and contributor to change. Work on things like land mines, child soldiers, or intellectual property around medicine, was ‘grounded in faith, acting on Friends’ concerns’.
Lindsey then spoke about how the organisation set about its work, describing the quiet diplomacy for which it is well known. We don’t do hierarchy, said Lindsay, and QUNO worked equally with new diplomats and ambassadors. It was a way of supporting diverse voices to enhance their communications. The process was ‘like taking someone into a living room’, said Lindsey. It creates calm. She also spoke of the expert technical advice QUNO offered.
Andres described the family-like nature of the QUNO team, reminding Friends of the governance it received from Friends around the world. ‘Once you’re part of QUNO, you’re always part of the QUNO family.’ For him, working at QUNO was a way to combine professional life with personal values. He was from Ecuador, beset by environmental challenges, but working to address issues like plastic pollution was very fulfilling.
For Laurel, her work is a way to challenge power. ‘Love is the motive and justice is the instrument’.
On climate specifically, ubuntu is the responsibility to care, said Lindsey. Care for creation is care for the sacred. The people she worked with were able to recognise that the problems they faced were global. No one could solve them alone, or even as an individual nation. ‘That’s the ubuntu in the room,’ she said.
Andres works on sustainable economies, which begin with the recognition that our wellbeing is connected to that of others. He recalled working in Nairobi, talking to someone collecting plastic on a beach just as policies on these issues were being worked through nearby. Just because work might be met with resistance, he said, didn’t remove our responsibility to keep at it.
The session was information rich, from a professional team clearly expert in its work. But alongside the intelligence came a sense of strong commitment to the values that underpinned it all.
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.
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