‘Meeting is not always like this.’ Photo: Titchfield Haven courtesy of the RSPB
See for yourselves: John Ward’s Thought for the week
‘The hide was a window to a world of wonder.’
When we lived in Hampshire, there was a wonderful nature reserve nearby called Titchfield Haven. It contained hides from which you could watch birds and other wildlife. Each hide had dense vegetation to its right and left, so, as you entered the structure from the back, you were hidden from the birds, and them from you. The result was that when you entered and looked through the windows, you were able to view a completely different world: a stretch of water, teeming with ducks and waders, and often marshy grassland and nearby bushes. The hide was a window to a natural world of wonder and delight.
Sometimes, however, you would look out from a hide and see not a single bird. This would happen if, for example, a peregrine had just flown over.
Meeting for Worship can be a bit like a hide in a nature reserve. It has the capacity to become a window onto a new dimension, especially if there has been helpful spoken ministry. We can look out to this world in wonderment, maybe moved by the ministry we have just heard. Sometimes we come to realise that the fabric of the window we were looking through has melted away, and we are no longer just looking out, we are there. Not only are we in a new place, filled with peace, hope and love, we are that place, inseparable from it, and forever changed by it.
Meeting is not always like this. Our heads may be full of peregrine busyness, driving away the wild freedom of the essence of life, creating window frames which dictate the shape of what we may be open to. You cannot force the divine window to appear and, when it does, it can catch you by surprise. But when you have this experience, you suddenly come to realise why it is that Quakers have done away with creeds. It’s not that we don’t have them, as such, it’s more that we will not define ourselves by statements of belief, whether that is a matter of what we do believe, or what we don’t. That’s because the divine experience – the guiding light, the engagement with the essence of everything, communion with God, the Christ within, whatever we may call it – defies definition, and soars way above and beyond any concept or argument the human intellect can dream up.
For me, the very essence of Quakerism means not getting hung up on this or that belief position, and not taking offence at the mention of certain ‘religious’ words. It saddens me when I find Quakers who engage in these pursuits. Relax, Friends. Hear where the words come from. Stop creating window frames that set conditions, so that you stare at the frame rather than the wonderful world beyond. Be open to new light from wherever it may come, and be free!
Comments
A nice analogy, though from my experience it is better to be quiet, because talking can disturb the wildlife, and ruin our concentration.
By MartinCoyle on 2024 03 30
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