Ministers: NEYM youth to older Friends

I've been extremely guilty of ageism of late: I've been writing a fair amount about how (older) Friends must be diligent about how to convey Quakerism to young(er) Friends and to new attenders.

But in New England Yearly Meeting (NEYM), it is a group of young(er) Friends--teens--who remind old(er) Friends what Meeting for Worship is... or more precisely, what it isn't.

(Martin at Quaker Ranter has been lifting up youth ministry among Friends for a while now, including the fact that age does not determine who will receive or provide mentoring and healthy eldership.)

Below is what appears to be a summary of the minute that was submitted to NEYM's Ministry & Counsel by the teens directly. M&C then presented the minute as part of their State of Society report.*

Excerpt from a summary of Ministry & Counsel's presentation of its State of Society report

Young Friends have come to M&C with a minute that they approved at their business meeting yesterday [First Day, 7 Eighth Month 2005], and they would like to share it with us. We don't have to approve it, but we want you to hear it. Hannah Z., outgoing treasurer of YF, will read the minute. "Our life is love and peace and tenderness and bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, and not laying accusation against another, but praying for one another, and helping each other up with a tender hand." (Isaac Penington). A summary of the YF minute follows.

We want to bring some issues to your attention. We are worried about this YM and our ability to worship together. Sunday morning we shared our gifts with you. When we are alone we have deep worship. We want to share with you our appreciation of the silence. Sunday morning many of us left after Max Carter's Bible Half Hour. We were ready for silence, but many left feeling empty and spiritually unfulfilled. The meeting seemed uncentered. We were concerned with how many messages seemed personal. The lack of silence between messages made it hard to appreciate them. We had hoped that by demonstrating our ways of worship, they might catch on. We love you and would not bother with this if we did not care deeply about you and about this issue. We know it is possible for us to sit together in silence, we did it on Sunday for fifteen minutes, and we want it to happen again.

For a personal account of how things transpired, take a look at this post by Peterson, who is currently attending NEYM sessions.

Blessings,
Liz

*I came across the summary at David Coletta's blog, which was referenced by Amanda of Of The Best Stuff But Plain. Sadly, I can't find a specific link on David's blog that has the minute (or its summary), which I have included above. But if you click on David's link, it hopefully will take you to his Quaker posts and to NEYM annual session's summaries. Scroll down until you see the section "Monday morning's business session" ... "Ministry & Counsel's presentation..."

Recommended anthology: Whispers of Faith

Within 30 minutes of receiving and paging through my copy of Whispers of Faith: Young Friends share their experiences of Quakerism, I received an email from an older parent asking, Would you recommend this book for my 20-year-old son [who has been among Friends for nearly all those years]?

You might guess my answer.

Here are the chapter headings, to which a total of 3 or 4 dozen young Friends from around the world respond (many but not all are from the U.S.):

Worship
Testimonies
Community
Spiritual Journeys and
Walking On Water.

The last chapter sounds intriguing, doesn't it?

Each chapter has a preface written by a member of the editorial board for the book--all of whom are Young Friends themselves. By young, I mean under 20 years old.

...What was I doing when I was 17, 18, 19 years old?!?

Just paging through and stopping at random pages, I came across tender poetry, personal struggle, questions of faith, and answers of practice.

In these few pages alone which were exposed to me, already there is a sense of ministry, within and beyond this book, that cannot be received fully if adult Friends and young Friends do not work to bridge the divide between us.

The work does not fall to one group or the other to build the bridge. The bridge must be built from both islands, so that we may reach out to each other.

I'm glad I bought two copies of Whispers of Faith: One for me to pass on and the other for me to keep... and write in, circle, underline, and add exclamation points, of which I'm sure there'll be lots!

Blessings,
Liz

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
To buy a copy--or two!--contact one of two places: in the U.S. and Canada, contact QuakerBooks of FGC, either by phone at 1-800-966-4556 or through their website. In Europe, contact Quaker Bookshop, by phone at 020 7663 1030 or through their own website.

The danger of SPICE testimonies

NOTE, Tenth Month 2009: Many of the original links in this post are no longer working and I've removed them and marked them with a * as I've discovered them.

Over in the archives of the Quaker Renewal Forum, I came across a post* about identifying the testimonies with the acronym SPICE as a way to enliven how we speak about Quakerism.

Here is the main thread of the comment I left there, expressing my disagreement:

Among some unprogrammed Hicksite and Conservative Friends, there has been a concern that the historic testimonies such as you have listed here are in fact becoming creedal in nature... and therefore dangerously close to becoming empty or meaningless.

I have had to rethink these testimonies for myself in recent months. And I have chosen to challenge myself to avoid using the word "testimony" to describe my faith as a Quaker. In doing so, I must therefore start with the Seed, the Inward Light as the foundation for my faith, out of which certain behaviors and beliefs grow.

Here's an example regarding the peace testimony. This testimony, like the others, was NOT intended to be used as a reason to pursue a certain activity. It was instead a thread that could be identified with reflection only after a number of actions had occurred.

I myself can reflect on a time when a bicyclist and a driver of a minivan were fighting with one another as to who was at fault in a little mishap that happened. I mean, they were really letting the other have it.

Not knowing what I was going to say (I had witnessed the mishap), I approached both of them and found myself calmly affirming how caught off-guard each of them must have felt; here's my name and number, can I have yours?; how would you feel if I called each of you in a day or two and see how you are doing?

That little story and my part in it is, for me, an example of the Spirit working through me to engage in peacemaking. It was NOT the Peace Testimony that led me to act the way I did, though.

In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm realizing that if I had stopped to consider "What does the Peace Testimony say about how I should act in this moment?," I think I would have become immobilized, spending all sorts of time composing what I might say, to whom, rather than acting out of faith and an inward prompt.

By being led by the Spirit in the moment, I was able to touch a peaceable place within myself, which maybe was enough to invite these two people to calm down. And both people appreciated my follow-up calls to them. They both expressed feeling cared for as well as feeling a bit embarrassed by how they each were acting towards the other.

I hope this example helps clarify what I am wanting to get across. If we lead our lives by the Testimonies and not by the Holy Spirit, we run the risk of seeking guidance from something other than the True Source.

Blessings,
Liz

UPDATE: Over at Beppeblog,* Beppe expands a bit* on this post, and I found the comments there to be worthwhile as well.

RELATED POSTS:
Timothy (One Quaker Take) writes about creeds and individualism among Friends.

Quaker Jane reminds Friends that Love is the fount from which the Testimonies rise.

*Link has been removed.

After Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative sessions

Seventh Month 2005

I feel refreshed by the Spirit that lives among this group of Friends, though I cannot point to any other time when I have sat still for so long over many days--

in Meeting for Worship;
in Meeting for Worship for Business;
in holding presenters in prayer.

How is it that I am refreshed after four days of this routine, with 12 hours of worship, neither drained nor eager to return home?

I can attribute it to the movement of the Spirit; the discipline and gift of IYMC's clerk; the discipline of the body of Friends gathered. Even in response to the longest of reports, only a very small number of Friends spoke to its wordy knots. It seemed to take a few minutes to loosen the knots and then move on.

During MfW for Business, Friends seemed to speak to the heart or the kernel of what their message was. It was enough to say, "It is a joy to have the young Friends of junior yearly meeting among us," without having to add why the Friend felt that way.

The clerk recorded the sense of the Spirit among us, rather than the who-said-what-and-then-what-happened details that often lead to long corrections and wordsmithing from the floor by more than the clerks' team.

Each committee's report seemed to be received as a whole, as a mini-gestalt, rather than as a list of items that had to be scrutinized, challenged, edited, and threshed by the gathered assembly. Explicit approval of minutes was seldom sought. Silence or the occasional "Good minute" were enough.

The lack of suggestions and the absence of impromptu brainstorming that met each report sent me a nonverbal message of the level of trust in the work of the committees these Friends had, as well as being another signal that these Friends, for the most part, share in the discipline of seeking out committee clerks away from the floor of business session in order to share ideas, ask questions, and offer revisions.

Spiritual hospitality also seemed to be a gift that is part and parcel to the life of this yearly meeting. I was welcomed warmly--perhaps because of the travel letter that accompanied me--but my sense is there is a deeper, quieter joy in many of these Friends that is embodied by genuine welcome and care for visitors and first-timers.

The love of God that these Friends experience in their daily lives is clear. And it is made manifest by the words they speak and by the deeds they do.

I was invited to sit in on a care-and-accountability committee, as well as be part of two other hold-in-prayer opportunities for speakers and the clerk; and I was asked to participate in the variety show, despite my newness to the yearly meeting.

As the week progressed, I was told that the clerk felt that these Opportunities would give me the experience of being among Conservative Friends in a variety of settings, rather than solely looking at MfW for Business and MfW.

I was particularly moved by the epistle that will be sent to Friends Everywhere (as compared to the epistles that will be sent to Iowa Conservative's sister meetings, Ohio Yearly Meeting and North Carolina Yearly Meeting Conservative), which mentions the presence of Friends from Yahara Preparative Meeting and the as-yet-unnamed Conservative-leaning worship group; and that by having us among the yearly meeting, Friends are having to consider the question, "What makes us Conservative Friends?"

Other observations and perceptions include:
1. A good deal of Conservative Friends exchange greetings and news with one another via letters rather than emails.
2. Cell phones ring less frequently but are just as annoying when they do ring.
3. Bible verses, selected by the speakers, were read at the start of each plenary session.
4. Friends were easy with "God language" and with "Jesus (Christ) language."

Overall, I sensed the shared desire and concern for faithfulness and obedience to the leadings of the Spirit; that individual Friends as well as the corporate body be discerning and attentive to the Will of God as it is made known; and that such faithfulness is encouraged.

Blessings,
Liz

This post is an adaptation of a journal entry.

UPDATE, Eighth Month 2006: Here is the first of two posts I wrote after having attended the 2006 annual sessions of Iowa Conservative Friends.