Kuukausi: toukokuu 2018

Ajatuksia valon teemasta kevään 2018 vuosikokouksesta

“Living in the spirit is like breathing. Spiritual practice is the in-breath while our loving
action in the world is the out-breath. One flows from the other…We need to give ourselves
permission to breathe in” From Deepening the life of the Spirit by Ginny Wall.

Light represents opportunity and hopefulness. It is the opposite of darkness.

To hold someone in the light is it to give freedom to God to do his work.

Holding someone in the light is only possible when I am there myself, in the light with them. Then
it comes spontaneously.

Sometimes the expression to hold someone in the light is easier for people who do not
have faith. The idea of light is not interfering, it is a simple form of support.

I don’t feel a difference between light and prayer. I imagine holding the person and bringing
them into a space which is as bright as possible.

To hold oneself in the light is to recognise that of god in yourself. Realising what you are
doing is something greater than yourself points to that of god in everyone, including
yourself.

People need to be refilled with light before they can hold someone else in the light. The
light you give flows from the light you have inside.

Light is like a mirror. It reflects from ourselves to another.

We can easily think that nature comes from sunlight. Spring reminds me of light because Spring
awakens life and light in the sleeping earth.

The is no difference between the light that guides the plants and the light that guides us.

The ability to forgive is one of the gifts of light.

Like a seed which needs time in the darkness in order to muster the energy to push
forward into the light of day, we must experience times of darkness into order to
experience God’s light.

When one room of darkness is next to one room of light, opening the door will cause light
to flood in. The power of light is all encompassing.

To hold someone in the light is hold someone in the ‘well of life and the brook of joy’. It is to
keep them in the energy and life.

Illustrations by Abigail Garbett

22/05/2018
Jane represented FYM in Britain Yearly Meeting

Britain Yearly Meeting 4-7.5. 2018. Held in Friends House, Euston Road, London

What an amazing contrast to be in both Finland Yearly Meeting and Britain Yearly Meeting within a week. Our own YM with 17 Friends including Alvin aged 4 and Britain YM with over 1000 Friends and 6 groups for children and young people: New shoots (0-2) Fox Cubs (3-6) Penn Friends (7-9) Spiritual Adventurers (9-11) Young People’s Program (11-15) and Junior Yearly Meeting (16-18). But yet, the similarities seemed more striking than the difference in numbers might suggest. I took with me the quality of the Worship and Spirit that I experienced in Ilkko at the end of April and I found the same depth of Spirit in the gathered silence among the many of us worshiping in Friend’s House central London.

The final ministry from our Sunday morning worship in Ilkko brought us the message of how Quaker structures and ways of service have changed as Friends have learned to see what was not obvious to them before. Britain YM spent the whole weekend considering whether the time is right to revise the ‘red book’ Quaker Faith and Practice in Britain YM; not change for the sake of change, but because the world has changed, and Quaker experience has changed, and the new book needs to reflect this; not least because there is a new generation of younger Friends and more coming. We were asked to treat younger Friends as ‘the now’ and not ‘the future’. All the children’s and young people’s groups addressed the same question in their sessions and all sent their response to the main session.

Whatever is produced by the revision group must take into account new ways of doing things and truly reflect the diversity within Britain Yearly Meeting. Increasing numbers of Friends in Britain are convinced Friends (not growing up in a Quaker family but coming to Quakerism as adults) so an explanation of why things are done in a certain way needs to be present as well as guidelines for how things are done. This will also help YMs such as our own where most of us have not grown up in Quaker families and where in addition Quakerism is very little known about within Finnish society. We were reminded that the first generation of Friends, early Quakers, were also convinced Friends!

BYM has met continuously for 350 years. In my mind’s eye as we sat in the large meeting room in Friend’s House (the room is also called The Light) I could imagine generations of Friends preceding us, and I could also sense that spoken ministry might come through any one of us at any time. We are all channels for the Spirit and we all need to serve, though not necessarily at the same time and in the same way. There was also the sense that this community of Faith will continue into the future and I understood at depth that we in Finland are a part of this world-wide community; we are also a living community of Friends with a message to offer the world. We might now feel that the time is right to begin working on our own Faith and Practice in Finnish, including the ‘why’ as well as the ‘how’ and some of the fruits of our own Spirit as it has been, and is being, expressed within FYM.

FYM has been thinking about how we might request an annual contribution (money!) from Friends and Attenders. This theme was also discussed in relation to the BYM statement of accounts for 2017. I would like to highlight and explain the beautiful phrase which was used: ‘Give joyfully with equal generosity for a peaceful, just and sustainable world, whether our resources are small or large’. Giving joyfully should be clear, but equal generosity means equality in proportion to what you can afford. We might encourage Friends in Finland to give in this way and also consider what we are lead to support or do with money so raised.

As well as the main sessions I spent time in conversation with Friends and friends, sharing our lives and experiences. One Friend told me that there had been a young Friend from Finland at the famous Young Friend’s World Gathering in Greensborough, Carolina in 1985. Now who could that have been? Is he or she still in our YM?

I would like to thank Friends in Finland very much for sending me to Britain Yearly Meeting. I return with my heart full and overflowing.

Jane Rose

The epistle from BYM is in a separate article.

14/05/2018
Jane Britannian vuosikokouksessa edustajanamme

Britain Yearly Meeting 4-7.5. 2018. Held in Friends House, Euston Road, London

What an amazing contrast to be in both Finland Yearly Meeting and Britain Yearly Meeting within a week. Our own YM with 17 Friends including Alvin aged 4 and Britain YM with over 1000 Friends and 6 groups for children and young people: New shoots (0-2) Fox Cubs (3-6) Penn Friends (7-9) Spiritual Adventurers (9-11) Young People’s Program (11-15) and Junior Yearly Meeting (16-18). But yet, the similarities seemed more striking than the difference in numbers might suggest. I took with me the quality of the Worship and Spirit that I experienced in Ilkko at the end of April and I found the same depth of Spirit in the gathered silence among the many of us worshiping in Friend’s House central London.

The final ministry from our Sunday morning worship in Ilkko brought us the message of how Quaker structures and ways of service have changed as Friends have learned to see what was not obvious to them before. Britain YM spent the whole weekend considering whether the time is right to revise the ‘red book’ Quaker Faith and Practice in Britain YM; not change for the sake of change, but because the world has changed, and Quaker experience has changed, and the new book needs to reflect this; not least because there is a new generation of younger Friends and more coming. We were asked to treat younger Friends as ‘the now’ and not ‘the future’. All the children’s and young people’s groups addressed the same question in their sessions and all sent their response to the main session.

Whatever is produced by the revision group must take into account new ways of doing things and truly reflect the diversity within Britain Yearly Meeting. Increasing numbers of Friends in Britain are convinced Friends (not growing up in a Quaker family but coming to Quakerism as adults) so an explanation of why things are done in a certain way needs to be present as well as guidelines for how things are done. This will also help YMs such as our own where most of us have not grown up in Quaker families and where in addition Quakerism is very little known about within Finnish society. We were reminded that the first generation of Friends, early Quakers, were also convinced Friends!

BYM has met continuously for 350 years. In my mind’s eye as we sat in the large meeting room in Friend’s House (the room is also called The Light) I could imagine generations of Friends preceding us, and I could also sense that spoken ministry might come through any one of us at any time. We are all channels for the Spirit and we all need to serve, though not necessarily at the same time and in the same way. There was also the sense that this community of Faith will continue into the future and I understood at depth that we in Finland are a part of this world-wide community; we are also a living community of Friends with a message to offer the world. We might now feel that the time is right to begin working on our own Faith and Practice in Finnish, including the ‘why’ as well as the ‘how’ and some of the fruits of our own Spirit as it has been, and is being, expressed within FYM.

FYM has been thinking about how we might request an annual contribution (money!) from Friends and Attenders. This theme was also discussed in relation to the BYM statement of accounts for 2017. I would like to highlight and explain the beautiful phrase which was used: ‘Give joyfully with equal generosity for a peaceful, just and sustainable world, whether our resources are small or large’. Giving joyfully should be clear, but equal generosity means equality in proportion to what you can afford. We might encourage Friends in Finland to give in this way and also consider what we are lead to support or do with money so raised.

As well as the main sessions I spent time in conversation with Friends and friends, sharing our lives and experiences. One Friend told me that there had been a young Friend from Finland at the famous Young Friend’s World Gathering in Greensborough, Carolina in 1985. Now who could that have been? Is he or she still in our YM?

I would like to thank Friends in Finland very much for sending me to Britain Yearly Meeting. I return with my heart full and overflowing.

Jane Rose

The epistle from BYM is in a separate article.

14/05/2018
Britannian vuosikokous 4.-7.5. 2018

To Friends around the world:

Loving greetings from Britain Yearly Meeting 2018, gathered in glorious sunshine in and around London from 4 to 7 May. We have rejoiced in the voice and witness of Friends of all ages. Our diversity has been enriched by over 40 Friends and visitors from around the globe, with whom we have shared stories. We have experienced different traditions of worship, created art, sung, and danced together.

The sequence of annual Yearly Meetings in Britain has been unbroken for 350 years. This year our focus has been to discern whether we are led to revise our book of discipline, which we adopted as ‘Quaker faith & practice’ in 1994. This follows four years of work by our Revision Preparation Group, and study of Quaker faith & practice by many Friends and local meetings.

Periodic revision of the book of discipline is an essential part of our witness, recalling the past and looking to the future.

Encouraged by the voices of younger Friends among us, we have united joyfully, to embark on a Spirit-led process of revision from much-loved foundations. We know that this will take time and energy. We are clear that we have the resources to undertake this, while continuing our witness in the wider world.

Many voices, experiences and identities are missing from our current book. Since the last revision, our Quaker community and the world around us have changed. We need a book of discipline that reflects more closely who we are now, and explains how and why we do what we do.

At each session, we have heard readings from books of discipline from other times or other yearly meetings. A passage from ‘Living Adventurously’, Central and Southern Africa Yearly Meeting, resonated with the ministry and our desire to see each other truly:

“Africans have a greeting that means ‘I see you.’… Seeing a person, in that salutation, means what is called eyeball to eyeball contact; recognising the presence of a person… someone as alive and as self-aware and as vulnerable as you are. I see you” (Guy Butler, 1994).

This process of revision may become a renewal and transformation of who we are. Some of our younger children have asked: ‘What do we want to be? How would we like the world to be?’ We need to be bold and creative in our vision. As we heard in the Swarthmore Lecture, given by Chris Alton, ‘We must imagine this future, for if we cannot imagine it, we cannot speak it into existence.’

In listening to one another we have been both inspired and challenged by our religious diversity. Viewed from a distance, our Quaker community may seem like a single body. Up close, it sparkles in its infinite variety. Diversity in our beliefs and language is a richness, not a flaw.

We each choose our own words, and together our stories make a whole. We are not only individuals, but also part of a church. We want the language of our book to be accessible, and also to reflect the wealth of our tradition, and of our experiences today.

Making space to reflect our religious diversity may be painful. We should not shy away from expressing who we are. We accept our vulnerability. We need to be tender with one another, balancing truth in one hand and love in the other. By listening open-heartedly to oneanother, we will hear where words come from.

Change brings both excitement and apprehension. We have faith that our Quaker processes will help us follow the leadings of God, and take us where we need to be.

“And the end of words is to bring men to the knowledge of things beyond what words can utter” (Isaac Penington, Quaker faith & practice 27.27)

Signed in and on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting

Deborah Rowlands

Clerk

14/05/2018
Epistle from Britain Yearly Meeting

Epistle from Britain Yearly Meeting, held at Friends House, London on 4 – 7 May 2018

To Friends around the world:

Loving greetings from Britain Yearly Meeting 2018, gathered in glorious sunshine in and around London from 4 to 7 May. We have rejoiced in the voice and witness of Friends of all ages. Our diversity has been enriched by over 40 Friends and visitors from around the globe, with whom we have shared stories. We have experienced different traditions of worship, created art, sung, and danced together.

The sequence of annual Yearly Meetings in Britain has been unbroken for 350 years. This year our focus has been to discern whether we are led to revise our book of discipline, which we adopted as ‘Quaker faith & practice’ in 1994. This follows four years of work by our Revision Preparation Group, and study of Quaker faith & practice by many Friends and local meetings.

Periodic revision of the book of discipline is an essential part of our witness, recalling the past and looking to the future.

Encouraged by the voices of younger Friends among us, we have united joyfully, to embark on a Spirit-led process of revision from much-loved foundations. We know that this will take time and energy. We are clear that we have the resources to undertake this, while continuing our witness in the wider world.

Many voices, experiences and identities are missing from our current book. Since the last revision, our Quaker community and the world around us have changed. We need a book of discipline that reflects more closely who we are now, and explains how and why we do what we do.

At each session, we have heard readings from books of discipline from other times or other yearly meetings. A passage from ‘Living Adventurously’, Central and Southern Africa Yearly Meeting, resonated with the ministry and our desire to see each other truly:

“Africans have a greeting that means ‘I see you.’… Seeing a person, in that salutation, means what is called eyeball to eyeball contact; recognising the presence of a person… someone as alive and as self-aware and as vulnerable as you are. I see you” (Guy Butler, 1994).

This process of revision may become a renewal and transformation of who we are. Some of our younger children have asked: ‘What do we want to be? How would we like the world to be?’ We need to be bold and creative in our vision. As we heard in the Swarthmore Lecture, given by Chris Alton, ‘We must imagine this future, for if we cannot imagine it, we cannot speak it into existence.’

In listening to one another we have been both inspired and challenged by our religious diversity. Viewed from a distance, our Quaker community may seem like a single body. Up close, it sparkles in its infinite variety. Diversity in our beliefs and language is a richness, not a flaw.

We each choose our own words, and together our stories make a whole. We are not only individuals, but also part of a church. We want the language of our book to be accessible, and also to reflect the wealth of our tradition, and of our experiences today.

Making space to reflect our religious diversity may be painful. We should not shy away from expressing who we are. We accept our vulnerability. We need to be tender with one another, balancing truth in one hand and love in the other. By listening open-heartedly to oneanother, we will hear where words come from.

Change brings both excitement and apprehension. We have faith that our Quaker processes will help us follow the leadings of God, and take us where we need to be.

“And the end of words is to bring men to the knowledge of things beyond what words can utter” (Isaac Penington, Quaker faith & practice 27.27)

Signed in and on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting

Deborah Rowlands

Clerk

14/05/2018