Light | The Australian Friend

Where is the Light leading Friends? Reflections on a Silver Wattle week.

1212 December 2012 1 Response »

Oct 012012

Sue Parritt, Victoria Regional Meeting.

Silver Wattle rhythm

Spirit Song Silence

Hearts and Minds

Listening

Absorbing

Our different journeys

Along the road

To Light and Love

These words came to me during Meeting for Worship two days after we arrived at Silver Wattle, weary from an eight-hour drive but eager to take our places in the faith community, me as Resident Elder and Mark as general handyman. For Epilogue that evening I read a poem written on the day I arrived at Woodbrooke nearly twenty years ago, prompting similar recollections of ‘first days’ from Friends.

The course – Where is the Light leading Friends? Engaging with Friends in the world – led by Valerie Joy and Abel Siboniyo from Brisbane began the following afternoon once Samuel and Marceline had arrived from Melbourne. Two weeks later, rather than give a step-by-step account of the course, I offer my reflections on what was for me a very inspiring week.

We were fortunate to have David Niyonzima from Burundi and Wendy Lambourne from the Centre of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney visit for a day. David gave a moving talk ‘How the Light is leading Friends’ which included his personal experience of genocide in October 1993 when he was teaching at the Friends pastoral training school in Kwibuka, Burundi. When troops entered the school and killed eight of his eleven students, his first reaction was to run and hide but after several days he was led by the Light to return to Kwibuka. After burying the students, David encouraged others to return from their hiding places when safe to do so. During this time he also met the young man who had brought the soldiers to the school and was led to forgive him.

After some time in a refugee camp and studies in counselling at George Fox University in Oregon, David returned to Burundi where he began the work in trauma healing that he continues to do today. The organization THARS – Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services, treats those that are hurt first before then promoting peace to try and break the circle of violence still effecting Burundi. David encouraged us all to let the Light lead us. By listening to God’s leading we can make a difference in our own communities or across the world.

Talking with David afterwards, I was delighted to learn that Joyce, a Burundian Friend I spent time with at Woodbrooke in 1993 had survived the genocide and works in the Friends Church office in his home town.

Hearing from Valerie about the history and work of FWCC made me realise how important it is for our small and disparate Society of Friends to have a world body. World and Section conferences bring together Friends from different Quaker traditions giving opportunities for listening to and learning from one another.

I learned so much listening to the stories of tragedy of our Burundian Friends. They were stories of trauma, resilience, hope and faith, and I will be forever grateful for their sharing. How I wish those in our society with negative opinions of refugees and asylum seekers –particularly politicians and the media –would listen to the stories of those forced to leave their homelands.

Mid-week, led by Abel, we held in the Light those Friends that are suffering and enduring violence. This was followed by a meditation on suffering and violence made more pertinent by news received earlier of a Quaker pastor’s suspicious death the previous day in Burundi. An impromptu Memorial Meeting was held to give thanks for the grace of God in Pastor Moses’ life (Abel, Marceline and Samuel had all known him). We also held in the Light Moses’ wife Claudine and their three children.

For part of the afternoon silent time, I sat on a rock watching a mob of kangaroos grazing quietly, gave thanks for the peaceful environment and a life free from the destructive force of aggression. The mid-week silent time provides an opportunity to deepen experience and spiritual awareness without the responsibilities and social interactions that can sometimes get in the way.

Project sharing (giving a presentation on email conversations with a Friend from another country) took place during different sessions throughout the week. Valerie had organised names of Friends in the Philippines and India willing to connect with participants prior to the course commencement. I am in email contact with Marj Angalot, a young Friend from Bohol Worshipping Group in the Philippines. So far Marj has sent me information and photos of the World Conference and also told me about the environmental programs and drama for the young people projects her Worshipping Group (unprogrammed) is involved in. For my part I have sent Marj photographs of a QSV fundraising event, a poem, and shared a little of my faith journey. I hope this correspondence continues as much can be gained from engaging with a Friend from a different country and culture.

Sessions on Friends differing theologies and Asia West Pacific Section (AWPS) led by Valerie, Abel’s history of Quakers in Burundi, founded by American Evangelical Friends, and details of a visit (with Valerie) to Friends of various traditions in the USA, all reinforced the importance of meeting and learning from one another.

Although a small group, the course participants worked well together. We listened to one another’s stories, took part in mind mapping, in singing, role-play, project sharing and experiencing an extended silent time. Conversation over meals, washing up, serving food and around the fire in the evenings all contributed to a sense of community.

My only regret is that so few Friends came to Silver Wattle to participate in this excellent course. If the prospect of cold weather deterred you Friends, be assured wood fires in dining and lounge rooms plus central heating in the conference room and heaters in bedrooms kept us warm and cosy all week. Come and experience time at Silver Wattle Friends, its potential can only be realised with your support.

Pelagius; a Celtic Christian & Quaker Forerunner.

1209 September 2012 1 Response »

Aug 042012

Helen Gould, NSW Regional Meeting.

Karl Barth the German theologian once described the British as ‘incurably Pelagian’. And indeed, as I have learned about the Celtic Christian Church of which Pelagius was an early Father, I have found much in common with Early Friends. This is what I intend to focus on in this brief piece.

Firstly, a brief comment on the man. Pelagius was born in the latter half of the fourth century and was, by tradition, the son of a Welsh bard. He was a contemporary of Augustine of Hippo (yes, the man who did more than anyone to make ‘original sin’ official Church doctrine) and was eventually exiled from the Roman Empire and excommunicated from the Church as a heretic. He returned to Wales, and possibly Ireland, and his teachings, which expressed values of his Celtic culture, continued to influence the developing Celtic Christian traditions. I have drawn my information from J. Philip Newell’s book Listening for the Heartbeat of God: a Celtic Spirituality[i]

Like Fox and other Early Friends, he was concerned about justice. He even called for the redistribution of wealth – he said, “a person who is rich and yet refuses to give food to the hungry may cause far more deaths than even the cruellest murderer.”[ii] “Wisdom’, he wrote, ‘consists in listening to the commandments of God and obeying them. A person who has heard that God commands people to be generous, and then shares what he has with the poor, is truly wise.” [iii]

Pelagius drew much inspiration from John’s Gospel (which is sometimes called “the Quaker gospel”) and he drew similar conclusions to Early Friends from John 1:9 “the light that enlightens every person coming into the world.” Like Quakers, he concluded that all persons received this Light of God, so it included non-Christians, women and babies. Hence he willingly taught women how to read and interpret Scripture. He asserted that in the birth of a child, God is giving birth to God’s image; humanity is essentially good. Creation, and procreation, are God-given and good. Deep within each person, at the heart of humanity, is the goodness of God.

Yet evil-doing is real.

He writes of “the long habit of doing wrong which has infected us from childhood and corrupted us little by little over many years and ever after holds us in bondage and slavery to itself so that it seems somehow to have acquired the force of nature”[iv].

Early Friends emphasized that we must come to the teaching within our own hearts, and so did Pelagius. He wrote that if we desire to find the light by which to live, we should look within our own hearts where we will read the living Word of God; he instructs us to ‘write down with your own hand on paper what God has written with his hand on the human heart.’[v] In a letter to a young woman, Demetrias, he suggests that she ‘approach the secret places of her soul’ and there be attentive to the ‘inner teaching’ that God has placed within her, regarding what she should do, and then do it[vi].

However, he advises us to compare what we hear in this way, with what Jesus taught. “If you have formulated principles which are contrary to his teaching”, he says, “then you have misheard your conscience and you must listen anew.”[vii] Similarly, Early Friends believed that true guidance would not contradict Scripture. Yet Pelagius also wrote, “You will realize that doctrines are inventions of the human mind, as it tries to penetrate the mystery of God. You will realize that Scripture itself is the work of human minds, recording the example and teaching of Jesus. Thus it is not what you believe that matters; it is how you respond with your heart and your actions. It is not believing in Christ that matters: it is becoming like him.”[viii]

On Scripture, compare George Fox ; a characteristic statement is: “I did not understand these things with human resources, or with the help of books… but I understood them in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ and by his immediate spirit and power, as had those holy people of God by whom the holy scriptures had been written. Yet I had no little esteem for the Holy Scriptures; they were very precious to me. For I was living in that power that led them to be written in the first place. And what the Lord opened up to me I found later to be consistent with them.”[ix]

Celtic Christians like Pelagius affirmed the goodness of nature. He wrote, “Look at the animals roaming the forest: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the birds flying across the sky: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the tiny insects crawling in the grass: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the fish in the river and sea….There is no creature on earth in whom God is absent… his breath had brought every creature to life… God’s spirit is present within plant as well. The presence of God’s spirit in all living things is what makes them beautiful; and if we look with God’s eyes, nothing on earth is ugly.” And again, “when our love is directed towards an animal or even a tree, we are participating in the fullness of God’s love.”[x]

Fox too knew the original goodness of nature. He writes, in a magnificent and famous passage, “I now came up in the spirit past the flaming sword into the paradise of God… And the whole creation gave off another smell… I knew nothing but purity and innocence and rightness as I was renewed in the image of God… But as people surrender to the spirit of the Almighty, they too can receive the word of wisdom that opens up everything, and they too can come to know the hidden unity in the eternal being.” [xi] He also understood “how every creature occupies the space given to it so that together they can maintain their unity.”[xii]

Yet most of us have largely lost sight of the goodness of the natural world and the Celtic Christian deep knowing that through nature we can glimpse the divine living being. Friends, this is, for most of us, not something principally grasped with the intellect, but through participating in nature, by meditating, and by other characteristically right brain “doing” such as ritual, art, music… The right brain is “Integrated/ holistic… it takes the component parts and organizes them into a complete image or concept (gestalt)”; it is “diffused or divergent in that the right brain’s attention is on the entirety. It integrates that component parts and organizes them into a whole. It looks at all aspects simultaneously rather than in isolated detail.”[xiii]

No, I haven’t “lost the plot” at this time when Quakers are particularly focused on Earthcare. In the wider society at this time, there is no need to emphasize the value of analysis and rational linear left-brain processing because this is “the” way that Western people value. Rather, we need reminding that if we are to survive the here-and-future chaos, we need art, music, time in nature and above all worship, meditation, letting-go so that we can let God.

[i] J. Philip Newell Listening for the Heartbeat of God: a Celtic Spirituality 1997 Paulist Press, NY.

[ii] Newell p12. All quotes are reproduced in Newell; they all come from Robert Van de Weyer (ed.), The Letters of Pelagius Arthur James, 1995, and from B.R.Rees (ed.) ‘Letter to Demetrias’ in Letters of Pelagius and His Followers, Boydell 1991.

[iii] Cited Newell 22.

[iv] Cited Newell 17.

[v] Newell 16

[vi] Newell 15

[vii] Newell 19

[viii] Newell 11-12

[ix] Ambler, R Truth of the Heart: an anthology of G Fox 2:48 modern English.

[x] Newell 10-11

[xi] Ambler R 3:1

[xii] Ambler R 3:2

[xiii] A Parker and M Cutler-Stuart Switch on your brain 1986 Hale & Ironmonger, Sydney p13-14.

My faith and how it intersects with my work.

1209 September 2012 No Responses »

Jul 012012

Wies Shuiringa. New South Wales Regional Meeting.

The foundations for my faith come from growing up in the Mennonite Church in a rural region in the Netherlands. The liberal Protestants did not socialise with the Calvinistic Protestants; farmers did not socialise with their farm labourers; trades-people socialised amongst themselves. Public schools and Christian schools are equally subsidised by the State and children from these different schools did not socialise either. Catholics were few and a curiosity.

I saw the social divisions in my community– the acceptance that the lower social classes were where they should be.

I also saw that the Gospels preached something different to the conditions that I saw around me.

I became a member of the Mennonite Church when I turned 30. It was a commitment to base my life on the values of the Sermon on the Mount and other teachings of Jesus. Fortunately Mennonites do not require literal acceptance of the bible because I have never subscribed to a virgin birth, walking on water, The Resurrection or similar supernatural events. I also do not believe in an intervening God, who can choose to smite or not to smite; nor a God to whom we can prayerfully petition for rain to break droughts or for it to cease so to end flooding.

I am no literalist, but I can discern meaning within the myth. Perhaps I am then what some call a “cultural” Christian who identifies with the Christian values but reads past the rigid narratives.

I do though find some Biblical texts important. For example Micah 6: 8: “And what does the Lord require of you: To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” This is a text I have reflected on during Meeting for Worship, or in difficult work situations.

In my work I find Christian reflections and values essential for framing what I discern and do. Why is it that we seek out people who are in a difficult time in their lives, the ones who have drifted or been pushed out of society? To this question reflection answers “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.” [Mt25:40].

Perhaps then my faith is more of a choice what I like to believe in–a choice of what makes sense to me in my daily life and in my work.

I often use the Quaker guidance that there is that of God in everyone. When my understanding of my staff, colleagues and clients is guided by this, or when I reflect in this way before doing something, the possibilities are so much greater.

The organisation that I work for has formulated a number of values that guide the organisation’s work: optimism, integrity, collaboration, respect, effectiveness.

Whilst I like these values and their definitions, and I use them in my work, I rather like to think that such values have not just been developed by several clever staff members. I like the idea that these values have a deeper resonance in the world religions.

There is a deeper level of understanding over the ages, formed from a deeper seeking about who we are as human beings and what our purpose is.

I’ve worked in organisations which have placed in all of their publications that they are “non-religious”. I always delete this in job description, or job ads, and other such publications that I have had to look after. I have never been called on it. I think that it is a petty branding statement to be different from Anglicare, Catholic care, Uniting care and other denominationally based care providers.

I think too that my interest in ecumenical work and working with representatives from the different churches is also part of healing the religious and societal rifts that I grew up with: rifts which delineated who you could talk with and who not. How the beliefs and lives of others were made fun of. Difference was suspect rather than celebrated.

At times Quaker practice can make situations rather uncomfortable for my colleagues.

Some time ago, I terminated somebody’s contract during the probationary period. I had employed a person who was not suitable for the job. This was a very difficult process with a lot of agonising. The staff member concerned could “talk the talk”, but not “walk the talk” and was becoming a liability in the service. I knew that this staff member belonged to a church tradition.

On a cold day, in a very cold office that we had booked for the morning, my team leader and I met with this staff member who knew that the meeting was for the purpose of officially ending the contract. I could have dealt with the situation by phone or email, or by posting a letter of termination of employment, but by doing that I would not have been only a coward, nor would have had the opportunity to recognise “that of God” in the person.

We met and confirmed the termination, the last details of handing over the work and the keys, and other such required details. We had calm and general discussion wishing the person well, and then it was silent. I felt very comfortable, holding the silence to acknowledge this difficult moment and holding the person in the Light. After several minutes I broke the silence and we finished the meeting. My team leader and I then had a strong coffee and she asked me: “what happened, you are never stuck for words, and I did not know what to say … that was so painful?”

I had felt calm and could let the person go, knowing that there was a deeper human sharing in this difficult situation for all of us who were present. We were all in the Light, present to each, and in the Grace of God.

Salt and Light.

1206 June 2012 No Responses »

May 132012

Pradip Lamichhane, Nepal Friends Evangelical Church.

This is an edited extract from a talk given by Pradip at this year’s FWCC conference in Kenya.

When I first heard the theme of the world gathering I found it difficult to understand. After long silence and seeking I found my awareness growing and finally I knew how really important the theme is for all of us in this time and this world and for Friends. “Being Salt and Light, Friends living the Kingdom of God in a Broken World”? How good to be salt and light in this broken world.

I was sitting in front of Friends at the 2009 IPC Planning meeting, searching their faces anxiously and asking myself what this great variety of people are talking about. Finally we all agreed to choose this theme of Salt and Light. This has got so much meaning and it is a living sentence. For Quakers this is a moving sentence: for evangelicals this is a gospel sentence; for liberals this is cool. You might wonder how come this young man was there. I was a young and silent co-clerk of this gathering planning committee. Did I just say that I was a silent clerk? It is true that I was. I do not know why World Office chose me for this task, but I am thankful for it has provided me with great learning opportunities.

Let me come to the point, and let me become a theologian for a while, relating the following Gospel passages into a more familiar idiom: In Matthew 5:13-16 it says “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste Godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.” Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

In verse 13 we read, “You are the salt of the earth,” and in the Greek it is “You and you alone are the salt of the earth. Why did Jesus say that to this small group of uneducated, poor, humble, Galilean disciples? He was telling them that although the world’s population is rotting, they as believers were to function like salt in the world. Why? They alone were different from the world.

I would like to change these verses a little bit more here. Why did Jesus say such things to a small group of Friends, to a Religious Society of Friends? Are we Friends functioning like salt in the world? Are we alone different from the world? Friends are very small in number in the world if we compare ourselves with other denominations. We chose this Conference theme as “Being Salt and Light, Friends living the Kingdom of God in a Broken World” because it is the truth of all us. In Ephesians 2:3-4 we read, “Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions…”

We are to be in the world so that the world may benefit by our difference from the world. Therefore we must also avoid the error of being one with the world and embracing its values and ways. These warnings are applicable to us today. We all want to be materialistic and are working very hard. This is not the way, rather, we must be as different as salt is different from dead meat. We must be different from the broken world. We must be in the world but not of the world, so that the world may be helped by us.

We must be different and must glory in our difference.

Friends often ask me why I am still in Nepal as I have a valid visa for the US and UK. People spend millions to go there. I’ve tried to answer them that I am really OK here. They think I am a fool, but yet I think they are mistaken. I am happy as I am, I will try to make a difference from where I am and what I have.

I am happy to support my church as I can. I am happy that I am able to support few poor children to attend school. I am happy I that I am able to run a small NGO to support poor people. I am happy that I am able to feed my old parents. I am happy to play with my son. I am happy to give tours to Quaker friends who come to visit Nepal. I am happy doing Green IT stuff. I call this a sustainable project for mankind. Others helped me to be an IT guy, so I help others so they could help more people. It is like a gospel which keeps on spreading. I share this experience with others and encourage them to do the same-help others as you have been helped.

During my childhood and teenage years, I experienced poverty, crying every day for food so I understand that a small help can change the lives of people and bring peace and joy. Don’t think that if you are supporting one person he or she only is benefited. Rather, there will be several people who will be indirectly assisted. So let us try to make a difference together.

When Jesus said, “You alone are the salt of the earth,” this was a high compliment and great encouragement. This statement gives every Friend great dignity and self-esteem. Thus, I feel sorry for those are trying to be like the world in speech, in dress, in value, and in fashion. Only difference can assist, not similarity.

Let’s talk about how salt functions as a preservative. Now we must realize that, like salt, Christians might irritate the wound at first. Remember, Friends are not sugar; they are salt. But I say, welcome the irritation that Friends bring about. Welcome the discomfort that the salt of the earth initially creates, because salt will bring great benefit.

Salt is necessary for flavour. Without Friends and the gospel they proclaim and practice this world would be insipid. There would be no true flavour in the world. There would be no true joy in this world. The company of Friends gives flavour and joy to the world. We can prove this by examining worldly parties and such celebrations. They are boring, tasteless, and insipid. As Friends, we have the purposive function to provide flavour and taste to the world. The world is without hope. It may be our responsibility to bring hope, peace and the helping hand as we can.

Salt is white, symbolizing purity. Friends are to be in the world and yet live purely, lives of difference and enhancement. As I said before, Friends should glory in their difference. They are citizens of heaven who are living in this broken world for its benefit. As such, they must constantly resist the temptation of being like the world and must be like Christ.

Salt also was used as a fertilizer. Friends must function in a way that promotes the growth of that which is good in the world. They must oppose evil and promote good. In God’s common grace, there is much good in his world, and Friends must support and promote that which is useful to mankind.

Salt causes people to become thirsty. In the same way, Friends should cause people to thirst for peace, justice and earth-care. I don’t mean all the people of the world will do this, but those who respond to God will. It is through us that God generates a thirst for Godself in others, and they will come to us and ask, “Why are you different? Why are you so full of hope and peace and joy even in the midst of troubles?” When they do this, you then can tell them about Friends.

So we must ask ourselves: Are we functioning as salt in our society?

Worldliness destroys saltiness my dear Friends. Jesus said that if salt loses its saltiness, it would become useless and worthless. People can lose their saltiness through replacing it with worldliness. When we conform to the patterns of the world, when we embrace the broken values of the world, when we become materialistic, sensual and pleasure-seeking, we lose our saltiness. We become like the world—rotting, rotten, and foul. We must realize that we are to be in the world but not of it. Although we are in the world, we must focus on Jesus Christ and his teachings.

We are to be different.

Where is the Light Leading Friends? Engaging With Friends in the World.

1206 June 2012 No Responses »

May 012012

Valerie Joy, Queensland Regional Meeting.

Friends that I meet in several countries are actively engaged in practicing our beliefs, conversing on the things we hold in common, and sometimes too on where we diverge.

Face to face conversations are sublimely better than other communication.

I note how much spoken interaction takes place at our Yearly Meetings: during meal breaks, walking to sessions and sometimes later into the evening we plumb the depths of our hearts and spirits with concerns for a variety of issues.

We also use written words, which can arrive through the medium of books, blogs, online Journals, Facebook etc.

With the 6^th World Conference of Friends almost upon us this dialogue will become richer, diving into more aspects of our shared faith, and trying to find the uniquely Quaker stance on problems such as Global Change, ethical living and respectful relationships.

At Kabarak University there will be 43 different “Thread Groups” each of which will look at one aspect of the theme “Being Salt and Light, Friends living the Kingdom of God in a Broken World”. The 1,000 participants will meet three times to examine particular questions on Climate Change, Food Security and Deadly Conflict; Did you visit me in Prison? Healing and Rebuilding our Community (Rwanda), socially responsible banking, Sexual Brokenness, Water Giving Life, Friends and the Interfaith movement plus 35 other choices.

After a full day’s excursion outside into aspects of Kenyan life, groups will reintegrate around common threads for plenary “weaving the threads”, and what emerges from this will point us to the future- with realistic guidelines on how Friends everywhere will focus our energies by finding uniquely Quaker responses to worldwide problems. We will leave Kenya with new Friends and clearer vision and messages to take home to share with our home communities of faith.

Sixteen Australian Friends will take part in the World Conference, and they will need space within their local communities to speak clearly on their new focus on their return. In all, 60 Friends from Asia West Pacific will be present from the wide diversity of Friends, evangelical to liberal- and we can help one another with our prayers, our giving and with informed visitation. In particular our Friends from poorer countries such as Myanmar, Nepal, Indonesia, parts of India, and the Philippines will be happy to share their struggles with us on a regular basis and I hope that some will be willing to write about these in the Australian Friend.

A more formal opportunity to deeply enter into the outcomes of the World Conference is planned to take place at Silver Wattle from 17-25 August in a course being presented by myself and Abel Sibonio.

The aims are to learn from the experiences of Friends globally, what it means to be a Friend, and how each of us can help develop the global spiritual community of Friends. The course is essential for current FWCC representatives and for those who have a broad vision and want to know more about Friends worldwide and their varied approach to Quaker Testimonies.

There will be three parts to the week:

Day 1: Interactive Introduction to the dimensions of Friends globally with papers made available from the speakers for study & reflection.

Days 2-3: Each participant to choose a country and person with whom to make contact and learn about. Using a series of queries about another meeting/church in another country, such as their work, their faith, their life at home, what makes them hopeful? What are they struggling with?

By using prior arrangements, participants will engage with Friends using Skype and email to undertake this task.

Days 4-6: Participatory Workshop where each participant makes a slow and thoughtful presentation on their research. Abel will use his stories on how “Salt and Light” came into the refugee camps and the changes that took place as a result. He will map where these Friends now are in the world and how they have settled into their new lives. Valerie will use AWPS stories from her experiences throughout the Asia-West Pacific Section of FWCC. The final day will track where the Spirit is guiding Friends in the four Sections, what will be the challenges and the opportunities in the decades to come.

The week will be held within the Silver Wattle rhythm of prayer, study and work, with times for worship sharing, for singing, and for relaxation and enjoying the property.

Friends will be introduced to the concept of journaling- for those not already using this process – and participants asked to spend time writing what is taking place in their minds and hearts – we will have silent periods set aside for this. Other techniques such as “mind mapping” may be explored.

Source Materials:

a) Different theologies amongst the FWCC world (using the journals edited by Paul Anderson. He nominates a topic each quarter, and then invites Friends of varying theological backgrounds to submit papers).

b) Tracing the journey of Friends worldwide from 1991 to 2012.

c) Report of the World Conference- what we learnt

d) History of FWCC

e) Quakers at the UN, QCEA and other international forums (eg Friends Peace Teams, QSA, AFSC, EFI international and FUM).

f) Inter-visitation- a two way learning process- using our visit to the USA as an example- but also looking at the concepts and practice of inter-visitation.

g) Discerning our way into an uncertain future

Valerie Joy

Secretary AWPS

The Path.

1206 June 2012, Issue No Responses »

Mar 112012

Grace Verity, Western Australia Regional Meeting.

My path—

The one true path—

Unrolls beside me

One step at a time

From colourful scraps of wool.

I often know where it is going,

And head straight there,

To save myself time,

And humility.

I lose the path.

It takes a long time to find it again.

I need to become smaller than I was,

Lighter.

Then, again, it appears by my side,

Where it always was.

(Perhaps I need to look down more?)

I follow it with renewed faith,

Like a dog receiving training at heel,

Not planning my own way,

Simply alert to follow

the Presence beside me.

The path unfurls more quickly now

And I pass up opportunities to shortcut

Where I think it is heading,

And cleverly, though without cleverness,

do not get lost when

it does not go there at all.

It is like a light,

This path,

One step at a time

Closer to revealing

The mystery.

It is assisted by my putting aside

All my forecasts, all my grabbing

Of certainty, which

Turn to ash in my hand.

But the light,

Simply allowed, and followed

Leads me where I need to go.

That unexpected, marvellous place

I have wanted to go all along.