SPRING 2005December 10, 2004
alem Quarter Worship & Ministry Committee met on December 10, 2004, at the home of Peggy and Jack Warner, convening in worship near the appointed hour of 7:30 pm. Individuals were present from Mickleton, Mullica Hill, and Woodbury Monthly Meetings; the quarter coordinator had another commitment and sent regrets.
During our opening worship, we were moved to hold several individuals in prayerful concern. We also appreciated Peggy and Jack for stepping forward on short notice to host our gathering.
Activities in Our Monthly Meetings
Mickleton Friends told of lapsed practices being renewed this year. They have resumed conducting First-day School, holding a once-per-month intergenerational session shared with Mullica Hill Friends. They have also supporting a family in need for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and are issuing a year-end newsletter. Their Worship and Ministry Committee is preparing its response to the PYM Worship and Ministry queries, selecting a few particularly easy and challenging items, rather than ticking through the whole set.
Mullica Hill is also considering the Worship and Ministry queries, but does not plan to make a formal reply to Yearly Meeting. This prompted one of the members of PYM’s Meeting on Worship and Ministry to note that the queries are offered as a tool to the monthly meeting committees. While the Yearly Meeting group is eager for responses from all monthly meetings, its primary interest is that the committees use the queries in ways that best suit the monthly meeting’s needs.
Woodbury has gained and lost attenders in recent months, but is particularly concerned about a loss of young parents, as part of a trend toward being a “gray-hair” meeting. Friends commented that issues with the count of members tend to ebb and flow over the years, but the most important concern should rest with meeting the needs of each individual who comes to us, whether within our own meeting or in some other place. Woodbury Friends also noted that one of their members, Judy Scott, is working under a concern for birds and other wildlife harmed in the recent oil spill on the Delaware River. She is collecting materials (such as sheets, towels, Pedialyte, and Ensure, as well as money) to be used by volunteers in helping the bird recuperate.
Working with Differences Among Friends
In 2005, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting will observe the 50th anniversary of the Hicksite/Orthodox reunification. Like any anniversary, this will be an opportunity to celebrate past accomplishments and appreciate current practices. We chose to start a little early, pondering how we deal in our meetings with differences among ourselves.
Quaker process highly values coming to unity in our corporate decisions and community life; however, “coming to unity” is not a simple insistence that everyone think and believe the same things. Indeed, sometimes we need to preserve and make use of differences in perspective. Consider how each of us sees depth or hears location—we use both eyes or both ears together, not shutting the left or right off.
A few of us recalled Salem Quarter Friend Owen Crispin, who was active in the PYM reunification process. He had observed during the process that if people had known how much effort it would take to heal the rift, they would never have allowed the split to happen in the first place.
In our meetings’ deliberation of sensitive issues, it can be helpful to allow generous time for discussion in more than one business session. One of the risks, however, is that people can be tempted to over-prepare, building powerful and erudite arguments that freeze them in a particular position.
Another stumbling block is getting caught up in differences in personality. In some settings discussions among people of different faith backgrounds can be frustrating, while in others, the same differences can be refreshing. The difference seems to be in respecting the differences without needing to challenge them.
We concluded with the observation that “faith” may be better measured, not in terms of a particular statement of belief, but rather by how the community’s members relate to one another.
Carrying the Burdens of Others
A Friend spoke of concerns from various corners of the world, which have come to her attention in ways that she senses are more than coincidence. She does not feel free to address these concerns herself, but wonders if her role is to pass the concern along to others. Several Friends spoke about the need to exercise discernment.
Sometimes, we feel a clear, personal calling to take up a matter. In the absence of spiritual clarity, we sometimes find wisdom in individuals and organizations (such as American Friends Service Committee) that have substantial information and talents to apply to reasoning out an appropriate response. In between, however, we have a large gray area of judging what to do when someone asks for support of a cause, and we have neither a prompting of the Spirit nor the wisdom of experts. It becomes a matter of how much we trust the prompting and expertise of the person asking.
But in any event, especially in these days of rapid, far-reaching communications, we must be aware that we are not called to carry all burdens. Carrying the message to others who may take it up can be a valuable response, or it may simply be an evasion of an unpleasant but occasionally necessary need to say, “no, this is not my burden.” There is no simple test in such matters; it is an issue for discernment.
The Clerk’s Column in Salem Quarter News
Michael Gibson asked whether anyone had suggestions for topics he might address in the clerk’s column of the quarter newsletter. Our responses were unanimous in support for his following the promptings of the Spirit and his heart. His writings have been valuable, at least in part because he has been faithful to his own nature and to the guidance that informs true ministry, whether spoken in meeting or written for publication.
We concluded in worship at about 9:30. Worship and Ministry intends to meet again on 11 March 2005, the Friday evening before Quarterly Meeting, and we welcome participation from all monthly meetings of Salem Quarter.
For the Committee,
Mario Cavallini, clerkRETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Saturday, February 26, 2005 at 08:59 PM
