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North Scotland Quaker

NOTEBOOK

Shetland

Westray & Papa Westray

Orkney

Caithness & Brora

Forres Dingwall Skye Inverness Nairn

Breakish (Skye LM) Aberdeen Banchory

Lochaber & Lorn

October 2020

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Contributions Index

STRUCTURES ...... 4 What is Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM)? ...... 4 What is Area Meeting? ...... 5 What is Meeting for Sufferings? ...... 5 What is General Meeting for Scotland? ...... 7 What is Junior Yearly Meeting? ...... 8 What is Young Friends General Meeting? ...... 9 What is Quaker Life? ...... 10 POSTHOLDERS ...... 10 Who does what in Area Meeting? ...... 10 Who are our Area Meeting Trustees and what do they do?...... 12 What are Elders and Overseers? ...... 13 What is the role of Elders and Overseers? ...... 15 What’s the role of the Quaker Parliamentary Engagement Officer? ...... 16 TERMINOLOGY ...... 17 What is Discernment? ...... 17 What is a Threshing Meeting? ...... 18 What is Safeguarding? ...... 18 What is the Peace Testimony? ...... 19 Who, or what, is a birthright Quaker? ...... 20 Where is Pendle Hill and why is it important to Quakers? ...... 21 What and where is Woodbrooke? ...... 22 What are the Quaker testimonies? ...... 23 COMMITTEES/MEETINGS ...... 24 What and where is the ‘Shindig’? ...... 24 Can I go to Area Meeting? ...... 24 Can anyone go to a Quaker Meeting? ...... 25 How Does Our Area Meeting Work? ...... 25 Quaker Funerals ...... 26 What is Quaker Peace and Social Witness? (QPSW) ...... 27 What is the difference between a Local Meeting and a Worshipping Group? ...... 28 What is the Northern Friends Peace Board? ...... 29 PUBLICATIONS ...... 30 What Quaker publications are there? ...... 30 How can I find out more about famous Quakers like George Fox and Elizabeth Fry? ...... 31 Where can I find more information on George Fox, Elizabeth Fry & other early Quakers? ...... 32 What is the Membership Handbook? ...... 33 What are the Advices and Queries? ...... 34 MONEY ...... 35 How is the Religious Society of Friends financed? ...... 35 Is there any financial help for Friends in need? ...... 36 GENERAL ...... 37 Is Meeting for Worship the same as meditation? ...... 37 Are there different varieties of Quaker? ...... 39 Do Quakers recognise the power of healing? ...... 40 Aberdeen Meeting House ...... 41 Quaker burial grounds ...... 42 iii

Can I bring children to Meeting for Worship? ...... 44 Is there such a thing as a Quaker Funeral? ...... 45 Why don’t Quakers need a dedicated meeting house for their worship? ...... 46 Do Quakers believe in God, Jesus and Christ? ...... 47 How can I join the Religious Society of Friends? ...... 48 What should I do if I want to become a member of the Society?...... 49 Who can we ask about getting married in a Quaker Meeting? ...... 50 What should I do if I want to get involved in work for the Quaker Society of Friends? ...... 51 Can we read in Meeting?...... 52 Do Quakers do anything to help alcohol and drug addicts? ...... 52 How do I change my Quaker address? ...... 53 What is the Quaker Tapestry? ...... 54 I’ve never been to a Quaker Meeting … am I allowed to go? ...... 56 Will my disability prevent me from joining in with Quaker Meetings? ...... 57 THOUGHTS ...... 59 Quakers and other faiths ...... 59 Quakers, a Secret Society? ...... 60 Do Quakers baptise or christen their children? ...... 61 Do Quakers have baptism?...... 61 Covid-19’s long term effect on our lives ...... 62 Meeting for Worship post Covid-19 ...... 64

Contributors

Many thanks to all our contributors, especially Ann & Alasdair Galbraith, who have edited the Notebook, and also to Geoff Todd, systems and automation consultant – and WordPress Wizard – at Todd Workshop https://gctodd.com/

Other contributors:

Angie MacGregor Phyllida Sayles Anthony Buxton Piers Voysey Chris MacGregor Robert Wilson Clunie Conochie Robin Goodman David James Roger Ellis Janet Fairbairn Roger Quinn Johanna Quinney Sila Collins-Walden John Tracey Sue Buxton Lynden Easterbrook Tom Sayles Mary Dower Valerie Weir Nigel Dower William Purser Oriole Hall Sue Horne Peggy Lunan Jane Booth Penny Selbie Sandy McEwen Elizabeth Allen Alastair Simmons Peter Heald

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The North Scotland Quaker Notebook

Welcome to the North Scotland Quaker Notebook!

It's YOURS and we hope that it will answer the many 'Frequently Asked Questions' from existing Members and newcomers to the Society of Friends, about the Quakers and the way we function. Please feel free to print out what you want and scribble over it as you wish - no one will shout at you!

The questions posed, and the responses provided, contain links to other sections of the Notebook, other publications, and to web-based articles and information which can expand your knowledge further.

The questions were suggested by longstanding Friends or based on questions we had been asked by others. There will be more to come, we are sure. Let us know if you have an issue we should address or if you can provide, or add to, an answer to those already provided.

Please take your time to explore and find your way around.

Why?

Newcomers, especially, to Quakerism as well as established Members and frequent Attenders are often confused by the terminology, ideology, structure and management of the Society of Friends. The situation is made more confusing by the absence of a fixed creed, doctrine or set of beliefs. The only commonly held view is that there is 'that of god in everyone’, and even then many Friends might insert the phrase '...whatever you mean by god'.

How?

To help resolve the many FAQs that arise, we have asked established Quakers and, on occasion, those new to the Society, to offer their own interpretations or answers to the questions. In some cases views may differ, or more than one person has contributed. You might therefore find more than one response to a question. This only goes to celebrate the variety and wonderful inclusivity of Quakerism and reflects the breadth of views of the contributors: there's not always just one answer to a question ... You, too, are invited to add your views, explanations or questions - please contact the site coordinator at [email protected] if you are interested.

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All views and/or explanations expressed are those of the named authors. They may have been edited where necessary to ensure that they accurately reflect the breadth, as well as the consensus view within the Society of Friends. On occasion they may also have been amended to make them more accessible to the proposed readership, the most important group of which is those new to the Quakers.

If you are interested in contributing, please bear in mind the following Editorial Guidelines:

- Contributions should not bring the Society of Friends into disrepute - All articles and contributions should attempt to reflect the breadth of opinion of members of the Society - Where personal views are expressed, it should be made clear - Contributions should primarily be targeted in language, style and content at young enquirers and those new to the Society of Friends - Brevity and conciseness are encouraged

Where? There are Quaker meetings across the North of Scotland. Locations of Local Meetings and Worshipping groups are shown on the map on the front page.

What next?

This is just the start, we hope, of an ongoing process of involvement and learning, in which we want you to participate. This first version was conceived before Covid-19 was even heard of, and crafted throughout 'lock down', and is released to you as a positive outcome of our collective energy. We hope it's helpful.

Oriole Hall, Clerk to Elders and Overseers

The Co-ordinating Editor can be contacted at the following email address: [email protected]

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STRUCTURES

What is Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM)?

Britain Yearly Meeting is the collective name used to describe all Quaker Friends in the areas of England, Scotland and Wales. The term ‘Yearly’ is used because we traditionally meet once a year in session.

BYM is also the final decision- making body on all Quaker matters, when it meets annually, and all Friends in the UK can be present at these gatherings when the major decisions that govern our Society are made.

Like any large group, there has to be a small group to take everyday decisions, and in BYM this is done by ‘Meeting for Sufferings’* which meets 5 times a year.

The Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, does not have a hierarchy, believing in the equality of all humanity. Therefore, all Friends may serve in any capacity throughout the Society, depending on knowledge and experience.

The main administrative building is Friends House in Euston, where a small staff is employed to serve BYM. Like any modern charity, BYM has to have trustees who are appointed to manage the work, assets and property held directly by BYM. The chief person that most Friends might have heard of is the ‘Recording Clerk’. This person acts as secretary to Yearly Meeting, Meeting for Sufferings and the BYM trustees, and is responsible for servicing these bodies, and for ensuring that their work is carried out.

*Meeting for Sufferings:

In the early years, 1650 – 1700, like most religious dissenters, Quakers were persecuted, tortured and imprisoned (George Fox spent several years in prison). These Friends’ names, and those of their families were recorded by Friends so they could be supported in their trouble, and these meetings came to be known as ‘Meetings for Sufferings’.

There has been much debate over whether this it is time to modernize this name, but then came the 1990s, when many Friends were arrested for peaceful demonstration against the Arms Trade, and once again their names were recorded by Meeting for Sufferings.

Phyllida Sayles, Caithness Worshipping Group & Robert Wilson, Orkney Local Meeting

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What is Area Meeting?

‘Area Meeting for Worship for Business’ is a gathering of Friends from several local meetings and / or worship groups to discuss business such as nominations, money, new members, planning future events, and appointing people to attend events on our behalf.

It is called ‘Area Meeting for Worship for Business’ because we believe that every aspect of our lives should be conducted in a prayerful way and with God’s guidance. So AM always begins ends with silent Worship during which there may or may not be some ministry.

Phyllida Sayles, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

What is Meeting for Sufferings?

Meeting for Sufferings (MfS) is the standing body representing Quakers in Britain. It has a visionary and prophetic role, deciding priorities for centrally managed work and making decisions on behalf of Quakers between the annual Meetings of Britain Yearly Meeting.

History / Background

The name ‘Meeting for Sufferings’ is a historic one and refers back to when Quakers were imprisoned and tortured for following their faith. Offences included the ones you might expect, such as refusing to swear oaths nor pay tithes, teaching without a bishops license and contempt of court (by wearing hats, amongst other ways), to more intriguing ones like holding meetings ‘under pretence or colour of worship’ and for being vagabonds or common nuisances. These ‘cases of suffering’ were sent to London from Friends throughout the country and recorded in the ‘Great Book of Sufferings’. A ‘constant meeting about sufferings’ was formed in 1675. This gradually came to deal with more general matters. By 1833, Yearly Meeting defined it as a ‘standing committee … entrusted with a general care of whatever may arise during the intervals of this meeting, affecting our religious society …’.

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What does MfS do today? o Sets priorities for all centrally managed work that has been decided by BYM. o Has responsibility for issuing any public statements on behalf of all Quakers within Britain. These are often in response to global and current affairs and events, e.g. statements expressing solidarity with victims of racist policies, and on climate change. o Maintains the Prison and Court Register. The practice of recording the details of any Friend imprisoned or charged with actions relating to Quaker witness was revived in the 20th century. Names and brief details are now recorded in the Prison and Court Register. In recent times these have related to Quaker witness in areas such as Nuclear Disarmament, Anti-War protests and Climate Action. o Makes decisions on how to support the spiritual life of the Society. One recent example is how best to establish a team of Local Development Workers to support Local and Area Meetings. o Has a key role in communicating and reporting between various committees and groups within the Society. Representatives from each AM allow communication between Area Meetings and the central committees. o Receives minutes from Area Meetings, thus any AM concerns can be reviewed and acted upon. This means that ideas from Local and Area Meetings could, after consideration, be adopted as policy by Quakers in Britain. o Has a role in resolving any disputes at area level.

Not least, it is also a worshipping community!

Who is on the MfS committee?

Every Area Meeting throughout the UK send a representative, nominated by AM but appointed by Yearly Meeting. Each AM also has an ‘alternate’. This means that there are two Friends who can support each other and discuss items of the agenda, but only one attends each MfS. This is usually decided between the representative and the alternate.

Scottish General Meeting, Young Friends General Meeting and several others also have representatives. There may be up to 100 members at the meetings, which are usually held in Friends House, London, five or six times each year. Holding some of the meetings via video-conferencing as a regular way of meeting is currently being explored.

Recommended links / further information:

See Chapter 7 of ‘Quaker Faith and Practice’ https://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/7/ for lots more information.

More details and copies of meeting minutes and other relevant documents can be found on the BYM website: https://quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/meeting-for-sufferings

Sue Horne, Shetland Local Meeting

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What is General Meeting for Scotland?

When describing General Meeting for Scotland (GMS) to people who are not Quakers, I refer to it as Quakers in Scotland, since it is made up of all Friends in membership of Scottish Area Meetings. GMS is part of the structure of Britain Yearly Meeting and has powers delegated to it from Britain Yearly Meeting; it is an independent Scottish charity. GMS meets four times a year, and all members and Friends not in membership who wish to come, are welcome. Each meeting is hosted by one of the four Area Meetings in Scotland. At each meeting we hear about our Quaker activities in Scotland. What is the purpose of General Meeting for Scotland? All churches engage with each other, and with the wider society and its institutions. Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) does this as the Society of Friends. As Scotland has its own parliament and institutions, including the legal system, the education system, and ecumenical and interfaith bodies, GMS has been given the responsibility of representing BYM in Scotland. Our Scottish parliamentary advocacy work is the joint responsibility of GMS and BYM. • GMS represents Quakers on Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS), and on interfaith bodies. • GMS represents Scottish interests and perspectives to BYM. To enable this, GMS is represented on Meeting for Sufferings, and on the Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations, and GMS may communicate directly with yearly meeting committees and departments. • GMS is also responsible for supporting Quaker spiritual life and witness in Scotland. Community is built through opportunities for being together, in particular at GMS in session. It is sustained by good communications and currently much work is being done on this.

What role do AMs play in GMS? Each Area Meeting nominates their own representatives to GMS’s Parliamentary Engagement Working Group (PEWG), Children and Young People’s Advocates and GMS Nominations Committee. The GMS Nominations Committee, with its knowledge of members in all four AMs, brings forward nominations for GMS Trustees, Clerk, Assistant Clerk, Treasurer, and other roles, although these will be appointed by GMS.

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The office bearers, along with the Convenors of the PEWG, Nominations, a representative of the Children and Young People advocates, the Editor of the ‘Scottish Friend’ and various others, make up the GMS Committee, which has arrangement and executive responsibilities for General Meeting. Friends in Scotland hear what is going on through ‘The Scottish Friend’ and the GMS website (www.quakerscotland.org/general-meeting). Testimonies to the lives of deceased Friends or obituaries may be sent to GMS for sharing (www.quakerscotland.org/lives). At General Meeting in session there is opportunity to discuss major issues which concern Friends in Scotland and to focus on our witness together.

Elizabeth Allen, Clerk of GMS

What is Junior Yearly Meeting?

Junior Yearly Meeting (JYM) is a welcoming, exciting and thought-provoking event for young people between 15 – 18 years old. Whether you have recently discovered Quakerism or have been a Quaker all your life, JYM offers everyone the opportunity to meet new people, make friends through social activities and engage with spiritual practices and ideas. The event is run by people of the same age, who are supported by a team of adults.

Every 3 years JYM happens as a part of Yearly Meeting Gathering (YMG) the event for Quakers of all ages, and links to the issues being considered there. JYM participants then spend some of the time with their age group and they also join with YMG main sessions and activities.

The other 2 years, the event is held around May time at an outdoor centre near London. The young people explore the JYM theme through speaker sessions, discussions, reflection and Quaker Meeting for Worship for Business. The young people’s planning group decide the theme each year.

Johanna Quinney, Nairn Worshipping Group

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What is Young Friends General Meeting?

Young Friends General Meeting is the national organisation for Young Quakers in Britain. The main events are the three General Meetings which take place at Quaker meeting houses around the country in February, May and October each year. These weekends are open to anyone aged between about 18 and 35 who is a Quaker or interested in Quakerism. The gatherings are a chance to meet like-minded people and find out more about, and influence, what Young Adult Friends do.

These are residential weekends in different Quaker meeting houses to spend time together, explore faith and ways of living out the Quaker testimonies to truth, simplicity, equality and peace. At each weekend between 50 and 70 Young Adult Friends are welcomed.

Members also regularly meet up between gatherings, and plan extra social weekends. Many have used YFGM as a means of connecting with other young Quakers in their area.

Johanna Quinney, Nairn Worshipping Group

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What is Quaker Life?

Quaker Life is the department of the Quakers central organization, which supports the life & work of individual Friends and Meetings. With their help we can explore and grow spiritually and find new ways of being Quakers together. Quaker Life has a full-time staff available to give advice on everything from employing paid workers to setting up an online meeting. They support clerks and elders, provide materials and activities for children and young people, and help groups to set up all-age worship.

Quaker Life co-ordinates the running of Junior Yearly Meeting, of Swarthmoor Hall in Cumbria, and the library at Friends House, as well as supporting Quaker Chaplains in universities, colleges & prisons. Friends throughout Britain take it in turn to serve on the Quaker Life Central Committee. Their work is determined by us all and agreed at Yearly Meeting and Meeting for Sufferings. Quaker Life also produces an online magazine, ‘QUAKE’, full of links to blogs and videos of new things Friends are doing.

Every Quaker community is linked to Quaker Life through their Quaker Life Representative Council. Twice a year nearly a hundred Friends come together for a weekend to learn and talk together, taking information, ideas and inspiration back and forth to Meetings across Britain. Recent topics have included mental health, creating diverse and inclusive Quaker communities, and looking at what is at the heart of being Quakers.

Lynden Easterbrook, Forres Local Meeting

POSTHOLDERS

Who does what in Area Meeting?

You … are at the heart of our Quaker communities scattered across the north of Scotland and we link together through Local Meetings, Worshipping Groups, discussion groups and our Area Meeting.

In addition to routine business, items are generated by Local Meetings, Yearly Meeting, Meeting for Sufferings, General Meetings and by Trustees.

You … and all Friends in the North of Scotland are welcome to attend Area Meeting to learn more about Quaker life, to discern what needs to be done to support each other, and to make and record decisions about our position on issues or what we as an Area want to do next. 11

Area Meeting Clerk and Assistant Clerk(s) … work to prepare arrangements and an agenda for the Area Meeting (AM), and then record the decisions of the Meeting in what is called a minute.

In the North … we currently have one clerk and three assistant clerks although we are aiming for four, with one serving as an ex-officio trustee to AM. We currently also have Friends who form an AM organising group which sorts out the practical arrangements for Area Meeting which are held all over our extensive region.

The Archivist … (or Custodian of Records) stores and maintains all the AM records and minutes.

The Membership Clerk … maintains the record of Meetings, Members and Attenders.

The Treasurer … and an assistant, supported by a professional accountant/consultant and Friends’ House (the Society’s Head Quarters) look after all things financial and budgeting.

Child Protection … and care of vulnerable adults is a legal requirement and is looked after by a nominated member of the AM.

The Nomination Committee … is a key sub-group of the Area Meeting. In keeping with Quaker practice, specific individuals are asked to discern who is best suited for a particular role, rather than relying on volunteers to offer themselves to fill positions. The Committee has its Clerk.

In the North … and throughout the country Friends are generally nominated for a three year ‘triennium’ and are generally not asked to occupy their roles for more than two terms.

The Registering Officer & Deputy Registering Officer … facilitate Quaker Weddings within the area.

Elders & Overseers … are Friends who are appointed by the Area Meeting to help with aspects of spiritual welfare and counsel, or who look out for other Friends in their Local Meetings, or who at times, help us follow Quaker practice in our Meetings.

The E/Os have their own Area Convenor for the team.

Trustees … ensure the AM is following the due processes with regard to the legal requirements for running a charity, such as the submission of Annual Reports and returns to the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator (OSCR). The Clerk to the Trustees records the Meetings of the Trustees.

In the North … legal representatives of AM the Trustees are responsible for the care and management of the Aberdeen properties and part of this role is delegated the ‘Aberdeen Premises Committee’. Until 2019 there was a separate

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North of Scotland Quaker Trust that looked after these premises, and managed the fund these properties had generated over the years. Now there is a single Board of Trustees and the money side of things is budgeted and recorded by the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurers, both of whom are ex-officio Trustees, and supported by a professional accountant.

Communications … including the ‘Northern Quaker’ newsletter and this website are looked after within the Area by a variety of volunteers.

Piers Voysey, Forres Local Meeting

Who are our Area Meeting Trustees and what do they do?

I am currently an Area Meeting Trustee, but I truthfully don’t know why! I was asked to accept the role about 10 years ago, and in true blind faith said ‘If you feel I could make a contribution, of course I will be a Trustee’.

I then started my journey of discovery. Anyone within Area Meeting can make a real contribution to the Trustee body (Quaker Faith & Practice 15.07).

We currently (March 2020) have six Members who form the body known as Area Meeting Trustees. A Clerk, an Assistant Clerk, a Treasurer, an Assistant Treasurer, and two Trustees.

Trustees are responsible for all the legal tasks associated with our Charitable body status, including the preparation of accounts and the Annual report for The Scottish Charity Regulator. The Trustees are responsible for co-ordinating Area Meeting’s financial matters, safeguarding matters, & property matters. The Trustees have a legal responsibility to ensure that Area Meeting complies with Scottish law, and are named on the title deeds of properties owned by Area Meeting.

The role might sound daunting, but it really can be enjoyable to be a Trustee! We get to know everything that is happening in Area Meeting, and we offer advice & help when needed.

We meet once a year face-to-face, and about four or five times a year by video conference. 13

Our current Trustees are:

− Meeting Clerk: David James, Lochaber & Lorn LM − Treasurer: Anthony Buxton, Forres LM − Assistant Treasurer: Peter Heald, Aberdeen LM − Assistant Clerk: Oriole Hall, Inverness LM − Tom Sayles, Caithness & Brora − William McEwen, Westray Local Meeting

If you would like to be considered as a future Trustee, talk to one of us and find out more about the role, and how you could contribute. If you’d like to put your name forward, we would gladly offer a suggestion to our Nominations committee.

For more information go to www.quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/quaker-roles/trustees

Tom Sayles, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

What are Elders and Overseers?

Across BYM, the responsibilities of elders and overseers have been seen as separate roles. In North Scotland Area Meeting, for so many years that I can’t remember why, the roles have been combined. I hope this has generally created an enhanced sense of belonging, sharing, community and equality.

In 1653, William Dewsbury proposed that each meeting should appoint one or two of ‘… those most grown in The Power and the Life in the pure discerning of the Truth …’, to take responsibility for the spiritual welfare of the meeting and its members so that they ‘… may be brought closer to God …’. Their particular care remains the right holding of our meetings. We see this at the beginning of Advices and Queries where at the gathering of elders at Balby, in1656, the appeal is not on the authority of the elders as if issuing instructions, but from the light in them to the light in all Friends.

Unfortunately, in the early 18th century, Elders tended to become somewhat conservative and repressive, enforcing compliance with the disciplines endorsed by the

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Yearly Meeting and recorded in something called the Book of Public Extracts (including plain speech, plain dress and marrying out of the society). From the end of the century the more outward aspects of pastoral care were assigned to overseers who still have the task of ‘… building a community in which all members find acceptance, loving care and opportunities for service …’.

Elders & Overseers should only be appointed for a maximum of 2 triennia, i.e. 6 years. The difficulty of finding Friends to serve in these roles as so many of us grow older and become frail has become such a challenge that many Area Meetings are taking a new look at eldership and oversight, and many creative ways of carrying out their functions are being developed. Many Friends would also like to change the terminology especially that of ‘overseer’ with its negative connotations of the term throughout history.

So what do we do as E/Os as we try to build a community that will encourage and nurture friendship and mutual care, and as Zelie Gross puts it, to ‘… provide leadership that ensures that what Friends practice is Quaker and not something else …’? In no particular order: a great deal of non-judgmental listening, welcoming and helping people to learn about and experience Quaker faith and practice, its history, language and structures; ensuring that the meeting is in right ordering and gently stepping in if someone ministers inappropriately or in a disruptive way; being aware of financial needs and knowing where to seek funding and grants for those who might need them; helping to grow the Children’s meeting and support families and relationships; encouraging attenders into membership; knowing when you need to ask for outside help; nurturing gifts; finding the best way to keep people informed; making sure that business meetings are conducted in right ordering, etc.

Yes, it’s a long list and that not the end of it. I haven’t written it down to put everybody off taking on these roles but to show that in fact we are all capable of fulfilling them if we share them, and I am more and more coming to the conclusion that this is the way forward.

References:

“Advices and Queries” “Quaker Faith and Practice” “With A Tender Hand” by Zelie Gross Eldership and Oversight series of handbooks

Oriole Hall, Inverness Local Meeting

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What is the role of Elders and Overseers?

The Quaker notion that the ‘Light’ or our own idea of god exists within everyone is a challenging one, which brings risks. People within the organization may feel lost or forgotten, or participants with more extreme views might try to indoctrinate or influence others and so change the whole philosophy of the Society. Within the Society of Friends there are no priests, pastors, ministers, imams, etc. to fulfil the pastoral role or to ensure that our core beliefs do not become corrupted. In the past, when the organization was much bigger than it is now, the way that evolved to try to remedy this situation was the creation of two specific roles within each meeting:

ELDERS, who were appointed from amongst the more established members of each meeting, ‘weighty’ Friends as they are often referred to nowadays, whose role it was to support and guide members’ personal & spiritual growth and development, and to ensure that meetings for worship were properly conducted.

OVERSEERS, who were appointed to look after, or ‘oversee’, the general organization, including the more outward aspects of each meeting, as well as the pastoral role, the ‘building of a community’, the development of Children’s meetings, monitoring and nurturing membership and internal communications, etc.

Although there were, and still are limitations on the length of time (a maximum of six years) that individuals could serve as Elders or Overseers in order to prevent stagnation, inevitably as time went on, they became more conservative, and at times in the 18th & 19th centuries, even repressive.

However, as the Society has always moved with the times, views change, some meetings get smaller and new methods of communication have developed, and the two functions have blended into one, indeed many believe the title(s) themselves are anachronistic. Some larger meetings still feel the need for the two separate roles, but often the two roles are combined into one appointment, while an increasing number of smaller meetings do not appoint Es & Os (as they are often referred to) at all, believing that it is the function of the meeting as a whole, shared by every individual, to fulfil these roles. Leadership, to ensure that what Friends practice as ‘Quaker’, and not something else, comes from ‘Friends House’ and Britain Yearly Meeting. Fortunately most Friends nowadays are very independent thinkers and free spirits, and are never likely to be dominated by the centre!

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So, in conclusion, the need still exists, but the way in which they are catered for is at present changing and evolving – something the Society of Friends is very good at, and uniquely equipped to manage. Watch this space to see what happens …

Ann and Alasdair Galbraith, Skye Local Meeting Image with kind permission of Signe Wilkinson

What’s the role of the Quaker Parliamentary Engagement Officer?

The Parliamentary Engagement Officer (PEO) is one of a small team of people who work to promote understanding of Quakerism in Britain and to increase the social impact of Quaker activities. The PEO works on behalf of Quakers and Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) to influence social and political change. The PEO engages with all aspects of the work of the Scottish Parliament to ensure that all legislation is considered in the light of Quaker practice & values.

The PEO is encouraged, supported, advised, and answerable to the Parliamentary Engagement Working Group (PEWG). There is a two-way exchange of information between the Area Meeting representatives, and the PEO who works with Westminster MPs and Ministers of the Scottish Parliament and various committees.

The PEWG comprises representatives from each Area Meeting in Scotland. It meets every two months in Edinburgh with the PEO, and often by video link with specialists, or with Friends House in London.

Area Meeting representatives take their own knowledge & concerns to a PEWG meeting. The PEO, who has experience of working within the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, can advise about how affairs may be presented effectively to a particular body within the legislature.

The PEO and the PEWG work closely with organisations to bring about the changes we need: a current example is ‘Stop Climate Change Scotland’ which speaks with one voice, representing the many different groups working on aspects of climate change throughout Scotland.

At present we have no Parliamentary Officer. Interviews for a replacement for Mairi Campbell Jack are currently being scheduled (March 2020).

William Purser, Forres Local Meeting

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TERMINOLOGY

What is Discernment?

Fake news? How do we know what is true? Should I sleep with my boyfriend? How do I know what is right?

Some faith communities believe that their Holy Book contains direct revelations from God, commandments that believers should obey. Friends do not live by a Book or a Rule, but by the spiritual practice of listening. In a spirit of mindfulness, Friends wait quietly to ‘mind the light’. The Light quietly leads Friends into what is right and true. But how do we know that the ‘leading’ is genuine, and not just wishful thinking?

For the individual Friend, it is helpful to get to know an elder who you trust, and with whom you can share your thoughts. For important decisions such as making a steadfast commitment, to marriage, membership of the Society, or when facing difficult choices, Friends can seek a Meeting for Clearness to help them become clear about their options and the way forward.

Because Friends value the experience of direct guidance from the Spirit, they are reluctant to frame specific rules to govern belief and behaviour. But over time, Friends have put into words ‘testimonies’, ethical principles, which reflect tested Quaker values such as peace, equality and simplicity. Testimonies are not just abstract principles, but ways of life which Friends wish to demonstrate in their own lives and for which they are prepared to suffer if necessary. Testimonies are helpful guides as to whether our decisions and behaviours reflect our commitment to being a Friend.

Discernment is also central to the way Friends conduct the business of the Society. Meetings for Business seek discernment in the stillness of the gathered Meeting. This, too, is an exercise in spiritual listening, an expectation that in the stillness, Friends corporately will discern divine guidance. It is the function of the Clerk of the Meeting to discern the ‘Sense of the Meeting’. The Clerk puts the Sense of the Meeting into the words of a minute. Friends agree to the minute, not because it necessarily expresses their opinion but because it is the tried and tested way of seeking the divine will. This leads to a unity which rises above the variety of opinions expressed.

Further Reading: references to ‘Discernment’ in Quaker Faith and Practice, Leadings and Discernment; Michael Birkel, ‘The Oxford Handbook of Quaker Studies’, Editors: Stephen Angell and Pink Dandelion.

David James, Lochaber and Lorn Local Meeting

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What is a Threshing Meeting?

Conflict may happen at any time. It need not be destructive if we listen to and respect other people’s feelings and point of view. Friends have Threshing Meetings to separate grains of truth from the husks of intolerance, anger and self-centredness.

The Threshing Meeting allows everyone involved to express their point of view in a safe place where their opinions and feelings are heard and accepted without being belittled or judged. Those who tend to dominate proceedings should stand aside to allow more sensitive or reserved Friends to say what they feel.

An experienced Friend, usually from another Meeting, is appointed as Clerk. The Clerk maintains the spirit of worship and the discipline of the Quaker business method. Blame, accusation and inflammatory language are avoided. Contributions are heard in attentive, respectful and thoughtful silence. All contributions are confidential, and the Minute of the Meeting just states that the Meeting was held. The Threshing Meeting can be a preparation for further decision making and action. But these are not the function of the Threshing Meeting,

Further reading: Threshing Meetings, Quaker Life, 2011

David James, Lochaber and Lorn Local Meeting

What is Safeguarding?

Quakers believe it’s centrally important for us to create a safe, loving, caring and nurturing environment for everyone at our activities, regardless of their age.

Safeguarding measures are therefore put in place to prevent people being abused or harmed in any way within Quaker activities. While these measures are especially important for children and young people, they are also very important for adults who could be at risk – anyone can become vulnerable through age, a change of circumstance, or health.

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In order to do this, Quaker communities are obliged, by law, to have safeguarding policies and procedures in place. In practice this means that anyone supporting a children’s meeting will have been through a criminal records check, to assess their suitability, and provide safeguards for young people.

Area meetings appoint safeguarding co-ordinators and it is their role to make sure procedures are being followed at our meetings and gatherings. All of us carry some responsibility for safeguarding and anyone with a concern can contact their safeguarding co-ordinator. If someone is unsure about doing this, they can initially speak to the clerk, or elder/overseer as they will know who to contact.

Our Area Meeting safeguarding co-ordinators are supported by BYM safeguarding officers, and can also access advice from ‘Thirtyone:eight’ who are independent safeguarding specialists.

Link: https://thirtyoneeight.org

Clunie Conochie, Inverness Local Meeting

What is the Peace Testimony?

In January 1661 a written declaration of a Quaker commitment to peace was made to Charles II, but the Peace Testimony has always been more than that. It is an active expression of living within our daily lives and the witness we bear to ‘a different way’, affirming the value of life and alternatives to warfare.

Suggested reading: ‘A Light That is Shining’ – Harvey Gilman

Angie MacGregor, Caithness Worshipping Group A Personal Perspective

Did my birthright Quaker membership play a part in who I am? I grew up and spent all my formative life a stone’s throw away from Woodbrooke (a Quaker college). I was surrounded by many Quaker families and their children who still remain good friends to this day. This environment felt very secure to me though the adults were experiencing very worrying times.

Conscientious Objection to war was prevalent in our community but I was protected from the tension this created until later when I spread my wings. There were neighbours and relations who went to fight, but I did not understand the ill-feeling this sometimes caused. I think these early years helped me to find a quiet core in myself.

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The explanation of the Peace Testimony is clear. The perspective it had on my personal life has been extremely challenging. It calls for belief, trust and courage. For example, I am asked what would have been the outcome of the Second World War if we had not fought Hitler? What do I say? My Father was a Conscientious Objector (CO) and led several young men through their tribunals using his vast knowledge of the Bible. His sincerity seemed to me to be unshakeable.

However I struggle with the philosophy of the Peace Testimony, which I believe in, to know how we cope with all the anger and negativity I am aware of everyday. If only we could call our forebears back for a conversation: they perhaps would not recognise our present world and its challenges so it would not help. It is up to us to fathom the Peace Testimony in our own time and live up to the Commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’.

Peggy Lunan, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

Who, or what, is a birthright Quaker?

A birthright Quaker is an individual who has parents who are Quakers. Prior to the 1940’s, birthright Friends were automatically considered to be Members of the Society of Friends. Since that time, it is up to every person to discern how they apply for membership and when they think the time is right.

Anthony Buxton, Forres Local Meeting

Birthright Friend

A birthright friend is a person whose parents registered them as a Quaker at birth. In 1940, when I was born, the Second World War was underway and parents sought every avenue that might provide security for their baby’s future. In times of crisis changes occur which can be frightening, as we are seeing with the Coronavirus. For me the Society of Friends has been like a third parent, and has given me love when I needed it, and stretched my tolerance to its full length at other times.

This dichotomy has been a test, and caused me to resign my membership and then, after deep thought, to reapply to join the Society.

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Personal Reflections:

Did my birthright membership play a part in who I am? I grew up and spent all my formative life a stone’s throw away from Woodbrooke (a Quaker College). I was surrounded by many Quaker families and their children, who still remain good friends to this day.

This environment felt very secure to me though the adults were experiencing very worrying times. Conscientious Objection to war was prevalent in our community but I was protected from the tension this created until later, when I spread my wings. There were neighbours and relations who went to fight, but I did not understand the ill-feeling this sometimes caused. I think these early years helped me to find a quiet core in myself.

Peggy Lunan, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

Where is Pendle Hill and why is it important to Quakers?

Pendle Hill, in Lancashire, near Burnley, is famous for trials of ‘Witches’ in 1612. It is 557 metres high and its parent peak is Kinder Scout.

In George Fox’s biography he says:

‘… As we travelled, we came to a very great hill, called Pendle Hill and I was moved by the Lord to go up it, which I did with great difficulty, it being steep and high. From this hill the Lord let me see in what places He had great people to be gathered ...’.

A sculpture by Anna Lui and Mike Tonkin, erected in 2006, stands near the summit and is called the Singing Ringing Tree. It is made of steel tubes which sing in the breeze.

There is a Quaker study centre, established in 1930 in Pennsylvania, USA called the Pendle Hill study centre.

Angie MacGregor, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

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What and where is Woodbrooke?

Woodbrooke is a hub for Quaker learning, worship and other meetings, situated in Selly Oak in Birmingham. Founded in 1903 by George Cadbury and John Wilhelm Rowntree, the centre is based in a Grade II listed Georgian manor house, which offers plenty of accommodation. Visitors may stay for B&B whilst visiting Birmingham, or participate in Quaker-related study courses which are offered throughout the year. Friends’ ministry is at the heart of the project, and Friends in Residence support the weekly programme of worship.

Woodbrooke has developed its mission in many ways, now offering a Woodbrooke-on- the-Road programme which enables local meetings, all over Britain, to benefit from visits by experienced tutors. Online courses and Webinars increase accessibility for studying a wide range of subjects, including to degree level, through a link with Birmingham University.

The Centre offers many enriching and valuable experiences to Quakers and to those of other faiths or none, through hospitality, human connection and learning in the spirit of Friendship.

It is well worth having a look at the courses on offer at Woodbrooke – why not see if there is something which would support your growth and personal development? The courses aim to ‘nourish spiritual development, strengthen the Quaker community, and enable & encourage work for a peaceful and just world’ – also a wonderful path to meeting new Friends and perhaps renewing older friendships.

Financial support can be available: Woodbrooke has a Bursary Fund and there is also the option of asking our Trustees to consider sponsorship. Find out more at their website https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/

Chris MacGregor, Inverness Local Meeting

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What are the Quaker testimonies?

The Quaker testimonies are not a list of set beliefs or doctrines: they are in fact, a reflection of the most important original Quaker insights. Our testimony is what we do, what we say, how we discern the inner Light and how we let it speak to the world.

The specific actions of Quaker testimony have always been varied and have changed over time in response to the world around us. For early Quakers it was plain and truthful speech, and the refusal to pay tithes, and later opposition to slavery and war, support for refugees and prison reform.

Today these have been grouped together in a list as Simplicity, Truth, Equality and Peace, and more recently Sustainability has been added. It is this list that is commonly known as the testimonies.

Our Corporate testimony is all those actions that we have discerned together as a Society, and include the rejection of violence, the commitment to peace-making, speaking the truth to power, the rejection of participation in gambling or speculation, and becoming a low carbon community. This testimony is a Spirit-led action that aims to communicate, challenge and transform relationships and power structures.

So, to emphasize, our Quaker way is a way of practice, rooted in experience, and our testimony is not made up of principles or beliefs we need to live up to, but a reflection of our lived life, our faithfulness to the promptings of love and truth in our hearts.

Anthony Buxton, Forres Local Meeting

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COMMITTEES/MEETINGS

What and where is the ‘Shindig’?

Northern Young Friends ‘Summer Shindig’ is a residential summer event for young Quakers in Scotland and the North of England, currently held in North Yorkshire. Summer Shindig is a week-long residential event that has been running for over 50 years, and is intended for young people aged 11 – 16 who are connected with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

The event is primarily for young people who live within the catchment area of Scotland General Meeting, Teesdale & Cleveland, Wensleydale & Swaledale, Northumbria, North Cumbria and Kendal & Sedburgh Area Meetings, but youngsters from further afield are welcomed if there is space.

The programme has an overall theme for the week, and on three mornings there are sessions facilitated by guest speakers, followed by discussions in smaller groups. The speakers can interpret the theme quite liberally, allowing their particular knowledge, experience and style of presentation to bring the theme to life. The programme also includes activities, sports, a day trip, various entertainments, evening worship and unstructured free time.

As the week progresses, young people develop friendships with strong foundations that last throughout the year and beyond. During the week, community participants learn about honesty, trust and acceptance of themselves and others, plus having lots of fun!

Johanna Quinney, Nairn Worshipping Group

Can I go to Area Meeting?

Yes, anyone can attend Area Meeting, but if you are a recent attender, you should just check with the Clerk beforehand. There are some Friends who have been ‘attenders’ so long and are regulars at AM – Clerks forget that they have not actually ‘joined’.

Phyllida Sayles, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

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Can anyone go to a Quaker Meeting?

Yes! Anyone can come and join in the hour of exploring and reaching ‘that of God in every person’.

If, after you’ve been an ‘Attender’ for a while and share the Society’s outlook, you can become a member and take a bigger part in the life of the ‘Friends’ if you want. Every Quaker Meeting has folk who have diverse beliefs, lifestyles, ethnic roots and social backgrounds. Friends desire to be open to the world and welcome to all.

Angie MacGregor, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

How Does Our Area Meeting Work?

The North Scotland Area Meeting covers a large geographical area, and supports the following Local Meetings: Aberdeen, Banchory, Dingwall, Forres, Inverness, Lochaber & Lorn, Nairn, Orkney, Shetland, Skye, and Westray & Papa Westray. The role of Area Meeting is to support its Local Meetings through its business meetings, worship, social activities and spiritual nourishment, to ensure that Area Meeting can grow and thrive as a community of Quakers, even though we are scattered across a wide geographical area.

Through the year the sort of business dealt with by Area Meeting may be visiting and welcoming new members, recording people leaving membership, holding Quaker weddings, approving those nominated to AM roles, approving the AM annual budget and annual report, and considering the recommendations made by Trustees, committees, etc.

Local Meetings can take their concerns to Area Meeting, to share with other Local Meetings, and if necessary the concern can be taken to General Meeting (in Scotland), or to Yearly Meeting or Meeting for Sufferings.

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(North Scotland Area Meeting is a registered charity, which requires Trustees who are accountable under Scottish charity legislation.)

North Scotland Area Meeting aims to meet four times a year and to have additional video/phone links as necessary.

Piers Voysey, Forres Local Meeting Quaker Funerals

Quaker funerals are similar to Quaker Meetings for Worship: a silent meeting with ministry given and open to anyone to contribute, remembering and celebrating the life of the person who has died. The funeral is the responsibility of the Area Meeting. An Elder from the Area Meeting is responsible for ensuring the meeting is conducted in the manner of Friends as well as in accordance with the wishes of the deceased and their family.

An Elder would introduce the Meeting for Worship and explain the form it will take on the occasion of the funeral. This is important when members of the congregation may not be Quakers or are not familiar with the style of worship. Other Quakers, who knew the person who has died, may attend the funeral.

Leaflets about Quaker funerals can be obtained from Friends Bookshop in London (tel 020 7663 1030. These may be helpful for people attending the funeral. Information is also available online at https://quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/support-for- meetings/funerals-1

Sometimes the deceased or their relatives may be members of another church, or sometimes a Quaker is also a member of another denomination. In these cases there might be a joint service with a minister participating as well.

The needs and style of a Quaker funeral may be as varied as the individuals and their lives.

Funerals may take place in a Meeting House, in a church, or at a crematorium, but could also be at the person’s home, or at any other convenient place, depending on the wishes of the deceased & their family.

Janet Fairbairn, Lochaber and Lorn Local Meeting

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What is Quaker Peace and Social Witness? (QPSW)

Quakers are committed to peace and social justice: their historic testimony to peace, justice, equality, truth and simplicity dates back to the 1660s. We are challenged to alleviate suffering, and work towards positive social change.

The history of this commitment, in a declaration to Charles II ‘denying all wars and weapons of war’, is the basis for our peace testimony. George Fox wrote: ‘I lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars’.

Peace, however, isn’t only about opposing war and violence: peace is more about building a just and peaceful world. Peace is about how we live our lives, working towards finding an alternative to conflict and violence.

QPSW undertakes action locally, nationally and globally, via community work, campaigning online, or by physical presence. This work emerges from the deep spiritual experience of Quakers, engaging in non-violent peacemaking in areas affected by armed conflict across the world, working for a culture of peace and justice, based on non-violent change.

These are some examples of the work of QPSW working with groups:

• Peacemaking Schemes, mostly undertaken by young adults working in placements, working with organizations, working for peace nationally or internationally, for example EAPPI (Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine & Israel). • Working towards ending the Arms Trade, Challenging Militarism, caring for Refugees escaping war zones. • Climate Justice. • Quaker Prison Ministers in multi-faith chaplaincy give spiritual support to prisoners of all faiths. • Crime, Community and Justice, promotes the concept of restorative justice. st • Taking part in International Day of Peace, observed on 21 September, commemorating th Hiroshima on August 6 .

I recommend:

• The Quaker Peace Testimony • A Quaker View On … • The Young Quaker, a magazine for Young Friends everywhere, published in print and online, comes out three times a year.

Visit the Quaker website https://www.quaker.org.uk/our-organisation/young-adult- quakers or https://www.quakerscotland.org for lots of information

Sila Collins-Walden, Inverness Local Meeting

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What is the difference between a Local Meeting and a Worshipping Group?

Local Meetings (formerly called Preparative Meetings) have certain duties and responsibilities which they agree to undertake on behalf of the Area Meeting. This agreement is formally recorded as part of a Memorandum of Understanding. To enable the Local Meeting to carry out these duties, the meeting has to appoint at least a clerk / convenor and a treasurer. Local Meetings nominate Elders/Overseers, who are then appointed by the Area Meeting. Most of their service will, however, be related to the Local Meeting of which they are a member.

If a Meeting does not feel able to fulfil these duties & responsibilities, its members may ask Area Meeting to accept it as a Worshipping Group (formerly known as a Recognised Meeting).

Worshipping Groups may hold advertised meetings for worship, and will be expected to conduct their meetings for worship according to the guidance in Quaker Faith & Practice. They come under the care of a Local Meeting, with oversight from Area Meeting. The responsibility for pastoral care, for the right ordering of the Meeting, and its finances, is undertaken by the Local Meeting.

It is important to note that these titles are purely administrative. There are no differences in who may attend meetings, or in the form of worship, of Area Meeting, Local Meetings and Worshipping Groups.

Oriole Hall, Inverness Local Meeting

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What is the Northern Friends Peace Board?

In January 1913, Friends in the north of England met in conference at York and decided to set up the Northern Friends Peace Board. The Minute which launched it stated that its ‘…special duty would be to advise and encourage Friends in the North, and through them their fellow Christians and citizens generally, in the active promotion of peace in all its height and breadth.‘ Many might think it was not a good year to begin such a task. Perhaps Friends think, with the benefit of hindsight, it was the best time to do so.

Today, 107 years later, with the benefit of a full-time salaried co-ordinator, the Board draws on the talents and experiences of Friends and our allies from across the north of England and Scotland to inform, educate and encourage the peace movement in its broadest sense.

Normally meetings comprising representatives from the area are held regularly across the region, often supplemented by a specialist speaker. The meetings co-ordinate, promote and share the many ways the peace message must be presented to everyone, from the United Nations and the Ministry of Defence to primary schools.

The Board produces teaching and information resources and shares its knowledge and understanding of the peace movement with a variety of concerned bodies, such as schools, churches and voluntary groups. Equally important, it had wide experience to draw on to help identify the many enemies of peace in our society and their well- disguised allies.

The meetings also serve the essential purpose of helping to maintain the morale and hopes of everyone involved.

107 years on and the struggle continues………

William Purser, Forres Local Meeting

NFPB website: https://nfpb.org.uk/

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PUBLICATIONS

What Quaker publications are there?

Perhaps the most significant publication you will come across is ‘Quaker Faith & Practice’, which is like a Quaker handbook. It contains all the rules & regulations about how the Society of Friends actually operates, as well as a large collection of experiences, thoughts and ministries written by Quakers over the past 350 years.

These ministries are grouped under various headings to help you find out Friends’ views on numerous topics & guidance over the years. Most importantly ‘Quaker Faith & Practice’ includes, at the very front of the book, the ‘Advices & Queries’, a collection of pieces of advice, or questions we should ask ourselves about how we lead our lives. They are challenging and inspiring and are the nearest thing Quakers have to a ‘doctrine’. This first section is also published as a separate, pocket sized, booklet.

‘The Friend’ is an independent weekly Quaker magazine containing news of Friends’ activities, opinions, theological debate and letters. Usually there are spare copies at Local Meetings, or you may choose to subscribe. https://thefriend.org

‘The Friends’ Quarterly’ is weightier, with in-depth articles by experts about aspects of Quakerism. https://thefriend.org/magazine/tfq

‘The Northern Quaker’ is published by North Scotland Area Meeting four times a year and will give you a general view of North Scotland Meetings with reports and articles.

‘The Scottish Friend’ covers all of Scotland and is published quarterly by Britain Yearly Meeting. It can be found on General Meeting for Scotland’s website at https://www.quakerscotland.org/general-meeting/newsletters

‘Quaker News’ is a free paper, available three times a year from Local Meetings and online at https://quaker.org.uk/resources/newsletters/quaker-news, telling what Britain Yearly Meeting does on behalf of Quakers in Britain.

Check out https://www.quaker.org.uk/resources/newsletters for monthly up-dates such as ‘Quake!’ for all Quakers in Britain. ‘Quaker Faith in Action’ gives news of Quaker Peace and Social Change. You can read past newsletters and sign up for updates on the website. 31

‘CIRcular’ is a once a year newsletter produced by the Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR) about ecumenical and interfaith work. You can find it online at https://www.quaker.org.uk/resources/newsletters/circular

Additionally, ask your Meeting Librarian if the Meeting has copies of the ‘Swarthmore Lectures‘, published each year. The Librarian may be able to recommend some of the many books on Quakerism that might interest you. These interpret the Quaker message and mission, highlighting the spirit, the aims and the fundamental principles of the Society of Friends.

Valerie Weir, Inverness Local Meeting

How can I find out more about famous Quakers like George Fox and Elizabeth Fry?

For what is often regarded as a small and somewhat quirky organisation on the fringe of the Christian tradition, Quakers – or Religious Society of Friends as they are officially known – have been remarkably influential during the past three hundred and fifty years. Many of the names of historic – and not so historic – Quakers may be familiar to you. In addition to looking into the life of the movement’s founder, George Fox, there’s an amazing journey of discovery to be made.

In the world of business the Quakers’ success was a direct result of their reputation for honesty & integrity at a time when these attributes were not always typical of business dealings. Barclays Bank, Lloyds Bank, Friends Provident, Clarks Shoes, Cadbury, Rowntree and Fry’s chocolate, together with many other household names all owe their early success to their Quaker founders. Perhaps, most surprising of all though, is that Sony was founded by a Japanese Quaker!

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In the area of social reform and international politics, again ‘Friends’ – as Quakers are often known – have been equally influential. Did you know that Amnesty International was founded by a Quaker? The International Voluntary Service, Greenpeace, The Joseph Rowntree Trust, and many of the key players in present day prison reform, peace and the pacifist movements, all have Friends and Quakerism at their heart.

Historically, we may have heard of the work of the Friends Ambulance Service during the First World War, the work of Elizabeth Fry (prison reform), John Woolman (abolition of slavery), William Penn (founder of Pennsylvania), Joseph Lister (medicine), John Dalton (founder of the atomic theory) and Abraham Darby (industrialist), who were all Quakers. But did you know that James Dean, Julie Felix and Judi Dench are all Friends too?

Why not check out some of these well-known names on the internet? Wikipedia is a good place to start, as is the official site of the Religious Society of Friends at www.quaker.org.uk. Good luck… it’s a fascinating and little-known part of our nation’s religious and spiritual heritage.

You might find the following link of interest: https://youtu.be/Vr5jCm2C0Kc

Alasdair and Ann Galbraith, Skye Local Meeting

Where can I find more information on George Fox, Elizabeth Fry & other early Quakers?

George Fox, Elizabeth Fry and many other names are often referred to by Friends in meeting, but do you really know who they were and what contribution they made to the development of the Society of Friends? You could look at these websites to begin your journey of discovery: www.1624country.org.uk www.quaker.org.uk www.history.com/topics/immigration/history-of-quakerism

Or on YouTube – search for ‘A journey into the beauty of Quaker Country’: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Vr5jCm2C0Kc

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Because I prefer books to the internet, I would start with a few books, such as:

Quaker Faith & Practice (also available online at https://qfp.quaker.org.uk) The Journal of George Fox, edited by John L Nickalls Quaker Writings: An Anthology, 1650 – 1920 (Penguin Classics) Portrait in Grey, A Short History of the Quakers, by John Punshon The Quakers, A Very Short Introduction, by Pink Dandelion The Journal of John Woolman, by John Woolman

It stuck me very forcibly as I was thinking about this that early (and later) Quakers are not known for their art, literature or sculpture, but many were great letter writers & diarists.

The Quaker movement has its origins in what we now call ‘The Wars of the Three Kingdoms’ and ‘The English Revolution’, so finding out about these subjects may also be important to you.

I know that what I have offered to you might seem a little heavy, so I will finish with a personal recommendation: look into the novel ‘Ulverton’ by Adam Thorpe. Chapter 2, ‘1689, Friends’ is a wonderful evocation of the turmoil of the origin of the Society. What we experience now, as a group of people sitting quietly, has its origins in something very dynamic and explosive!

Roger Ellis, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

What is the Membership Handbook?

I had to phone a friend for this one as I personally only know the document by the latter name, and have never heard it referred to as the ‘Members Handbook’, but it seems this is a name used by some Friends.

It is usually referred to as the ‘Members Handbook’ or ‘Book of Members & Attenders’. It covers the whole of Scotland and lists all the Meetings for Worship in each area, with the times and places where they meet.

It is most useful and, as the title suggests, it is a book of Members and Attenders including the Meeting they belong to and contact details.

All details are held with the explicit consent of the members and attenders concerned, to comply with the Data Protection Act. When the book is superseded by a new volume the old book of course should either be shredded or burnt.

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All areas of Scotland are covered & Area Meetings are listed under the regions. Each Area Meeting is listed with full details, with office bearers and the registered Charity Number.

Each member is listed not only under their Meeting but also cross-referenced at the back of the book in alphabetical order.

The dates and details for General Meeting for Scotland are given at the front of the book with a list of the current office bearers and their contact details. Other General Meeting representatives are also listed.

Finally, there is a list of useful addresses, websites, & Charitable Trusts, their purpose, and how to access them.

Janet Fairbairn, Lochaber and Lorn Local Meeting

What are the Advices and Queries?

The ‘Advices and Queries’ are a selection of writings, compiled through the ages, which impart the wisdom of Friends. These include recent entries and some dating back to the earliest beginnings of Quakerism. They are intended as inspiration and guidance to act as a catalyst for our own journeys in prayer and faith whether individually or as a group, they can be used in meeting for worship if appropriate, and as part of private prayer & reflection.

Advices and Queries are reviewed periodically and fresh inspiration is added, and perhaps others replaced, depending on the ever-changing needs of society and the fresh problems it presents.

You can find ‘Advices and Queries’ online at https://qfp.quaker.org.uk/chapter/1/

Janet Fairbairn, Lochaber and Lorn Local Meeting

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MONEY

How is the Religious Society of Friends financed?

The Religious Society of Friends, nationally, is financed through historical legacy income, ethical investments and donations from Members and Attenders. This is supplemented by trading income and funds left by Friends in their wills.

Area Meeting relies on contributions from individuals and donations from Quaker Trusts to finance its running costs and meet its national obligations.

There are many ways financial contributions can be made to the Society. You can donate to:

• your Local Meeting or Worshipping Group when you attend Meeting for Worship; • the Local Meeting you attend, or are affiliated to, by sending a contribution to the Local Meeting Treasurer; • to the Area Meeting by sending a contribution to Area Meeting Treasurer, preferably by monthly standing order through the annual schedule. In doing so you can ask that your contribution be allocated through Area Meeting specifically to other groups – as an example, you could ask that 30% be allocated to your Local Meeting, 20% to Britain Yearly Meeting, and the remainder to Area Meeting; • direct to Britain Yearly Meeting; • to specific causes which are announced from time to time; for example currently there is a particular fundraising activity in favour of The Retreat in York. This route is, of course, most directly dependent on your personal interest and commitments; • you can also, if you wish, make donations by bequest through your Will. Bequests were originally the source of funds which eventually provided the resources to build the Meeting House in Aberdeen.

With the exception of donating cash to the collection at your Local Meeting for Worship, any of these donations can usually be made direct, or through an account such as Charity Aid foundation. If you complete a form as a taxpayer an additional 25% to your contribution can be recovered by the AM treasurer from the Gift Aid system of the UK Treasury.

The amount you may wish to donate each year to AM and BYM is entirely up to you, although there is guidance in the annual schedule.

Each year, BYM issues an annual statement & analysis to Local Meeting treasurers, which is then available for Friends to see. Tom Sayles, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

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Is there any financial help for Friends in need?

YES! If you would like financial help with any aspect of your faith life, please, in the first instance speak to the Clerk or one of the Elders at your Local Meeting or Worshipping Group. They will guide you to the most suitable source of help, be it local, Area Meeting or National.

From our Area Meeting, support is available for attendance at conferences or nationally arranged events. This will not normally be for the full amount of a fee (unless you are specifically asked to attend by Area Meeting), and your travel costs can be supported to an amount equivalent to the published rail fares. If you need accommodation, this can also be supported.

You may ask for support to attend an ‘Enquirers event’ or to attend one of the published courses from Woodbrook. Again, the route to seek support is through an Elder from your local meeting.

There are now more courses offered in an online format. These are usually at a very low cost to the participant. If you are seeking support to join such a course, you should ask your Elder to refer this to the local treasurer for support from your local meeting.

In some cases, consideration has been given to supporting attendance on educational courses, but such support is very much dependent on the nature of the course, and your own specific circumstances. Again, speak with an Elder if you are considering such a route.

There have been cases in the past where a member has found themselves in a particularly hard financial circumstance through no fault of their own. Whilst it would normally be considered appropriate to resolve such matters yourself, there are times when help can be made available – if you don’t ask you won’t find out if help can be offered.

Most requests for financial support require the applicant to submit a formal application form, signed and endorsed by a local Elder. You will be advised as quickly as possible if an offer is to be made available. If you are attending a conference, you may be asked to write a short report for the Trustees or the AM afterwards, describing the event and how you gained spiritual sustenance through attending.

You can rest assured that if you are moved to seek support, under no circumstances will any reference be made to your application at a formal meeting, nor will it be published in any document. Tom Sayles, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

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GENERAL

Is Meeting for Worship the same as meditation?

Meditation is a technique for individually calming and focusing the mind and excluding distracting thoughts and desires.

It has been incorporated into Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity, and many people attending Quaker Meetings for Worship find it useful.

A Quaker Meeting for Worship is a gathering of people in person, or as now, remotely, to seek together God’s presence.

Based on Christianity, it can incorporate insights from other religions and experiences, trusting in the spirit of truth and love, often referred to as the ‘inner light’ which is in everyone.

Into the silence of Meetings individuals can bring spoken contributions which arise from the prompting of the spirit. Our combined Worship can, and often does, result in an outpouring of love and compassion and changed lives.

Roger Quinn, Inverness Local Meeting

A Personal Reflection My first encounter with contemplative meditation was as an adolescent in a junior seminary. My spiritual direction started with the example of: ‘Think about a chair, and go through a backward sequence to it being a tree’.

From this I was guided to more religious / spiritual content for contemplation, for example the role of Mary as the mother of Jesus. There was a stimulus in advance, and then it was over to me to make of that what I could.

None of my thoughts or those of others was shared. This individual activity was my practice on a daily basis for some years, and then on a more occasional basis.

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Some years later, in church one Sunday, I saw a flier for non-contemplative meditation. The spiritual direction given was directing me to clear my mind of thoughts, so that God’s voice could be clearly heard without interruption. There was no stimulus and no sharing of thoughts.

Following on from this, for a time I attended Buddhist mindfulness meditations, which had a focus of clearing the mind of past and future thinking, to be in the present moment with all my senses. Again, there was no stimulus and no sharing of thoughts, unless on an informal basis.

In each of these, the focus was on me as an individual, although being with others added something at times.

None of these styles of meditation need have a spiritual focus, indeed mindfulness is now very much a secular practice as well as spiritual.

On first attending Meeting for Worship, I assumed that the purpose of the silence was to allow me the opportunity to meditate. It soon became apparent that this was not the purpose. People speaking would mean an interruption to my meditation. On seeking spiritual guidance, I was directed to the words ‘Meeting for Worship’: they clearly say there is a coming together of like-minded individuals to worship. A coming together of individuals seeking a community-based spiritual experience. At Meeting for Worship I joined with others to seek God’s presence, to restore / strengthen my faith in God. I am with friends who support my worship as I support theirs.

I find Meeting for Worship brings about something in me which is more than I, as an individual, may manage.

‘True worship may be experienced at any time; in any place – alone on the hills or in the busy daily life – we may find God, in whom we live and move and have our being. But this individual experience is not sufficient, and in a meeting held in the Spirit there is a giving and receiving between its members, one helping another with or without words. So there may be a wider vision and a deeper experience.’

Quaker Faith and Practice 2.11

John Tracey, Inverness Local Meeting

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Are there different varieties of Quaker?

Some years ago I gave a paper to the Aberdeenshire Theological Club, of which I was and still am a member, entitled ‘Do Quakers have a theology?’ to which I answered ‘yes and no’.

Yes, we have a large corpus of Quaker thoughts and reflections from the past to the present in documents like Quaker faith and practice, but no, we do not have any formulated creed or dogma (the nearest to which Quakers get is Robert Barclay’s Apology*).

Quakers generally accept the point made by Rex Ambler in his booklet the ‘The End of Words’, where he quotes Isaac Penington, that words (formal or informal) only point to, but cannot capture, what they are about.

At that meeting, I offered the thought that there were at least four varieties of Quakers:

First those who would regard themselves as trinitarian Christians (historically rather more Quakers were probably of this persuasion, but nowadays in the UK very few) who believe in the resurrection and so on.

Second, those who would definitely identify themselves as Christians because they see Jesus Christ as the supreme example of a spiritual / moral leader to follow or live up to, and accept a form of theism which includes the idea that, apart from there being that of God within each person, there is also a transcendent God as the source of being.

Third, there are those Quakers who regard themselves as Universalists rather than specifically Christian, because they believe that there is a spiritual source to existence, but it is equally accessible to people of all different faiths.

And then there is a fourth group of Quakers whose position is similar to, though they may not describe it in these terms, the Sea of Faith movement – a movement once led by Don Cupitt that took the view that though there is no transcendent God, religious faith and practice (prayer, worship) proceeds on the basis as if there is. A parallel would be our capacity for aesthetic appreciation. Whether or not beauty is objective, we are enriched by the perception of beauty; likewise whether or not there is a transcendent God, we are enriched by a life which has a spiritual dimension of there being something beyond the mundane material world. (At the meeting I thought I would be like Daniel in the lion’s den, but in fact a Church of Scotland minister, with the agreement of many, said that in his church there was the same variety of positions, but of course they couldn’t admit it because they had a creed!)

The wonderful thing about Quakers is that we can accept one another in this great variety of theological positions (and no doubt many other ways of expressing it). I like to use the metaphor from ecology: Quakerism is a miniature ecosystem in which variety of belief is seen as a strength rather than a weakness.

Nigel Dower, Aberdeen Local Meeting

* Robert Barclay was a Scottish Quaker Leader, born 1648 at Gordonstoun, Moray, Scotland, died 1690 at Ury, Aberdeenshire.

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Do Quakers recognise the power of healing?

The easy answer to this is that some do and some do not. Meetings can recognise the power of healing and host events on the National Day of Healing. Other Meetings are less sympathetic. Within Meetings there can be a range of attitudes to the power of healing. George Fox had a healing ministry and for those Christo centered, Jesus sent his disciples out to heal the sick (Matthew 10; Luke 10).

There is a group of Quaker Healers, the Friends Fellowship of Healing, which publishes a journal called Towards Wholeness. There is a web site: www.quaker-healing.org.uk and an e-mail address for enquiries: [email protected] For a variety of reasons some Quaker healers are unable to join in a group in a Meeting House and there is a Postal and Distant Healers Prayer Group, coordinator Maureen Anderson at [email protected]

Robin Goodman, Inverness Local Meeting, March 2020

Addendum:

The phone call came on a Saturday morning. Come now. My brother was dying. We live on an island and I just had time to go to the airport and catch the plane. Before leaving I hastily sent an e-mail to three Friends who are healers and friends. They upheld me and my brother. I sat at my brother’s side during the last hours of his life and felt the complete peace of being upheld. This feeling that the Light was there never left. I thought it unfair, my brother so much younger than me was dying and then clearly into my head came the thought that this was in right ordering that he was being spared something worse. My brother died very peacefully while I held him. My daughter afterwards said that there was something utterly calm about me that was helping other family to keep calm too, she said that she almost thought she could see a light around me that I was giving to others. It was not me; it was being prayed for and being upheld by my healing friends. Their prayers helped my brother to die peacefully. Their prayers helped his wife, daughter and grandchildren to be calm.

Healing is different from curing, although a cure can happen. Healing is supporting the spirit so that mind, body and spirit can work together with the medical team. Sometimes this coming together can enable a cure. Sometimes it enables acceptance and a peace and calm to face whatever is there.

There are many people who have experience the feeling of being upheld. It is like no other and defies description.

Robin Goodman, Inverness Local Meeting

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Aberdeen Meeting House

Aberdeen’s present meeting house is the fourth meeting house in Aberdeen. You may be interested to learn that Quaker meetings were held in Aberdeen from 1662, a surprisingly early date. We date the start of Quakerism in the north of England as 1652. The first Quakers came to Aberdeen in Cromwell’s army, so they probably arrived in September 1651. Bishop Burnett witnessed their arrival ‘… Most of them were independents and anabaptists. They were all gifted men and preached as they were moved …’. That sounds like Quakers, don’t you think? The Quaker Peace Testimony wasn’t adopted until some fifteen years later, in 1666.

The earliest Quaker meeting house in Aberdeen was built around 1694 in Quaker Court, in the Guest Row, behind Provost Skene’s House. It was used until 1827. After that a simple meeting house was built in the Gallowgate, but neither of these exists today.

In 1867 Friends moved to premises in Diamond Street, where the present meeting house dates from 1903. For many years this was the only purpose-built meeting house in Scotland.

In 2003 Friends celebrated the centenary of our present Aberdeen meeting house, designed by William Kelly, a well-known Aberdeen architect. (William Kelly is also known for Kelly’s cats, the leopard statues decorating the balustrade of the Union Street bridge).

Tom MacDonald, once a member of Aberdeen meeting, remembered Kelly as his Church of Scotland Sunday School teacher, a tall man of immense dignity with a walrus moustache, who played the piano for the hymns with great vigour. Tom also reminded us of the surprisingly far-sighted restrictions affecting the Meeting House grounds: ‘ … we may not tan leather, refine tallow, make candles, soap or glue, slaughter cattle, erect gas works, distilleries or iron foundries, or make bricks or tiles for sale, only for our own private use, and from employing the premises in any trade which would be hurtful, nauseous or noxious to the houses and inhabitants in the neighbourhood …’ Friends in North Scotland Area Meeting appreciate some of the features of this 100 year old building, for example it is set as far back as possible on the plot from the street, to prevent the intrusion of noise, and the original grass in front of the building has now been replaced by a car park. The elevated windows were intended to avoid distraction while they provided light. The raised gallery was originally used by the meeting’s elders, and some of the benches around the walls still exist, although nowadays Friends prefer to sit on chairs, which are more comfortable.

All are always welcome to visit the meeting house and worship with us.

Mary Dower, Aberdeen Local Meeting

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Quaker burial grounds

Kinmuck The hamlet of Kinmuck is about 14 miles northwest of Aberdeen. There, in about 1662/3, the largest community of Quakers in Scotland was based on land given to Friends by the family Jaffray of Kingswells.

The first Quaker school in the country opened there in 1681 in the cottage beside the Meeting House, teaching ‘the Latin toung and other commendable learning’. The community flourished, with cobblers, tailors, blacksmiths and a wool mill. The school closed in 1807, but annual meetings were held until the Second World War. The Meeting House no longer belongs to the Society of Friends.

Across the road, the rectangular burial ground was associated with the parish of Ellon, northwest of Aberdeen. The earliest recorded burial is 1710, but there may have been earlier burials, as headstones were not in keeping with early Quaker beliefs. All but one of the headstones are of a simple design, a sandstone slab with a semicircular top and V- cut letters.

It is recorded that an Aberdeen Friend, Hamish Milne, was holidaying in Kinmuck as a small boy. He was fascinated by the lid of the Quaker mort safe with padlock, key and spanner, formerly in the corner of the graveyard. It is said to be now in the Museum of the Medical Department of Aberdeen University.

For many years this burial ground was cared for by Ann & Colin Millar, members of Aberdeen Meeting.

Kingswells Kingswells burial ground lies close to the new A90 road, 4½ miles west of Aberdeen, and only 200 yards north west of the 17th century manor house of Kingswells, which belonged to the Jaffrey family. Alexander Jaffrey, a famous provost of Aberdeen who did a lot to enrich the lives of his fellow citizens, is buried here.

Jaffrey became a Friend in 1662, and was largely responsible for the founding of the community of Kinmuck. Kingswells meeting house might have been demolished when the gardens of Kingswell House were developed.

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The names of ten people are recorded as buried at Kingswells, half of whom belonged to the Jaffrey household. None of the graves is marked.

The burial ground, dating from before 1673, lies in the middle of a field with no path to it. It was once surrounded by a wall which became ruinous and was repaired, and there is no longer a gate into the burial ground. The graveyard is largely overgrown with trees.

Ury

A few miles northwest of Stonehaven, and 14 miles south of Aberdeen, there was a burial ground at the village of Ury. Little remains there now except the ‘Houff’, the burial vault of the Barclay family.

Ury House is now a ruined mansion. It is recorded that Colonel David Barclay purchased ‘Urie’ in the late 1660s and his descendants owned it until 1854. In the 17th century Ury was established, by David Barclay, as the centre of north-east Scotland’s Quaker movement.

The second laird was Robert Barclay, the Quaker apologist, theologian & author, who was interred in the burial ground in 1690, aged 41yrs.

Aberdeen

We know, from the old records, that there was a burial ground on the Gallowgate opposite the site of the college, which possibly now lies under the present high-rise flats, or just to the west of them. This was used for burial from 1672 but can no longer be seen.

The purchase of the land was funded by Robert Barclay and his friend, the Viscountess Conway of Ragley Hall, Worcestershire. Aberdeen Quakers were persecuted during this period, and the walls of the burial ground were repeatedly demolished by the town council.

Mary Dower, Aberdeen Local Meeting

With additional information from www.canmore.org.uk

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Can I bring children to Meeting for Worship?

Yes, provided they are well behaved. Our Meetings for Worship in the North tend to be small, and some organize a MfW with children once a month, while others have different arrangements.

Some Local Meetings try to have a rota of suitable people to look after children while their parents enjoy MfW, but in a very small Meeting this might not be possible. It’s worth contacting the Clerk in advance if you’d like to take children to MfW and usually we can make arrangements.

However, Friends would all need to be consulted, the clerk would feel that he/she could not make such a decision!

Phyllida Sayles, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

Some meetings include the children for the first, or the last, 10 minutes of Meeting for Worship. For the rest of the time, they have their own supervised meeting where they might explore Quakerism – or the local play park! Children between the ages of 11 and 16 might be interested in the Summer Shindig, a week long residential event arranged by Quakers in the north (funding may be available; please ask!). Many children, especially in our smaller meetings, don’t have much opportunity to meet others of their own age and really enjoy the Shindig, where they often make long-term friendships. Week-end Link Groups for young people are also arranged throughout the year. Quaker resources for all-age worship and children’s meetings can be found at https://quaker.org.uk/children-and-young-people/work-quaker-setting/resources-all- age. The ‘Journeys in the Spirit’ resources for children aged 5-18 can be found on the Woodbrooke’s ‘Being Friends Together’ site at https://together.woodbrooke.org.uk/resources.php

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Is there such a thing as a Quaker Funeral?

Quaker funerals are held in the same manner as any other Quaker meeting for worship, a silent prayer meeting, with Ministry given, and open to anyone present to contribute.

This will both remember and celebrate the life of the person who has died. The family of the deceased may have specific requirements that they would like included in the service.

A funeral is the responsibility of the Area Meeting therefore they must be notified upon the death.

An Elder from the Area Meeting will oversee and will be responsible for ensuring that the meeting is conducted in the manner of Friends and in accordance with the wishes of the deceased and their family.

An Elder will introduce the meeting for worship and the form it will take on the occasion of the funeral. This will be particularly important when many of the congregation present may not be Quakers or familiar with the style of worship. Other Quakers will attend from local meeting who know the person who has died. Elders from the meeting the deceased attended will most likely communicate directly with the family and note their wishes so that these can be incorporated into the service.

Leaflets can be acquired on funerals from Friends Bookshop in London, tel 020 7663 1030 or downloaded from the Quakers in Britain website http://www.quaker.org.uk/

These are helpful not only for the family, but also for their friends attending the funeral, particularly if they are not Friends themselves. It might also be useful to give a leaflet to the undertaker concerned so that they, too, will be familiar with the style of Quaker worship.

On some occasions the deceased, or their relatives, may be members of another church. Members may indeed have dual membership, perhaps a Quaker but also a member of another denomination, in which case there is sometimes a need for a joint service with a minister participating as well. On these occasions the Quaker meeting of silence and ministry will form part of the service.

The needs and style of Quaker funerals can be as varied as the individuals and their lives.

Funerals may take place within a meeting house, at church or crematorium, but could also be at the persons home, or any other convenient place, depending on the wishes of the deceased and their family.

Janet Fairbairn, Lochaber and Lorn Local Meeting

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Why don’t Quakers need a dedicated meeting house for their worship?

Quakers believe that our astonishingly beautiful, and fearfully challenging, world invites us to walk cheerfully over the it, ‘answering to that of god in everyone’.

And if, as we hope, there is that of god in everyone we meet, that the Light will shine out if only we encourage and nurture it, then we can be at one with ourselves everywhere. We shall not need to gather in a special place, at particular times, for us to share in worship. Therefore we have no need of special Westray Meeting for Worship - on a boat buildings in which to hold our worship; we do not need particular people, different from the rest of us, to conduct our worship; we are all of the priesthood, we are all of equal merit when we gather together to discover ‘that of god’ which we believe resides in us all.

Since this is the case, we can meet for worship anywhere, in any situation which offers a peaceful environment, free from everyday noise & interruptions, for perhaps an hour. Nor do we need four walls: if the weather allows, we can sit in our circle outside and share our worship with the birdsong and speculate on the destination of passing clouds.

More important than bricks and mortar is the courage and confidence we generate from our gathered meeting: the environment is of no account.

However, for historical reasons, as a Society we have many Meeting Houses, and some have their origins in the beginnings of our Society. Cathedrals can dominate cities, and parish churches are central to villages: they were built to impress, to remind people of their obligations, as monuments to the glory of god. Quaker Meeting houses were built, often by local Friends themselves, as places to shelter from weather, as places to meet together so that all might worship in silence as a community. They had no need of steeples or spires, of ornament or grandeur: simplicity of worship is echoed in their simplicity of design and construction.

They are constant reminders of the courage and determination of our founders upon whose shoulders we stand. We should honour their courage by keeping them in use, as reminders that although our times are different, their courage, their convincement that worship should be simple, direct communication with the Light within us all, is as necessary and important to us now as it was to them. They are living monuments to a history which, nurtured by our care and concern, continues.

William Purser, Forres Local Meeting

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Do Quakers believe in God, Jesus and Christ?

Each of the above carries its own thesaurus wherever it goes, and whoever uses them. To make things easier for myself, and I hope for those who read this, I will attempt to separate the words and look at each one in turn.

GOD: The classic Quaker reply to the question ‘do you believe in god?’ is ‘it depends what you mean by god’.

We Quakers believe each person, everyone, everywhere has that of god within them, they carry it about with them whether they know it or not. Friends believe we can discover ‘it’ with a little work and practice.

Other folk may be happier with an external god, or even gods: Quakers are content with that which is inside us. Discovering that which is within us is encouraged and assisted by our friends when we sit together in our meetings for worship.

Friends use the word ‘god’ to describe what we hope to find. Others use the word ‘light’. Others have their own word for the ‘presence’. What perhaps distinguishes us from all other Christian sects and denominations is the hope that names and titles do not matter. We hope to let our lives speak through how we live in the world: we are not so concerned with what we might name the foundation of our lives.

We are encouraged and supported in our search and understanding of ‘god’ by the help we draw from our Testimonies. We are convinced that if we are to build the kingdom (or republic) of our ‘god’ here on earth, we must put our faith and energy into Peace, Equality, Simplicity, Truth and Sustainability.

JESUS: We can draw upon the life and examples of Jesus of Nazareth to encourage us to apply the testimonies to our lives and our society when we are faced with problems, challenges and joys. Although most of his life remains a mystery, we can understand enough, whether historical, fact or myth, to use it to sustain us in our determination to live in the world. It provides us with the courage to speak out against all we know to be unjust, unfair, discriminatory, and the rest …

As George Fox said when he was challenging the teachings and interpretations of the preachers of his day, ‘What cans’t thou say? …’: this is as demanding now as when Jesus first challenged his audiences when he was preaching against the evils which are still with us.

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Of course, as Quakers, we each may draw different conclusions, but we all try to concentrate on the principles upon which his teaching was founded.

CHRIST: My Oxford Dictionary offers as a definition of ‘christ’: the Messiah, or the Lord’s Annointed. The title given to Jesus of Nazareth as fulfilling Messianic prophecy.

This would seem to bring us back to where we began, with the Judaic tradition, and god. As Quakers we approach the word ‘god’ with some trepidation: how are we to understand the word ‘christ’, given the above definition? Can we be ‘Christians’ – yet as a Religious Society retain our variety (some would say vagueness) of understandings of ‘god’ and ‘Christian’. I think we can, together with many other religious leaders and philosophers, if we want to, draw hope and inspiration from the life and the teachings of Jesus, call ourselves Christian and not accept the institutionalisation which the church has built so determinedly around such a short and deceptively simple life.

Our Society is a wide umbrella: it shelters a rainbow of worshipping colours, including non-theists and theists.

William Purser, Forres Local Meeting

How can I join the Religious Society of Friends?

Your application may be initiated by yourself or by someone else. Talk to Members at your local Meeting. Ask the Clerk about applying for membership or ask for a membership form, or write a letter saying why you’d like to become a Member. Send it to the Area Meeting Clerk. Your application may be as detailed or as brief as you wish.

Peter Heald, Aberdeen Local Meeting

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What should I do if I want to become a member of the Society?

Firstly, attend Meeting for Worship and any of the other meetings, your local business meetings, Area Meetings as frequently as possible.

Read Chapter 11 of Quaker Faith & Practice, on the table at meeting and also online at http://qfp.quaker.org.uk

Read Quaker Life leaflet ‘Membership Principles’ available to download at www.quaker.org.uk/tender- hand. This leaflet summarizes the key points in Chapter 11 on routes into membership, and the significance of Membership to the Friend and to the Meeting.

Speak to Friends in your meeting about applying for membership. It is very important for a Friend considering membership to be supported by an Elder or Overseer and/or another person in the meeting who is significant to you.

Consider doing the course Becoming Friends either with a Friend in your meeting, or online at https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/learn/resources/becoming-friends/

North Scotland Area Meeting has produced a leaflet for attenders considering membership. Ask your Clerk or an elder if you would like a copy. These are only suggestions; they are not compulsory to applying for membership. There are other ways, e.g. participating in study or discussion groups.

Once you feel the time is right, and maybe after discussion with a local Friend, you can write a letter to the Clerk of Area Meeting explaining why you want to be a Member of the Society of Friends.

What does applying for Membership actually mean?

Becoming a member is part of our continuing spiritual journey. Sometimes, but not always, it is prompted by a personal event or experience, marriage, birth, illness or bereavement.

Membership brings elements of responsibility & commitment, but it is also about joy & celebration, and is for those who feel at home within the Quaker community.

It is also a statement to yourself, your Local and Area meeting and the world, that you accept at least the fundamental elements of being a Quaker, divine guidance, corporate worship and the right ordering of our Business meetings.

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There is no creed to assert, however the first chapter of Quaker Faith & Practice, Advices & Queries, is a challenge & inspiration for us as we journey through our personal lives.

At the end of the Introduction to Advices & Queries, the following postscript to an epistle written by a meeting of elders held at Balby in 1656:

Dearly beloved Friends, these things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all, with the measure of light which is pure & holy, may be guided; and so in the light walking and abiding, these may be fulfilled in the Spirit, not from the letter, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth light.

Penny Selbie, Aberdeen Local Meeting

Who can we ask about getting married in a Quaker Meeting?

First, find out if there is anyone in your Meeting who had or has been to a Quaker wedding.

Chapter 16 in ‘Quaker Faith & Practice’ gives you all the information you need when considering a Quaker marriage. It’s available online and is in the red book on the table at Meeting. Some paragraphs in this chapter are historical, dating back to the 17th century, but most is up-to-date and provides all the information you might need.

Then contact the Registering Officer, Penny Selbie (Aberdeen LM), or Assistant Registering Officer, Clunie Conochie (Inverness LM). Contact details are in the Book of Members & Attenders.

Penny Selbie, Aberdeen Local Meeting

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What should I do if I want to get involved in work for the Quaker Society of Friends?

Our Quaker community relies on members and attenders taking part in the life of the Area Meeting or General Meeting, in giving service to the Society and supporting our Quaker community. Service can be fun, enriching one’s life and the life of our community.

The way we encourage Friends to be involved in offering service is by asking them to fill in an Offer of Service form when they feel ready (this can also be done online). When completed it can be given to the Clerk, Elder or Nominations Convenor of your meeting.

You could write about your life experience, qualifications in a particular field, or anything you feel might be useful to the society. We don’t need a CV as such, but any information that might be useful when searching for a Friend to serve in a particular role.

All the details are confidential. You may not hear back for a while, you won’t have been forgotten, it just takes time to go through the forms to find a Friend who may be willing to take on a role.

‘Nominations’ is at the heart of the way we do things. We prefer to nominate rather than to have volunteers, so we don’t advertise. We don’t always go looking for the best person for the role: we seek to discern the gifts in Friends so that they might grow in spirit & knowledge. The person asked to serve is chosen out of worship and a sense of their gifts. When we’ve found the right Friend we should ensure that they are given a clear role description so they understand what their role entails, as well as giving support when needed to the newly nominated Friend.

Expertise may be needed for particularly difficult areas to fill, such as Finance for example. We don’t always choose someone who is a peace campaigner; you, for example, might be asked to work with the children or to edit a magazine! This is what happened to me. I was rather worried that I wouldn’t be able to take on this role as I had never edited a magazine before, but I soon learned, and it became a joy to edit the Scottish Friend.

Sila Collins-Walden, Inverness Local Meeting

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Can we read in Meeting?

New attenders are normally given a welcome pack when they first come to Meeting and they may wish to read those leaflets to enable them to understand what to expect.

It is not unusual to read the Bible or other religious text, the Advices & Queries, Quaker Faith & Practice, or sometimes a poem or an extract from a book in order to ‘centre down’ at the beginning of meeting, or in preparation for ministry. Whilst recognizing that many people use electronic devices for accessing the written word, usually we don’t use such devices during Meeting for Worship, as others might find their use distracting.

In contrast to meditation, which tends to be an individual practice, we believe that a Meeting for Worship is a shared experience. The living silence is a time for listening, a time for letting go the ego, a time for a deep sense of fellowship, and an opportunity to experience the presence of God (whatever ‘God’ may mean to each of us).

Oriole Hall, Inverness Local Meeting

Do Quakers do anything to help alcohol and drug addicts?

In answering this question it is possibly helpful to look at it from two angles: What do Quakers do to tackle the issues around these addictions? Quaker Action on Alcohol and Drugs (QAAD) is a registered charity which works to address the widespread use and misuse of alcohol, prescribed and illegal drugs, and gambling.

It offers workshops, attends gatherings and produces information to be distributed to Quaker meetings and at events.

It also helps to link Friends who share these concerns, including those who are personally affected by addictions and supporting family members and friends.

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QAAD provides a Quaker view on policies and practices that could reduce drug and alcohol problems. They also respond to government consultations and work closely with ecumenical colleagues who share similar concerns.

What help is there for people coming to Meeting who have alcohol or drug addictions?

It is widely recognized that people with addictions go to great lengths to hide it, and typically carry great shame about their addiction. It is sometimes said that Quakers have high expectations of themselves and it can therefore be very difficult for a Quaker with an alcohol or drug addition to open up to anyone in the meeting about it.

Our Quaker beliefs mean that anyone with an addiction problem will be offered friendship, respect, compassion, love – and will not be judged. As we have no identified leader, or minister, it could be difficult to know who to turn to for support within meeting. However, many in our communities will have dealt with painful personal journeys, possibly including addiction, although this might not be outwardly apparent. The answer, therefore, to who to turn to is – whoever you choose. Link: https://qaad.org

Clunie Conochie, Inverness Local Meeting

How do I change my Quaker address?

I am changing my address. Do Friends need to know?

If your new address is outwith the North Scotland Area Meeting area, contact the Area Meeting Clerk. If you’re moving within the area covered by Area Meeting, please contact the Elders and Overseers.

I am attending a different Local Meeting within North Scotland Area; do I need to do anything?

If you have changed your local meeting, please contact the Membership Clerk. Membership records are listed by Local Meeting, so it is helpful to notify changes.

I wish to transfer my membership to another Area Meeting

Membership records are held by Area Meeting. This is usually the area where the Friend resides. Contact the Membership Clerk of either North Scotland Area Meeting, or your new (receiving) Area Meeting. This may be verbally, in writing or by email. The Clerk will ask you to complete a ‘Certificate of Transfer’ to initiate the process.

Peter Heald, Aberdeen Local Meeting

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What is the Quaker Tapestry?

The Quaker Tapestry (1)

The home base of the Quaker Tapestry is in Kendal, Cumbria, in the north of England, a few miles south of the Scottish border. From time to time the tapestry is taken on tour to different locations around the country and exhibited to provide an opportunity for a wide audience to be able to enjoy the skill and design of the panels, which depict a range of Quaker themes.

The concept, about 40 years ago, was a stroke of genius as it brought Quakers together, from all over Britain, with one aim: to showcase Quaker history, to celebrate notable Quakers, and to make a lasting record of Quaker co-operation and working together. th The design is based on the Bayeux Tapestry which was created in France in the 11 century to commemorate the Norman Conquest. The dimensions of the Quaker Tapestry are similar, panels are about half a metre wide and the whole tapestry is 68 metres long.

Four thousand men, women & children contributed to the stitching, using a limited range of colours to create a harmonious and fascinating series of panels depicting aspects of Quaker life, history and influence in the world, including the industrial revolution, developments in science & medicine, astronomy, the abolition of slavery, social reform and ecology.

It’s certainly worth going to see the tapestry if you get the opportunity. You can find out more about the tapestry and directions to the exhibition at www.quaker-tapestry.co.uk

Ann Galbraith, Skye Local Meeting

The Quaker Tapestry (2)

The Tapestry started as a result of a remark by Jonathan, an 11 year old boy attending the children’s class of a small Quaker meeting in 1981. He knew the teacher, Anne Wynn Wilson, was an accomplished embroiderer so he suggested that instead of drawing the usual picture to illustrate what they’d been studying, it would be fun to do a tapestry instead.

As they were envisaging a series based on events in Quaker history, from this small beginning Anne Wynn Wilson had a vision of a series of tapestry panels.

At Yearly Meeting in 1982, she mounted an exhibition of the work in progress. Her ideas aroused an enthusiastic response from many Friends. Designers came forward, embroidery groups were formed, and training workshops arranged. The use of a variety 55

of embroidery stitches and techniques enabled both skilled and unskilled workers to cooperate. This was one of the many reasons for its success. The tapestry depicts three centuries of Quaker history in 77 panels and took 15 years to complete. Most of these are now displayed in part of the Georgian Meeting House in Kendal, and sometimes exhibited elsewhere in this country, and once even at Bayeux alongside the famous Bayeux Tapestry.

When residential Yearly Meeting came to Aberdeen in 1989, we had a display of the Quaker Tapestry panels that had then been completed, in Aberdeen Art Gallery. A Friend was working on one of the panels, demonstrating the technique of working from the reverse. She answered questions and encouraged those who wished, to do a few stitches. After I’d done a few stitches I turned to the Friend working on it, whom I knew well, and asked her which panel she was working on. She flipped it over and told me ‘Swear not at all’, whereupon the Art Gallery rang with inappropriate laughter as the pair of us collapsed. I’m afraid we’re both known for our colourful language on occasion. When I was telling this story later, an older Friend said, ‘That’s not what it refers to’, and proceeded to tell me in words of one syllable how Quakers have only one standard of truth. I thought ‘Yeah, okay, I know my Quaker history and you can’t recognize a moment of enjoyment when it’s in front of you’.

To my surprise a few years ago I was asked to be the Scottish Trustee for the tapestry. That led to my volunteering to steward the tapestry for a week. Any pair can volunteer to do this and it’s an interesting role. There’s a pleasant flat to use, and you’re free from 5 o’clock in the evening.

The Trustees are adamant that there will be no further panels in the tapestry, yet it continues to inspire more work. In December 2015, Kendal suffered the worst flood ever recorded in the town, the result of Storm Desmond. This has been recorded in a different style, and is independent of the Tapestry, though the project was inspired and run by Quaker Tapestry staff and volunteers.

Mary Dower, Aberdeen Meeting. With thanks to Sue Buxton

The Quaker Tapestry in 2020 – EAPPI

At present (2020) there is just one other panel displayed alongside the Quaker Tapestry. It is in the same style and came about because one of the volunteers on the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine & Israel (EAPPI) wanted to design and embroider a panel, to record what was happening in Palestine and Israel in the year 2004, when he was there. Teresa Parker, who works for the Middle East programme of Quaker Peace and Social Witness wrote the notes to accompany the panel. She had seen how peaceful witness works: shepherds in Palestine ask accompaniers to walk along the hilltops and watch for danger while they tend their flocks in the valleys. They say that having the accompaniers there makes it less likely they will be harassed.

The mayor of another village said that while accompaniers can’t prevent violence completely, their presence does deter and reduce it. He finds the presence of a camera stronger than that of a gun and asks the volunteers to show their photographs of what they have been witnessing. Israeli peace activists provide the Palestinians with cameras.

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They too ask for the programme of Quaker Peace and Service to give their activities exposure to promote human rights. So the photos are put online, sent to the media, and used in presentations about what volunteers have seen.

John Woolman said in 1753 that an action made in love and truth ‘… opens the way to add treasure better than silver, and to a friendship exceeding the friendship of men …’. The accompaniers try to copy his gentle and firm truth-telling.

In Israel, a rabbi who was also an army chaplain, expressed his shock at some recent violence, saying that everyone, absolutely everyone, would retaliate if they were under attack. He then looked up and said: ‘Well, except for you Quakers’. He laughed, we laughed, the atmosphere relaxed, and our presence with each other grew in warmth and openness. Quakers endeavour to be present with those experiencing violence and those trying to prevent it, with those who use it seeing no option and with those who look for another way. There is the presence of God in all of this.

Mary Dower, Aberdeen Meeting. With thanks to Sue Buxton.

I’ve never been to a Quaker Meeting … am I allowed to go?

Have you seen a Quaker Meeting House and wondered what goes on there? Have you been to a Quaker Meeting before? Do you know somebody who’s a Quaker?

‘Quaker’ is a strange name and is often the name used for people who belong to the ‘Religious Society of Friends’.

Are You New to Quakers?

If you wonder what goes on at a Quaker meeting, it really is very simple. The meetings are usually on Sunday mornings, and when people arrive, they sit down quietly on the chairs or benches, facing towards the middle of the room. There is usually a table in the middle with one or two books and often some flowers.

It’s best to arrive and sit down quietly a few minutes before the meeting for worship begins. Usually somebody welcomes visitors at the door. Some meetings may have just a few people, others might have as many as 50 people, especially in cities.

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Often you’ll be given a leaflet or a little book which explains what to expect at Quaker meetings, and you can read it to yourself during the meeting. About Quaker Worship

During the silent meeting for worship, someone might stand and read a passage from a book, or they might speak about something that has affected them: it could be a personal thing, it might be about an issue in the news, something they want to share that has happened to them, or something they’ve read. When they’ve spoken, they sit down and silence falls again, while everyone absorbs and thinks about what they’ve heard.

In due course someone else might stand quietly and speak, or maybe the rest of the meeting will be quiet. Meeting for worship is a time to think and reflect with a group of people who respect each other.

You’ll know it’s the end of the meeting when two of the older Quakers turn to each other and shake hands.

Ann Galbraith, Skye Local Meeting

Will my disability prevent me from joining in with Quaker Meetings?

A very personal perspective…

Friends, because of their belief in that of God in everyone, are equipped to empathise with the disabled. With very few exceptions I have found this to be true.

Mobility wise Friends have gone out of their way to assist by providing suitable premises and physical strength.

Any spoken ministry has been taken only when ‘there is nowhere else to go’.

Roger Quinn, Inverness Local Meeting

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Hearing impairment – a personal view

Apart from family members who were hearing impaired, one Quaker who inspired me also had impaired hearing. She encouraged my love of music and art, at which she was talented. As she became older, I recognized the frustration and disappointment that she experienced in being unable to hear Ministry in meeting. Now, 20 plus years later, I occasionally have similar feelings.

I have been using my hearing aids for sixteen years, and as my hearing has slowly deteriorated, my hearing aid provider has upgraded the aids as required.

Although Aberdeen meeting house has a loop system, recently I have been unable to hear much of the ministry.

Of course, I am quite proactive in business meetings and I gently ask if the Friend would repeat what s/he has said. It is easier for me in meetings for worship and business meetings when just one Friend is speaking. It is much more difficult in discussion groups, where I have difficulty initially in distinguishing who is speaking.

Friends are very patient with me, and I am fortunate that I know many Friends. I think it would be daunting for anyone coming for the first time to Quaker meeting with hearing impairment, although one attender did, and sat beside a Friend who is skilled in lip reading and sign language.

I have attended a Lip Reading class for three years, and although I found it liberating in speaking up about my disability, I don’t think I have progressed very far with my ability to Lip Read. This was partly as I had been waiting for eye surgery and couldn’t see very well at a distance! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to try out my improved long sight yet, and I am awaiting new reading glasses during the Lockdown Period.

Meetings on Zoom have been a welcome opportunity for many Friends in our scattered Area Meeting to come together in worship. It has been challenging for me to hear the Ministry: women’s voices are often easier to hear than some of the men’s, although this is an improvement for me, compared with telephone conferencing.

I do look forward to the return to the Meeting House and the installation of new technology, so that we can continue to meet with everyone, near & far, at home or in the Meeting House, maybe with the added benefit of subtitles!

Penny Selbie, Aberdeen Local Meeting

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THOUGHTS

Quakers and other faiths

Quakers, right from the beginning, had an attitude of openness toward people of different faiths and, within Christianity, of different denominations. Robert Barclay expressed this well in 1678 with his view that ‘… the church is no other thing but the society, gathering or company of such as God has called out of the world and worldly spirit to walk in his light and life – under this church are comprehended all…’, including as he goes on to say ‘…heathens, Turks, Jews and all the several sorts of Christian men and women of integrity and simplicity of heart …’ (Quaker Faith & Practice 27.05; the whole of this chapter is full of passages relevant to this theme). This is not surprising given that Quakers have never had a creed, and believed that ‘that of God’ was in all people. Isaac Penington, another early Quaker, said that ‘… the end of words lies beyond words…’: no formulation in words can fully capture the divine spirit or spiritual essence. It is possible to have unity without there being either unanimity of belief or uniformity of practice.

In the modern era many Quakers are actively involved in promoting good interfaith relations, and are, maybe as members or representatives of their meetings, involved in local interfaith groups (such as myself in the Aberdeen Interfaith Group). Other Friends are involved elsewhere in the North of Scotland, e.g. in Forres and Inverness. Local groups are loosely affiliated to Interfaith Scotland (based in Glasgow) which has formal representation with the Scottish Government. Local groups are, however, independent. One aspect of this independence turns on which faiths are part of them – for instance in Aberdeen we have members of the Brahma Kumaris and Humanists, but Interfaith Scotland only allows the former ‘observer status’, and does not include the latter at all! Quakers are also supportive and active in promoting good inter- denominational relations within Christianity, including representation on ACTS (Action of Churches Together in Scotland). Members of other churches welcome this, though some are troubled by our lack of a creed!

The main thing that interfaith groups do is to promote interfaith dialogue – mutually affirming discussions about faith issues – which stands in sharp contrast to ignorance and indifference on the one hand, and argument and confrontation on the other. But interfaith groups do much more to promote good relations, such as organizing interfaith walks, interfaith meals and interfaith services.

There are many reasons why good interfaith relations are important – with which Quakers readily unite. First, since all too often wars and conflicts have been fuelled, if

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not caused, by religious divisions between and within faiths, good interfaith relations help to promote or build peace. Second, it promotes the need for genuine freedom of thought (both legally guaranteed and culturally embedded), so that people can explore and develop their own faith and practice. Third, diversity of religious faith and practice isn’t just something to be allowed or tolerated, but is also welcomed as part of the rich tapestry of human experience, from which we all benefit. As Jonathan Sacks, the then chief rabbi when he wrote the book ‘The Dignity of Difference’ said (much to the discomfort of very Orthodox Jews) ‘God no more wants all faiths and cultures to be the same than a loving parent wants his or her children to be the same’.

Nigel Dower, Aberdeen Local Meeting

Quakers, a Secret Society?

Sometimes it seems like Quakers, or the Society of Friends, is rather like a secret society. Outside the Society, not many people know much about Quakers at all. We’re people who go about the religious, or spiritual, side of our lives quietly … and even though Quakers are involved in, and support, all sorts of good works we don’t hear much about Quakers in the media. I suppose it’s because of this inconspicuousness that I get a sense of excitement when I read or hear in the media, anything about Quakers or their activities.

Just recently I was reading an article in my Archaeology magazine: it was about house names through history: ‘Sunnyside’ has apparently been used as a house name since the year 1200 … initially to distinguish between the sunny side, and the shaded side, of cultivation plots.

There is apparently an equivalent term in Old Norse: ‘Solskifte’, meaning ‘sun division’, which describes the prehistoric practice of dividing up land according to the position of shadows.

The thing that intrigued me was that the name ‘Sunnyside’ was still in use in the 18th century by non-conformists, especially Quakers, who took it to America.

Probably what surprised me most was that ‘Sunnyside’ became a metaphor for counter- establishment values and was also used as a sign of being blessed or saved. The use of ‘Sunnyside’ became restricted to a network of Quakers, who used the name as a coded signal to other Friends … which apparently persisted into the mid nineteenth century.

Ann Galbraith, Skye Local Meeting

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Do Quakers baptise or christen their children?

‘Quakers do not have any set rituals or rules!’ Well that is nonsense, of course. Quakers have rituals, but they are not written down or set in stone. Friends know immediately when a new child first arrives in Meeting for Worship – and sometimes that child might be adopted, the Elders will be aware of this, and may have made plans to welcome the child. Usually, in my experience, the welcoming of a new child happens spontaneously. Our children were each welcomed with ministry the first time they were brought to Meeting for Worship, and this was very special and important for us. Actually, what is the meaning of ‘Baptism’? To me, the welcoming of our children by my Meeting for Worship was ‘baptism’: Quaker Faith & Practice, 10.09, reads … ‘We were meeting in the long-sitting room, and the floor space was, as usual, filled with children. The room was pretty full. Then Sophie’s father came, and put her in her carry-cot on the floor. She was very young and we hadn’t expected to be greeting her so soon. I looked around the adults, wondering which one of us would minister. At the other end of the room, Cathy, aged three, slipped down from her mother’s knee. Slowly, carefully and most upright she clambered in and out past the other children. She reached the carry-cot and peeped in at the baby. Then she turned and gave everyone a smile of pure delight. Still smiling, without a word, she returned to her mother. Nobody else spoke either. Sophie had been welcomed into meeting.’ William Fraser, 1989

Phyllida Sayles, Caithness and Brora Worshipping Group

Do Quakers have baptism?

My Granny was born in 1877; when we told her we were going to ask for Quaker Membership she had two concerns. The immediate one was “Oh, my dears, you will have to wear funny hats”. Years ago this will probably be how she saw Friends dressed in the street. We reassured her that wasn’t the case anymore, which she thought about: it was when she was young, but she agreed that probably wasn’t true now.

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Then her overriding concern was “… you can’t call yourselves Christians because you haven’t had the children baptized …”. She was a devoted Church of England member. My mother agreed. She was brought up Roman Catholic, largely by nuns. Her life was devastated when her son died at three months old, unbaptized. This was only resolved for her by a priest, literally on her death bed. We read ‘… Friends don’t practice baptism; they don’t regard some activities as more sacred than others, nor do they believe any ritual is needed to get closer to God and each other. Worship is at the heart of what it means to be a Quaker; meeting for worship brings us together in stillness so we can quiet our minds and open ourselves to God …’. We took our dilemma to Elders at our local meeting: their wisdom was: ‘When something like this matters to people, it really matters to them. Explain this to the local vicar and ask her if she would baptize them’. And so the families were invited to the children’s baptism at the Church of England. The dilemma was resolved quickly, quietly, and we believe, wisely. The children also continued being part of Quaker life and young Friends. We just took our fourth child to meeting at about a week old, he still comes sometimes, now his children come as well. Sandy McEwen, Westray & Papa Westray Meeting

Covid-19’s long term effect on our lives

Fact or fear? Thoughts from a shielded Friend…

Of course we are all saddened by the loss of any life through coronavirus, be the victims young or old, key workers or the homeless, but we do need to put everything into a realistic perspective. As someone who has been responsible for health and safety in numerous different settings from class rooms to colleges, swimming pools to sports centres, residential centres to rock-faces, I am well aware of the problems of ‘risk assessment’. However, without some element of risk, no matter how small, life would be pretty boring for most of us, even us oldies. I can certainly understand the problems facing those responsible for running meeting houses, village halls or letting rooms … but ultimately it is up to us as individuals to assess and take responsibility for any risk, when necessary using the advice of experts. But always remember, the biggest risk facing the experts, professional Health and Safety advisers and Risk Assessors, is that of losing their job if they get it wrong, so invariably they play it very, very safe.

So, ‘risk assessment’ is just that – assessing the actual risk, not listing all the hundred and one things that could go wrong. It is about assessing what is realistically a problem. The 63

Isle of Skye might be hit by a meteorite (it’s happened before!), but what is the actual likelihood of it happening again? Almost nil. Here are some facts to help you assess the actual risk posed by Covid 19 compared with our everyday life in Scotland:

o In 2018 Scotland saw 117 fatalities and 1580 serious injuries resulting from road accidents.

o In the same year Scotland experienced 60 homicides.

o There were 1187 deaths resulting from drug misuse in the year 2018/19.

o The most recent figure of ‘unintentional deaths’ in Scotland, including those happening at home, shows an average over a four-year period of between 1250 and 1400.

o In 2014 (the most recent figure I could find) there were 123 accidental poisonings, and over 700 deaths through falls, the vast majority affecting the over 75’s!

Compare the above with what is happening now with regard to coronavirus in Highland Region of Scotland:

o There were only four new cases of coronavirus and no new deaths recorded at the time of writing.

o The ‘excess death’ rate at present has dropped to around zero if not slightly below the norm for this time of year.

Of course we do have to look to the long term, and the elimination of the virus altogether, which does mean making some sacrifices. Nevertheless, it strikes me that we are taking more of a risk actually getting ready for, and driving to, Meeting for Worship on a Sunday morning, than we are when actually participating! It needn’t be that bad. Surely we, as intelligent, caring, normal Quakers, who are sensitive of others’ needs and the health of others, should be informed of the actual risks and be allowed to make up our own minds as time progresses.

We have to get used to the new normal – although it’s not that new! Few of us would attend Meeting for Worship with flu, a streaming cold or the likelihood of having chicken pox. Let’s not make the FEAR of having Covid 19 worse than the virus itself.

Here in Skye, we certainly plan to have Meetings for Worship, outdoors if necessary and complying with all the distancing rules, in the not too distant future.

“Walk cheerfully (and safely) … “ Alasdair Galbraith, Isle of Skye Meeting, July 2020

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Meeting for Worship post Covid-19

Although we may soon have the opportunity to meet together for worship, that does not mean that we should, or that we must, do it as soon as possible. I believe that we must accept that in fact it may be many more months before this will be possible. The health, safety and well-being of every member of the Quaker community is paramount, and it is unlikely to be possible to ensure this until the virus in society is greatly reduced. The responsibilities for each Meeting are:

o to ensure we have conducted our own thorough risk assessment of the premises,

o to ensure a safe environment for all attending, and

o to achieve a safe environment, to the standard of the landlord, for those using the premises after us. A Meeting for Worship could involve social distancing, separate entrances, wearing masks, regulating the number of Friends attending, hand-washing/sanitizing on entering & leaving the building, bringing our own drinks and books, and ensuring that a thorough cleaning is carried out before & after the Meeting. But is this what we really desire? We need to listen for the guidance of the spirit. Remember that Quaker worship does not depend on buildings, sacred spaces or special times: ‘… true significance lies not in the grounds and buildings but in the people …’ (Quaker Faith & Practice 10.08). Online meetings are likely to remain part of our way of worship for the foreseeable future, but we also need to be creative, find other ways of worshipping, gathering on the fells, just as long as we are able to come together, always finding one another ‘… in the things that are eternal, upholding and strengthening one another’ (QF&P 2.01).

Oriole Hall, Inverness Local Meeting

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ILLUSTRATIONS

Most of the illustrations in this Notebook were provided for use with the kind permission of the photographer. Others have been sourced from websites of freely usable images such as Unsplash https://unsplash.com/ and Pixabay https://pixabay.com/

A few came from free media repository Wikimedia Commons and are in the public domain. They are: p20 - Detail from “Sistine Madonna”, Raphael. p32 - “A Quakers' meeting”, Egbert van Heemskerck p59 - Detail from “Jesus among the doctors”, Albrecht Dürer

The map on the cover page was made using OS OpenData™ from the Ordnance Survey Strategi dataset under the Open Government Licence. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2020

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