Thought for the Week: Being a Friend
Ian Kirk-Smith introduces a special edition of The Friend
Each year Quaker Week provides an opportunity to open doors and invite seekers, in a spirit of hospitality, to learn about and experience the Quaker way. What is this way? What makes it distinctive? What are its roots? Friends, at their best, are ‘practical mystics’ – committed to living a way of life that combines faith and practice.
This issue of the Friend is a celebration of these words. There is, first, as Ben Pink Dandelion eloquently writes, a spiritual, mystical, engagement: ‘At the heart of the Quaker way is expanse, the expanse of the soul and the expanse of the mystery we experience in our attempt to nurture the human longing for divine encounter’.
This longing is part of the human condition. Alastair McIntosh provides a fascinating account of it in his book Poacher’s Pilgrimage, reviewed in this issue, which records his exploration of spiritual sites from the pre-Christian and pre-historic era on the Isles of Harris and Lewis in the Hebrides. It has found expression, in the Christian tradition, in ritual, creeds, words and music. Those new to Quakerism will, like Terry Waite, discover ‘another dimension’ in the silence and stillness of a Quaker Meeting for Worship.
Quakerism embraces an inclusive vision. Today, as Harvey Gillman points out, the sacred texts of many religions are full of the language of exclusion – heathen, damned, infidel – and sadly ‘there is a sorry return to such exclusive categories’ as many people, fearful of a rapidly changing world, grasp for old certainties. Having very strong convictions on particular issues, however, should not mean looking down on others who do not share them. Cherishing diversity and being a Friend are challenging.
The Quaker way is no better than others. It is a distinctive way nurtured in Meeting for Worship and rooted in the Christian tradition. Authority lies not in priest, pulpit or book but in direct experience: the Inward Light. Worship should prompt action, as members of the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network demonstrate, and ‘reaching out in friendship’ to those in need.
Janet Scott, in the introduction to her selection from the archives of the Friend published in 1918, asks: ‘What does it mean to be a Quaker?’ She answers: ‘Since we believe that religion is not about what we say but about how we live our lives, we can illustrate the meaning of our faith through telling stories of Friends who, in different ways… have led lives of faithful commitment.’ One story recalls the life of Martha Allen, a Friend from Brigflatts Meeting who passed away in October 1918, and who managed a modest small holding: ‘If a neighbour was ill, she was ready to help before being called upon to do so. She never had control of more than a sufficiency of this world’s goods, but what she had she shared, with that simple kindness which multiplies a gift an hundredfold…’
Take heed to the promptings of love and truth in your heart. Be patterns and examples.
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