Building Community across the 'divides'

Friends,

Below are two documents from a Young Adult Friend (referred to as YAF). Both documents have been edited to remove personal information. The first is a letter of appreciation regarding a visit to the Northwest Yearly Meeting sessions on the campus of George Fox University this past July. The second is an epistle from a reunion of the Young Friends of North America. I will post these documents and then add some commentary.

Dear Friends,

It was a pleasure to share time with you on the west coast at George Fox University this summer. Thank you so much for welcoming us into your home and your community, for me it really did feel like coming home in a way that I never would have imagined from a evangelical Quaker community, thank you for showing me that possibility. Erin and I now find ourselves in Richmond Indiana at Earlham school of religion and Earlham college respectively.

As promised, though now quite late, I have attached a epistle from a gathering of young adult Friends over the summer in Barnesville Ohio, as well as a flier for an upcoming event that will take place in Indiana in May 2008.

I hope that this note finds you each beginning a blessed autumn and enjoying the gifts that you have received. I look forward to our continuing communication and building community across the "divides" of Quakerism.

Faithfully,

Andrew

Epistle from YAF at Olney, 2007

Sixth month, 2007.

To Friends everywhere,

Greetings from the young adult Friends who gathered at Olney Friends School in Barnesville, Ohio, where 80 Friends from across the US and Canada came together for a reunion of the Young Friends of North America (YFNA) and an intergenerational Quaker Camp. Seventeen young adult Friends participated in this week of deep worship, fellowship, and play. Older Friends shared deeply about how their personal and spiritual experiences were influenced by the community of YFNA. As younger Friends, we listened and shared about our experiences living our faith.

Through the whole week, many Friends felt the power of the Spirit in the very land that held us. Young adult Friends joined both with our hosts and our fellow guests in spiritual vulnerability to teach by learning, and to learn by teaching. From the YFNA reunion, we got a great sense of the power and joy that comes from speaking truthfully about our experience of Quakerism with as many Friends as possible and the many dangers and mistakes that are possible while doing so without great care. By engaging with Friends from Ohio Yearly Meeting (Conservative), we gained a greater sense of the depth of our tradition, not only of our ancestors but also of the power of the Christian roots from which we come.

Over the course of the week, the young adult Friends present felt a clear leading to create an organization in which young adult Friends from across North America can build spiritual community together. We spent a lot of time discerning how to move forward with this leading, with the care that is necessary to bring Friends together across theological divides into a diverse community of Quaker youth.

We struggled through in deep discernment, praying for way to open for us to begin this work. We each wrestled with individual discernment of our own leadings and also felt the pressure of our own deep want for this dream to become a reality. We have felt keenly the absence of a true diversity of Friends with us here, and feel much caution at the idea of moving forward without all branches of Quakerism involved.

At the recommendation of the Visioning Committee (which met in Fourth Month, 2007), we are forming a Naming Committee (to be in consultation with the Visioning Committee), which would then form a Steering Committee. The Naming Committee, while not formed in its entirety yet, will meet in the fall of 2007 to name the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee will be active by First Month, 2008. This Steering Committee will include representation from the various branches of the Religious Society of Friends. We are asking young adult Friends from all branches throughout North America to discern deeply and come forward if they are being led to do this work or have names they would like to offer the Naming Committee for discernment.

During the discernment, Friends present felt a strong leading to a coordinated intervisitation among yearly meetings, by young adult Friends in the summer of 2008, from which they could spread the word of the new young adult Friends’ organization. This event sprang from many individual Friends’ leadings to engage in intervisitation among Friends. Many of those Friends present in Barnesville expressed that they will begin to engage in the work of intervisitation personally once home. Friends also discerned that the next major North American gathering of this generation of young adult Friends would take place during the summer of 2009. Until the Steering Committee is active, a working group will begin arranging some of the logistics for the coming events. Those who feel led to join the working group are encouraged to us.

Simultaneously, we experienced a process of discovering ourselves and each other. When we needed clarity, we found it in the vocal ministry of older adult Friends in worship. When we felt frustration with the pace of our progress, we recognized in this a need for deeper worship and found courage in taking small steps.

And so, we wait upon God. We trust that those who are led to do this exciting work will come forward, and that God will provide all that we need to engage fully with this work. We give deep thanks for the depth and breadth of the Spirit, which was powerfully felt during our week in Barnesville.

Faith-fully,

Seventeen Young Friends

Also attending Yearly Meeting sessions in Newberg was Emily from Young Friends General Meeting, Britain Yearly Meeting. My connection with Emily stems back to a visit I made to young Friends in England over a year ago. The group of Friends that are NWYM were blessed to have this rich diversity of Friends among us, enriching us and conversing with us.

Several things struck me during these conversations over the week of Yearly Meeting sessions.

First, Friends struggle to find a language to articulate concerns in a way that does not become polarizing. Phrases like Christ-centered, non-Christ-centered, non-theist, Theist, liberal, conservative, evangelical, can become shortcuts to pigeon-hole each other. Language is often used in a way that highlights differences and creates positions to be defended. Is it best just to avoid such terminology? Should we consider uses of language that transcend the divisiveness of labels?

In an increasingly pluralized society such as ours, the use of language can be a roadblock to getting to the heart of the matter and the communication among Friends bears this out. On the other hand, language is all we have and so a spirit of humility must infuse what we say.

Second, the differences are real. Even the Northwest Yearly Meeting itself is a mixed bag - political conservatives,moderates and liberals worshipping together. All sorts of labels and tags apply even within the Northwest Yearly Meeting itself. When considering other groups of Friends from other traditions, is it a wonder that some differences exist?

Third, the differences are not insurmountable. I think we all seek to understand and to be understood, and so it is essential for me to talk about the way Christ has changed my life and continues to shape me in particular ways - socially, politically, and otherwise. Yet, I hope that if I listen well I can hear others talk about their stories, and as George Fox encouraged, "answer that of God" within them. This will mean tearing down some stereotypes so that I can listen well to others, and not read into their words my own insecurities.

I am very pleased about the continued dialog among Friends of different "flavors." It was a great thing to have so many visiting Friends at our Yearly Meeting sessions this past summer.

In August, I attended a reading group that was looking at John Woolman's Journal at a local unprogrammed meeting. What a treat! The conversation goes on and as we speak to each other with humility, allowing for differences, but knowing that these differences are not the last word on the matter I think Friends will continue to embody within our fellowship the peacemaking we witness to publicly.