Joys and Concerns: Reflections on Annual Sessions

At the end of May, we joyfully joined Friends old and new at the annual sessions of Aotearoa/New Zealand (ANZ) Yearly Meeting in Mosguil, outside Dunedin. As has happened throughout our time in NZ, we felt immediately welcomed and “at home.” There are many parallels to YM sessions that we’ve attended in the USA. But there were also differences.

One difference was the deep awareness and honoring of indigenous cultures. The Dunedin hosts welcomed us with a short local history, honoring the Maori people and the Maori creation myths of the nearby mountains and rivers. The clerk, Murray Short, opened each session with greetings in Maori and English. His Maori wife, Niwa, provided a Waiata (lament song) to honor those who had died in the past year and closed the gathering by leading a Maori song. Peter and Julie Webb were our visitors from Australia Yearly Meeting. Peter, a musician, introduced the state of Friends in Australia by playing the didgeridoo, connecting us to tens of thousands of years of aboriginal culture.

As musicians, we appreciated how melodies weaved through the long weekend, with a sing-along of African-American spirituals led by local Kiwi musicians, songs composed by Peter on Quaker Testimonies, and our own impromptu classical piano duet playing, which found a meditative space in the retreat centre Chapel before dinner each day.

Elizabeth Duke gave the 2018 Quaker Lecture, which she titled “Can Religion Speak Truth?” As expected from a classics and theology professor, it was an erudite presentation, but what stuck with us was her definition of “Religion” as “Spirituality done together.”  She outlined many different ways of perceiving truth, and concluded with the words of Isaac Pennington, “And the end of words is to bring [people] to the knowledge of things beyond what words can utter.” Truth lies beyond words, beyond catechism or creed, is felt and is expressed through letting our lives speak. Articulating Quaker spirituality as mystical resonated with us.

We are very impressed by how ANZ uses the “Documents in Advance” and “White Papers” to gather the sense of Friends on many issues in the months prior to YM sessions. We love that it not only frees up time for discussion of more complex issues at the YM, but also provides a way for Friends who cannot physically attend YM to have some input into decisions.

We also appreciated the accountability of several YM committees and representatives as shown through their varied presentations. The most moving for us was a presentation by those involved with the Alternatives to Violence Project. With stories from the recent past, it acknowledged the desire for renewal in the present and for a corps of trained facilitators for the future. A young woman told of her own recent discernment in which, on one day, she acted as if she were to take a job in her chosen career that promised advancement and security, and on a succeeding day, imagined a life on the edge, pursuing AVP training and other peace work effecting change in the lives of others. Having the felt experience of awakeness in the latter, and tiredness in the former, she chose the path on the edge. This was testimony that touched everyone deeply.

As Friends considered the more complex issues not resolved through the “documents in advance”, we witnessed the love and trust of members for one another. However, we missed the young people and the “middle generations” of those under 55. In our experience, having events accessible to all generations nurtures and sustains the life of a Quaker community. The young learn how to relate to adults; elders mentor younger adults; practices, such as the conduct of  business, are learned from experience; stories are shared. This interchange between generations is vital to a healthy community. Like the Antarctic ice sheet, all appears well on the surface, but with an aging and diminishing membership, we fear that the fabric of communal life here is rapidly thinning. So we were not just saddened by the near absence of Friends under 55, but concerned that there appears not to be concerted effort to address this absence.

We were also struck by the defensive posture of Friends when considering the new website. While using logins to protect personal data is appropriate, it appears that Friends also intend to put other information, such as newsletters and minutes, behind login protection, thus making them available only to those who are already part of the community. This fear of exposure surprised us, given that publishing such information is one way Quakers can let their light shine beyond our Meetings.  We left concerned that the website architecture may begin to dictate how Friends define who is accepted into the community, and create unintended barriers that discourage (or prevent) people from learning about the current actions, concerns, and faith of ANZ Quakers. We hope that YM and every local meeting in NZ will examine how they share information and deliberately consider how to use the website as a testimony of our faith and practice.

Our concerns are significant but we do not deny that the life and power that takes away the occasion for war was present at these ANZ sessions. Our prayer is that Quakers do not hide this light, but choose to boldly invite everyone, of every age, to join them in listening to and responding to it.