Postcard from York

Postcard from York

Two big events on in York, the races and the Yearly Meeting Gathering. It was funny to see everyone pouring off the station into the queues for taxis and buses, because it was generally very easy to spot who was who. The women going to the races went in for four inch heels, short skirts, a certain amount of fake tan and glorious fascinators… those sort of feathered headdresses that are not actually hats. The men went for slick suits. Quakers male and female go more for sensible shoes … not many spotted in heels and fascinators so far. Although the younger Friends turn up in all sorts of stuff from mohican haircuts to Pringle jumpers.

York campus is green, filled with artificial lakes and the universal concrete block style of the modern university. The wildlife is abundant, mostly wildfowl who leave the lake water rather foul… As ever these events are organised so it is running from self catering to two separate buildings to drop off the children and then back to the main hall. Coordinating with other parents is essential.

This is an experiment trying to run Junior Yearly Meeting… the teenager event… Summer Gathering, a residential event without business, and Yearly Meeting, the ‘conference’… all together. Arriving there is a plethora of events… home groups and response groups and art activities and sessions… so much so that one’s head starts to spin. Concerned about fitting 1600 people into it all, many events are ticketed so rooms do not exceed the fire numbers… some more anarchic groups then go unticketted. My home group is trying to make connections so those primarily going to work on climate change and those primarily looking at something else are a bit joined up. Otherwise it can feel slightly like a dozen parallel events. For the first time there are options for adults who don’t want to go to the business bits… although there has always been coffee and chat and walking.

The really substantive business is Committed Relationships and it seems to have started to get going. A chap called Colin had the unenviable task of introducing it. He gave a brilliant talk of carefully considered generosity, humour and grace. He had to acknowledge where we had got to when we adopted the new Faith and Practice (new as in 1995), and just how much had happened in law and society since. He acknowledged that there were those with concerns from one viewpoint or another and hoped we could be a real community where these could be shared safely. He had to say where the official soundings exercise had got to, and note some criticisms of it. He also shared his own experience… of a long standing female couple loved and welcomed by their meeting who had not had the opportunity for either a legal or formal Quaker celebration of their relationship, at that time, and his own family, which included straight and gay couples among his children. Leavened with some humour and genuine love, it set an excellent tone. Although for Quakers I hope we will be lead by the Spirit to look at what is right, and not worry about what is popular. There is a slight danger in talking about the changes in the last decade, that we will appear to be following… whereas we have sought to lead, a little, if only by some of the tone of our debate and by our openness to different experience over the years.

The epilogue last night – with which I was involved – touched on the real issue of community, a community is not somewhere without argument, disagreement or unhappiness, it is a place where that argument, disagreement or unhappiness can be handled with love and without paralysis. It is easy to say, when this is not close to your heart, but people are coming to York who have had to grapple with these issues for many years. Provided we can get by without saying that we are listening humbly to God better than the next person, we stand a chance of finding a way forward.

Talking to the press officer for the central organisation, we came to the conclusion that ‘Quakers have grown up discussion’ might be newsworthy. Lets see if we get there.
Stephen Cox