Expectations

A few weeks ago, I tried to draw a diagram of my expectations of our forthcoming term in Pendle Hill to try to map out the complex set of expectations I have for our forthcoming period of service.

There is the business of living in America, which itself is multi-textured and multi-layered.  There is something deeply fascinating about this remarkable, generous, open hearted people, who imbue their country with its optimism, its willingness to support individual success and achievement, its can-do attitude.  In recent years there has been a darker sense of this county: liberalism seems in retreat and in intellectual and philosophical disarray.   It will be interesting to see firsthand how Americans of all political persuasions view themselves and their country.  And for me, if politics is about power, what do Quakers really have to say about that?  We often talk about ourselves “speaking Truth to power” – what might that mean for my life and work?

Having a chance to encounter American Quakers will be fascinating.  Generally Americans seem to be a more God-fearing people – unapologetic and unselfconscious. Other Quaker Resident Friends have noticed that American Quakers share these characteristics, and do not have the reticence of British Quakers who, for a number of reasons, find themselves far less willing to use a language which recognises God’s providence in their lives.  (http://thefriend.org/article/a-serious-search/)

We will be particularly interested in meeting Friends from a variety of Quaker traditions. The power of silent worship has been at the heart of our Quaker experience; it will be fascinating to meet Quakers for whom extended silent worship is not their Quaker experience, but who remain resolutely Quaker. 

Meeting an international group of people, as always, will be a source of learning.  But we will all be striving to offer each other a sense of community.  It is this decision to commit ourselves to living in community, with all the nuances of what this might mean, which will be a fascinating source of exploration and discovery.  When we were first married we lived and worked in an international community in a Mission School in Tarsus in Turkey.  That simplicity and sense of mutuality, even when it was difficult and extremely hard, has never quite left us.  And given the issue of sustainability in our last Yearly Meeting Gathering  in August (http://www.quaker.org.uk/files/Britain-Yearly-Meeting-Epistle-2011.pdf) how can our way of life, as a couple,  be made more sustainable? How can we more deeply engage in community?

There is an irony in travelling across the Atlantic to consider these questions, but Quakers do not expect to live lives of abstract perfectionism, rather responding to insight and revelation as they are offered.  If religion is about a binding (possibly from ligare – to bind or connect – cf ligature) , then I hope to be more tightly bound to  my religious community as a result of this experience.

I am looking forward to the beauty of Pendle Hill.  The pictures on the website are ravishing.  We have both stayed at Woodbrooke, and found it just a physically lovely place.  Our own home area is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. 

                                                

But our “six inches of ivory” does not compare with the grandeur of American scenery. And I think the sculptured loveliness of Pendle Hill grounds will offer a quite different kind of beauty.

Above all, this is an act of service.  Quaker service, rightly discerned, leads to transformation. For me, this service holds out the possibility to encounter, engage with, and dance with divine presence – to become more aware and more appreciative and more affirming of God’s presence in my life.

Gerald