Impressions from a course at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre Jan 2011

Sufi gathering
reciting ‘Allah, Allah’
we know God is Here

Samosas, sweet tea,
‘How did you come to Islam?’
We listen and learn.

lacking mutual words
some matters of the spirit
remain unshared

Stephanie Grant

‘In the bag’ I imagine must have come from hunting. The gilly, I suppose, carried the bag with all the birds that the hunters had shot. It makes me think about our attitude to hunting and how it has changed. In the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth there was a frenzy of big-game hunting in the
colonies, and no idea of the effect of it or, apparently, of the ethics.

Then there was a revulsion against it, as there was in the States about the careless slaughter of the great herds of bison. But the impression I have is that in the States it is still very popular and carries a weight of meanings about manliness. And still in this country it has a lot of tradition. People aspire to be able to afford to buy shooting rights, and of course there is fox-hunting. It is something I know too little about, but that doesn’t stop me from reflecting on it! Anyway, tradition there is, but it doesn’t appear to
refer to the prey. There does not seem to be any ceremony around them, around their killing or their eating.

It is very different among aboriginal people, whose lives are such that they are close to animals, observe them, and respect them. And the custom of asking permission of the animal to kill it and eat it seems to be widespread among them. (In Africa today such respect is not obvious. Again, I do not know how typical they are, but the poachers there treat animals with apparent brutality.)

Our standard attitude is ambivalent, sentimental, and not very admirable or rational. Of course there are different attitudes, from those who are vegetarian on principle, those who don’t like to think about it but enjoy eating meat, those who do think about it and make distinctions, often hard to justify but clung to, and those whose attitudes have changed because of their experiences.

Basically what I am trying to say, very confusedly, is that I find it very hard to reconcile being a predator, albeit at one remove, with my desire to be loving, peaceable and respectful of all life. And it is the same basic problem as the conundrum of why a beneficent spirit allows suffering. I wish I could share the matter-of-fact attitude of farmers and hunters – and carnivorous vets like my daughter – who manage to eat meat without guilt.

Lindsey March

It’s Christian Aid Week (May 15th – 21st) and while there are Quakers who would shy away from being considered ‘Christian’, Christian Aid’s declared aims – put human life first, struggle for justice, speak out courageously, treat everything against experience, could come straight out of the handbook Quaker Faith and Practice.

At 8am communion (I’m an Anglican Quaker and do both) the vicar tells us that Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the world and an average Nicaraguan earns £1.30 per week.

I take this to the silent Meeting for Worship and reflect on how little I know about Nicaragua, even where it is; how little I know about so many countries of the world, how absorbed I am in myself and the ‘bigness‘ of my own ’problems’ and how small, really, I am and my ‘problems’ are comparatively. I wonder if I have anything in common whatsoever with a woman in Nicaragua managing her household on £1.30 a week. I wonder if the answer ‘humanity’ is enough.

Walking home, I consider what contribution I can make. What will I donate to Christian Aid? I think about a week’s earnings minus £1.30, the difference between her earnings and mine. I notice I feel distinctly uncomfortable. I reassure myself that it’s only one week’s earnings. One week out of 52. My husband is working. There are only two of us in a home almost paid for. We are not going to starve or go without, really. I am ashamed about feeling uneasy.

I consider the Quaker commitment to simplicity. May 2-6, Christian Aid’s target was that 5000 people would take the challenge ’Live Below the Line’ to live on £1 a day, raising £500,000 through sponsorship.

Too late for sponsorship. But I could live ‘simply’ this week and donate the savings. How to do ‘simply’? We already walk and cycle; compared with lots of other people in the supermarket queue, my trolley contents are meagre. How about a week spent living out of the cupboard and freezer? Eat up the ‘gold reserves’ I suspect every cook has, and then donate what I would have spent this week. I can do that.

So, I volunteer to collect for Christian Aid. And notice I am relieved that there are unopened packets of rice, spaghetti, porridge, cheese, beans, olives and tuna in the cupboard and a load of fresh fruit. Simple, maybe. Hardship, I don’t think so.

Ruth Shadwell is a member of Watford Quakers and Christ Church Watford. Reprinted from the Watford Observer 19th May 2011.

I’ve been in use as a Friends Meeting House since 1931. Week by week, the Friends come every Sunday and sit quietly, patiently, waiting. Sometimes someone stands and speaks briefly, or even at length. Sometimes they are all silent for a whole hour. Over the years various people have joined the group and stayed or moved on. Sometimes there are other activities like yoga before the silent meeting, sometimes there are children, sometimes there is a special celebration, like when the sundial was installed in the garden. One such occasion happened recently.

A couple started coming to Meeting during 2009, they were really quite keen, got involved in some of the other activities that happen here, came in enthusing about how they’d been to Quaker Quest at some other Meeting House, in another Area Meeting, Watford I think they said. Everyone was pleased to have new people so interested in Quakers. Then, one Sunday, right at the end of 2009, they mentioned that they’d decided to get married. That got the older Friends interested, especially when they added that they’d like a Quakerwedding. Where would they have it? At Jordans? That’s what most couples choose. No, here? Has there ever been a wedding here? Jordans is so historic and scenic, who’d chose High Wycombe? But this is where we belong, where we’re part of the Meeting. What excitement!

Then there were all the practicalities, times, dates, forms. It would be so much easier if they were Members – had they thought about that? Yes, but it wouldn’t be the right reason to apply for membership, let’s find Friends to support our application to marry here as attenders.

As the day approached I was cleaned from top to bottom, my walls repainted. Nick practised making biscuits (Friends enjoyed testing the samples), everyone was encouraged to be there. The day itself was dry, and sunny at times, (good for October) and everyone was assembled in good time – family, friends and Friends and the couple themselves, and settled into silent waiting. On this occasion there were many who spoke, all briefly. Nick and Paula exchanged their vows, Paula read a poem that expressed how she felt, the certificate was signed and read out, more Friends gave ministry, all held in the worshipping heart of the Meeting. Then the Elders shook hands, everyone else was invited to add their signatures to the Quaker Marriage Certificate. Tea and Nick’s special biscuits were served, the couple disappeared for a while to sign the legal papers. Everyone trooped outside into the sunshine to be photographed, the photographer hanging out of the upstairs window, and everyone talked to everyone else. Eventually the whole party made it’s way into High Wycombe to the Swan for a meal, some speeches and folk dancing, and I was left quiet again. The wardens crept back about 10pm, finished the washing up and made me clean and tidy for first day morning. What a wonderful occasion to remember.

Stephanie Grant (for Wednesday Group 15/12/10)

In a few weeks time a 32-page questionnaire will land on doormats throughout the Watford area. Like it or not, you must complete all 32 pages or you could face a £1,000 fine and be saddled with a criminal record. Completing the census is a civic duty – the data it provides is vital for planning our future housing, education, transport and health needs – so why would anyone want to risk a hefty fine and criminal record by refusing to cooperate?

That’s where Faith comes in. Some members of faith communities hold strong beliefs about the use of violence to achieve any purpose, good or bad. The conscientious objectors of both world wars faced bitter shame and rejection because they held firm to their convictions. But what has all this to do with a harmless census?

You may think that the Office for National Statistics will be running the census and they are – up to a point. But they will be receiving a bit of help: a contract worth £150M has been awarded to an American company, Lockheed Martin, which happens to be America’s largest arms manufacturer. The company makes Trident nuclear missiles, cluster bombs and F-16 fighter jets, not to mention its involvement with the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, where it provided private contract interrogators. Not the kind of firm, some people think, we want handling our sensitive data – quite apart from the financial support it gives to the arms trade.

So, for some local folk of many different faiths and none, the census this year will pose a difficult ethical problem. Where do you stand?

Chris Pettit, as published in the Watford Observer on 4th March 2011.