 September/October 2001 (XXXIX 4) |
e give high priority in our Yearly Meeting to serving peace. Yet with the vast forces arrayed around us it is not easy for a Friend working alone, or within a Meeting group, to know where to start.
For an individual Friend a most productive service toward peace may be to send personal messages: letters, phone calls or, best of all, personal visits to those who make or influence decisions. These communications could also go to newspaper editors and other opinion-makers. And they make a difference! All messages on key public issues are counted; decision-makers pay attention to what it tells them.
To find when and how to affect issues one may follow newspapers or the newsletters of the Friends Committee on National Legislation or explore websites including our own Philapeace.org. Members of Yearly Meeting working groups are ready to share information in their areas.
Don't forget to say "Thank-you" to public servants for helpful actions. Keep your messages short and plain; make it very clear what you favor; start with an introductory paragraph giving your main message and then add only one or two brief reasons for what you are supporting. Look in the blue pages of your phone book for addresses of public servants. Better yet, while the phone book is open, call for a personal appointment with your legislator.
The essential first step, as you seek to make a difference toward peace, is to turn to prayer, to that form which seeks openings from the Voice within. One might hold in the Light those who seem to be "enemies" because they support some disturbing public policy, seeking to understand those persons' fears and hopes. From whatever fresh perspectives may be given, one could examine the circumstances which create the difficulties leading to conflict. Thus you may find openings to unexpected possibilities.
As we Friends move along in our concerns we are drawn to work together. One purpose of a Meeting's Peace and Social Concerns Committee is action. But another is to allow members to exercise a prophetic ministry. What is our ministry? What fresh meanings or openings may Quakerism bring to a public issue? A couple of years ago Mickleton Meeting in New Jersey developed a useful Minute offering the possibility of a world-wide taboo on the use of nuclear weapons. Minutes and other messages like this, and then an exchange of further reactions, could become part of an ongoing discourse among Friends, preparing us to offer fresh insights.
Following leadings into action is not easy. However, as Friends and their Meetings begin to move to more ambitious undertakings, they now have access to help. Yearly Meeting's new Coordinator of Meetings' Initiatives, Laurence Sigmond, is already helping Meetings and called Friends to find others who share the same concern. He is becoming well prepared to locate resources and information for you. Just call him at 215-843-8747.
As Laurence moves along in this work among us, he is coming to see his new position as a ministry. In this he begins by reaching Friends at that center from which service comes — and then helping them move on from there. Right now he is filling his calendar for Fall and Winter and is eager to be invited to your Meeting, not to give you a talk but to listen and respond. He is finding most productive those occasions to which he is specifically invited and which do not include a program, but allow time for leisurely talk and sharing, perhaps at a simple potluck supper. To set up such an occasion for your Meeting, call Laurence at the number above.
For other information about Yearly Meeting resources, including Peace and Concerns working groups, call Joan Broadfield at 215-241-7230 or Libby Marsh at 215-848-0592.
Elizabeth (Libby) Marsh
Green Street Meeting (PA)
Clerk of PYM Peace and Concerns Standing Committee
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM