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The Meeting assembled at the appointed hour and settled into open worship.
- Minute 1: Welcome to Visitors
Clerk Arlene Kelly introduced the Friends on the facing bench and welcomed visitors from other Yearly Meetings. Arlene also welcomed Friends attending Yearly Meeting sessions for their first time.
- Minute 2: Incoming Epistle
The Clerk introduced Marjorie Anderson of the Epistle Project Group, who read an epistle from Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting. These Friends focused on the query, “How do we today answer the call of the Divine?” Their answer had many facets, but was summarized simply: “As a humble community, assisting one another in love and sincerity.”
- Minute 3: Appreciation of Retiring Interim Meeting Clerk
The Clerk called upon Thom Jeavons, general secretary of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, who drew our attention to the valuable service of Kenneth Sutton, who retires this year as clerk of Interim Meeting. On behalf of those assembled, he presented flowers to Kenneth, commending Kenneth’s deep intelligence, faithfulness, and humor.
- Minute 4: Reflections on What We are Called to as a Yearly Meeting
The Clerk called upon Kenneth to frame our discussion of what we of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting are called to as a yearly meeting. Kenneth provided background on the subject, which has its roots in a report to Interim Meeting by Thom that asked how Yearly Meeting might make itself more responsive to divine leading. To prepare the ground for that responsiveness, we first need to listen to each other and learn how we — individually and in our corporate bodies — experience the call.
Kenneth then posed the first of three sets of queries, which we discussed in pairs, that asked whether we sincerely believe that God does call us individually and how we would greet such a call.
From this discussion, a Friend was moved to lead us in singing, “Spirit of the Living God.”
Another recalled an experience in which she felt the humbling presence of the living Christ, who asked, “What is in your heart?” While action may arise from a call of the heart, the call itself is the true miracle.
A Friend noted that we have been less fruitful at listening for God in the abstract than when we are purposefully acting upon a call.
Another spoke of the value he found in the corporate affirmation of a personal leading — in his case, how to respond to the question of military service in the Vietnam era.
Another pointed out how God moves in mysterious ways — ways that may not be evident to us as we encounter frustrations and apparent failures.
Another described how, in the course of following a leading to carry forward the Alternatives to Violence Project as a service to others, he found that it served his own need as well, and became a lifework. In service of that work, he was given a foretelling of his wife’s death and a deeper dedication to the calling.
The Clerk then led us to the next phase of discussion, not in pairs, but in worshipful sharing as a whole. Kenneth’s second set of queries focused on how we, as a community, have experienced divine call.
A Friend recalled three examples of corporate leadings. Two involved committees working to plan an activity; each laid aside agenda discussion to worship deeply and long, and arrived at a clarity that required only the tucking in of logistic details. The third — a care committee for a family in difficulty — brought forth in worship issues of shame and guilt and, in worship, all participants explored their failings and need for forgiveness, achieving a healing and enriching depth that has fed their subsequent work.
Another recalled a discussion of war tax policy in Representative Meeting, in which a Friend who had blocked previous adoption stood and acknowledged how his heart had been changed. This admission profoundly moved the speaker recalling it tonight.
Another spoke of her appreciation of God’s patience and faithfulness to us in our imperfect attention to divine call.
Another recalled her monthly meeting’s wrestling over several months with questions about the place of Christ in their faith and worship. In the midst of extreme polarization, she found the truth that only God could preserve the meeting, not the struggles of various personalities. We cannot simply hear and understand some truths; for some truths, we need to be transformed before we can accept them clearly.
A Friend noted that while God may have specific callings for individuals, and while God clearly moves among us in our corporate worship, there may not be such a call at this specific time for the entirety of us.
Another spoke of the most fundamental of our practices — our meeting for worship — as a call to peace and faithfulness, for ourselves and for the world.
A Friend who is a regional staff member spoke of his work as an embodiment of a corporate call for spiritual enrichment, for nurturing of one another, for listening.
The Clerk next led us to the third phase of discussion, noting that we know — firmly and in our experience — that God works among us and calls us. The question then is, how do we nurture our tenderness to divine leading.
One Friend described an exercise earlier in our sessions, in which intergenerational groups shared their experience of God. She finds hope in our growing ability to share our spiritual lives with one another, and especially with our children.
Another found the hand of God in the long path of our restructuring of Yearly Meeting — an earnest attempt to clarify our conduct of business and action to be more responsive to revelation.
For another, recalling the turmoil of the Structures and Workings effort, clarity came when we realized that for all our efforts and research and wisdom, we would not know how it would turn out. In the end we were left only with trusting in the care of God, stepping forth in faith.
Another noted that, no matter how profound our experiences, God always has more. Being open to the next requires us to be willing to acknowledge when we are wrong.
A Friend, recounting previous statements, found an imperative for action and a realization that corporate calls begin with an individual. Thus, he called us to attend especially to the support of individual leadings.
Another noted that we have heard for some time now how we as Friends are being called to be a people of God, and it’s about time that we respond. We need to find where the first Friends were, where the first Christians were, where Jesus was. Finding ourselves there will find us in a better life.
Another offered that the worship we engage in before our business should be the heart of our business.
The Clerk then identified threads that emerged for her, including a call to faithfulness and humility, attentiveness to our children, and acknowledgement of our enduring capacity for failure and for recovery. She then closed our session, but not our discussion, as our corporate attention to leadings will continue in several ways.
The minutes of this session were then read and approved. After announcements and a brief period of worship, the Meeting adjourned, to reconvene Seventh-day morning at 9 a.m.
Mario Cavallini, recording clerk
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM