By Nancy Wallace, Evanston Friends Meeting and Friends World Committee for Consultation Representative
In early October every year, I’m invited to join Quakers around the world in worship and cele-bration. So are all the rest of us. And we don’t even have to leave our home meeting to do it.
World Quaker Day takes place on the first Sunday of October. Participation is easy: we simply do something special following the rise of meeting for worship that day. It can be writing an epistle, or taking pictures or videos of an event designed to celebrate World Quaker Day. Each meeting decides this as led, and the results are posted on the World Quaker Day website for the edification of Friends all over the world. Visiting the website after the event is a mini-education on Quakerism around the world.
The theme for this year’s World Quaker Day is Crossing Cultures, Sharing Stories. It’s is an opportunity for our meetings to celebrate ways we manifest the Quaker tradition and then sharing them with other Friends.
So how should your meeting celebrate World Quaker Day? There are many possibilities. For example, your meeting might decide to invite a meeting member or other ILYM Friend who has worshiped with Friends in different parts of the world to share his or her experiences in a “Second Hour” session. You could share a simple meal and ask for donations to contribute to Friends World Committee for Consultation or Quaker United Nations Organization. The meeting could organize an event that shows how you connect with Friends in another part of the world, such as visits that have taken place between members of your meeting.
Some meetings use this opportunity to write a greeting from the monthly meeting to Quaker meetings and churches worldwide. I’ve found many of their epistles to be simple but inspiring. Here are a few that arose from Friends meetings on World Quaker Day in 2017.
Barrydale Worship Group, South Africa: We meet for Meeting on the first, First Day of each new month. We were rather pleased that World Quaker Day conveniently fell on our usual Meeting day! By October we are in late Spring in Barrydale. Our Meetings are held in the late afternoon (4 pm), so we Meet on the verandah facing a garden and the Langeberg Mountains in the nether distance. This First Day we settled into a beautiful silence – we were ministered to by bird song, the sounds of dogs barking in the neighborhood, and the general peaceable, Sunday afternoon atmosphere of a rural, farm-village community. We were very aware of the unfolding connectedness from Meetings opening and closing in different time zones all around the world. Our hope is that our participation will link us closer to other Friends from different parts of the world.
Canberra Friends Meeting, Australia: Canberra Friends have the world a tradition of talking via Skype and/or zoom to Quakers in other parts of the world. This year they talked to Friends in Bhopal Yearly Meeting and Mid India Yearly Meeting and to Quakerism Osaka, Japan. All who participated were very grateful for the connections. During the Meeting for Worship in Canberra, all the goal ministry was related to the worldwide family of Friends. Canberra Friends acknowledged the importance of our international connections and also grieved for the difficult times many are going through. Celebrating our family by making these personal connections is a treasure.
Coventry Quaker Meeting, Great Britain: Coventry Friends (part of Central England Area Meeting of Britain Yearly Meeting) put aside our usual silent un-programmed meeting and heard the following five readings from around the world.
- Cuba Yearly Meeting, 2017 Epistle: Vivimos tiempos en que el planeta Tierra se debilita, todos estamos en esta superficie, unos al norte, otros al sur, pero somos la especie humana creada, crecida y transformada por el amor del Padre de todos. Desde nuestras comunidades, busquemos la bendita presencia, sólo esta podrá conducirnos a responder a las necesidades que padecemos. (We are living in times in which the planet Earth is deteriorating, we are all on that planet’s surface, some to the north and others to the south, but we are created as the human species, developed and transformed by the love of the Father for everyone. From our communities we seek the blessed presence; only that can lead us to respond to the necessities we suffer.)
- Friends Church Nairobi: “Our primary and overall objective is to preach the Gospel of God’s love and salvation through Jesus Christ to all mankind. We are Jesus’ friends through our trust and obedience in what he commands us to do. In the scriptures, Jesus says, “you are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). We believe in the trinity (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) and that Jesus Christ is our Lord and savior.”
- Pacific Yearly Meeting, Advices and Queries: Do I live in thankful awareness of God’s constant presence in my life? Am I sensitive and obedient to the leadings of the Holy Spirit? When do I take time for contemplation and spiritual refreshment? What steps am I taking to center my life and to stay open to continuing revelation?
- Evangelical Friends Church Southwest, (USA) Congregation Accountability Questions: Have we honored the counsel of our elders and pastors? When we were not in unity, did we find the mind of Christ through discussion and prayer rather than through politicking and voting?
- Aotearoa/New Zealand Yearly Meeting, Advices and Queries: A caring Meeting can bring healing at times of difficulty or despair. Listen sensitively to what, although not clearly expressed, may be a cry for help. Are you available to help others, even at some cost to yourself? Are you willing to be helped, both practically and spiritually?
So that should whet your appetite for thinking about what your meeting can do, both this year and in the future. You can find lots more epistles, along with photos and videos, from past World Quaker Days at . Feel free to look them over and ponder how your meeting can best celebrate this special day. The sponsoring organization, FWCC (Friends World Committee for Consultation), to which I am an ILYM representative (along with Bridget Rorem and David Shiner) is looking forward to hearing about the fruits of your labors and seeing them on the World Quaker Day website.
World Quaker Day will take place on October 7 this year. I hope your meeting will make it a memorable one.
