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1 Report of a meeting held on 23 May 2022 at the home of Ross Armstrong
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2
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3 Ross Armstrong
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4 Robin Leibman
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5 Henry S Thompson
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6
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7 Ross welcomed us to his home, and after a period of worship he shared
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8 the history of his experience of Friends. His mother was raised a
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9 Quaker by _her_ mother, a life-long Member. His father joined Friends
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10 after his experience in a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II,
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11 attending Meeting at Leyburn in Yorkshire.
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12
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13 The family had connections with Brummana, where the family spent time
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14 when he was young when his father was Head there, then lived near
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15 Jordans when they returned to the UK, where he attended a
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16 'progressive' school with a Quaker head.
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17
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18 Although his upbringing was in a Christian environment, as a young
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19 adult Ross was at first not a church-goer. He was however always
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20 conscious of a need for a source of guidance in how he should live his
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21 life, and for a while he looked for help with life decisions from the
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22 _I Ching_, but that didn't last as responsibilities grew.
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23
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24 During the 1980s Ross became involved in Palestinian issues. He began
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25 working as a furniture maker and in the building trades, then
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26 assistant manager at Hadeel, the Palestian shop on Queen Street.
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27
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28 Ross started observing Ramadan around the time of the 1st Gulf War,
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29 giving him an active, pervasive engagement with religious practice.
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30 He began studing Arabic, a life-long project thereafter. He learned
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31 the 1st Sura of the Quran, which became the cornerstone of his
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32 practice. The nature of this, as a prayer that begins with 'In the
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33 name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful' [Ross,
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34 please replace with your preferred translation, this is just the first
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35 one I found online], is so different from the caricature of Muslims as
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36 fanatics.
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37
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38 Ross has been coming to Meeting for Worship at Portobello and
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39 Musselburgh for four or five years. He's been impressed by the depth
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40 of some of the Quakers he has met. He realised recently that he has
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41 made the transition from a "committed non-Attender" to acknowledging
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42 he _was_ an Attender. He has really appreciated the Quaker method of
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43 decision-making, in contrast to other experiences of committees.
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44
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45 Turning to the question of Membership, Ross recalled that last autumn
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46 his mother, who was a Trustee of Brummana, asked him to consider
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47 applying for the Headship. He applied, and although he was not
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48 appointed, the experience made him think again about Membership.
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49 Seeing the achievements, the remarkable work that has been done by
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50 Quakers, in particular Andrew Clark, a friend of his mother, led him
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51 to recognition of how awesome can be some people's achievements,
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52 leaving us a bit ashamed by comparison: how are _we_ working for the
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53 Kingdom of Heaven.
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54
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55 Ross finished by summarising where this has led him
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56 * "Friends of Truth" can be goal and a daunting challenge.
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57 * "What I think of God" is not relevant, what matters is what 'he'
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58 has to say to me about how to live my life.
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59
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60 And a few other topics we touched on:
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61
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62 Ross's wife is as it were a lay preacher in the Zen temple in
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63 portobello. He sees a lot of connections between their practice and
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64 scriptures and ours.
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65
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66 Ross sometimes gets into trouble for telling the truth.
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67
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68 Meeting for Worship for Business can be an awe-filled experience.
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69
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70 Once as Ross was leaving the Quaker Meeting House in Ramallah, he was
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71 asked "are Quakers Christians?". Well, perhaps not as you probably
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72 mean that: we have no Christology...
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73
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74 Are the challenges for Ross in becoming a Member: Vietnam, Palestine,
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75 now Ukraine, and Extinction Rebellion, are difficulties. Ross worries
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76 about the apparent need to take sides: being driven by fear is not a
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77 good starting point for decisions.
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78
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79 As we reached the end of a discussion about the nature of Membership,
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80 Ross said "I'm ready to be a member of the crew rather than a
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81 passenger", and Henry and Robin agreed.
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