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+ − 46 </style><title>Diana Horne: Report on a meeting</title></head><body style="font-family: DejaVu Sans, Arial; background: rgb(254,250,246)">
+ − 47 <div style="text-align: center">
+ − 48 <h1>Diana Horne: Report on a meeting</h1>
+ − 49 <div class="byline">Henry S. Thompson</div>
+ − 50 <div class="byline">Mary Woodward</div>
+ − 51 <div class="byline"> 4 Sep 2010</div>
+ − 52 </div>
+ − 53
+ − 54 <div>
+ − 55 <h2>1. Diana Horne: Report on a meeting in conjunction with her application
+ − 56 for membership</h2>
+ − 57 <p>At the request of SE Scotland Area Meeting, Diana, Henry and Mary met over supper at Mary's flat on 1 September 2010.
+ − 58 After a pleasant supper and some quiet worship, we moved into a conversation
+ − 59 about Diana's experience with Friends and her desire to become a member.</p>
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+ − 60 <p>An Anglican by birth (although her father had previously spent some
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+ − 61 time calling himself a Quaker), church has always had a place in Diana's life,
+ − 62 but as an adult she spent many years looking for one in which she could feel
+ − 63 comfortable. She had been aware of Quakers as a result of their public
+ − 64 witness, but had never met one until coming to a show at Venue 40 in 1995, and
+ − 65 she has been a regular attender since 1997.</p>
+ − 66 <p>She found Quakers and Quaker worship a welcome change from other churches
+ − 67 in the way that she felt that she remained in control, and the way in which
+ − 68 Faith and Practice, particularly Advices and Queries, offered clear and helpful
+ − 69 guidance, without the obscurity and negative emphases she had found in other
+ − 70 churches' use of the Bible.</p>
+ − 71 <p>Recently she has been involved with Jasmine Perinpanayagam's testimonies
+ − 72 study group, where she helped organise the recent meeting with representatives
+ − 73 of the Army. This experience gave her a strong sense of the value of the Peace
+ − 74 Testimony, seeing its common sense and emphasis on equal rights, its lack of
+ − 75 sectarianism, as pointing towards a better way of living for us all in a really
+ − 76 usable way. The Hungarian Uprising of 1956 had made a very strong impact on
+ − 77 her as a child, so finding this kind of helpful response to the violence in the
+ − 78 world has been particularly important to her.</p>
+ − 79 <p>She would probably have moved towards membership sooner, but the demands
+ − 80 of caring for her brother Stuart, and a feeling that she didn't want to join
+ − 81 without him doing so also, intervened until recently.</p>
+ − 82 <p>Another aspect of Friends that is important to her is our
+ − 83 egalitarian stance on Gay and Lesbian rights. She experiences Meeting for
+ − 84 Worship as a valuable shared quiet time, a time to think and benefit from both
+ − 85 the silence and the spoken ministry of the group. She has not yet ministered
+ − 86 herself, but is comfortable with the expectation that she will do so when the
+ − 87 time is right.</p>
+ − 88 <p>She is comfortable with the Christian origins of the Society, without
+ − 89 being uncritical of some aspects of the established Church, in particular its
+ − 90 emphasis on sin and unworthiness. She very much values being part of a more
+ − 91 open, like-minded, group. Quaker guidance towards a good and useful life
+ − 92 represents a much more positive kind of Christianity for her.</p>
+ − 93 <p>She has a lot of experience in various forms of group work from earlier
+ − 94 jobs, and hopes to find ways of bringing that into service to the Meeting. We
+ − 95 agreed that she already feels and demonstrates a key aspect of membership,
+ − 96 which is taking responsibility for the Meeting in a practical way, taking a
+ − 97 share in the running of the place. One way in which she hopes to see the
+ − 98 Meeting grow is in providing more opportunities to talk with Friends about our
+ − 99 insights, experience and concerns, building on the experience of Hearts and
+ − 100 Minds and similar organised study groups.</p>
+ − 101 <p>In conclusion, it is clear to us that Diana is already a Member in all
+ − 102 but name, and we hope Area Meeting can ratify this.</p>
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+ − 103 <p>Diana has read this report and is happy for it to go forward to Area Meeting.</p>
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+ − 104 </div>
+ − 105
+ − 106 </body></html>