Mercurial > hg > rsof
diff diana_horne_20100901.xml @ 65:9155383a40fd
from HST notes
| author | ht |
|---|---|
| date | Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:37:33 -0400 |
| parents | |
| children | 5e57e799182e |
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--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/diana_horne_20100901.xml Sat Sep 04 11:37:33 2010 -0400 @@ -0,0 +1,64 @@ +<?xml version='1.0'?> +<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="../../lib/xml/doc.xsl" ?> +<!DOCTYPE doc SYSTEM "../../lib/xml/doc.dtd" > +<doc> + <head> + <title>Diana Horne: Report on a meeting</title> + <author>Henry S. Thompson</author> + <author>Mary Woodward</author> + <date> 4 Sep 2010</date> + </head> + <body> + <div> + <title>Diana Horne: Report on a meeting in conjunction with her application +for membership</title> + <p>At the request of SE Scotland Area Meeting, Diana, Henry and Mary met over supper at Mary's flat on 1 September 2010. + After a pleasant supper and some quiet worship, we moved into a conversation +about Diana's experience with Friends and her desire to become a member.</p> + <p>An Anglican by birth (although her father would subsequently spend some +time calling himself a Quaker), church has always had a place in Diana's life, +but as an adult she spent many years looking for one in which she could feel +comfortable. She had been aware of Quakers as a result of their public +witness, but had never met one until coming to a show at Venue 40 in 1995, and +she has been a regular attender since 1997.</p> + <p>She found Quakers and Quaker worship a welcome change from other churches +in the way that she felt that she remained in control, and the way in which +Faith and Practice, particularly Advices and Queries, offered clear and helpful +guidance, without the obscurity and negative emphases she had found in other +churches' use of the Bible.</p> + <p>Recently she has been involved with Jasmine Perinpanayagam's testimonies +study group, where she helped organise the recent meeting with representatives +of the Army. This experience gave her a strong sense of the value of the Peace +Testimony, seeing its common sense and emphasis on equal rights, its lack of +sectarianism, as pointing towards a better way of living for us all in a really +usable way. The Hungarian Uprising of 1956 had made a very strong impact on +her as a child, so finding this kind of helpful response to the violence in the +world has been particularly important to her.</p> + <p>She would probably have moved towards membership sooner, but the demands +of caring for her brother Stuart, and a feeling that she didn't want to join +without him doing so also, intervened until recently.</p> + <p>Another aspect of Friends that is important to her is our +egalitarian stance on Gay and Lesbian rights. She experiences Meeting for +Worship as a valuable shared quiet time, a time to think and benefit from both +the silence and the spoken ministry of the group. She has not yet ministered +herself, but is comfortable with the expectation that she will do so when the +time is right.</p> + <p>She is comfortable with the Christian origins of the Society, without +being uncritical of some aspects of the established Church, in particular its +emphasis on sin and unworthiness. She very much values being part of a more +open, like-minded, group. Quaker guidance towards a good and useful life +represents a much more positive kind of Christianity for her.</p> + <p>She has a lot of experience in various forms of group work from earlier +jobs, and hopes to find ways of bringing that into service to the Meeting. We +agreed that she already feels and demonstrates a key aspect of membership, +which is taking responsibility for the Meeting in a practical way, taking a +share in the running of the place. One way in which she hopes to see the +Meeting grow is in providing more opportunities to talk with Friends about our +insights, experience and concerns, building on the experience of Hearts and +Minds and similar organised study groups.</p> + <p>In conclusion, it is clear to us that Diana is already a Member in all +but name, and we hope Area Meeting can ratify this.</p> + <p>[Not true yet, but hope it will be]: Diana has read this report and is happy for it to go forward to Area Meeting.</p> + </div> + </body> +</doc>