Report of a meeting held on 23 May 2022 at the home of Ross Armstrong

Ross Campbell
Robin Liebmann
Henry S Thompson

Ross welcomed us to his home, and after a period of worship he shared
the history of his experience of Friends.  His mother was raised a
Quaker by _her_ mother, a life-long Member.  His father joined Friends
after his experience in a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II,
attending Meeting at Leyburn in Yorkshire.

The family had connections with Brummana, where the family spent time
when he was young when his father was Head there (1957--1962), then
lived near Jordans when they returned to the UK, where he attended a
'progressive' school with a Quaker head.

Although his upbringing was in a Christian environment, as a young
adult Ross was at first not a church-goer.  He was however always
conscious of a need for a source of guidance in how he should live his
life, and for a while he looked for help with life decisions from the
_I Ching_, but that didn't last as responsibilities grew.

During the 1980s Ross became involved in Palestinian issues.  He began
working as a furniture maker and in the building trades, then
assistant manager at Hadeel, the Palestian shop on Queen Street.

Ross started observing Ramadan around the time of the 1st Gulf War,
giving him an active, pervasive engagement with religious practice.
He began studing Arabic, a life-long project thereafter.  He learned
the 1st Sura of the Quran, which became the cornerstone of his
practice.  The nature of this, as a prayer that begins with 'In the
name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful' [Ross,
please replace with your preferred translation, this is just the first
one I found online], is so different from the caricature of Muslims as
fanatics.

Ross has been coming to Meeting for Worship at Portobello and
Musselburgh for four or five years.  He's been impressed by the depth
of some of the Quakers he has met.  He realised recently that he has
made the transition from a "committed non-Attender" to acknowledging
he _was_ an Attender.  He has really appreciated the Quaker method of
decision-making, in contrast to other experiences of committees.

Turning to the question of Membership, Ross recalled that last autumn
his mother, who was a Trustee of Brummana, asked him to consider
applying for the Headship.  He applied, and although he was not
appointed, the experience made him think again about Membership.
Seeing the achievements, the remarkable work that has been done by
Quakers, in particular Andrew Clark, a friend of his mother, led him
to recognition of how awesome can be some people's achievements,
leaving us a bit ashamed by comparison: how are _we_ working for the
Kingdom of Heaven.

Ross finished by summarising where this has led him
  * "Friends of Truth" can be goal and a daunting challenge.
  * "What I think of God" is not relevant, what matters is what 'he'
    has to say to me about how to live my life.

And a few other topics we touched on:

Ross's wife is as it were a lay preacher in the Zen temple in
portobello.  He sees a lot of connections between their practice and
scriptures and ours.

Ross sometimes gets into trouble for telling the truth.

Meeting for Worship for Business can be an awe-filled experience.

Once as Ross was leaving the Quaker Meeting House in Ramallah, he was
asked "are Quakers Christians?".  Well, perhaps not as you probably
mean that:  we have no Christology...

Are the challenges for Ross in becoming a Member: Vietnam, Palestine,
now Ukraine, and Extinction Rebellion, are difficulties.  Ross worries
about the apparent need to take sides: being driven by fear is not a
good starting point for decisions.

As we reached the end of a discussion about the nature of Membership,
Ross said "I'm ready to be a member of the crew rather than a
passenger", and Henry and Robin agreed.