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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+[Not true yet, but hope it will be]: Diana has read this report and is happy for it to go forward to Area Meeting.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+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.
+[Not true yet, but hope it will be]: Diana has read this report and is happy for it to go forward to Area Meeting.
+