Last January I attended London Grove Meeting’s year-long 300th Anniversary Celebration kick-off event, which was a presentation by Arthur Larrabee on “The Future of Quakerism.” The ideas Friend Arthur shared in his speech really resonated with me, and I have returned to them, mentally, many times in the months since. There were fewer than 50 of us who heard him speak that night, and I’ve often wished I could convey the energy and ideas of the presentation to others who missed it.
Well, praise be to the internet – new keeper of all things – I have been able to locate the transcript of a talk Friend Arthur gave at Bucks Quarterly Meeting in August. Here his message is even more refined, and I hope you will take the time to read it.
For the original source of this transcript, please visit: http://www.quakersbucks.org/index.php/site/newsarticle/arthur_larrabee_gen._secretary_of_philadelphia_yearly_meeting_speaks_at_qua
Transcript begins:
Good morning, Friends.
It is a pleasure to be here with you this morning. One of the things I like to do when I speak within our Yearly Meeting is to remind Friends of the larger, Quaker faith community of which each of us is a part. So, let me ask you some questions.
Bucks Quarterly Meeting is one of how many quarterly meetings in the Yearly Meeting? And how many monthly meetings are there in Bucks Quarter?
How many monthly meetings are there in the whole Yearly Meeting? Spread over how many states?
How many members are there in the Yearly Meeting? And of these, how many are over the age of 21? And how many are under the age of 21?
Friends, you now know all the basic facts about our Yearly Meeting. Thank you.
The topic I’d like to address this morning is “Carrying the Light of Quakerism into the Future.” Or, how do we work to ensure the “ongoingness” of our religious society. I’d like to speak for about 40 minutes, and then use any remaining time for questions and conversation.
For the purposes of this talk I’m going to assume the Light of Quakerism, and not spend any time exploring its dimensions, qualities or characteristics. There is much that I could say about the Light of Quakerism, but it would be too much for this talk.
Suffice it to say that to my mind the Light of Quakerism is a bright and wonderful light and one which has been entrusted to our care. What I’d like to do is to explore how we can carry it into the future.
I have in mind five things I think we can do:
We can share the stories of our vitality and growth
We can a articulate our core beliefs
We can find a way to articulate a relationship between our Christianity and our Universalism
We can let go of our self-directed negativity
We can do a better job of making ourselves known in the world.
The first thing we can do is to tell the stories of vitality and growth within our Yearly Meeting. Almost three years ago, I had an epiphany just before I was to speak at Interim Meeting. Earlier that year I had been invited to take up the work of General Secretary and I had begun hearing individual stories of vitality and growth within the Yearly Meeting. Often these stories centered on unexpected increases in membership, or the renovation or building of meetinghouses or additions using green technology, or some new and compelling form of witness.
My epiphany was three fold:
First, there were more stories of vitality and growth than any one person seemed to know.
Second, these stories needed to be told in some public forum; it was not good enough for the General Secretary to be the only one who had the good news.
Third, these stories were a perfect antidote to other stories of decline in the Society of Friends. I pull back when I hear Friends rehearse, over and over, stories of declining numbers and smaller meetings because there are other stories of vitality and growth and these are not being told as readily.
The words we use today, the stories we tell ourselves and each other, are the words and stories that will shape tomorrow’s experience. I want to tell a story that some here have heard me tell before. I will tell it in an abbreviated form. It is the story of a monastery in decline, its abbot and a rabbi. Once there had been 200 monks living and studying at the monastery, but now there were only five and prospects for the future were bleak. Conversation usually focused on stories of the monastery’s glory days and its slow and seemingly irreversible decline. The tone within the community was predictably gloomy.
One afternoon the abbot had tea with his friend the rabbi in the nearby village, and the two commiserated about the declining numbers in their respective communities. When it came time to leave, the rabbi said, “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I know to suggest that will help to turn your situation around. But one last thing…I can tell you that one of you is the Christ. The abbot was puzzled, but said nothing and returned to the monastery.
When the abbot told his five monks the story of what had happened, no one could make sense of what the rabbi had said, but over the next days and weeks, each of the six began to secretly wonder whether there might be some truth in the rabbi’s words. As they wondered to themselves whether one of their brothers might just be the Christ, their attitudes and behavior toward each other began to change…… just in case the rabbi was right. They found themselves treating each other with deference and respect, with love and with delight.
In the summer, families would visit the grounds of the monastery for picnics and outdoor activities and when they did so they could not help but notice a change in the tone and energy of the community. What before had been negative and off-putting, now seemed positive and inviting. People wanted to come. Something was different.
One day a young man, a member of one of the families who had come to picnic in the summer, decided he wanted to become a member of the community. And so did others. Before long, the monks found their numbers growing.
What’s magical about that story? For me, it is the message that where we focus our attention matters, and when it is focused on uplifting possibilities we will create uplifting realities.
Some may grumble, “Arthur, aren’t you being a bit Pollyannaish?”
My answer is that it depends on how you look it. If you focus only on the numbers you won’t yet see overall growth in our Yearly Meeting. But I’m not focused on the numbers right now. I’m focused on the stories. It is because there continue to be new and recurring stories of vitality and growth that I feel supported in saying that we are vital and growing.
I would also like to say a word or two about numbers. We often talk about our declining numbers, but it is a fact that there has been hardly any decline in the adult membership of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting for the last thirteen years. We had roughly the same adult membership at the end of calendar year 2009 as we did at the end of 1996. In relation to the stories of a declining membership, that’s not bad. I wish the numbers had increased, and I believe they will. But they have not declined and this is the good news for now.
One more number. We often think of our membership as older and aging. People speculate that our median age must be in the 60’s, somewhere. Well, Friends, it’s not. Our median age right now is 49. It’s higher than the U.S. population as whole, which is 38, but it’s not in the 60’s.
The second thing we can do to carry the Light of Quakerism into the future is to begin the work of articulating the core beliefs at the center of our faith experience, even though any one of our collective core beliefs may not be true for any particular person among us.
I believe the time has come for us to discern and write down, in a simple and concise way, a statement that addresses who we are and what we believe- not as a creed; not as a test; but as core beliefs which define our center. I am not suggesting a statement that the Yearly Meeting would impose on monthly meetings. I wouldn’t want to do that and I know that it wouldn’t work.
Rather, what I have in mind is a statement representing the Yearly Meeting’s best corporate discernment of what we can say about who we are and what we believe. Such a statement might then be used by members and meetings within the Yearly Meeting as they were led to use it. Such a statement might be used as we currently use Faith and Practice, as a guide but not as the law. I see it as a statement that would help to define our center but not our boundaries.
I believe we need something that will fit on one sheet of paper; something we can easily hand to seekers who come through our doors; something short of handing out Faith and Practice on the first visit and wishing our visitor good luck.
Have you ever had the experience of someone asking, “What do Friends believe?” and hearing the answer, “Well, it’s kind of hard to say what Friends believe, but let me tell you what I believe.” Or, have you had the experience of trying to tell a new attender what Friends believe, and you really hope that no one else is listening because maybe you won’t get it right, or you fear you may be contradicted?
Or, have you ever started out a sentence, “Well, early Friends believed this and early Friends believed that,” because you could not say with any confidence what Friends believe today.
Or, do you ever find yourself not being able to think of a single thing to say about what Friends believe, and so you start by saying what Friends don’t believe, defining us by what we are not. Friends don’t have paid clergy, or a programmed service, or a creed, or rely primarily on the bible. For those who think such a task is not possible, I’d like to share an experience I had as a trustee of Westtown School.
Several years ago, while walking to a meeting with another trustee, my colleague and someone who is not a member of the Religious Society of Friends, said, “You know, Arthur, I really don’t care whether Westtown is a Quaker school or not.” After I recovered from the shock of it, I replied that it seemed okay to me that individuals might not care whether or not the school was a Quaker school, but that it was very important for each trustee to respect the fact that the school did, and does care whether or not it is a Quaker school. There is something at the spiritual center of the school that cares very deeply and this is so regardless of the views of any one individual.
I began to find meaning in the metaphor of a solar system. At the center of earth’s solar system is the sun, and orbiting the sun are a number of planets, each of which is the beneficiary of incredible solar energy. Indeed, without the sun, life, as we know it would not be possible. Each of the planets orbits the sun, but each planet is different in size and shape, and significantly, each planet orbits at a different distance from the sun at the center.
In the case of Westtown School, I could say very clearly, without fear of contradiction, that not only did the school care about being a Quaker school, but at the center, the sun if you will, was Quaker faith and practice. Each trustee might orbit at a different distance from the center, embracing the center with different degrees of conviction, but there was a center, and as long as any person was comfortable orbiting around that sun, they were a part of the solar system. If not, perhaps a different solar system would work better for them.
I think the same metaphor works for our Yearly Meeting. Think of PYM as a solar system. In the center of our solar system is a sun, the faith and practice of our yearly meeting, and our core beliefs. Any one of us may, or may not, subscribe to everything at the center, that’s ok, but that does not mean we can’t describe it.
Let’s delight in acknowledging that each of us, all 11,500 of us, like planets, are at different distances from the center, some are closer and some are farther away. I think that we can embrace our diversity, while at the same time, knowing how to describe the center and what it is that we’re orbiting.
In a book on vitality within Friends meetings, Jay Marshall, the current dean of the Earlham School of Religion, reports that “a common thread shared by vital meetings is that various members within them are each able to give a similar account of what their purpose is. Members are able to self-disclose, clearly, to other members and to seekers- this is who we are- knowing that others in the meeting would say much the same thing.”
“However great a challenge it is, a common understanding of a meeting’s …purpose is a strong contributor to its vitality. It clarifies the group’s identity and helps its members and attenders understand which expectations are realistic and which ones are not.”
The third thing I think we must do to carry the Light of Quakerism into the future is to confront head on the question of the relationship of the Society of Friends to Jesus. Recently, I gave a talk at one of our Quaker related retirement communities. My topic was “Leadership and Authority in the Religious Society of Friends.” After my talk, the first question was: “Mr. Larrabee are Quakers Christian?” I experienced an immediate inward tightening.
The first thing I had to deal with was my ego. I thought I had given a fairly good talk, and now it would all be ruined by a question I could not answer. Collectively, I don’t think we know how to answer that question, and I think it is a drain on the spiritual energy of our community. What I said was that Quakers in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting stand in the Christian tradition but that it would be hard for me to say that Quakers today are Christians as generally understood. I didn’t like my answer, and my faith community doesn’t give me much help.
I fretted all the way home, mostly because I didn’t know what I could have said that represented what others would recognize to be at the center of our spiritual solar system. Several days later I got an e-mail from one of my listeners, a Quaker in the local meeting, and the chair of an academic department at Penn State.
“Your answer to the query posed by the non-Quaker regarding the role of Jesus in Quakerism was most disturbing. As it pertains to the topic of your talk…, what does leadership mean if there is no common foundation to who we are as Quakers? If our foundation is not soundly rooted in the life and teachings of Jesus as primitive Christians then I really do not understand the common foundation from which anyone leads with the Religious Society of Friends. Our testimonies and concerns, our decision-making processes and so much else originates with, and is renewed by, the life and teachings of Jesus.”
That e-mail triggered something within me that has been many, many years in formation.
George Fox wrote in his journal in 1647, “And when all my hopes in them [the preachers, and ‘those called the most experienced people’] and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could I tell what to do; then, oh then I heard a voice which said, ‘There is one, even Jesus Christ, that can speak to thy condition;” and when I heard it my heart did leap for joy.”
But there’s another strand in Quakerism and it is the strand of individual experience and continuing revelation. This is George Fox as quoted by Margaret Fell from the first sermon she ever heard him deliver: “You will say, ‘Christ saith this, and the apostles say this;’ but what canst thou say? Art thou [not] a child of the Light, and hast thou [not] walked in the Light, and what thou speakest, is it [not] inwardly from God?” I hear in these words an invitation which welcomes a wide variety of spiritual experience.
As the Society of Friends has evolved, we now welcome those for whom the Christian experience is not central. I believe we have, de facto, become more of a Christian/Universalist religious society. In answer to the question, “what cans’t thou say?” we many now expect to hear and to respect a variety of spiritual truths
In describing who we are, I don’t think we can- or want to- go back to where we were, a more explicitly Christian religious society, but I do think that when we speak about the sun at the center of our PYM, Quaker solar system, it is important for us to claim our Christian roots- I would even say our Christian tap root- even as we embrace other spiritual truth.
I am imagining myself again at the retirement community and the question coming: “Mr. Larrabee, are Quakers Christian?” This is what I would now say.
“Friend, Quakers are Christian, but not in the usual or customary sense of that word. The Society of Friends in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is Christian/ Universalist. The Society is Christian because the life and teachings of Jesus Christ are at the core of who we are collectively. But the Society is universalist because we welcome spiritual truth wherever it may be found and from whomever it may come.
I think describing ourselves in this way will make it easier for us to attract seekers because we will be able to say, clearly and without embarrassment, this is who we are, come join us.
The fourth thing we can do to carry the Light of Quakerism into the future is to give up our self-directed negativity. Jay Marshall observes in his book on vital Quaker meetings: “So much of what is shared among Friends emphasizes the negative aspects of our corporate life, resulting in an ethos of fear rather than trust in God and joy in the mission that has been entrusted to us. The decentralized structure of Friends makes it easy for good news to remain isolated.”
What is it about us? Examples come to mind:
How often have we heard disparaging remarks about Interim Meeting? Sure, Interim Meeting went through a rough patch several years ago, but the experience of Interim Meeting is now very different and it was different before the rough patch. I find that it is often the case that Interim Meeting reflects the best in our practice of corporate discernment. But this story is not told. I want to tell it now. Interim Meeting is worth the time and all are welcome.
How often have we heard people complain about Quaker process? It takes too long; it’s too frustrating; it’s too hard to understand what’s going on.
I have a different take on it. I think the Quaker practice of corporate discernment is extraordinary. I can think of no other decision-making practice that would better serve our vision of building community, and building God’s world. We may not do it as well as we could, we may need to train ourselves in the doing of it, but it’s not the fault of the process; it’s our ineptitude in using it. We have a self-defeating habit of criticizing the process, rather than re-committing ourselves to getting better at it.
There are other ways our self-directed negativity comes out: our membership is declining and we’re so old our average age must be in the 60’s. I dealt with these two misimpressions earlier in my talk. I say, let’s stop it. It does nothing to help carry the Light of Quakerism into the future. Let’s just stop it.
The fifth thing we can do to carry our Light into the future is to be about the work of making ourselves known.
British Friends have been pioneering a program called Quaker Quest; it is a program of both inreach and outreach. Our Yearly Meeting has a Quaker Quest working group under the care of Support and Outreach Standing Committee; and Friends General Conference has taken on the programmatic leadership of Quaker Quest throughout the United States.
Quaker Quest has a neat way of characterizing our Quaker message. I want to claim it for our own. It is a simple way of expressing what we’re about that invites my attention and high energy- dare I even say passion. Quakerism is simple, radical and contemporary. Now, I can get excited about that.
Quakerism is simple in our practice of worship, our theology, and, in theory at least, in our organization and business methods.
Quakerism is radical in its theology. Ours is a religion that invites us to live out our lives in the belief that there is that of God in everyone, and that all of life is sacred and interrelated. We believe that we can have a direct experience of the Divine, and that in our meetings for worship there can be a mystical communal experience of God. This is radical.
Finally, we are contemporary. We offer a way forward for those many people who are aware of the nudgings of the Divine but who, in the 21st century, are simply unable to accept the trappings of creed, theology and ritual that have become encrusted on Christianity and other religions over the centuries. We can say to these people: “Come join with us in seeking an understanding of the promptings of love and truth in our hearts. Find your own way of expressing it; come grow along with us.” [Some of the above is taken from an article on Quaker Quest by Mary Jo Clogg, found in Friends Journal]
Just over nine months ago, our Yearly Meeting adopted priorities which are intended to be a framework for the work of our Yearly Meeting over the next three years. The fourth priority is this, “Making Ourselves Known.”
In the Fourth Priority, we talk about:
The design and implementation of a comprehensive communication plan for PYM
The support of Monthly and Quarterly meetings who embark on inn-reach/outreach programs such as Quaker Quest.
The provision of outreach programs to college campuses and Friends retirement communities
The taking of practical steps to make our meeting buildings more visible in our local communities.
And the promoting of active relationships of monthly and quarterly meetings with their local communities.
We don’t say it in the Priorities document, but I believe we need to talk about marketing ourselves. Last spring four monthly meetings banded together to advertise on the public radio station in Philadelphia, WHYY. I thrilled when I heard these ads and just in case there are those here who did not hear them, I’ve brought along a boom box and a CD recording of the ad. I will play it through twice.
The Catholics advertise for Easter, the Lutherans advertise for financial services and the Jews advertise for Sabbath services. I think its time for Quakers to advertise for the Light of Quakerism.
I would like to see advertising panels on the sides of buses that had a picture of a modern Quaker family with the caption, “We are Quakers, come join us” giving a web site address.
It’s all a part of the movement to get Quakers off the oatmeal box.
And so, Friends, I have come to the end of my talk. There is a Light of Quakerism which is special and unique and which offers a religious and spiritual path for many seekers. Let’s be mindful of what will carry this unique spiritual path into the future, giving attention to:
Sharing the stories of our vitality and growth
Articulating our core beliefs
Finding a way to articulate a relationship between our Christianity and our Universalism
Letting go of our self-directed negativity
And proactively making ourselves known in the world.
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