On Ministry and Clear Sight: A Reflection on Imperfect Divine Reflection

Copper alloy mirror, Turkey, circa 500 BCE

I was recently given written ministry to which I gave the title On Ministry and Clear Sight. It flowed as easily as any ministry I have ever given, and came as unexpectedly – a strong, clear leading to write or say certain things. As the ministry itself expresses, of course, there is much of myself in that ministry; it is an imperfect reflection shaped by what one might call, from the language of that ministry, as the ‘landscape of my mind’. In any case, it hit me hard, and I felt the need to think about it and give my own reaction to it.

The first, possibly most immediate point being that we have no sure way to know that any ministry offered is not genuinely drawing on the Spirit. Something might be so antithetical to our understanding of Quaker values and philosophy that we cannot countenance the idea that the Spirit gave it forth, yet still it did. Our task is to understand the possibilities of how it might have been inspired, let the ministry teach us about the Divine, about the world, and about the person who is speaking. We have to live with the discomfort that someone can say something we consider horrific in ministry, and yet there is some truth to it.

On Ministry and Clear Sight

The ministry that comes to us from the still silence within, that we share together in worship or in other ways, most often comes out as words. But the inspiration of the Divine that becomes such ministry is not given to us as words.

The gift of ministry is pure inspiration, an injection into our being of guidance, of ideas, of symbols, of images, of relationships, and we cannot comprehend it consciously in its original form. Sometimes, for some people, it finds its best expression and understanding in a form other than words, though still it is not exactly what was given. When we do express it as words, it is necessarily imperfect. The inspiration might help us find the right words, but still it is we who find the words.

What We Do In Silence

From the outside, what happens in a Quaker Meeting for Worship is fairly simple, if unrevealing. We sit in silence, and at some point, someone may be moved to stand and speak. But there's a lot more to it than that.

As we sit in our “expectant waiting”, we are not generally entirely passive – not least because absolute passivity is not something that comes easily to people. For centuries, faith communities have developed strategies to help people learn various forms of passivity, leading their way towards it through prayers, mantras and meditation. Not only that, but not all Friends find the best way to make that contact with the Divine is through passivity at all.

In this post, I will be exploring what it is we do in the silence of worship – different ways we bring ourselves to the right state of mind, what that state of mind might be (different for different Friends), and what we do once we have reached it. That is a chronological order, and it might seem appropriate to explore things that way, but I find it most helpful to consider the state of mind first, before looking at how we reach it.

Outward vs Inward Silence

We can find the inward silence even at times of bustle and busyness.

Silence is a major feature of Quaker tradition; it features in the practice of all variations of Quaker practice, though most noticeably in unprogrammed Meetings. But what is this silence, as part of the Quaker way? Is it limited to the lack of noise, and a certain stillness, or does it go deeper than that? In this post, I shall try to explore this matter, and look at the difference between outward and inward silence.

I've previously published written ministry that touches on this, a short piece entitled Outward Silence, Inward Silence. It's very direct, with the general point that outward silence, while traditional and useful, is largely a tool to help us find inward silence. In this post, I will be exploring this idea in more detail, with practical examples and advice.

A Quaker Christmas

As I described in my previous post regarding Halloween, Quakers have a traditional testimony concerning times and seasons, that different days and different times of the year not have liturgical significance. However, as I also set out in that post, we can see value and benefit of festivals without ascribing them inherent religious significance.

In this post, I shall be applying the same approach to Christmas, and all of the things that go with it, both liturgically and culturally – advent, epiphany, even the secular new year celebration.

Silence Waits

Silence waits,
For us to wait in it.

A deep pool we cannot reach,
Without diving in.

The treasures are found in active passivity,

Coming to us as they will, not by ours.

Written December 2017

What Is Ministry?

One of the hardest things, in my experience, about trying to explain Quaker practice to those unfamiliar with it, is getting down and detailed about Meeting for Worship. Okay, so we sit in silence, and wait for the spirit to move someone to speak; that much sounds simple. I've written before, in some detail, with thoughts on how to tell if the spirit is moving you to speak. After that, though, once someone is speaking, how do we understand what has been said in that spoken ministry? Even assuming that everyone who stands to speak is genuinely moved to speak, there are several ways to think about this.

The most obvious one is at one extreme, that these are genuine, literal messages from God/the Spirit/the Divine/whatever you're calling it. That the words themselves are chosen for you, and the speaker is merely a conduit, with no responsibility for what is said. At the opposite extreme, perhaps the Spirit only gives the germ of an idea, and the compulsion to share it. Then the words are the choice of the person speaking, as they try to express an idea, possibly a very nebulous idea, that has been placed into their mind. I have spoken to Friends who view ministry at each of those extremes.

As is usually the case, however, when there are extreme points of view, there's also the possibility of ideas that lie between them. I suspect that most Friends lie somewhere in that in-between space, as indeed do I, but there's a lot of variation possible. Ultimately, however, all such positions amount to something of the form that ministry is a collaboration between the individual and the Spirit.

Testing Ministry part 2: Business

In my earlier post, I explored the idea of testing ministry in Meeting for Worship, and outlined some simple tests that I find helpful when testing ministry. I also mentioned that these were only readily applicable in simple, undirected worship, and other sorts of meeting in which we might minister need to be handled differently. In this post I will explore the most common other sort of meeting, the “Meeting for Worship for Business”, often shortened to “Business Meeting”, and known formally in Quaker faith & practice as “Meetings for Church Affairs”.

These meetings are the primary decision-making organ of Quaker bodies, from our Local and Area Business Meetings, to Britain Yearly Meeting in session, and all of the business meetings to run all sorts of other groups. It is probably helpful at this point to quickly recap the essential principles and process of the Quaker business method, though a full exploration would certainly merit a post all to itself.

So, let us take a theoretical, idealised Meeting for Worship for Business. Any given “real world” case will deviate from this, but in various different ways depending on the meeting, so the platonic version seems a good starting point. The meeting in session is a number of Friends, probably in the small dozens – to avoid any of the complications brought by a particularly large or small group. One or two Friends undertake to clerk the meeting, and sit at a table where they can see everyone. Everyone else sits arranged in such a manner to be able to see as many of the rest of the meeting as reasonably possible. The clerk introduces an item of business, a decision that needs to be taken. The clerk will introduce the business, perhaps with the help of another Friend who is familiar with the matter in question. The decision to be taken will be made clear to Friends, and all necessary information will be provided at this time, or even better in advance of the meeting (this being a point where pretty much every real world case will depart drastically from the ideal, but it is a complication that is besides the point of this post). At that point, the meeting begins discernment – a period of worship focussed on making a decision.

Testing Ministry

In a Quaker meeting, be it simple worship or worship for business, or any other sort of focussed worship, the contributions we make are not simply things we wish to say, or our spontaneous or planned thoughts on a matter. We are led to speak, or as some would put it compelled to speak, by the divine. I would like to share some thoughts on this process.

For now, I'll work on the uncomplicated case of a plain, ordinary Meeting for Worship. We gather in the silence, each of us waiting, ideally attentively, for the urgings of the Spirit to prompt us. It may occur to us that there is something we could say; in the most extreme case, we may find ourselves on our feet and speaking before we are quite sure what's going on, but that is quite rare in my experience. More often, an idea, maybe some specific words, start to come together in our minds. As you try to maintain stillness and inward silence, this may become clearer, more settled, and you know at least what you will start with should you stand to share it. However, part of this process is what we call “testing” the possible ministry. We are often reminded, especially in business sessions, of the need to test ministry before speaking. However, we don't often discuss what it means in any detail.

At the simplest level, as I've often heard said, we test it under the question “is this something for the meeting, or is it just something for me?” Less often, I've also heard that a question to test with is “is this from the Spirit, or from my own thoughts?”. Both valid questions, and certainly not entirely interdependent. You may feel a leading in worship that is leading for you, not a message for the whole meeting, but is still a genuine leading of the Spirit. You may also have a wonderful idea that is worth sharing with Friends, but is not actually Spirit-led; you want to save that for conversations outside of Meeting for Worship. However, what the question of testing ministry ultimately comes down to is “should I share this?”

Fountains and Plumbing

It will be familiar to most Friends that spoken ministry flows forth from some like fountains, others in occasional bursts, and still others never find themselves speaking in worship.

But a fountain does not function alone. The water that is the Spirit is brought to the fountain by pipes, perhaps helped along by pumps, and just in this manner the whole worshipping community helps along the Spirit, whoever happens to be the mouthpiece.

Yet still, ours is a transformative faith, and our pumps and pipes should not assume that is always to be their role, vital as it is. If we allow it, the Spirit may transform a pipe, even the deepest buried, into a wondrous fountain, that we may all appreciate the beauty and bounty of it – be it for a day, or for years to come.

Written May 2017

Quaker Business Method and Democracy

When people hear that Quakers don't vote, they often jump to the wrong conclusion – that we don't vote, ever. Like in elections and things. As Advices and Queries recommends, however, we are urged to be involved in local, national and international affairs – and the fundamental way of doing that, for the first two, is at the ballot box. In my experience, Quakers vote fairly reliably.

What we don't do is vote internally. Decisions are made through the Quaker Business Method, which very much involves no voting. Given that I'm writing for a primarily Quaker audience here, I'm not going to fully explain what our business method involves, just cover some key points as seems necessary. A business meeting is a Meeting for Worship, simply one held in order to make some decision, or receive a report, or various other purposes. People speak (ideally) as they are moved, and all ministry is heard and weighed by all present, until the clerk is able to discern the sense of the meeting and write a minute. That minute is offered to the Meeting, who have the opportunity to indicate acceptance or not, and suggest tweaks to wording.

Note that there's no voting there. If there's a disagreement as to whether the minute reflects the sense of the meeting, we don't have a show of hands – we place great trust in our clerks and elders to guide us through business even when it is difficult. That's what we mean when we say that Quakers don't vote.

Righteous Transformation

I am told that Friends are made uncomfortable when one Friend ministers often, when that ministry feels like a sermon, when it asks what we should be doing, asks whether we are truly doing as we should.

Do we come to worship for comfort? Certainly, I'm sure many of us have experienced a meeting where we came full of doubt, pain, or fear, and we were held, sheltered and uplifted by the Spirit as shown in that meeting, in the ministry of Friends, and in the invisible yet palpable love of the Spirit itself, brought close to us by the faithful waiting of the meeting.

Yet as we are a gathered people, we are not gathered for our own comfort and uplifting. We are gathered to be made a people of God. That does not mean, for us, going through prescribed motions, as in the liturgies of mainstream churches. Nor does it mean merely helping and uplifting one another. Nor is it enough to take the spirit of righteous transformation into the world, exciting our efforts to mend it.

Righteous transformation must begin with us, and is never done with us. None of us shall ever attain our full potential as children of the Light. Faithfulness to that Light means ever striving, within our faith community, to make it reflect light and love, and yes, to comfort those who will benefit from comfort; in our wider community, to relieve suffering and share the fruits of the Light; and also in ourselves, to let the Light fill us, and transform us, and never think we have reached a final destination.

This does not mean that we have failed, or that we are not good enough. Were that so, none could succeed, and none would be good enough. In the Spirit, love flows freely to all who will take it.

Written March 2017

Ministry, Vulnerability, and Faithfulness

This may come as a surprise to those who have shared many Meetings for Worship with me, but I don't like giving spoken ministry. Actually, I kind of dread it.

Giving ministry opens one up. It is, to me, an act of vulnerability. It gives one a chance to fail – to not adequately express what the Spirit has given, to be misunderstood, to inadvertently misrepresent the Divine. It forces one to reveal, even if indirectly, some of the content of your own spirit and psyche – while ministry comes from the Spirit, it is focussed through the lens of our own nature and experience. It opens one up to criticism, as the motive behind the ministry may be suspect in the eyes of some Friends.

This vulnerability is part of what gives ministry its strength. In opening ourselves to the Spirit, and opening ourselves to the meeting to share the gift that may come, we expose more of ourself than we might necessarily realise – perhaps more than the other Friends present realise. Sometimes we are saying something that we ourselves are uncomfortable with, but in faithfulness to our traditions, our methods, we give voice to it.