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Quaker A-Z: P is for Protest & Presentations

Talking to others and ourselves

During Yearly Meeting this year there was a vigil outside Friends House. As I was attending virtually I went into the garden and thought about the two questions asked:

What is your outward message of peace, love and justice for the world?
And what is your inward message to yourself?

I hope that a video of the vigil will be shared. As on a personal video on Facebook it was good to see the faces and questions.

How do you tell others about what you feel passionate about? How does the Truth prosper among you?

During Yearly Meeting an activist Friend ministered that they felt supported through QfP 20.14 which says in part,

“I suggest that we refrain from judging each other, or belittling what each is doing; and that we should not feel belittled. We cannot know the prayers that others make or do not make in their own times of silent aloneness. We cannot know the letters others may be writing to governments, similarly… We were all made differently, in order to perform different tasks. Let us rejoice in our differences.”

Another ministered that they used to be active but now are confined to home – but are still active in prayers, letter writing etc. and we need to accept wherever we are we can live faithful lives.

As a person who is more often found presenting than protesting, I appreciate the reminder that we have both inwards and outward work and messages.

I always encourage such people to get involved in a group or a cause that touches them deeply. It may be peace, it may be hunger, it may be global institution-building. Only by taking our good intentions into the arena of social change can we learn more about what is possible, what is effective, and what is wise. Personally, I would rather have ten sincere and well-motivated people out there in the struggle for world betterment, than have ten supposed experts who have all the right technical training but no moral grounding for what they are doing."

Adam Daniel Corson-Finnerty, 1982 Tweet

Sharing with the wider community

We’ve talked about how choices in signage, cleaning materials, garden and building design etc. can all communicate Quaker values and testimonies to people. Often though they can be quiet, in the background, or even unnoticed. It wasn’t until we put signs up about the reasons for Kingston Quaker Centre’s recycling and renewable energy usage being linked to the Quaker Sustainability testimony that we had comments and questions about what Quakers meant by this and why it linked with our worship.

It can be too easy for someone to presume we’re doing things ‘because we’re nice’ rather than ‘because we are called to do this….’

So, if you do decide to make changes, or hold an event – do you tell others who might use your building?

Do you tell others in the wider community?

Do you open your building for community events or special days?
Have you held a stall at local festivals or freshers fairs?
Do you put posters up that explain Quaker values and testimonies where the public can see them?

There are resources and support for action for Quaker Meetings at Quaker.org.uk/action

Join in with others talking about Quakers to a wider community:

Now is a good time to be thinking about both Quaker Week, which runs 27th September through to World Quaker Day Sunday 5th October and the theme is ‘Love your Neighbour’.

Both links above have resources, study packs, and more to help you present to your own community and outwardly to others.

“The systems that we create as people, the systems of government and systems of power and the way that we distribute resources, are all inhabited by people. And at its most powerful, this prophetic work is about relationships.”

— Noah Merrill, 2016 Secretary of New England Yearly Meeting

Wendrie Heywood

MBS Founder

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