Sue Smith
My contact with ‘ministry’ started young, as a child of a Quaker family in Birkenhead Meeting. I add the speech-mark brackets because I had not heard the word till I came to Oxford Meeting as a 30 year old. ‘Ministry’ was universally referred to as ‘speaking in Meeting’ – which took away the religious underpinnings and underlined the connections between ministry and everyday life. In my teens I was very much inspired by hearing a performance of Britten’s War Requiem, in which the poems of Wilfred Owen are the libretto. So, for me, ministry and the peace testimony are closely linked.
My grandfather, father, and uncle were conscientious objectors in the Second World War. Growing up in the 1950s, that meant for me that ministry was about real decisions made by people I trusted. It affected what had happened in their lives. I always remember my father said very forcefully that it was totally wrong that war condoned killing people. I was surprised, because he was normally a mild man, who rarely made firm assertions without considering them deeply.
From this early age I came across Quakers who were active in the world, in peace and social justice, and were interested in me as a person in my own right, rather than as a child of my parents. I have remained a Quaker because of that, and because everything I heard and saw convinced me that faith in action is the most important aspect of Quaker ministry.
That means that even now, my inclination is towards the outward-facing side of Quakers. I am still uncomfortable using language about belief and religious practice that is not firmly linked to what happens in the real world. I am inspired by what Oxford Friends Action on Poverty (OxFAP) does, by the Ecumenical Accompaniment programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), by our quiet diplomacy and what it can achieve, by Quaker funding for organisations like Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), and by our placing peace workers in organisations that need them.
For about 15 years of my life, when my children were more or less grown up and it seemed possible, I was an occasional volunteer trainer/facilitator in nonviolence for Turning the Tide (TTT), at the time a staff-supported central Quaker programme. It gave me opportunities to work with a range of organisations and Meetings around the country, and even once in Kenya, when Quakers were setting up a TTT programme there which has grown and developed all over East Africa.
The way in which nonviolence creates a space for community activism and protest against injustice was and remains challenging. Advices and Queries 35 was helpful in thinking this through: “Respect the laws of the state but let your first loyalty be to God’s purposes. If you feel impelled by strong conviction to break the law, search your conscience deeply. Ask your meeting for the prayerful support which will give you strength as a right way becomes clear.”
I was and remain moved by how the challenge of First World War personal pacifism and the struggle to get it acknowledged in public life, transformed Quakers into an effective relief-giving operation. Quaker Peace and Service, and American Friends Service Committee were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 for their ‘silent assistance from the nameless to the nameless… to promote fraternity between nations’ (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1947/ceremony-speech/). Our ministry is that we must give help to anyone that needs it, regardless of what might drive us apart. ‘We may disagree with the views and actions of politicians or soldiers who opt for a military solution, but we still respect and cherish the individual person’ (Oxford Quaker Meeting Remembrance Sunday statement).
I am not good at reading Quaker books, or books about religious experience. For me, ministry is about what we do in response to our beliefs, not the beliefs themselves. I cannot pretend to have read Quaker Faith & Practice on any more than an occasional basis when I needed it. Advices and Queries 31 speaks to me, although there will be times in our lives when it is simply not possible to act on what it says.
“Remember your responsibilities as a citizen for the conduct of local, national and international affairs. Do not shrink from the time and effort your involvement may demand.”
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Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 520 • August 2022
Oxford Friends Meeting
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