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Friends United Meeting |
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November 2000
A Year of Sabbath Rest and Jubilee in New York Yearly Meeting
By Linda Bishop Chidsey
This story of how New York Yearly Meeting responded to a call to observe a year of Sabbath rest and Jubilee is a story still unfolding. Like all stories concerning discernment and response to a call, this story is inherently a story about faithfulness and trust.
As we try to trace the origins and development of a call or leading, we later come to see its beginnings long before the call became clear, before we said "yes" with a deep and utter sense of conviction. And while in retrospect we can recognize that which was divinely ordered and guided, our experience along the way is sometimes fraught with confusion and uncertainty.
Each year, the Coordinating Committee for Ministry and Counsel of New York Yearly Meeting holds a retreat weekend in the fall where we make a conscious decision and concerted effort to reserve a significant portion of one day for worship and fellowship, as we hold the deep leadings and concerns of the Yearly Meeting in our hearts and minds.
At our retreat last October, we considered the query, "Where is God calling us in this time of transition within the Yearly Meeting?" Themes of letting go, trusting and resting in God arose. A number of messages spoke of a need to listen for what might be emerging, rather than trying to make something happen--so often our inclination in times of uncertainty and change. Paradoxically, we also found ourselves experiencing a renewed energy to take up our work, and even expand upon it.
By the end of the day, the Committee felt a clear leading to observe a year of Sabbath rest and Jubilee, acknowledging the graciousness of God and the giftedness within our Yearly Meeting. Drawn more deeply into waiting worship, the desire to listen for divine guidance, and a commitment to respond to God's direction in joy, we felt led to extend an invitation to the other Yearly Meeting Sections to join with us in our decision.
When the invitation was brought to Yearly Meeting planning committees and then to Representative Meeting in December, it was received with deep and quiet enthusiasm. While there were questions as to what this might mean, the leading seemed to speak to the condition of the Yearly Meeting as a whole, as well as to the movement of the Spirit within the other sections. The Witness Coordinating Committee Clerk shared the committee's recent experience of coming to unity around a call to reflect and focus on issues of restorative, economic and environmental justice.
In spite of having responded to this call, over the next several months many of us found ourselves asking, "So just what is it we've said 'yes' to?" Our questioning led us to scripture and other writings to explore further what Jubilee and Sabbath had historically meant to a people of God; how these topics might have been understood and lived into by early Friends; and what their relevance might be for us today.
Turning to Leviticus, we read:
For six years you may sow your fields and for six years prune your
vineyards and gather the harvest, but in the seventh year the land shall
keep a sabbath of sacred rest, a sabbath to the Lord. (25:3-4)
And: You shall count seven sabbaths of years, that is seven times seven years, forty-nine years, and in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement, you shall send the ram's horn around. You shall send it through all your land to sound a blast, and so you shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberation in the land for all its inhabitants. You shall make this your year of Jubilee. (25:8-10)
We took up the words of Jesus in Luke:
The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me: he has
sent me to announce good news to the poor, to proclaim release for prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind; to let the broken victim go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Luke 4:18-19
More questions arose: What is meant by the "year of the Lord's favor?" How are contemporary Friends to understand Sabbath when we choose to live every moment sacramentally? What is the relation between Sabbath and Jubilee, resting in God and releasing the captives?
Some Friends wondered about the "Quakerliness" of these terms and expressed the fear of taking up what early Friends so vehemently rejected--the observance of Sabbath as an empty form, shadow as opposed to substance. In observing a year of Sabbath rest and Jubilee, might we be jumping on the millennial bandwagon, donning the cloak of other more mainstream churches? We wondered what early Friends had written about these topics, and why contemporary Friends apparently had so little to say. Could we find a Quaker context in which to think about the call we were experiencing?
We grappled with these questions over the course of several months. Whenever we would come to an impasse, I would return inwardly to the October Ministry and Counsel retreat and once again relive the experience of authentic call. It served as a touchstone for me. Then I would be led to prayerfully engage the questions once again. My experience told me Friends, both early and late, are no strangers to resting in God nor acting out of a deep concern for the poor and the captive.
Indeed, the raising up of these challenging questions led many to delve
more deeply into the writings of George Fox, William Penn, John Woolman,
Job Scott and others, seeking to uncover what early Friends wrote about
the need for "times of retirement," and bearing witness to Truth.
William Penn spoke powerfully of a holy contemplative rhythm:
"The Christian convent and monastery is within where the soul
is encloistered from sin. And this religious house, the true followers
of Christ carry about with them, who exempt not themselves from the conversation
of the world, though they keep themselves from the evil of the world in
their conversation. True godliness doesn't turn men out of the world,
but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavors to
mend it."
Planning for Yearly Meeting sessions in February and March, we found ourselves faced with the challenge of developing a weekly schedule both reflecting and inviting Friends into the experience and reality of Jubilee and Sabbath rest--something we were struggling to understand ourselves! To plan and prepare for a year of Jubilee at Yearly Meeting sessions, we needed to begin the practice of living into Sabbath rest and Jubilee together--beginning right away. How could we possibly "set the table," and invite others into something we had not yet tasted ourselves? It was at this point that we began to "get it"--"it" being the degree of radical trust and faithfulness required throughout this process.
Our weekend meetings were scheduled to provide ample time for worship around these topics, as well as worshipful discussion of how we might go about "setting the table" for Yearly Meeting. Occasionally expressions of anxiety, annoyance, frustration and the desire to "get on with things" arose over the course of these weekends. Nonetheless, we continued to open ourselves to the possibility that work could indeed be done, perhaps with even greater ease, within a context of Sabbath rest and Jubilee.
Following the Coordinating Committees weekend in March, the clerks of the Committees wrote a letter to each committee in their respective Section, inviting and encouraging participation in this "new" way of being, worshipping and working together. Readings on Sabbath and Jubilee were shared more broadly, letters describing plans for Yearly Meeting were sent to monthly meetings, and articles were written and included in our Yearly Meeting publication. One of the larger regional meetings invited Friends from the Coordinating Committees to speak on these topics at their Spring Gathering.
Friends arrived at Yearly Meeting in late July to a schedule and, many would say, a spirit unlike that of recent years. A feeling of spaciousness allowed a rhythm for deeper fellowship and holy encounter. Time for rest and re-creation was scheduled each day after lunch, and more time was provided between activities and meetings to allow for more leisurely transition.
Opportunities for worship, both programmed and unprogrammed, were rich and varied. Several Friends brought messages related to the theme of Jubilee, to which the body responded out of the silence. A guided meditation on forgiveness and reconciliation was a powerful experience for many, and an evening session, "How Does Truth Prosper Among Us?" provided the occasion to reflect upon the significant times and events of our Yearly Meeting during the last ten years.
This year, for the first time, the Young Adult Concerns Committee provided readings at breakfast each morning. These spiritual readings reminded us that even in the midst of ordinary and "mundane" activities, we can pause, listen, and allow ourselves to be drawn into the silence, into the presence of God. Worship sharing groups, for many the highlight of Yearly Meeting, met each morning as has long been our custom.
In-depth study groups were held over a three day period, and included such topics as Simplicity and Good Order in Financial Stewardship; John Woolman's Remembrance: A Plea for the Poor; Proclaiming Jubilee; Care Giving and Receiving; and an Intergenerational Bible Study, offered by Paul Anderson, our Bible study leader.
Taking up the business of the Yearly Meeting, our desire and intent in this year of Sabbath rest and Jubilee was to gather in worship, opening ourselves anew to God's guidance and direction for our lives. Undistracted by busyness, we longed to listen deeply to where God might be calling us, and to then respond.
On Monday and Wednesday, Friends gathered for Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Leadings. Unlike our usual meetings for worship with attention to business, there was no set agenda. No presentation of "decision items" was planned, although if Friends were to unite in a decision, that decision would be recorded.
On Monday the Clerk read the first "Advice" from our Book
of Faith and Practice:
From the beginnings of our Society, we have considered it necessary
to assemble frequently for the purpose of public worship held in expectant
waiting for divine guidance, thereby manifesting our belief in and dependence
upon our Creator. Meeting for worship is fundamental for us, and we should
be diligent and punctual in attendance. We seek, through communion with
God, the strengthening influence of the Holy Spirit to enable us to discharge
with fidelity the services we owe to God, to each other, and to all people.
Friends responded, as led, out of the silence.
Tuesday evening, following a plenary session on companioning with those whose life experiences are different from our own, a member of Montclair Meeting rose to describe the discernment of a leading to work in Burundi, where she would join in setting up a trauma, healing and reconciliation center. A travel minute from the monthly meeting was read, and the Clerk of the Yearly Meeting read an endorsement forwarded by the Regional Meeting. The assembled body then directed the Clerk to endorse the travel minute on behalf of the Yearly Meeting.
A number of specific and well-defined items required decisions or action by the Yearly Meeting during our sessions--nominations and resignations, representation to the New York State Community of Churches Collegium, the receipt of reports. These items were proposed to the Yearly Meeting as part of a "consent agenda," an agenda where various items, posted in advance, were proposed to be acted on without discussion on the floor. Friends were asked to review the proposed actions, and seek answers to questions or concerns prior to the meeting when the "consent agenda" would be brought forward. Sources of information and names of persons who could be consulted were provided with each item. Had substantive issues or concerns been raised, that item would have been removed from the "consent agenda".
For me, one of the most significant gifts of this Yearly Meeting was given each day following lunch when the leadership of the Yearly Meeting--clerk, assistant clerk, recording and section clerks--met for worship to hold one another and the Yearly Meeting in prayer.
Now the challenge becomes, how might we "set the table," prepare ourselves and invite others to enter into a continuation of the spirit of worship experienced at Yearly Meeting sessions? What form will our meetings for business take? Will we continue to make use of a "consent agenda?" How might a connectedness between worship, fellowship, business and plenary sessions be preserved? In what ways might we be guided into a deeper and quieter pace? How best can we nurture, mentor and invite younger Friends into the life of the Yearly Meeting? And how best might we listen, hear and respond to Friends who found aspects of this Yearly Meeting perplexing, even counterproductive to their understanding of what we should be about?
In saying "yes" to the call to observe a year of Sabbath rest and Jubilee, we have said "yes" to an opportunity to enter a "time out of time." Putting aside business as usual, I believe we have both created and found a spaciousness wherein we can more intentionally place ourselves before God. In our desire to listen deeply and to hear what may be required of us, we hope to be open to new leadings, to engage the larger questions, to respond in confidence and joy.
Recently I have found myself returning to the words of Isaac Penington:
Take heed, dear Friends to the promptings of love and truth in your
hearts, which are the leadings of God.
It strikes me that this year of Sabbath rest and Jubilee has been about just this--the earnest desire to take heed to the promptings of love and truth in our hearts. As we plan for December Representative Meeting, and as this year draws to a close, my prayer for our Yearly Meeting is that we will be drawn ever more deeply into a disciplined and ongoing practice of faithful listening and faithful living.
Copyright (c) 2000 Friends United Meeting
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