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Friends United Meeting |
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December 2005
Reflections from the World Gathering of Young Friends
“Where we explored the theme of the vine and the branches
we found that its fruits are born from love.
We have experienced what Love can do in this Gathering,
now let us try what it can do in the world.”
From the World Gathering of Young Friends Epistle
By Yuri Komarov, Russia:
Every event at the gathering was significant for me in a different way. Whilst I was at the workshops I learned a lot about Quaker activities and how Quaker organizations and individuals put their faith into practice. I hope this knowledge will help me in my future work assisting in the development of Russian civil society.
The base group sessions, which I co-facilitated, helped me to live out the personal experience of Young Friends in my base group. This experience of reflecting on our own spiritual journeys was Spirit-led, sincere and sometimes painful. We tried to get to know each other on a deeper level, bearing in mind respect and confidentiality. I believe we did. That was the time to reflect on your own life as well. That is why these sessions contributed a lot to my personal spiritual growth.
Full group sessions left a permanent impression. Every day we had an opportunity to be guided by Young Friends of different Quaker traditions from different parts of the world. Being all together we could feel the Spirit fill our hearts with love and joy. The excursion to the marvellous Swarthmoor Hall let us touch the spirit of the 1652 country and the Spirit which inspired George Fox and the early Quakers.
It is hard for me to see fully how the Gathering transformed my life because too little time has passed. I had two difficulties being at the Gathering: lack of time (or energy!) to think over the events which happened, and because of the language barrier, I couldn’t deeply appreciate others’ experiences nor express myself adequately. However, I feel that I learned how to be more full of love, and more joyful, tolerant and patient facing different challenges in my life.
By Elena Naidinskaya, Russia (Translation by Johan Maurer):
I admit honestly that before arriving at the gathering in Lancaster I didn’t know much about contemporary Quakers. My sole model was Moscow Monthly Meeting, where gatherings consist of people who are getting up in years and who have little in common with young people. I was afraid that the people I would find at the meeting would be boring, deeply immersed in themselves or in round-the-clock prayer. In actuality, young Friends are very diverse: some with faith in God, others without much faith; some high-spirited, others pensive; some dreamers, others realists; people from a variety of professions and backgrounds. What united them was an openness of character and the trust with which they related to each other. I met many artistically gifted people; they danced beautifully, sang, played various musical instruments, spoke many foreign languages.
The young people who came to the gathering included several who struck my eye as unusual: a young woman, dressed exclusively in the clothing of early Friends; a man dressed as a woman; and several others whose outlook on the world would have been judged harshly by the typical Russian on the street. The official religion of Russia is Eastern Orthodoxy, from which, in large part, our people’s moral standards are derived. For this reason (to take one example) it’s hard for us, and for me personally, to accept homosexual relationships and homosexual marriages. In Western Europe this would not be a big problem for most people. For this reason, in my WGYF base group, which included several Russians, three Americans and several participants from “Old Europe,” we had an animated discussion that lasted so long we almost missed dinner.
On the whole, the World Gathering of Young Friends left me with very good impressions. One-on-one discussions with several participants served as an impetus to reflections on the substance of our faith and about the path young people are taking in their spiritual searches. This one thing was clear-the one Lord leads us through life and we are all the Lord’s children. Of this the Lancaster gathering was a confirmation.
By Greg Woods, United States:
Sometimes words escape me when I try to eloquently describe a powerful experience. Interactions with other Friends at the gathering challenged me to be a better Friend, to speak my truth to others more, and to deepen my own spirituality.
My base group (a group that met together daily) was bilingual with both Spanish and English and included several Latin American Evangelical Quakers. They helped me to see the Bible in a new light. Where I grew up in mid-Missouri, most of my experience with the Bible came from evangelical Christians who used the Bible against people, to condemn them for their sins. This caused me not to read the Bible before. But during our base group sessions the Latin Americans Friends shared how the Bible helped them reach God and they talked about their love of Jesus coming from this holy book. Since coming back from the conference I have started reading the Bible.
At the conference, the whole group worshipped together up to 5 hours a day. During these worship times, I realized I want more worship in my own life. During the conference I felt the loss of African and Indian Friends who had their visas to England denied.
During the first couple days, I was even angry about it. Immediately the conference took action with forming an ad-hoc committee to talk about this and after a week of planning they decided to hold another gathering in Kenya on October 20-24. Each section of the world, besides Africa, appointed two representatives to go to this gathering. At the end of the gathering I realized I want to work with high school age youth more and deepen my spirituality and help others on their spiritual journey.
By Rachel Stacy, United States:
As 226 people from over 40 different countries, speaking over 20 different languages, met together, the metaphor found in John 15 comparing God to a vine and humanity to the branches dominated our thoughts and our actions. What fruit will we bear from this gathering? What will come of this gathered people?
Many of the fruits of this World Gathering will not become ripe until years from now. Participants from the 1985 World Gathering in Greensboro, North Carolina are settled into leadership positions 20 years after being gathered. It may take 20 years or more for the participants of the 2005 World Gathering to notice the effects, or it may be much sooner.
A group met after two Friends spoke of visions of uniting Friends meetings and churches together along bridges of love. A story was told about the wisdom of a child who spoke in a meeting for business, “If a group of us goes down to Latin America, then they will get the schools and services they need, and if a group of them come north to us, then maybe we will learn how to pray.” We all have much to give and receive from one another, and much to learn. How will we break through our routines of isolation to love one another?
This committee, now named Puentes de Amor (Bridges of Love), hopes to bloom into an organization that will help establish and nurture relationships between yearly and monthly meetings. Members from eight different countries hope to meet in February to establish this organization.
Another organization emerging is the recreation of Young Friends of North America (YFNA), which was laid down in the 1990s. There is new energy, hope and need for a network of Young Friends committed to living their faith. A visioning conference may be held in June 2006 to discuss this possibility and all Young Adults interested in becoming involved are welcome to attend.
Overall, one of the largest results thus far is the challenge to live and witness our beliefs as members of the Religious Society of Friends, as Christians and as members of this world. We, as an emerging international family of Friends, want to open our hearts to each other. We want to bring the love of our commitment to the Divine to everyone we visit as individuals and as a wider community, and hold each other and the other members of our society accountable for living a life of Truth and of Christ.
Our next step was to involve Young Friends from Africa who were not able to come to the 2005 World Gathering by holding a conference in October in Mombassa, Kenya. As members of the younger generation emerge as equals among the older members of our Religious Society, we want to be a united community in our love for each other, God and the world.