Building peace

Good morning.

Over the May bank holiday weekend, around 2,000 Quakers in Britain will gather for our Yearly Meeting. It’s our opportunity to spend time together as a community, in worship.

This year, we will be asking how we allow the Spirit to guide us to peaceful resolutions when conflicts arise. Hundreds of friends will sit together, in faith and courage, speaking openly about their experiences – including painful ones. This process is really important to Quakers. Our commitment to peace is active, not passive: it doesn’t mean ignoring or avoiding conflict, but acknowledging and working through it, within our communities in the first instance.

We will also bring the challenges currently facing the world into the light of discernment, considering our role as a faith community amidst national and international crises.

It’s easy to feel powerless, even hopeless – those who have the power to make decisions often seem far removed from the consequences of those decisions. What part do we play in building peace beyond our immediate circles? Duncan Wood served as a Quaker representative at the UN, working alongside people in positions of authority. He noticed that “their liberty of action is often circumscribed by the nature of their office: the powerful are not necessarily free”. Those of us who are not in positions of power may actually be “freer … to follow what we believe to be the will of God”, and from this position to “stand beside” those with political power “as they seek for light on the road to peace”.

May I find the courage to “stand beside” those who work for peace, in my local communities and in the wider world.

Thank you, friends.