It beats us how Friends chose from all the myriad of activities at Summer Gathering.

We watched that lethal game, croquet, being learned and played on the grass by a lake.

Our news editor, who appears to have played this game in the past, explained a little of it to us - 'it's like bridge, full of plotting and naughty strategies. The entire aim is to drive your opponents out of the game.'

So much for Quakerliness!

But there were many other more meditative pursuits for gatherers, including a continuous worship space on the campus, in a gazebo near the main marquee.

The purpose here, we understand, was to experience Meeting as early Quakers did, with no time limit. Another aid to meditation was a labyrinth mown into the grass. There was yoga and Pilates, dance, poetry reading, screenwriting, storytelling - and even a reflection on the George Cadbury story, so entertainingly told in George and the Chocolate Factory (which was staged at the Gathering).

As Eye drove off campus, feeling less guilty thanks to Roy and his trike, we reflected that the planning committee's hoped-for inclusive community at Stirling had certainly flowered.

Labels: summergathering

Of course Eye does listen to sessions at big Quaker gatherings, but we feel our best role is to gauge the general mood among Friends.

The four-yearly Summer Gathering is a spiritual encounter, helping us to remind ourselves why we became Quakers in the first place. It is a thoughtful time.

Even the 'action' part of the gathering's theme Faith into Action had first to be grounded in this way.

So we were not surprised to be told by our Friend Kurt Strauss the reason he found the Faslane outing so moving. Not because of the biggest Meeting for Worship ever at the site, not because of the Japanese blockade or the water brought by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors from their own 'ground zero' to sprinkle on Friends' hands; no, it was what happened after one Friend fainted.

'Her head just missing a boulder, her specs rescued in the nick of time before she could roll over onto them', he recounted to us. 'Within seconds there appeared water, sugar, a canvas chair, an umbrella to shade her from the sun and the focused thoughts and prayers of the worshipping group.'

Labels: summergathering