Reflections on a Faith in Action Gathering

Together with local Friends, we looked at what lies at the root of conflicts which might develop as climate breakdown worsens, and what routes we me have to climate resilience.

[QUOTE-START]

'Everything we needed to be doing to respond to the crisis, that community building, we need to be doing it now.'

[QUOTE-END]

Designing this gathering began several months beforehand with a message from Local Development Worker for Wales, Helen, suggesting that we might want to speak to Aberystwyth local meeting as they were planning a year of events. The process of planning the event with local Friends was thoroughly enjoyable and gave us an insight into what might be of most value to them.

We started the day with a scenario where each group took on the role of a community action taskforce responding to a flood and its aftermath in Aberystwyth. Each group was given an individual to focus on: a refugee with limited Welsh or English, a single Mum in insecure accommodation, an eighty-year-old man reluctant to leave his home and a Jewish woman experiencing abuse in the fallout from the flood. Walking around, animated conversations made it clear the groups were taking the task seriously – as one person said 'the awful thing is… this could happen.' Another reflected on how they had about three days' worth of tinned soup in the house and how hard it would be to share it if there was no sign of when supermarkets might be able to reopen.

As we debriefed the morning, the importance of building community now that will hold strong later emerged. One person felt Aberystwyth had a lot that would stand it in good stead: 'we rejected quite strongly the premise that we wouldn't be able to cope'. Others highlighted that you can afford to be generous when there's enough and any kind of 'us and them' would start to emerge in such a scenario. After some worship sharing, we agreed that the afternoon would focus on the topic of communities strong enough to hold trust in difficult times.

Perhaps a steep ask, but our challenge for the afternoon was to plan one action we could take before the end of the day to take one step towards the kind of community we wanted. Talk turned to how multiple small interactions can increase a sense of connectedness in a world where we are so atomised. At this point, two Friends said they were 'terrified' by the idea of speaking to a stranger. We agreed that a public meeting for worship – in the wind and cold – was a level of discomfort we could all live with. However, it was after we shook hands by the seafront and walked home something really felt like it was beginning. We scrawled 'Mae cymuned yn bosib/ Community is possible' on the pavement in chalk. Song broke out spontaneously on the walk back to the venue. As some of us packed up chairs, the piano began to play.

Ten minutes of conspicuously public prayer in the freezing rain had prompted a creativity that all our shared soup and thoughtful conversation had not. As we parted ways, I was reminded of the Canterbury commitment: 'Only a demanding common task builds community.'

If you'd like a speaker from Quaker Peace & Social Witness to visit your meeting and talk about the Quakers in Britain peace and social witness work, please let us know at qpsw@quaker.org.uk.