Friends and Clerking: FGConnections, Spring 2004
Recording
by Marty Grundy
Clerks table, Executive Committee, Louisville, KY Meeting, February 7–9, 2003. From left to right: Dave Miller, Judy Purvis (working on a minute) and Marian Beane. Photograph by Bruce Birchard.
Decisions are made in a Friends’ meeting for business based on the assumption that it is possible to discern, together, God’s will for us on a given agenda item at this time. This underlying assumption influences what Friends feel needs to be recorded. Outward similarities to many secular organizations and their minutes make it easy for Friends today to slip into modes of thought and practice of the dominant culture in which we are immersed.
To remind Friends of our different orientation, several distinctive practices developed. Perhaps the most obvious is to read each minute (or at least each minute that reflects a decision) back to the group before going on to the next agenda item. While some may think this is a waste of time (and it can be somewhat tedious with an ungifted recording clerk or a nit-picking group) in the long run it not only saves time to get it right in the moment, but also prevents the kind of second guessing that can unravel a decision when, at the next meeting, folks object to the wording because it isn’t as they remembered it, or as they hoped it would be, or they weren’t there and now want to “fix” it more to their liking.
Going back to Friends’ faith in what is happening in a meeting for business, we understand that Divine Light is given to the gathered group. Those who are not present do not have the opportunity to sense the gentle movements of the Spirit, nor to have their own opinions softened by the love within the gathered body. We must trust that those who were present rightly sensed God’s will, and that the minutes written in the moment accurately reflect that sense.
Friends have traditionally avoided minuting who said what, and the steps along the way to the decision. Friends expect parts of the Truth to be expressed by various Friends, and the final wholeness to be gathered up by the clerk out of the growing sense of the meeting. Therefore the conclusion is the important thing. It is actually detrimental to the concluding sense of unity to have the minutes remind Friends of the different opinions and partial insights that eventually led to the whole.
Another difference between Friends’ minutes and those of other organizations is that Friends are clear that any insights or helpful additions to the discussion are prompted by God’s Spirit, not from individual human cleverness. Therefore the names of the individuals making the comments are not recorded. It is God’s work through them that is important. This same general rule holds for names in general. If someone presents a report in his or her capacity as clerk or representative, then the office might be noted, but it isn’t generally felt necessary to name the person. When names are given they tend to be those appointed to a specified task or committee. Then the names are important to remind Friends of who should be held accountable for properly completing the service.
Historians (and I am one of them) lament the lack of detail in many old minutes. Although the historian in me hungers for details, the Quaker in me is glad that the old Friends were faithful to the concept. Minutes were remarkably candid about misdeeds. Friends were named whose conduct gave the meeting cause for concern. They did not try to be tactful. While they might not spell out what a “difference” was about, they were clear that two named Friends had a misunderstanding that was tearing the fabric of the community. Sometimes I think that modern minutes have reversed old Friends’ practice. They tend to spell out at some length who said what in a given discussion, but they are tactful to the point of bland uselessness around naming misconduct or tensions.
There is more to taking Friends minutes than the content. The recording clerk needs certain gifts that are not given to everyone. Nominating Committees are asked to seek out who in their meeting has been given these gifts. One gift, of course, is the ability to string words together with facility so that each minute can be read back in the face of the meeting and amended until approved. Only then can the clerk proceed to the next item of business. Another gift that the recording clerk should have, is the ability to gather up the sense of the meeting.
If the presiding clerk has this gift and can articulate it clearly, then the recording clerk can just write it down and has less need for the gift him- or herself. However, it is helpful if both clerks are gifted and can test their discernment with each other. In Britain Yearly Meeting and in the Conservative tradition the clerk writes the minutes rather than having a separate recording clerk.
In my experience the service of recording the sense of a meeting (i.e. writing the minutes) is peculiarly a corporate task. There were times when I was recording for FGC’s Central Committee or Religious Education Committee when the clerk would pause after a complicated discussion and ask the body to hold me and the work in prayer. The words then flowed easily. There were times when I could begin writing the minute while Friends were still speaking because I could sense where unity was forming. Underscoring the corporateness of the work was an experience of its absence. Some years ago I was trying to write minutes for a yearly meeting group in the late afternoon after a long and somewhat fractious session. Clusters of folks were having private conversations, the clerk was trying to summarize where the discussion had gotten, and I was having a terrible time finding the words to write. People would offer phrases on slips of paper and pass them up to me. But I continued to find it difficult. In retrospect it seems clear that the group was not in unity, was not paying attention, and the Spirit was being forgotten. The body was not functioning.
Our tradition provides support for the underlying purposes of our practice. Our corporate practice can encourage us to be increasingly mindful of our dependence on Divine Guidance in our decision making. Good recording can enhance the sense of worship in our meetings for business.
