Reflections from a High School Clerk
Gathering has been a home to me since I was five weeks old. It has given me a way to remain in touch with the larger Quaker community; my Gathering friends and I have stayed in touch and have amazing relationships. I think that Gathering has provided an outlet for me to grow spiritually and to learn more about the religion that I was born into. I was very grateful this past summer to find that my meeting would support me to attend the Gathering in River Falls, Wisconsin as a high school clerk.
When I was first nominated for a clerking position I was nervous. I had been nominated the year before and there are always amazing candidates for the position. I knew and believed that I would be a good clerk if chosen. When my name was announced I was extremely excited.
Over the course of my time as a clerk for the High School Program, I have learned to adapt to a leadership role in Quakerism. My first spiritual experience was at Gathering but only this past summer did I gain new confidence in the established business process. I used to question the effectiveness of Quakerism and I was not sure if I could believe that the Light was behind the Quaker process. But this summer I was able to bond with other clerks and I was able to provide some demonstrative support to the community that has grown to be so utterly vital to me. Without the spiritual growth that Gathering has continued to give me, I have a feeling that I would be more disheartened about religion in general. Clerking the high school business meeting has shown me how valuable a clerk can be as a spiritual counsel. I honed my skills as a Quaker and, at the end of this experience, I finally believe that the Light has a healing power. It has a way of bringing F/friends together that is, in a word, magical.
Another lesson I learned about the Quaker business process is that the meeting should flow naturally. This is vital. If a Friend enters a meeting with too many expectations and inflexibility, the meeting will suffer as a result. The point of a Business meeting is to be led by the spirit. I learned that it is less important to finish business efficiently than to provide a spiritual grounding for the group. The Quaker process is supposed to be spiritual, as well as productive. A Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business that is too structured and stone-like can make the business seem tedious and void of spiritual basis. It sounds simple but it is still a lesson that I had to learn firsthand.
I shall give an example. This summer during the high schoolers' second Business Meeting, the group was feeling tense and stiff. In response to this atmosphere, a friend expressed her concern that the group was not spiritually bonded. In response to her comment, and without the clerks' encouragement, the whole group centered and proceeded into a spontaneous worship-sharing. This worship-sharing was unlike any that I had experienced before. Friends became emotional. It was a melding between humans that I had not witnessed previously. It is hard to describe to those that weren't there. It was unbelievable. People were laughing, crying and sharing their innermost leadings.
It was a room full of a hundred high schoolers intertwined, having a startlingly spiritual experience for four hours straight. Halfway through the meeting, the clerks came down from the clerking table one by one. Each of us was led at different points to join the group. One interesting aspect of our meeting was that it covered all the topics on the agenda without trying. This was the most important part because the group followed the natural course of the meeting and we still finished our business. Even now, I can feel the energy from that group because the support in that room was so uplifting.
Young Friends are such a powerful force in Quakerism. This force is sometimes underestimated, but it is present. We still need to develop as Quakers but so does everyone else. Needless to say, my experience this summer was fabulous and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to clerk at Gathering. It was one of the most rewarding weeks of my life.
A version of this article first appeared in the October 2007 edition of the Brooklyn Monthly Meeting Newsletter.
Barbara von Salis lives in Brooklyn, NY and currently attends Smith College. She went to her first FGC Gathering was when she was five weeks old.
