Won't Get Fooled Again

[poliphilo]

 "I think we were wrong to close the Meeting House during lockdown," he said.

And the three of us who were having this conversation agreed.

"Some clergy did refuse to close their churches," said another of us.

"And what happened?"

"They may have been fined."

"And did they pay the fines?"

Shrug.

And then we got to discussing the Hancock whatsapps- and how they show just how he and his gang were ramping up the fear.

Hancock- the same guy who later went on a gameshow and ate bugs and kangaroo anuses for the entertainment of the masses and in order to display his "human side"- what a pipsqueak!

Next time this happens- and the likes of Hancock tell us to do things that go against our higher instincts there will be more- and better organised- non-compliance. First time they caught us on the hop. Next time we'll see them coming. 

Would George Fox- founder of the Society of Friends- have obeyed an order to discontinue his meetings? Course not. He'd have had something to say. Something coruscating. And he'd have gone to prison rather than knuckle under.

Comments

What would George Fox have done?

[lauradi7dw]

I wondered. It seemed to me that we could make a good guess by seeing what he actually did when faced with a deadly contagious disease outbreak (the 1665 Bubonic plague in London and thereabouts). The answer is that he was in prison for the duration, so we don't get to see whether he chose to be in a meetinghouse or preached out in fields, which he had done earlier in his life.
I am glad to have spent the time with Wikipedia. I knew a little about George, but nothing about Margaret. She was fascinating.

[heleninwales]

As I've said before, we don't have a meeting house, but our Local Meeting moved to Zoom for the duration. It was a way of keeping in touch and holding meetings when it wasn't safe to be together. We do still use the Zoom because we now do blended meetings. We meet twice a week month face-to-face but I take the laptop and yesterday there were three of us in person and two joining remotely. One member has just adopted a new dog and can't leave him alone for the time it would take to travel to meeting, attend and then travel back. We're hoping the dog may actually be able to join us in future. Dolobran (one of the oldest meeting houses) near the Welsh border usually has a couple of dogs who attend.

Re: What would George Fox have done?

[poliphilo]

The early Quakers were an awe-inspiring bunch of people.

[poliphilo]

We only started going to Meeting last summer, after lockdown ended. Our lot had been zooming, but that came to an end- just before we joined up- when the clerk- who had been working the technology- resigned (in circumstances that no-one we've spoken to can fully explain.)

One of our elders has a little dog she sometimes brings.

[heleninwales]

When I said "twice a week" above, I meant twice a month. We are too few to hold so many meetings!

[poliphilo]

I did think that showed unusual keenness. We're a biggish town and muster a Sunday attendance in the low to mid teens.