Towards a quieter future

In December we had an excellent discussion about our glorious past and our current energy levels. And we decided to go for a quieter future.

We have no schedule of meetings for 2020, and no plans to create one.

There was a lot of agreement among the mince pies that afternoon. We were united in thinking that Sea of Faith Leicester has had a splendid decade or more of thought-provoking and horizon-expanding meetings.

They began when our first convener, Allan, floated the idea of a regular meeting for existing members of the network. He offered a series of options and, perhaps surprisingly, most respondents chose Saturday afternoon. Perhaps because of that, we’ve always attracted attenders from around the county, and from as far as Rutland. We also resisted getting stuck in a “second Saturday of the month” calendarial rut. We met when it suited us and, importantly, when it suited our visiting speakers. Allan’s network of contacts provided an excellent stream of those.

We kept the flexibility over meetings when, in January 2013, we moved from the Secular Hall to another historically fascinating Leicester venue, the Great Meeting. We never actually met regularly. Monthly would have been too frequent; bi-monthly not frequent enough. So we had no fixed pattern, and fell into arranging dates at the beginning of each year—always keeping the option of rejigging them depending on speakers’ availability. 

When we had no speaker planned, we perfected our relaxed, open-mic style sessions. Everyone was encouraged, if they wished, to bring something to the party—a video clip, a magazine article (often from Sofia), a book they were reading or just a quotation they’d come across. As a result of such triggers we had varied and wide-ranging discussions, and some new ideas to follow up.

Regular members also stepped in to lead sessions, presenting a longer video for discussion, or a poetry session. We also had excellent “My Journey” sessions, where one of the regular group simply spoke about their current beliefs, attitudes and habits, what brought them there and where they saw the future. Some of these were really moving, as well as revealing varieties of understanding and exploration.

 It takes a lot of people to create and sustain such a vibrant group for so long. So a warm thank you to everyone, including our many speakers and those who attended and contributed, by speaking up, or simply by listening and being part of the welcoming and appreciative audience that our speakers so valued. Thanks too to the various people who facilitated meetings, introducing speakers and maintaining order when required. We never had a formal chair, happy to rotate the role among a small handful of people, depending on the topic and the speaker. We also want to thank our hosts at the Great Meeting, especially Arthur and Annie who made us so welcome.

Special thanks must go to our “post holders”. Since our move Janet, as secretary, has been the driving force, the energy behind making it all happen. She was very well assisted by George, our treasurer and Joy, our head of catering. She had support from a planning group who met between meetings for coffee and helped with tricky decisions or organisational details.

Where now?

A quieter future doesn’t mean we are disappearing. We are a network, and will remain so. Individual members will see each other at Sea of Faith events, and other local events—some of which we may try to advertise here.

We hope to arrange occasional week-day gatherings too, perhaps coffee or lunch in Leicester for those available during the day. We will arrange these through email, another way that the group intends to remain in contact.