Born again, the Living Presence, repentence, and other Christian jargon

Apparently, at least one FGC Yearly Meeting has restored the practice of asking for written replys to Queries from its monthly meetings. I admire the effort and hope it spreads. But if the following response is typical and indicative of the state of our Society, I must confess some disappointment.

The first query was:

In what ways has the Living Presence awakened my faith and turned me around?

Set aside that his query is clearly addressed to individuals and not to the meeting as a whole, which is another issue. Here is one large monthly meeting's written response. (I should note that I have a personal and affectionate relationship with this meeting, and have the utmost love and respect for the reporters who summarized the meeting's response.):

Although a few Friends were able to speak of personal experience of a Living presence or of remarkable changes in life direction, a number shared that [this] query did not speak to them or describe their experience. The "turning around," while commonly described in the journals of early Friends, is not a comfortable phrase for some because it feels to them like born-again Christian "jargon," outside their sense of credulity [sic]. In fact, for most of us, the awakening of faith can be described as more an experience of gradual maturation than a sudden "road to Damascus" whammy [sic]. Thus . . . Friends didn't have much to say on the topic and so the sharing quickly departed from the query and focused more on the personal experiences of coming to Friends and on the life of the Meeting. Some spoke of making progress in dealing with personal problems, such as growing through their anger or past feelings of homophobia where the Meeting community has been supportive and non-judgmental. Others spoke of the value of meeting for worship as a place to experience the Living Presence through the examples and spoken messages of others. Listening in that setting and being open and vulnerable has led some to valuable openings.

Some Friends have no experience of God and do not share the "beliefs" that are professed in Christian churches. They come to meeting for worship because in that respectful setting, they are encouraged to listen and ponder, experiencing "belief" as a personal journey. Also, it is the "social gospel" of friends -- the living practice of service that many find makes them feel comfortable in our midst and want to come back.

Finally, the "turning around" metaphor reminded one Friend of those rare times when unbidden feelings of love an come quite suddenly from a source outside ourselves and provide the energy to go beyond our fears and relate to another in an open state of grace.

The unregenerated part of me was tempted to only post the first half of the first paragraph to emphasize how far afield modern liberal Friends have come from their ostensible heritage.

But then I realized that wouldn't be fair to the meeting since some of the subsequent comments showed some apprehension of the experience of convincement and conversion that is so central to the Quaker understanding of how things are. And the reference to the "experience of gradual maturation" accurately describes my experience of being born again, and I believe is consistent with how Friends have generally understood this experience.

And I give it points for sincerity. No cheap grace or false professors here. No goody-Quaker-two-shoes who know what the answer to the query should be. For this honesty I admire and respect them.

But still.

Do the concepts of the Living Presence, repentance, of turning around, really sound to modern Quakers like "jargon?" Do we really expect a query to make us feel "comfortable?" Do we feel free to recast an uncomfortable query in terms of experiencing the meeting as "supportive and non-judgmental?"

I would understand if they would say, "No, I haven't experienced a Living Presence that has turned my life around. But I'm still looking for it" or "We feel ourselves being turned around, but gradually." Either would be pretty close to my own answer.

And I'm all for Friends meetings serving as safe havens for seekers and doubters. That's one of the most imporant ministries I think we provide, and one that is too often overlooked.

But to write off the experience of convincement as "born-again Christian jargon" as if being born again were alien to Quakerism just p-----s me off, frankly.

I guess I still have a lot of repenting to do.

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Note: Beppeblog has a lengthy comment on this post here.