Culture Articles
Found poem in three voices
Greece Greece is gripped by the spectre of isolation beneath the surface is deep fear and anger A bloated and corrupt centre has sucked the economy dry Most Greeks want to stay in the EU as guarantee against Turkey where memories go back to age old enmity
The frescoes of Assisi
Perched on the side of a hill, in the depths of the green heart of Italy, lies a remarkable medieval town seemingly untouched by time. Assisi is situated in the beautiful region of Umbria, a land of high hills gently bathed in layers of soft mist. This is a land...
Her mother’s eyes
‘Faith makes one a pioneer, a trailblazer; it turns the traffic lights from amber to green. While we rely on the power of the self we are much more likely to dither or retire. Trusting in the Power Beyond means having a sense that all will be well. Our mission...
Tree of Life
Beautiful Friendship is a sheltering tree A special connection between you and me Love and support… Are the branches and leaves With space in-between For our Spirits to grow and fly free
A healing grace
When Elaine Pryce was sixteen her four-year-old brother drowned. She blamed herself for this and so did her family. Her Pendle Hill pamphlet, Grief, forgiveness and redemption as a way of transformation, gives a most moving account of her journey ‘through a labyrinth of learnings… to forgiveness and acceptance’.
‘Are you a Holy Man, Dad?’
Alarmed, I looked at the boy; was I a kill-joy? Did I look askance at fun?
A Pump in Africa
Here’s water, as the human eye can’t see it. Maybe God’s eye, or a fly’s, the mirror-ball of timelessness, the almost-insubstantial lacewing’s gold eye, can.
Quaker Artists Network
Today, the arts are clearly important to many Friends, as demonstrated by the continuing uptake of Appleseed and other art-based courses and retreats, occasional events organised by Quaker Meetings, and the work of the Leaveners and the Quaker Tapestry.
If you sit very still…
If You Sit Very Still explores the hidden area of traumatic loss, brutality and the restoration of the human spirit. In 1994, twenty-one years after her unexplained disappearance, Lucy Partington’s remains were discovered in the basement of 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester.
We are the weather…
We are the weather That rolls across the face of God… Who sighs in the sea Breathes in the wood Claps His hands across the mountain Weeps in the sky.