Issue 11-03-2022
Featured story
Age of majority: Clare Phillips’ Thought for the Week
According to a recent poll commissioned by the International Committee of the Red Cross, a majority of millennials (people aged twenty to thirty-five), across sixteen countries and territories, support the new UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The detail shows that eighty-six per cent of Russians (and ninety-two...
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‘Peace begins with me’
Quakers in Kyiv have thanked international Friends for their support and ‘Friendly prayers’, describing them as ‘very encouraging and comforting’. The situation in the country is ‘very difficult’, they told the Friend. ‘There is a war going on. There are many civilian casualties. However, Ukrainians have rallied and are working...
Changing the narrative: Chris Hunter on why war in Ukraine is not the end of the story
Finding words for the situation in Ukraine today is challenging; words simply seem inadequate. And yet those words, with our prayers and our actions, are important to our friends and colleagues in Ukraine. These are the peaceful citizens of a young, democratic nation subjected to the terrifying military might of...
Article of faith: Called to be faithful by Oliver Robertson
Friends, let us hold in the Light the people of Ukraine. Let us hold in the Light the people of Russia. Let us hold in the Light the people of Afghanistan. Let us hold in the Light the people of Ethiopia. Let us hold in the Light the people of...
To my sisters and brothers
As a child I was taught that the Russians and the Ukrainians had a long history of persecuting the Jews. My ancestors were refugees from Lithuania, My heart bleeds for the people of Ukraine and their supporters in Russia. And for the peoples of Palestine and Israel. For the persecuted...
Meeting for Sufferings: Sombre start
Although Meeting for Sufferings did not fully consider Ukraine until Sunday morning, Friends were understandably concerned with the subject all weekend. So in this issue we have deviated from our usual chronological report and added Oliver Robertson’s introduction to Sunday’s worship, on page 14. The rest of the account...
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Quaker co-writes World Prayer Day liturgy
A Friend has written about her experiences as a Quaker representative for this year’s World Day of Prayer (WDP).
QUNO: Transform root causes of climate crisis
Quakers have called for ‘urgent, fair and transformative’ action to transform the root causes driving climate change. Members of the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) made a number of interventions at the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in February.
Removing noise restrictions on protests ‘top priority’, say BYM
Friends have expressed their frustration about last Monday’s changes to the Policing Bill, in which MPs voted down ‘the positive changes’ made by members of the House of Lords in January. ‘Disappointing. But it’s not over yet,’ Grace Da Costa, public affairs and media manager for Britain Yearly...
Meeting for Sufferings: Review of YM/YMG
Saturday morning was chilly for those Friends gathered in The Light. The room garners its environmental credentials from using body heat. Unfortunately this needs 100 or more people to be present; it was easier to settle when a heater was brought in.
Meeting for Sufferings: Simplification
Speaking to a report on simplification, Carolyn Hayman of BYM trustees acknowledged that this work needed to connect with other structural reviews. The simplification working group was comprised of members of central committes and included younger Friends. Its vision statement looked to ‘joyful participation’ in Quaker work, and workshops held...
Full flow: Angela Ormrod reports from Meeting of Friends in Wales/Crynwyr Cymru
When fifty Friends from all four Area Meetings met, it was just as well that it was by Zoom: many areas were still recovering from the previous week’s storms.
Letters - 11 March 2022
Pacifism The Russian invasion of Ukraine distresses us beyond words, as we have made many working visits there, most recently in 2019, and have dear friends in several of the cities under attack. In past situations we have sometimes heard a Friend say: ‘I can’t remain a pacifist over...