Issue 03-04-2015
Featured story
Thought for the Week: The spirit of Christ
Often I am drawn to experiences of early Friends and their talk about the movements within that they felt and shared with the early Quaker community. Sometimes George Fox’s words expressed it as ‘Christ has come to teach his people himself’.
Top stories
Peter’s denial
The story of Peter’s denial and subsequent repentance is one of the most dramatic episodes in the Easter narrative. Jesus had been arrested and taken to the house of the high priest. He was being abused and ill-treated. It was dark and cold in the courtyard outside, so someone...
Darkness and new life
Fifteen years ago I was approaching forty. It seemed like time to live my values more authentically. From my late teens I had been committed to working for sustainability. In my mid-twenties I had become a Quaker. Now, perhaps, these two threads could come together. The following years were the...
My resurrection
Several years ago I very nearly died – so nearly that the nurse caring for me burst into tears, which may be the loveliest compliment I was ever given. I don’t often talk about it because I can hardly describe the feeling of reassurance, peace and warmth which enveloped me,...
Fields of Blood
There is much in Karen Armstrong’s new book Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence that is of importance to Quakers. The author says that she embarked upon writing it in order to counteract the common misconception that wars and large-scale violence are caused by religion. In...
Understanding Nonviolence
In 2006 Erica Chenoweth, of Denver University, spent a week at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC). She was sceptical about the power and potential of nonviolence. She had, like most people, internalised the idea that ultimate power flows from the barrel of a gun. Her open scepticism did not...
All articles
Meeting for Sufferings: The plight of asylum seekers
The plight of destitute asylum seekers was one of the subjects highlighted at Meeeting for Sufferings held in the George Fox Room at Friends House on Saurday 28 March. Sheila Mosley of the Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) spoke to the paper Asylum Seekers: Destitution. This included minutes from five...
Meeting for Sufferings: BYM trustees
Meeting for Sufferings was thanked by the clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) trustees, Jennifer Barraclough, for its contribution to creating a productive relationship between the two bodies. A verbal report on the meeting of BYM trustees, which had been held the previous day on Friday 27 March, was given.
Meeting for Sufferings: Muslims in Britain
A brief written introduction was given on the subject of Muslims in Britain. Friends wishing to know more were encouraged to use resources such as the internet, local libraries or bookshops. They were also urged to speak to local Muslims. Friends heard how Muslims account for a disproportionate number of...
Meeting for Sufferings: Q-CAT report
‘Torture weakens the civil society that condones it’ was one of the phrases from an introduction to a report on the work of the Quaker Concern for the Abolition of Torture (Q-CAT) that resonated with representatives of Sufferings. Juliet Morton and Jane Laxton reported on the work of Q-CAT, explained...
Meeting for Sufferings: Long Term Framework
There has been a ‘fantastic response’ to an appeal for initial contributions to the Long Term Framework Working Group, Peter Christy reported to Meeting for Sufferings. He spoke to an interim report and said that there had been some 330 responses from Meetings, groups and individuals. He particularly highlighted the contribution...
Meeting for Sufferings: Letter of greeting to Ireland YM
Meeting for Sufferings approved a letter that is to be sent to Ireland Yearly Meeting on behalf of Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM). Ireland Yearly Meeting will be held at the Dromantine Conference Centre, in Northern Ireland, from 9 to 12 April. The 2015 letter described the four main strands of BYM’s work...
Meeting for Sufferings: Tabular statement concern
Gloucestershire Area Meeting brought to Meeting for Sufferings the suggestion that the Religious Society of Friends might cease to ask its members and attenders to declare a specific gender in forthcoming tabular statements. The invitation to consider the idea, contained in a minute for Sufferings, followed discernment among Friends at...
Meeting for Sufferings: The end of the triennium
Meeting for Sufferings ended with prayerful reflection and thanksgiving for Friends’ service over the past three years.
Friend joins Burghfield blockade
Emma Anthony of Oxford Area Meeting was one of seven protesters who formed a blockade at Burghfield Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) on Monday 30 March. The protesters arrived at Burghfield at 6.30am, chained their hands together and lay in the gateway to prevent vehicles from entering the base.
Historic double wedding
Two same sex couples held a joint Meeting for Marriage at Oxford Meeting House on Saturday 28 March. Jon Brown and Steve Hope, and Sandra Figgess and Jill Green, said that they intended the Meeting ‘to celebrate not only our relationships, but also the contribution of the Society of Friends in...
FWCC welcomes new member
The Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) welcomed the New Association of Friends at the Section of the Americas annual meeting in Mexico City in March.
Friends’ carbon footprint efforts pay off
Camden Climate Change Alliance has recognised Friends House as a Carbon Champion. The Carbon Champion mark is awarded to organisations in Camden, or working in Camden, that are taking the lead and demonstrating to others how to succeed at carbon management and reduction. Organisations are required to produce a carbon...
Eye - 03 April 2015
The promise of spring and hope ‘Brilliant white to heal the outpouring of November red’ – this is the vision for a recent planting project at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. On 14 March twelve young people aged eleven to eighteen, supported by members of Gloucestershire Area Meeting, arrived bearing 1,500 snowdrops.
Letters - 03 April 2015
Tunbridge Wells’ Stepping Stones Project West Kent Area Meeting is making progress with its Tunbridge Wells Meeting House (Stepping Stones) Project to provide much needed social housing accommodation for young people. As well as providing such accommodation, this ongoing project will also reduce the Quaker space in the large Victorian...