Issue 07-07-2017
Featured story
Thought for the Week: What soft silence wills
The Meeting we experienced as a group on the Sunday morning of Young Friends General Meeting (held 26-28 May) was nothing short of profound. It has been described since as the single most powerful Meeting of someone’s life, and had a deep impact on all who attended.
Top stories
The Barrow Pilgrimage
On Maundy Thursday, to the accompanying sound of hooting cars and motorbikes, with colourful umbrellas and banner unfurled, more than forty people walked triumphantly down the main street into Barrow-in-Furness. It was the culmination of four days of walking over fifty miles. At the steps of the town hall we...
Building further
Soon it will be a quarter of a century since the Meeting of Friends in Wales (MFW) began – and Friends will be celebrating at our Meeting in October, calling to mind the achievements of those years, and working on how to build further. In the sunshine at Brecon, in the...
The business of war
I am sixty years old. I am shy by nature and I have never broken the law. For the last couple of years I have been attending Berkhamsted Meeting, where I have felt a sense of homecoming. I am also a trustee for People Not Borders, a charity that supports...
At the Quaker burial ground, Long Sutton
Beyond the window in the grassy burial ground the long-departed face the stars from which they came. Each modest headstone, laid out in total symmetry and modelled perfectly to fit some ancient template, proclaims the uniformity of all below. There are no crosses, angels or exotic slabs. The wording tells...
Making connections
‘Before we stopped flying.’ It is a very simple image, like a child’s drawing, of two people perched on the back of a dragon, flying across the night sky; in the background is the famous ‘blue planet’ image of the Earth, just touching a circle of gold. The accompanying...
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Canadian Friends issue statement
As Canada celebrated 150 years since Confederation last weekend, the Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC) encouraged people to ‘give some thought to how these celebrations impact our Indigenous partners and friends’.
Quaker MPs fired from front bench
Quaker MPs Catherine West, who will deliver this year’s Swarthmore Lecture, and Ruth Cadbury have lost their positions as Labour shadow ministers.
NFPB reflects on 2016
The Northern Friends Peace Board (NFPB) has issued its annual report highlighting work done in 2016.
Wilmslow Friends ‘Get Together’
Wilmslow Quakers, together with Transition Wilmslow, teamed up with the town’s monthly Artisan Market to put on ‘The Great Wilmslow Get Together’ on 17 June. This was one of many events that took that weekend to remember Jo Cox MP. Market-goers were offered gingham ribbon and pennants. Over 100 stallholders entered...
Christians disrupt military conference at Church House
Christian campaigners disrupted an arms industry-funded event at Church House Westminster on 28 June. They blockaded the main entrance to the building, as defence secretary Michael Fallon was due to speak, insisting that a Christian venue should not be hosting the annual Land Warfare Conference.
Quakers and conflict
Quakers should approach conflict in Meeting positively and as an inevitable part of life. We should not seek it out, but we should welcome it. When we reveal what is in our hearts, what grows out of our individual life experience, openly and honestly, we are bound to disagree. If...
My Quaker bedrock
Alas,’ said a world expert, disparagingly. ‘Pity we can’t all be Quakers.’ This was over a video link from Massachusetts. He had just told the conference he was addressing that there was now less violence in the world than ever before. So, when a Quaker pressed him on ever-increasing...
Reflections on the ‘Red Book’: Ministry
In a gathered Meeting there may be few spoken words, but there is rich ministry. An hour passes quickly. Other Meetings are lifeless. They may be full of words, but there is little ministry, little that is of service. Time drags and people feel the need to fill the silence. ...
Eye - 07 July 2017
Conscience and costumes One Friend’s performance of George Fox’s words has inspired another to reach out. John Spencer’s portrayal of George Fox in his one-man presentation (19 May) resonated with Stephen Kirkby, of Durham Meeting. Stephen attends re-enactment events dressed in period Quaker costume and hands out tracts...
Letters - 07 July 2017
Squeezing out the Spirit? Thank you Stephen Feltham for your wonderful, brave article, ‘Squeezing out the Spirit?’ (30 June). I read this just after having spent a dismaying hour absorbing the Events listing of this year’s British Yearly Meeting Gathering. Naturally, one expects plenty of debate and practical action at...