Issue 03-07-2020
Featured story
‘It is not easy to be patterns and examples and walk cheerfully during this pandemic.’
I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness. And in that also I saw the infinite love of God.’ (George Fox, 1647)
Top stories
‘Quantum mechanics is not a door to vagueness, it’s the opposite.’
My boss and I were waiting in a client’s reception. On a TV showing rolling news came a piece reporting the shutdown of the CERN physics laboratory, for an upgrade. ‘All that money, and for what?’ my boss sighed. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘on the scale of things that governments...
‘It doesn’t form when all is running smoothly.’
My favourite bit of Advices & queries is from the Postscript at the beginning, written in 1656, ‘for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life’. It brings up the question of how to share a spiritual truth that is beyond words. This is perhaps why various religious traditions use parables,...
‘The deaf community has a long, painful history of persecution.’
Has anyone noticed? When we watch the Covid-19 updates on the news there is a sign language interpreter in the room when the first ministers of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are speaking. (This is also the case in New Zealand, Australia, and a number of US states; at the...
‘“Simon, son of John”, he said for the third time, “Are you my friend?”’ (John 21:17)
The gospel of John has a complex literary history, but it is clear that the final chapter is a late addition. The previous chapter has closing remarks and chapter 21 refers to the deaths of Peter and the beloved disciple, so must have been written and added after those occurred.
Friend sets up blind football in Malawi
A member of Cardiff Meeting has set up a five-a-side football team for blind children in Malawi.
All articles
Quaker woman wins top engineer award
A Quaker who led the way in Bristol becoming the first city in Europe to declare a climate emergency has been named one of the Top Fifty Women in Engineering for 2020 by the Women’s Engineering Society. Green Party councillor and mechanical engineer Carla Denyer, who specialises in renewable energy,...
Quakers condemn anti-BLM vandalism
Woodbridge Quakers have sent a ‘statement of solidarity’ to the organisers of a local Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest after white supremacist graffiti was found in nearby villages and BLM posters were removed in the town. The statement expressed support to the BLM movement and condemned the killing of George...
Friends gather outside
Quakers are preparing to come together again as the lockdown across England eases, with many proceeding with caution. Following the prime minister’s announcement on 23 June that places of worship in England are able to open from 4 July, provided physical distancing rules are observed, Meetings have been considering how best...
Quaker Tapestry launches virtual tour
The Quaker Tapestry museum has launched a virtual tour where visitors can ‘walk’ among the panels and watch short films on its history.
BYM joins voices against annexes
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has joined with humanitarian, development and faith organisations to oppose Israeli government plans from 1 July to ‘annex more Palestinian land’.
How do you “trust in the process” when you don’t know what the process is?
Our Friend Gerard Walmesley, a much-loved member of Littlehampton Meeting, died during lockdown. The number of people able to attend the funeral was very limited so Friends in Littlehampton thought they would like to hold a Meeting for Worship at the same time, via Zoom. This was a daunting prospect...
Busily sculpting my foolish old life
Busily sculpting my foolish old life, well past sell-by date, Freedoms many: to curse expected trains that were cancelled or late. Adventures worldwide, limitless movement, grateful for all I could shape – Fanned delusional flames of eternal youth.
The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss
This novel about Quakers travelling in outer space, published over twenty years ago, was reissued recently in a new edition. Its author is not a Friend but, like Walt Whitman, from whose poetry the title is taken, she considers the silence ‘after the dazzle of day is gone’. What happens,...
Eye - 3 July 2020
A friendly rhyme A Quaker with Covid-19 To get through his self-quarantine Perused A&Q, the Friend each week too, And QF&P in between. Warwick Hunt
Letters - 3 July 2020
UNA-UK Our Local Meeting has been a subscribing member of the United Nations Association-UK (UNA-UK) for at least the last fifteen years, and, with changes in organisation involving a steep rise in the subscription, are taking the opportunity to review our future relationship. As a member of UNA-UK and a...