Latest News
Commitment to change
From a talk by Colin Billett, to a creative listening session, to a Meeting for Worship for Business to the full Britain Yearly Meeting session, committed relationships have been a theme that have recurred throughout Junior Yearly Meeting (JYM) this year. They have, of course, been an issue that was...
Some views from outside
Understandably, the decision by British Quakers to allow same-sex marriages won praise from groups and individuals campaigning for gay rights. Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner and Green Party candidate in Oxford, told the Friend that ‘the Quakers’ decision to open up marriage to same-sex couples, on exactly the same basis...
Minutes of BYM
Minute 23 of Britain Yearly Meeting, 31 July 2009 Further to minute 17 (see below), a session was held on Tuesday afternoon at which speakers shared personal experiences of the celebration and recognition of their committed relationships. These Friends had felt upheld by their meetings in these relationships but regretted that whereas there was...
Quakers make historic decision on same sex marriage
The Religious Society of Friends, more commonly known as Quakers, agreed on 31 July to conduct same sex marriages in their Meeting houses and to push for these to be recognised by the state. An earlier session on the subject recorded strong support in favour of changing from the current position,...
Lessons from the language of life
So said David Cadman at the launch of his book Holiness in the Everyday. Instead, he explained, dwelling in prayer, in the depths of silence, enable us to find the ways to change things.
Taking the initiative – Quakers in Yorkshire
As part of the welcome to Yorkshire, the co-clerks of Quakers in Yorkshire told YMG of some of the initiatives and activities undertaken by Friends across the region. As well as Yorkshire-wide programmes such as combined outreach efforts and and summer schools for teenagers, Yorkshire Friends are also responsible for...
To the grace of God…
Would you consider writing your own testimony to the grace of God as seen in your life? Would you consider producing a testimony using more than just the written word? Is the Quaker testimony to equality undermined by writing testimonies for some Friends and not others? These were just some...
Ubuntu – All because of you, I am
Ubuntu is the Junior Yearly Meeting theme this year, a Swahili word for the concept of interlinked humanity. Similar to the Yearly Meeting theme of ‘creating community, creating connections’, but somehow not identical, it is much like how Junior Yearly Meeting is running alongside Yearly Meeting Gathering, but remaining somewhat...
Love in a time of Christianity
Among many of the mainstream churches in Britain, there is something of a tendency to reject gay marriage corporately, while leaving a considerable degree of leeway for individual churches to diverge from this position.
Think global
Growing up as a Jew, I saw some very different faces of community. The Torah tells us to love the stranger ‘for you were strangers in Egypt’. My mother taught me that Jews were called by experience to live out a deeply moral and inclusive vision of a better world....