The Friend is a weekly magazine in which Friends speak to each other and to the wider world, offering their insight, ideas, news, nurture and inspiration.
Nurturing Quaker community, each issue offers a space for Friends to share their concerns, and to support each other in faith and witness.
The Friend: enriching, inspiring and connecting the Quaker community since 1843.
A month or so ago one of those worshipping in our Sunday Meeting rose from her seat and ministered to us about ‘kindness’. She pointed out that it wasn’t always easy to love our neighbour and that it is nearly always very difficult to love our enemies. It was, however, always possible, and not at all difficult, to show kindness to our neighbours and to our enemies and – who knows? – perhaps sometimes receipt of that act of kindness may be the first step towards that enemy becoming a friend and neighbour.
The wide range of beliefs held within the world family of Friends was one of the subjects raised at General Meeting for Scotland held in Edinburgh on Saturday 11 March. It was Adwoa Bittle’s first meeting as clerk of General Meeting for Scotland and she began by asking Friends for their support and forbearance.
‘Be aware of the spirit of God at work in the ordinary activities and experience of your daily life. Spiritual learning continues throughout life, and often in unexpected ways. There is inspiration to be found all around us, in the natural world, in the sciences and arts, in our work and friendships, in our sorrows as well as in our joys. Are you open to new light, from whatever source it may come? Do you approach new ideas with discernment?’
From Quaker faith & practice, Advices & queries 7
A hundred and sixty one years ago a small Quaker group penned a quiet proclamation that I believe is more relevant today than Martin Luther’s articles. In 1656 the elders at Balby wrote a famous ‘Epistle’. It was a list of points – but not ‘a rule to walk by’. They stressed that Friends should follow them ‘in the Spirit’ and ‘not from the letter’. Today, we all look for rules – what, perforce, should we do about this, or what about that? Whose authority do we follow in conducting our business, our taxes, our economy or our social behaviour? Let’s have a rule, for preference a ‘scientific law’, which everyone can (or must) follow, regardless. There aren’t – at least to me – any obvious such laws. Indeed, most of those laws purporting to be scientific ones – neoliberalism, for example – aren’t. The hope, which is often tacit, that ‘science’ will provide all the answers is doomed. Those Quaker elders offer the only viable solution. How long will it take for humanity to catch up with Balby?
Why are we here? Is it to make America or Britain great again? To stay as one of the world’s leading arms exporters under American leadership? Is that why? Philosophers write reams about why we live, but surely we are here for one purpose: to conserve our genes and pass them on so humanity can survive and thrive: why else?
In early 1917 there was change all around the world. It was sometimes hopeful, often painful, and was to have a huge impact on the lives of millions. The United States entered the war that year. The Ottoman Empire was crumbling. In Russia the first stage of the Russian Revolution gave little hint of what was to come.
Become a subscriber to enjoy unlimited access to our articles, dating back to 2009! Online subscribers get the Friend to their inbox each week, can comment on articles, and dive into our 1914-18 digital archive too!
Whether you are new to Quakerism or have been going to Meeting for years, you’ll find something here to inspire, inform and challenge you.
News | Views | Reviews
Written by and for Friends on the bench
Subscribe