Eye - 17 January 2014
From colourful prayers to the manor of Friends
Colourful prayer
Creatively-inclined Friends gathered together for a Quaker Arts Network (QAN) day at Woodbrooke last autumn, entitled ‘Colour Our Prayers’.
Jane Garbett took part in the group: ‘The focus for our workshop was exploring prayer through the arts… we used the ancient practice of pattern making to express our prayerful thoughts creating a “zentangle”, which I found gave an extraordinary focus to my own prayer and is a practice I will continue to use… We also had an opportunity to speak about and share our own work and experiences. It was lovely to see the variety of work, which included mosaic, poetry, painting and more.’
What does George Fox say?
In 2013 a music video by Ylvis for the song ‘What does the fox say?’ went viral on the internet. It featured a number of unusual costume choices (including fox ‘onesies’) and an animated fox having a boogie.
It has now inspired a Quaker-themed video spoof called ‘What does George Fox say?’, which has been featured in the Huffington Post under the headline ‘Quaker Parody “What Does George Fox Say” Is The Best Way To Learn About The Religious Society Of Friends’.
Starting in a Meeting for Worship, the song sets the scene of 1650’s England and features quotes from George Fox… along with dancing Friends in bonnets, hula hooping and the creative use of disco balls.
Intrigued Friends who fancy having their funny bone tickled can see the result (and get the song stuck in their heads) at http://bit.ly/GeorgeFoxVideo
It was produced, written, and directed by Ben Guaraldi, a freelance web developer and Quaker. After Friends’ antics, the video links to Ben’s website where viewers can find out more about Quakers.
One of the pages is headed ‘What Did George Fox Really Say?’ where Ben says: ‘While the film attempts to be true to [George Fox’s] insights and theology, not all of the quotations are verbatim. Some were edited to modernise the language; some were edited, too, for length.’ He goes on to give the full quotations and the sources.
He finishes with the quote: ‘I was moved, also, to cry against all sorts of music, and against the mountebanks playing tricks on their stages; for they burthened the pure life, and stirred up people’s minds to vanity.’ Ben adds: ‘As you can see, George Fox probably would not have approved of popular music, music videos, or internet memes, even as a way of telling people about his realisations about God. Clearly I don’t agree with him on this one.’
Carboholic has company
A low carbon visitor drew up in Carboholic’s driveway recently, a Tesla car. Carboholic was smitten and shared this snap: ‘Look what dropped in at Carboholic Towers! This all-electric car has no emissions, does 0-60 in 3.7 seconds, has a top speed way over the legal limit and a range of over 200 miles.’
He added: ‘Carboholic has only acquired a Nissan Leaf… currently being charged by my PV panels.’
The manor of Friends
Writing your Last Will and Testament doesn’t necessarily prompt giggles.
However, when Elizabeth M Angas, of Blackheath Meeting, ‘recently made a new Will with the help of “Will Writers”, a simple method for doing it easily over the phone… two amusing mistakes had been made when the printed version arrived:
‘I had requested a memorial Meeting in the Manor of Friends!
‘I had left my clavicle (clavichord!) to my great nephew.
‘Needless to say these were both corrected.’
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