Meeting for Sufferings: Sombre start

‘We also hear the cry of those in despair which draws out our compassion… When we know what we have to do, how to do it will come.’

Saturday vigil outside Friends House

Although Meeting for Sufferings did not fully consider Ukraine until Sunday morning, Friends were understandably concerned with the subject all weekend. So in this issue we have deviated from our usual chronological report and added Oliver Robertson’s introduction to Sunday’s worship, on page 14. The rest of the account is sequential, as normal.

Most representatives chose the online option for the March Meeting, which would in more ordinary times have been a residential weekend. For those who made it to Friends House – some forty or so – the joys of in-person fellowship were tempered by the devastating news from Ukraine. The Meeting opened with a reading from Quaker faith & practice 29.02: ‘We also hear the cry of those in despair which draws out our compassion… When we know what we have to do, how to do it will come.’ The following ministry was entirely silent.

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