Thought for the Week: Jennifer Kavanagh re-reads Thomas Kelly

‘It is in the power of community that we can most effectively express our faith.’

by Jennifer Kavanagh 7th January 2022

I have been re-reading the American Quaker, Thomas Kelly. Not the much-loved A Testament of Devotion but the less familiar The Eternal Promise, a series of essays written between 1936 and 1940. Writing in a world on the edge and in the early days of war, Kelly knew well what it is to live in hard times. Even if his language isn’t always ours, I feel that much of what he writes about community, activism and, above all, spiritual renewal, has a strong resonance for Friends today.