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The Night Before Christmas
(or ‘A Visit from St Paul’) (Not to be confused with ‘A Visit from St Nicholas’ attributed to Clement Clarke Moore) ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Friends House Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; Thanks to new insulation I heard not a thing Till...
The Quaker way
Most of those who become Quakers today will have made a spiritual journey to arrive at this destination. We are now a Society of convinced Friends rather than cradle Quakers. Many daughters and sons of Friends continue their parents’ questing and move beyond the Society, even if holding to Quaker...
Hide and seek
We sit round the silence listening to space, concentrating; our thoughts circle the quiet centre of the room. A faint movement far within the darkness, a cry: there, in the pile of books? or in the vase of flowers? the sun’s flash on a gull, high over the sea....
Watford’s Quiet Heroes
On 15 June 1916 Howard Marten was led from a prison cell in Boulogne to stand in front of thousands of soldiers on a parade ground. Howard, a thirty-one-year-old Quaker from the Watford area, then heard an officer declare that he had been found guilty of disobeying an order while on active...
Living eldership
Elders are the arteries through which the spiritual life of the Yearly Meeting flows. Long neglected, they have, I believe, become hardened and thus restrict the flow of life. When Alastair Heron was clerk to Yearly Meeting elders he used his position to lead a group to clarify and publish...
Courtly gallantry
She was the love of my life. Made for each other everyone said. We made plans. Our world was full of promise. But to test me, like knights of centuries past,
Thought for the Week: Silent worship?
The room breathes in. And out. Hands find a variety of poses. There is a pair of sandals with socks, a pair without. Two fine beards. Malcolm stands, tries to find words about calm. Sits. A stomach growls. Lunch beckons, until we remember to think of God.
For God’s Sake
It is surprising what a male enterprise the current debate between theism and atheism is. The atheists, Jack Smart, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, AC Grayling, attract as opponents male heavyweights like John Haldane, Antony Flew, David Bentley Hart, and Deepak Chopra. As in other male preserves, the debate takes on...
Dylan Thomas: A compassion for mankind
The most unworldly Quaker in Wales could scarcely have failed to register that 2014 is the centenary of the birth of a much-mocked, much-misrepresented and much-adored Welsh poet – Dylan Thomas.