Issue 17-09-2021
Featured story
Thought for the week: Kate McNally at your pleasure
I have just received an email cancelling plans for a lunch date which I had been looking forward to. When I look beyond my disappointment, I am reminded that we often don’t recognise the gifts that are given to us, because they don’t come in the form we...
Top stories
Pattern matching: Beth Allen responds to Yearly Meeting Gathering with a familiar prayer
We give ourselves such problems when we live with other people! They are different from us – so awkward! We disagree with them, but quietly, so as not to upset anyone. In this year’s Epistle from Yearly Meeting Gathering we reminded ourselves that ‘we need to tenderly explore disagreement… and...
The return of Art the Arms Fair
The award-winning Art the Arms Fair has returned for its third run, in a bid to raise awareness of the DSEI arms fair.
Leading lights: Tony D’Souza on self and importance
Do you know how important you are? Please take a few minutes to read this while I remind you. Within you is ‘that of God’, just as it is within everybody else. When you know this, you become a voluntary communicator of that truth to everyone you meet. ‘That of...
Across purposes: Howard Grace on bridge building and shared humanity
The desire to be a bridge builder has grown in me in recent years. When you look at the present-day world it is quite clear that bringing together those in conflict, and trust-building, is a serious need. This is true within and between religions, as well as in other areas...
Calm and collected: G Gordon Steel’s composite faith
We have all heard people who say that in times of serious illness or trouble ‘It was my faith that kept me going’. I would not use those words myself – they seem to refer to a compact and well-defined faith that I do not have – but over the years I...
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Quakers gather against London arms fair
Friends gathered at Friends House this week to start their witness against the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair.
Friends hear ‘the human cost of war’
Friends heard a harrowing reminder of the need for their peace witness during a talk on ‘the human cost of the arms trade’. The online event featured people from Yemen and Colombia directly affected by the devastation and carnage caused by some of the weapons on sale at the London...
BYM reflects on 11 September attacks
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has marked the twentieth anniversary of the 11 September terrorist attacks in New York.
Bournville Friends knit for COP26
Bournville Quakers have knitted hundreds of six-inch squares to make a ‘tree cosy’. The item was installed on 4 September on a large Atlantic Cedar outside their Meeting house. It is due to be taken down after the UN Conference of Parties (COP26) in November in time for the tree to...
Force of nature: Anthony Gimpel’s world view
We are living in times full of fear. But maybe there is nothing particularly new in this state. Ever since Pandora disobeyed and opened the box to find that the only thing left to her was hope – the spirit that assures us we are OK – we have had an astonishing...
Quicksand, by Henning Mankell
Henning Mankell, author of the Wallander books, wrote this series of short reflections before his death from lung cancer. It is subtitled ‘What it means to be a human being’. He explores what makes humans happy, what we mean by the joy of living, and how to keep positive given...
Boxing Day morning, Walpole Park
Beneath its spreading branches the conifer shelters a body tucked up against the wall. The gloom makes details difficult to discern but they’re using a sleeping bag so it must have been planned in a manner of speaking. Out of the rain, the needled ground will afford a measure...
Letters - 17 September 2021
Peaceful schools Thank you for including an item about the peaceful schools online training courses (3 September). Just to correct an impression – these courses, and the peace education programme they arise from, are run by Mid-Wales Area Meeting rather than Bristol Quakers. The training is designed to encourage and enable...