Issue 22-07-2022

Featured story

Liquid assets: Roger Hill’s Thought for the Week

FREE 21 Jul 2022 | by Roger Hill

In the 8 July issue of the Friend, there is a reference to a statement that Dietrich Bonhoeffer made from the Flossenburg concentration camp, where he was murdered. ‘Our being Christians today’, he said, ‘will be limited to two things, “prayer” and “righteous action”.’

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Post-pandemic: Alison Parkes on how Friends in her Meeting set about reconnecting

21 Jul 2022 | by Alison Parkes

‘One Friend said it was the first time in a long while she had felt a part of the Meeting.’ | Photo: by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

Like many Meetings, we have felt a deep need to reconnect with one another since the lockdowns. We considered a Quaker Quest programme, but came to realise that what is important for our Meeting right now is the quality of our shared life together. Advices & queries 18 indicates that this...

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Peace campaigners mark forty years of Faslane

FREE 21 Jul 2022 | by Rebecca Hardy

A giant peace logo arrived at Glasgow Meeting House last month to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Faslane peace camp.

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Learning curve: Barbara Davey offers graduates a Quaker encounter

21 Jul 2022 | by Barbara Davey

‘“What do I want to let go of?” you might ask yourself. “And what do I want to give myself to?”.’ | Photo: Graduates at St Andrews

Quakers were new to the team when I joined the chaplaincy at the University of St Andrews a few years ago: I had no clearly defined role to follow. With the support of my Local Meeting, I hoped to be able to offer a Quakerly presence to the life of...

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Beyond toleration: Abigail Maxwell reflects on two light-filled events

21 Jul 2022 | by Abigail Maxwell

'On 1 July I joined the Gay Liberation Front for the fiftieth anniversary march, a more anarchic affair than the official event.' | Photo: by Abigail Maxwell

Let me begin in 1688, when it ceased to be criminal to evade the Church of England, or worship elsewhere. In the following decade, Quakers in Finedon built a tiny Meeting house, and as they walked to it, local people stoned them. They refused to retaliate, but built a high wall...

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On the money: Anne Morgan wraps up the living wage campaign

21 Jul 2022 | by Anne Morgan

| Photo: by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

The Quaker Living Wage Campaign was established in 2015, following Quaker Equality Week. It was the result of a multi-faceted concern about: inequality and low wages; increasing use of food banks; a need to hold second and third jobs; and debt. Its purpose was to encourage Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) and...

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Friends call for progress on COP26 pledges

FREE 21 Jul 2022 | by Rebecca Hardy

Quakers have joined faith communities across Scotland in asking Alok Sharma, COP26 president, to discuss progress made since the COP26 in Glasgow.

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BYM lobbies on Public Order Bill

21 Jul 2022 | by Rebecca Hardy

Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has briefed key parliamentarians on the Public Order Bill, which is currently going through parliament.

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Reading Friends delve into Quaker history

21 Jul 2022 | by Rebecca Hardy

A Quaker history group, which formed this year, discussed the life of the US Quaker ecumenist Douglas Van Steere this month, describing him as a ‘driving force’ behind modern Quakerism.

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Police bill will push prisons ‘to breaking point’

21 Jul 2022 | by Rebecca Hardy

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Court (PCSC) Bill will push the prison system to breaking point, the Quakers in Criminal Justice group has said.

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Twist of Love, by Rosemary May Wells

21 Jul 2022 | by Sue Wheeler

Rosemary May Wells’ fourth collection of poems is the companion to her first, God is an Onion. It encompasses global and everyday life events, as well as people and friendships, and the natural world and the local area. All this is done with warmth, love and grace.

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Feet

21 Jul 2022 | by Angela Arnold

Firmly grounded, side by side, orderly. While others dangle nonchalantly, mid-careless-air, an imper- ceptible swing to them.

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Letters - 22 July 2022

21 Jul 2022 | by The Friend

God is not dead On what basis does Michael Saunders say that God has died (become unbelievable) for Quaker Meetings (8 July)? At Britain Yearly Meeting 2018 it was recorded that the revision of Quaker faith & practice should draw on the richness of theological thought in our Yearly Meeting, now and...

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