Issue 22-11-2013

Featured story

Thought for the Week: The Divine impulse

FREE 21 Nov 2013 | by Anthony Boulton

The Reformation undermined the power of priesthoods and the ‘magical quality’ of their rituals, but in so doing buttressed ‘scriptural writings’ as the unchallenged ‘word of God.’ However, in the first verse of the anonymous gospel named after the disciple John, the ‘Word’ is translated from the Greek Logos, which...

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Top stories

Making a difference

21 Nov 2013 | by Jenny Shellens

Kitale Friends are now planning for the long rains and are hoping to establish their own nursery | Photo: Photo courtesy of Hazel Shellens.

Being green may not always be popular, but in the long term it is invariably cheaper. In the short term, too, many green choices will immediately save money. If we walk or cycle rather than using the car, we spend less on motor fuel. If we turn the thermostat down...

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British Quakers: Mission and message - Expressing the faith

21 Nov 2013 | by Stuart Masters

Wordle. | Photo: Courtesy of Simon Best.

For me ‘expressing our faith’ has two distinct and yet interrelated facets. The first is how we tell people about the Quaker way. The second is what our faith leads us to do – how we bear testimony to what we believe and how we let our lives speak.  The...

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Faith, discernment and trust

21 Nov 2013 | by Roy Stephenson

What does it mean to be a Quaker today? Where does our special contribution to the life of faith lie? It is the radical manner of our living, out in the world but primarily between ourselves, which should mark us out. It is crucial that this has a lived validity...

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We played for peace

21 Nov 2013 | by Catherine and Gerard Benson

What a day! What a match! The sun shone. The sky blazed blue. Only the cold flagstones gave the season. Kick-off was between Bradford’s lord mayor, Khadim Hussain, and Mark Green of the German consulate.

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Churches propose ‘fitting memorial’ to first world war dead

FREE 21 Nov 2013 | by Caroline Humphries

Church leaders have called for the armed forces recruitment age to be raised to eighteen as a ‘fitting memorial’ to the thousands of young soldiers killed in the first world war.

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Quaker group wins Stonewall award

21 Nov 2013 | by Caroline Humphries

The Quaker Lesbian & Gay Fellowship (QLGF) has been named Community Group of the Year by the gay campaigning group Stonewall for its long-standing commitment to equality.

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White Feather Diaries

21 Nov 2013 | by Caroline Humphries

Quakers in Britain are to launch The White Feather Diaries, an online storytelling project to mark the centenary of the first world war.  The real-time story follows five Quakers as the war unfolds, exploring their dilemmas and different choices in a daily blog and Twitter feed.

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From an interior life

21 Nov 2013 | by Tom Jackson

Kenneth Boulding was a Quaker, economist, philosopher and poet who died in March 1993. He was born in Liverpool, raised as a Methodist, and at Oxford University was attracted to the Religious Society of Friends – particularly by the Peace Testimony. He started out as a chemist and then switched to economics....

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Dialogue with Jesus

21 Nov 2013 | by Jeremy Greenwood

Penelope (Pen) Bray was a much loved member of Leiston Meeting in Suffolk. Following her death in August last year, a booklet of ten of her poems and a couple of prose texts was published. Pen had taken great care in preparing and correcting these texts during the period 1995-1997...

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Eye - 22 November 2013

21 Nov 2013 | by Eye

Minutes as muse Take one linguistically-inclined Quaker, add a sprinkle of inspiration and stir. The ‘nature notes’ from Judith Roads (15 November) set cogs and gears whirring in David Jones’ mind. David, of Spalding Meeting, said Judith ‘wrote wittily about “a recent gathering of Area Meeting clerks at Friends’ House” as...

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Letters - 22 November 2013

21 Nov 2013 | by The Friend

Carbon footprint I am a Quaker and an energy consultant. I would like to help fellow Quakers to understand their carbon footprint quantitatively (qualitatively, we know what contributes to global warming). Here are a couple of ready reckoners about flying. First, the carbon footprint of flying is roughly (and on...

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